The French Democratizer
Having returned from my West Coast trip (see GameSpot article from last week) and tending to some much needed project work, I've also been following the slew of press behind Alex Chan's The French Democracy. While he's been handling numerous interviews in his native country, the Machinima has also been receiving its fair share of international coverage as well. Here's just a few articles that have surfaced over the past couple of weeks:
Somewhat obviously, The French Democracy has become the first point of contact for many around Machinima. It's less than a month since its creation and it has opened the door to many folks who have purchased The Movies for the sole purpose of creating their own Machinima works. While I'm sure Activision/Lionhead is ecstatic to receive such attention and interest in their game, it does skate dangerously close to the edge of artistic freedoms by which creative expression takes place. Matteo Bittanti, a visiting scholar at Stanford, explores this in a current blog posting on the How They Got Game 2 site. Machinima up until now has been supported by games developers - mostly because the works are tributes to the games for which they are based.
However, The French Democracy proves that Machinima can be a powerful medium - showing that it can extend the thoughts of individuals into areas the game developers might not be so quick to embrace. In the case of The French Democracy, Lionhead finally acknowledged the buzz around Chan's film in this press release (aside: the obvious exclusion of "Machinima" in the release). Will a Machinima surface that forces a game developer to issue a damage control press release stating they have nothing to do with the work?
This subject matter was touched upon during my Stanford visit, during a luncheon held by the organizers, Galen Davis and Dr. Henry Lowood. One interesting example is the UT2004 mod, 9/11 Survivor - where the player attempts to flee the damaged (and eventually collapsing) World Trade Center towers. While Epic Games has been a large supporter of Machinima, these areas of exploration can make a developer particularly uncomfortable. However, as a supplier of technology, do they get to dictate the how, what and why tech is used? Alternatively, questions like: does Adobe answer tech support emails of a group using Photoshop to create particularly offensive propaganda posters? Or does Panasonic tell the makers of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price not to use their cameras because Panasonic won't be able to sell their products in the subjected retail outlet?
Someone will create Machinima that will surely raise the hackles of the game developer (and possibly others). This is inevitable. It's what art does. I believe it is in the interest of the developers to handle the "how" specifically and not become mired in the "what" or "why." The developers, and technology, are enablers. Playing separators in a game of artistic Church and State will only lead to more difficult conversations.
Ultimately, The French Democracy fulfills Machinima's promise of being an artistic medium. It also introduced Machinima to a tier of individuals who would have never considered video game technology to be such a creatively expressive platform. And that's good for both Machinima and the games industry in general.
- Associated Press
- The Washington Post
- MTV.com
- Business Week ( and here as well).
Somewhat obviously, The French Democracy has become the first point of contact for many around Machinima. It's less than a month since its creation and it has opened the door to many folks who have purchased The Movies for the sole purpose of creating their own Machinima works. While I'm sure Activision/Lionhead is ecstatic to receive such attention and interest in their game, it does skate dangerously close to the edge of artistic freedoms by which creative expression takes place. Matteo Bittanti, a visiting scholar at Stanford, explores this in a current blog posting on the How They Got Game 2 site. Machinima up until now has been supported by games developers - mostly because the works are tributes to the games for which they are based.
However, The French Democracy proves that Machinima can be a powerful medium - showing that it can extend the thoughts of individuals into areas the game developers might not be so quick to embrace. In the case of The French Democracy, Lionhead finally acknowledged the buzz around Chan's film in this press release (aside: the obvious exclusion of "Machinima" in the release). Will a Machinima surface that forces a game developer to issue a damage control press release stating they have nothing to do with the work?
This subject matter was touched upon during my Stanford visit, during a luncheon held by the organizers, Galen Davis and Dr. Henry Lowood. One interesting example is the UT2004 mod, 9/11 Survivor - where the player attempts to flee the damaged (and eventually collapsing) World Trade Center towers. While Epic Games has been a large supporter of Machinima, these areas of exploration can make a developer particularly uncomfortable. However, as a supplier of technology, do they get to dictate the how, what and why tech is used? Alternatively, questions like: does Adobe answer tech support emails of a group using Photoshop to create particularly offensive propaganda posters? Or does Panasonic tell the makers of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price not to use their cameras because Panasonic won't be able to sell their products in the subjected retail outlet?
Someone will create Machinima that will surely raise the hackles of the game developer (and possibly others). This is inevitable. It's what art does. I believe it is in the interest of the developers to handle the "how" specifically and not become mired in the "what" or "why." The developers, and technology, are enablers. Playing separators in a game of artistic Church and State will only lead to more difficult conversations.
Ultimately, The French Democracy fulfills Machinima's promise of being an artistic medium. It also introduced Machinima to a tier of individuals who would have never considered video game technology to be such a creatively expressive platform. And that's good for both Machinima and the games industry in general.
posted by Paul
at 11:35 AM
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