Paul Marino's random insights into Machinima and its related subjects.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
CSI: NY - The Joy and Perils of Machinima on Primetime TV
Even though it's been a few days since the premier of the CSI: NY machinima blend piece, Down the Rabbit Hole, I still don't have a very clear reaction to it.
On one hand, the quality of the commercial machinima is incredible and I'm happy to acknowledge that this is a big step forward in mixing the technique with traditional movies/entertainment. Seeing machinima of Second Life on my TV screen was like seeing an old friend!
However, the joint efforts of CSI, Cisco, and The Electric Sheep, are part of a larger marketing campaign. As such, I am left with two large puzzles:
1. A technical issue: The Second Life seen in the CSI episode is the enhanced, Windlight edition, that is not yet available to the general public. Hugh Hancock alluded to it in the Machinima for Dummies book as an improvement on the graphics. Unarguably, it does a lot for the appeal of the platform, but I wonder how many people logged on to discover that the world isn't as pretty or doesn't work quite as seamlessly as it did on TV. Then again, I suppose this wouldn't be the first time television has lied. :)
2. A consistency point: Somehow, the goal of the CSI show seems at odds with the invitation to have people join a virtual world. I don't typically watch CSI, but these kinds of police shows have an underlying theme -- that some kind of mind perversion is what creates criminals. The machinima section here basically depicts the technology that may enable those outlaws. Although there was a reference to the empowering characteristic of virtual worlds for people with disabilities, the sheer force of the imagery presented is making viewers think "hey, this looks so sexy, I have to try it!" The real murder under investigation starts to feel unreal, if you don't lose sight of it altogether.
I hope Paul will chime in with his views on this moment in history. I'd also love to hear from other machinimists, with their thoughts on the episode and of Second Life as an up-and-coming machinima platform.
Bloodspell, the feature movie production from Strange Company is an epic culmination for one of the most fascinating and groundbreaking machinima series. The main accomplishment? Pure, unfettered entertainment that reaches the audience through powerful storytelling and compelling cinematography.
Hugh Hancock, writer and director, was present in Second Life this Sunday (event produced by machiniplex.com ), to receive feedback and be overwhelmed by excited fans. Countless secrets of the trade were shared with humor, including setting up cinematic dolly shots ("we were using calculus, it was scary!"), the incredible play of color & contrast achieved in post processing("thau shalt not shoot people wearing brown on a brown set"), and badger-based lighting technique ("the best thing we learnt about lighting is 'hey, let's have some!'").
As a deeper statement for things yet to come, the message of Bloodspell is clear. Simply take a look at the Creative Commons tag and the introductory cracks at the traditional, pre-movie legalese we're used to seeing, my favorite:
"Piracy is a crime....so don't steal any boats."
Beyond the technical talk and jokes, the most remarkable feat of the movie was its ability to make me forget that I was looking at a game environment. The only thing that broke my immersion were the character skins, but that can be attributed to being spoiled by the advances I have seen in Second Life. To give you a feel, you can check out a few samples on the Uncanny Valley page, any work by artist Darkdharma Daguerre, or Robbie Dingo's machinima blog.
Machinima Europe 07: Another milestone in the Machinima timeline
I'm back from the whirlwind trip that was Machinima Europe 07 and what a blast it was. De Montfort University put together an outstanding event - no doubt, due to the extraordinary efforts of Ricard Gras, Toby Moores and Tracy Harwood. Ricard, Tracy and Toby performed Herculean efforts to in order for the fest to be a successful as it was. Much props to them - we could use a few more Ricards, Tobys and Tracys in the Machinima community.
The event kicked off with Friday's presentations to local area students. Here, myself, Hugh Hancock and Johnnie Ingram (Machinima for Dummies), and Toby did our best at explaining, demonstrating and giving time to play with Machinima. On Saturday, we had a similar schedule - this time presenting for the public. Here I presented my "Ten Years of Machinima (and then some)" as well as Hugh's leading up Bloodspell's premiere. Additionally, Burnie Burns and Jason Saldaña of Rooster Teeth Productions (Red vs. Blue) showed off some of their commercial work, as well as a vid produced especially for the Machinima Europe 07 fest.
Saturday night's award event was fun, end-to-end. Ricard Gras lined up The Sancho Plan as the evening's entertainment, which combine live percussive performance with real-time triggered anims. They put on a really great show. The awards presentations were fun as well - with a good mix of unknowns and well-known Machinima works walking away with the top honour. Rodica collected links to each of the winners, which I've posted below (thanks, Rodica!)
The evening continued with lots of celebration. Frank Dellario and myself were interviewed, amongst others, by Hugh and Johnnie for the Machinima for Dummies podcast. However, I believe we disqualified ourselves from inclusion as being in an extremely inebriated state. We chose to share not our top 5 favorite Machinima moments as requested by Hugh and Johnnie, but our moments related to Machinima, which quickly turned into extremely M-rated exchange. I guess Laphroaig has a way of making things even the most terrible of stories less terrible.
Sunday's programming dipped into the deeper waters of Machinima, where we discussed Machinima's mainstream potential and looked at Machinima as digital performance. The day ended with Friedrich Kirschner's live performance, which involved creating and sending a Moviesandbox postcard of-sorts to his girlfriend Hannah, who was sitting remotely on Skype. Great stuff, once again by one of Machinima's masters...
All-in-all it was spectacular. We had a great time, had a chance to see one another (and some for the first time - hey Doc, Xavier and the Lit Fuse team!) and share our love for a common practice. It was an incredible experience and acts as a momentum for the Machinima Fest 2008. For those of you who couldn't make it out - stay tuned on news for next year and set aside some time on your calendar - I'm sure you'll have a blast too.
Following in the footsteps of Make Love, Not Warcraft, two more machinima pieces are in the running for an Emmy this year, one created in Second Life and the other one in There.com.
Showtime's L Word in Second Life for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for Best Use Of Commercial Advertising on Stand-Alone Broadband Devices (Personal Computers). You can watch the promo here.
and
MTV's Virtual Laguna Beach for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for Creation of Non-Traditional Programs or Platforms. The promo for this initiative is here.
For those of you within reach of Leicester, UK - please join us this weekend, as the very first Machinima Europe festival will be taking place at DeMonfort University in Leicester. I would highly recommend registering for the event prior to attending - you can do so here. Some highlights from the festival program (erm, "programme" as me mates overseas call it): Saturday, Oct. 13th
13:30 - Machinima for Dummies Recommends... Machinima pioneers and authors Hugh Hancock and Johnnie Ingram walk the audience through their fave Machinima works.
14.45 - Legal Roundtable A panel of legal experts and Machinimators will discuss some of the legal issues around making Machinima, and the latest developments in the gaming world.
16.00 - Rooster Teeth The creators of the infamous Red Versus Blue series, which recently released its 100th and final film of the series, will showcase their work.
Sunday, Oct. 14th
12:00 - European Machinima A panel comprising some of Europe’s most celebrated and prolific machinimators will showcase and discuss their work so far. With Alex Chan, independent filmmaker, Hugh Hancock, Director of Strange Company and author of Machinima for Dummies, and Carl Goodman, Director of Digital Media, Museum of Moving Image (New York).
13.30 - BloodSpell Feature Cut World Premiere Hugh Hancock presents his feature length cut of Bloodspell, Strange Company’s ‘punk-fantasy’, which may be the largest and most complex Machinima piece ever produced! The presentation includes an opportunity for Q&A.
14:00 - Machinima as Digital Performance Artists from different backgrounds discuss their approach, with Frank Dellario, Director of The ILL Clan, recently bought by Electric Sheep Company, and Ricard Gras, former De Montfort University student and now Creative Director of La-Interactiva and member of the European Machinima Board.
16:00 - Live Performance: Friedrich Kirschner Friedrich Kirschner, multi-award winning machinimator and member of AMAS will perform a live Machinima piece.
Again, these are only some of the events happening over the weekend - check out the full schedule for more. In addition to the other panels and presentations, there will be screenings as well as both Hugh and Johnnie on hand to sign copies of their newly released Machinima For Dummies (excellent read, btw - check out Rodica's review).
I will also be speaking at the beginning of the fest on Saturday morning, leading the audience down through the Machinima memory registers and where I feel the medium is headed.
Really looking forward to the event and hope to meet a few of you there as well! (and remember to register!)
Toyota springs Machinima ad on unsuspecting World of Warcraft
How popular is World of Warcraft? Ask Toyota. They've recently released a spot that takes place in WoW, where a Toyota Tacoma leads the party into battle against the fire-breathing dragon. The spot itself is a bit of a rip off the Leeroy Jenkins vid, but its still somewhat humorous.
First the GTA/Coke ad and now this. Good call by Toyota, even if its a new skin over an old idea. Give it a look while it spreads like wildfire...
For those of you within reach of Leicester, UK - please join us this weekend, as 
