Machinima is a blasphemy of sorts between gaming and film, but in a cheaper and almost always comical fashion. This is a form of production that uses real-time graphics engines like those used in video games. This form can allow gamers with no previous theatrical or cinematic training to produce cheap videos from an already existing gaming platform. Some are produced for for pleasure and some actually gain money from their distribution. Machinima gives gamers an outlet to relay their stories through the gaming platform’s software.
The familiar obtuse and fantasy characters are represented as a pastiche of themselves, hence why we can recognize and gain some form of humor from them. At first the only audience that would have knowledge to seek out and watch this form of production were gamers themselves. I first became aware of this production watching G4′s X-Play where I first became acquainted with the Splinter Cell Co-Op Theatre of Bob and Steve.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Bob and Steve
Xavier: Renegade Angel first premiered on Adult Swim on November 4th 2007, created by John Lee and Vernon Chatman, the same men who created the mindlessly entertaining show Wonder Showzen. Having a loose and noncontinuous plot the show is animated in the style of Half Life and the Sims 2. Xavier tends to spout misused words of wisdom drawing from Native American , Hindu, and Eastern philosophy to create a comical circular logic that we might identify with something spouting from Yoda.
this will make you think twice about drug use and animation
and if that series makes you doubt humanity, try reading the interview with the creators of the show… its like watching an episode, but with words.
This series made for a confused debut to its Adult Swim audience. Furthermore leading to its cancellation, and then reinstatement for a second season. Truely you either hate it or love it, or just can’t find the time to watch it.
Besides being extra creepy machinima also allows for the production costs for such elaborate fantasy to hit rock bottom. Since the backgrounds, characters and movements can all be created with general ease and reuse the same characters codes over and over , there are many perks using machinima over live action video to portray a story. While others simply use the chracters that are already at play in the system to play their actors adding only their voices for overlaying dialogue to explain the strange happenings that often occur in machinimas.
The start ups costs to create a decent machinima can be considerable depending on which platform your intend on working on. Working from an Xbox 360, one would need to obtain a decent video capture card. Or if working from something like Second Life, a recorder can be easily downloaded for free. Or if you intend to build your 3D environment and characters from scratch, somthing like iClone, or a cheaper Milkshake 3D would be a reasonable investment. Depending on if you intend to make a machinima from an already existing game or from scratch, do some research, because I am definently no expert on the subject. Once you get some footage, there is the need for editing software, most platforms come with a rather basic form of editing software (iMovie, or Microsoft Movie Maker).
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