Machinima Fest Shown Down Under

I'm writing this post from LAX airport, as I'm currently en route to Melbourne, Australia to give a presentation of the Machinima Film Festival at the Australian Centre of the Moving Image - this weekend, February 24th and 25th. I had a great time last year presenting at ACMI, and I'm sure this year will be no different.

If you happen to live in this neck of the world, come by and join myself, Gus Sorola (Red Vs. Blue), Eddo Stern (Dark Game), Peter Rasmussen (Stolen Life), Rod Maher (FRAPS) and Friedrich Kirschner (person2184) for a weekend of Machinima - it would be great to see both the fans and makers while we're down there. Its sure to be a blast (and Gus will be fueling up on Boag's at every moment he's able, I'm sure).

Seeya there...

Fox Atomic and MoU launch Machinima contest

A short posting this time...

Just received word from my friend Rodica at Millions of Us about the new Fox Atomic Machinima and Photography competition, where the grand prize is a trip for two to Costa Rica. Not too shabby - make a Machinima of a virtual world, win a trip to a beautiful place in the real world. Rodica has a bit more info over on the MoU blog.

Update: erm, oops - had the wrong month there fer a bit. Enter soon - deadline is February 26th, so get a move on if you have an idea to submit (Thanks Rodica!).

Burning away the fences

Earlier this week, Ubisoft announced expanding their Montreal offices, that will include a large part of its focus on CGI movies - an investment of $400 million and ramping up the studio to est. 3000 employees by 2013 - 500, of which, will be dedicated to CG development. Yow, dem's some numbers.

Numbers aside, there's not a lot of other details offered up - which only makes sense with a preemptive announcement of this sort. However the basic info is very intriguing - a game dev studio that's building narrative entertainment into its long term objective, while recruiting talent from both sides of the fence.

Quote from the article:

"What we see in the future generation of consoles is they will allow us to play games in real time, which is the equivalent of what you see today in CGI movies," Guillemot said. "We will work and learn all the technology and know-how so that when it's time for the next console launch in five years, we'll be ready for games and movies that are at the right level."

Guillemot said Ubisoft is hiring people from Hollywood and CGI companies so the video game creators can learn how to create these movies.

"We're looking for the best talent interested in movies but also interested in learning more about creating video games as well, so they will not only give things to us, but they'll also learn how interactive entertainment is made," Guillemot said.

Additionally, the article speaks to another point. Ubi looks to be targeting a sweet spot I've made mention of before - consoles. A consistent hardware platform, located in X millions of homes, that can render both interactive and passive entertainment as well as anything in between.

There's nary a mention of Machinima in any of this, but anyone reading this blog can see the writing on the virtual walls. Its definitely tapping in. Animated content is resonating much more strongly within our culture just within the last 20 years - and video games and the internet (and the spaces they share) are only to blame for its acceleration.

I expect more news of these crossovers before 2007 is out.

Entering 2007 with a Crash! Boom! Bang!

We're already nearly a month and a half into 2007 (!), and there's already been some large strides made in the world of Machinima.

Todd Stallkamp (The Fixer) has been hired for his film-takenoprisoners-making of Sims-based Machinima by EA. When Todd's work first surfaced, everyone keeping watch of our small scene noticed his exceptional storytelling skills right out of the gate. This awareness was made more obvious at the 2006 Mackies, and finally by EA themselves. Keep your eyes open for machinima-related goodness from Maxis/EA. No doubt it will have Todd's name all over it.

Phil Rice's phenomenally popular Male Restroom Etiquette, was recently awarded honors by Animation World Network's Best of the Web 2007. This is, in a nutshell, huge. Why? Because animators tend to be extreme purists when it comes to the craft. Machinima has been looked down upon by the animation community because of its hack-and-hoc approach (OTTAWA!). Phil's work breaks through the prejudices and shows the community that Machinima has a voice in the animated context. And MRE proves that it can be just as compelling (and hilarious) without spending months (and years!) over ACME pegs or Maya renders.

With the Machinima feature Bloodspell now under their belt, pioneers Hugh Hancock and Johnnie Ingram trade in their director caps for tablets as they begin the painstaking task of authoring "Machinima for Dummies" - the first book in the Dummies series on the subject matter. While I don't envy their work (understatement), it will be great to read their unique views on the medium. And given the kick-ass work on Bloodspell, I'm sure quite a number of folks will enjoy and put to practice this achievement of theirs as well.

Finally, The ILL Clan have kicked off their own creative celebration by becoming a division of VW content creators, The Electric Sheep Company. Since my leaving the ILL Clan in 2005, I've watched with pride as the guys put blood, sweat, and tears (and more blood) into TrashTalk, but also become a Machinima services company to boot. This marriage of ESC and ILL Clan is very much the perfect match and I look forward more TrashTalk (now in Second Life!) and other treats served up from the ESC/ILL Clan blender.

The first month of 2007 has proven to be quite the one of movement, and sets the pace for the remaining year ahead. There will be undoubtedly more news down the road, but for now, its a very exciting time to be a part of the Machinima movement.