Paul Marino's random insights into Machinima and its related subjects.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Machinima Europe Deadline Extension: Sept. 8th!
Ok, someone's ass was just saved because Machinima Europe just announced an extension to their Sept. 1st deadline. It's now set to Sept. 8th! Here's the down-low right from fest manager Tracy Harwood:
DEADLINE EXTENSION & SUBMISSIONS UPDATE FOR MACHINIMA FESTIVAL EUROPE 07 - SEPTEMBER 8th, 2007
I've been taking quite a few queries about our process for submission to the Fest, what needs to be sent in to me and by when. So, by way of clarification, hopefully, and to give those of you who haven't had a chance to submit yet... we've put back the deadline to SATURDAY 8th SEPTEMBER.
On the submissions process, what you need to do is -
1. Complete the submission form with a url so we can watch, review and download your film - send this to me electronically (tharwood@dmu.ac.uk) by the 8th revised deadline. If we need passwords to watch your film, don't forget to send them with your form too! The entry form is available here!
2. We will accept electronically your images, trailer and synopsis after the 8th deadline closes, so long as we have your correctly completed submission form by the deadline. Our postal system in the UK is currently undergoing some disruptive actions by workers (for better pay, etc.). So, we don't want to lose any materials or delay things unnecessarily.
NOTE: This is a change from previously published information - if you've already posted your DVD, thanks, that's really appreciated - please don't worry if it arrives late, just so long as you get your electronic submission form to me by the deadline, your film will be considered. If I find I'm missing materials later, I'll be in touch."
So there you have it. If you were considering an entry, but you were put off by the Saturday deadline, now's your chance to pull a few all-nighters and get your work recognized!
Fancy yourself a Machinima auteur? Have some Machinima work sitting on your drive, with you thinking "I've seen a lot of Machinima out there, and frankly my stuff makes these works look like amateur hour"?
Well, this week is your chance to make your work stand out! The first Machinima Europe Fest is accepting entries to the fest awards until this Saturday, Sept. 1st! Even if you've submitted your work before (Machinima fests or otherwise), this event and awards are brand new, so even works from years yonder are eligible.
Valve continues to mash FPS with highly polished and stylized animation in this latest short, introducing The Soldier character class from Team Fortress 2. Displaying even more attention to detail than the Heavy Weapons guy (look for the that secondary motion that gives everything its life-life feel), Valve continues to build excitement towards the release of this free game (well, packaged in the Orange Box collection).
Ah, good stuff. Even paid homage to the rocket jump. The next question is, when will Pixar enter the fray, dropping its matinée fare in favor of man cannons?
Machinima Europe Festival 07 & Machinma Festival 08
For those keeping track, some news to share on the festival front.
The 2007 Machinima Festival (North America) will be pushed into mid-2008, as we're still pulling together funding and partners for the event. A festival requires both proper financial and human resources (partially to do with my own time - more on this later), and rather than to hold a lackluster event, we've determined holding the festival in 2008 will give us more time to properly ramp up the fest. This said, we're working quite a bit in the background to lock in the 2008 date and venue. Stay tuned to here and the AMAS site for future info once it's solid (soon!).
With this in mind, I want to push having people submit their works to the Machinima Europe Festival 07! This event, which is the European equivalent of the festival we have in North America, will be a weekend long Machinima-focused event, complete with its own competition. Any Machinima work previously created can be submitted (regardless of which Machinima festivals you might have submitted to previously - including the AMAS ones in the States). In addition, the entry of your work is free! The submission deadline is Sept. 1st, so get crackin' and submit your Machinima work to this year's only Machinima event!
Microsoft makes grand steps into making Machinima "legal"
In an unprecedented move (and hopefully one, others will make in the near future), Microsoft announced today new content usage rules that allows for machinimators to make their Machinima epics without fear of MS lawyer retribution. Read all about it here.
This is by no means a free pass to give the aspiring machinimator a chance to make their own Red vs. Blue. The strings are: this only applies to certain titles (though, yes, the Halo franchise is in there), only for non-commercial use (surprise!) plus there's still plenty of legal-gotchas to make any machinimator give pause ("You can’t add to the game universe","can't use it to enter a contest").
While MS probably has sizable staff of legal babysitters to pursue anyone who wanders too far off, smaller companies might not be so quick to join the cheer based on their needs to keep their properties closer to home. The other interesting side to this announcement is that it's probably also making plenty of people aware of what they can't do with Machinima to begin with.
Additionally, Microsoft themselves gets a boost from this. Marketing has all the wording in place to run their own internal initiatives without needing to check in with MS legal every go. Expect MS to commence XBL contests and showcases for Machinima once Halo 3 releases pronto.
Still, it's great step in the right direction and I do hope others take a similar path (with possibly less restrictions). We'll have to keep track of how it manifests itself for future developments.
As you were...
Thanks to Ken Thain, Jennifer Urban and a number of others who sent up the Machinima signal.
