A scene from the popular machinima series Red vs. Blue.

Machinima (pronounced [mə.ˈʃiː.nə.mə] or [mə.ˈʃɪ.nə.mə]), a portmanteau of machine cinema,^[1] is both a collection of associated production techniques and a film genre defined by those techniques. As a production technique, the term concerns the rendering of computer-generated imagery (CGI) using real-time, interactive (game) 3D engines, as opposed to high-end and complex 3D animation software used by professionals. Engines from first-person shooter and role-playing simulation video games are typically used. Consequently, the rendering can be done in real-time using PCs (either using the computer of the creator or the viewer), rather than with complex 3D engines using huge render farms. As a film genre, the term refers to movies created by the techniques described above. Usually, machinima productions are produced using the tools (demo recording, camera angle, level editor, script editor, etc.) and resources (backgrounds, levels, characters, skins, etc.) available in a game. Image File history File links RVB_group_shot. ... Image File history File links RVB_group_shot. ... For divisions in United States politics, see Red states and blue states. ... This chart shows concisely the most common way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is applied to represent the English language. ... A portmanteau (IPA pronunciation: RP, US) is a word or morpheme that fuses two or more words or word parts to give a combined or loaded meaning. ... Even in the early days of film history, the audience appetite for new content was voracious. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Computer-generated imagery (commonly abbreviated as CGI) is the application of the field of computer graphics (or more specifically, 3D computer graphics) to special effects in films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media. ... 3D computer graphics are different from 2D computer graphics in that a three-dimensional representation of geometric data is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images. ... This article is about video games. ... “Computer and video games” redirects here. ... A personal computer (PC) is a computer whose price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals. ... A render farm (also termed a render wall)[1] is a computer cluster to render computer generated imagery (CGI), typically for film and television visual effects. ...

Machinima is an example of emergent gameplay, a process of putting game tools to unexpected ends, and of artistic computer game modification. The real-time nature of machinima means that established techniques from traditional film-making can be reapplied in a virtual environment. As a result, production tends to be cheaper and more rapid than in keyframed CGI animation. It can also produce more professional appearing production than is possible with traditional at-home techniques of live video tape, or stop action using live actors, hand drawn animation or toy props. Emergent gameplay is the creative use of a game in ways unexpected by the game designers original intent. ... Artistic computer game modification involves the use of a computer game for the creation of a digital artwork. ... In animation, key frames (also keyframes) are the drawings which are essential to define a movement. ... Computer-generated imagery (commonly abbreviated as CGI) is the application of the field of computer graphics (or more specifically, 3D computer graphics) to special effects in films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media. ...

As machinima begins to break out of the underground community of gamers and becomes more widely recognized by mainstream audiences, tools are being developed to allow for faster and easier creation of machinima productions. A number of upcoming machinima products are expected to provide machinimators with original assets, as well as advanced features such as a timeline, gesture and sound creation, and precise camera tools.

Although most often used to produce recordings that are later edited as in conventional film, machinima techniques have also occasionally been used for theatre. A New York improvisational comedy group called the ILL Clan voice and puppet their characters before a virtual camera to produce machinima displayed on a screen to a live audience. The ILL Clan is a Machinima production team, based in Manhattan, New York City. ...

History

Precedent

In the 1980s, hackers who cracked software—that is, circumvented any built-in security—often attached introductory sequences, or intros, to modified programs to credit themselves.^[2] As the power of personal computers increased, so did the complexity of these intros. The demoscene formed when focus shifted from the cracks to the intros. 3D computer graphics and narratives appeared,^[3] and animation was calculated in real-time,^[4] but without the use of a pre-existing game engine.^[3] This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Software cracking is the modification of software to remove protection methods: copy prevention, trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, CD check or software annoyances like nag screens and adware. ... The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes itself on producing demos, non-interactive audio-visual presentations, which are run real-time on a computer. ... 3D computer graphics are different from 2D computer graphics in that a three-dimensional representation of geometric data is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images. ... A game engine is the core software component of a computer or video game or other interactive application with real-time graphics. ...

Disney Interactive Studios' 1992 computer game Stunt Island allowed users to create movies by placing props and cameras, orchestrating flying stunts, and splicing takes together.^[5] The following year, id Software's computer game Doom included the ability to record gameplay as sequences of events later replayed in real-time by the game engine. Because events, not video frames, were recorded, the saved game demo files were small and easily shared among players,^[6] thus developing, as Henry Lowood of Stanford University wrote, "a context for spectatorship.… The result was nothing less than a metamorphosis of the player into a performer."^[7] The game also allowed for third-party modifications, maps, and software tools, thus revising the concept of game authorship.^[8] Disney Interactive Studios is the video game publishing division of The Walt Disney Company. ... 1992 1992 in games 1991 in video gaming 1993 in video gaming Notable events of 1992 in video gaming. ... A screenshot from the Stunt Island intro movie, a movie itself created using Stunt Island Stunt Island is a computer game designed by Adrian Stephens and was published by Disney Interactive in 1992. ... id Software (IPA: officially, though originally ) is an American computer game developer based in Mesquite, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. ... Doom (or DOOM)[1] is a 1993 computer game by id Software that is a landmark title in the first-person shooter genre. ... Demo disc released with a magazine. ... “Stanford” redirects here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... In computer and video games, a level (sometimes called a stage, course, episode, round, world, map, wave, board, phase, or landscape) is a separate area in a games virtual world, in modern games typically representing a specific location such as a building or a city. ...

Doom's 1996 successor, Quake, offered new opportunities for both gameplay and customization,^[9] while retaining the ability to record demos.^[10] Multiplayer games became popular, almost a sport; demo files of matches between teams of players, or clans, were recorded and studied.^[11] Paul Marino, executive director of the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences, noted that deathmatches, a type of multiplayer game, began to be recorded with more "cinematic flare".^[10] However, at this point, the demo files produced were documented gameplay with no narrative.^[12] 1996 1996 in games 1995 in video gaming 1997 in video gaming Notable events of 1996 in video gaming. ... Zombies attacking the player at the starting of Episode 1, Mission 3: The Necropolis. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... In computer and video gaming, a clan is a group of players who regularly play together in a particular multiplayer game, generally as a team. ... The ILL Clan is a Machinima production team, based in Brooklyn, New York City. ... The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and advocacy of the machinima industry. ... Deathmatch (abbreviated DM) is a widely-used gameplay mode very well integrated into first-person shooter computer games. ...

Quake movies

A scene from Diary of a Camper, the first machinima production

On October 26, 1996, a well-known clan, the Rangers, surprised the Quake community with the release of Diary of a Camper, the first machinima film. This short, 100-second demo file contained the action and gore of many others, but in the context of a story,^[13] rather than the usual deathmatch.^[11] Although its narrative was simple, it established the machinima genre; so-called Quake movies quickly became popular. Dedicated demo-processing tools, such as Uwe Girlich's Little Movie Processing Center (LMPC) and David "crt" Wright's non-linear editor Keygrip, were developed;^[14] the latter became "known as the Adobe Premiere for Quake demo files".^[15] Distribution and review sites for Quake movies appeared; among these were The Cineplex, Psyk's Popcorn Jungle, and the Quake Movie Library.^[15] Notable works include Clan Phantasm's Devil's Covenant, the first feature-length Quake movie;^[15] Avatar and Wendigo's Blahbalicious, which won seven Quake Movie Oscars;^[16] and Clan Undead's Operation Bayshield,^[15] which used simulated lip synching.^[17] Image File history File links Diary_of_a_Camper. ... Image File history File links Diary_of_a_Camper. ... Diary of a Camper, released in 1996 by a then well known Quake clan named The Rangers, is considered the first true piece of Machinima. ... is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... United Ranger Films was a machinima production group responsible for the first examples of machinima. ... Diary of a Camper, released in 1996 by a then well known Quake clan named The Rangers, is considered the first true piece of Machinima. ... Note: Please see National Latin Examination for the standardized test that is also abbreviated NLE. A non-linear editing system (abbreviated NLE) is a video editing or audio editing system that can perform random access on the source material. ... Adobe Premiere Pro, formerly known as Adobe Premiere, is a real-time, timeline based video editing software application. ... A feature-length is a movie/film term meaning full-length or uncut. ... Blahbalicious is a machinima film made using the Quake game engine. ... Operation Bayshield is an irreverant machinima film made using the Quake game engine. ... Lip synchronization is the synchronization of audio signals (sometimes with corresponding video signals) so that there is no noticeable lack of simultaneity between them. ...

In December 1997, id Software released Quake II, which included support for user-created 3-D models. However, the community continued to create films with the original Quake until editing tools were adapted to the new game. New Quake I productions included the Apartment Huntin' by the ILL Clan and Scourge Done Slick by the Quake done Quick group. Throughout 1998, Quake II editing tools were released; among them was Keygrip 2.0, which supported recamming, the ability to adjust camera locations after recording. Paul Marino called this feature "a defining moment for [m]achinima" because of its power and flexibility.^[18] The first Quake II machinima production made entirely with user-created models was Strange Company's 1999 film Eschaton: Nightfall.^[19] Quake II, released on December 6, 1997, is a first person shooter computer game developed by id Software and distributed by Activision. ... The ILL Clan official logo. ... The ILL Clan is a Machinima production team, based in Manhattan, New York City. ... Peter Horvath doing a grenade jump on a Spawn in E4M3 [1] (The Elder God Shrine) in order to jump over a large lava pit for the upcoming Quake done Quick with a Vengeance Part II Quake done Quick is a series of machinima and speedrun movies in which Quake... Peter Horvath doing a grenade jump on a Spawn in E4M3 [1] (The Elder God Shrine) in order to jump over a large lava pit for the upcoming Quake done Quick with a Vengeance Part II Quake done Quick is a series of machinima and speedrun movies in which Quake... Strange Company is a group of machinima creators and distributors based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ...

The December 1999 release of id Software's Quake III Arena posed a problem to the Quake movie community. The game's demo file format included information needed by the networking code; to prevent cheating, id warned that revealing these details was grounds for legal action. Thus, the editing tools used for previous games could not be upgraded to work with Quake III. Around this time, too, the novelty of Quake movies was disappearing; as Marino explained, "Simply said, the joke was getting old." New productions became less frequent, and the community needed to "reinvent itself" to offset this.^[20] Quake III Arena or Quake 3, abbreviated as Q3A or Q3, is a multiplayer first-person shooter computer and video game released on December 2, 1999. ...

Modern era

In January 2000, Hugh Hancock, founder of Strange Company, launched the website Machinima.com. The new term surprised the community.^[21] Machinima was an initially misspelled version of machinema, a contraction of machine cinema, and was intended to dissociate the in-game film production process from a specific engine.^[22] The variant with the additional i stuck because it included a reference to anime. The site included tutorials, interviews, articles, and the exclusive release of Tritin Films' Quad God. The first film made with Quake III Arena, Quad God was also the first to be created by recording game-produced video frames, not game-specific instructions.^[23] This technique was initially controversial among machinima producers who had preferred demo files and their smaller sizes. However, because it was recorded in a traditional video format, Quad God was accessible to a wider audience, and it was distributed through magazine-bundled CDs.^[24] Strange Company is a group of machinima creators and distributors based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... Machinima. ... A game engine is the core software component of a computer or video game or other interactive application with real-time graphics. ... “Animé” redirects here. ...

Machinima soon began to receive mainstream notice. In June 2000, Roger Ebert called it an "extraordinary" new art form and praised Strange Company's machinima setting of Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet "Ozymandias".^[25] The ILL Clan's 2000 film Hardly Workin' won Best Experimental and Best in SHO awards at Showtime Network's 2001 Alternative Media Festival. Machinima even reached Hollywood; while working on his 2001 film Artificial Intelligence: A.I., Steven Spielberg used Unreal Tournament to test scenes involving special effects.^[26] Game developers became interested, too; in July 2001, Epic Games announced that Matinee, a machinima production utility, would ship with its upcoming Unreal Tournament 2003. As involvement increased, machinima releases became less frequent in favor of higher quality.^[27] Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic. ... -1... OZYMANDIAS I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. ... The ILL Clan official logo. ... Showtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States. ... For the 1968 science-fiction film and novel, see 2001: A Space Odyssey The year 2001 in film involved some significant events. ... Steven Allan Spielberg (born December 18, 1946)[1] is an American film director and producer. ... Unreal Tournament, abbreviated UT, (sometimes referred to as UT99, UT Classic, UT1, or UT:GOTY to differentiate from Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004, and Unreal Tournament 3) is a popular first-person shooter video game. ... Epic Games, also known as Epic and formerly as Epic MegaGames, is a computer game development company based in Cary, North Carolina, United States. ... Unreal Tournament 2003 or UT2003 is a first-person shooter video game designed mainly for multiplayer gaming although the game had a built in single-player mode that mimics multiplayer gaming by featuring AI-bots. ...

In March 2002, several machinima makers — Anthony Bailey, Hugh Hancock, Katherine Anna Kang, Paul Marino, and Matthew Ross — met at the Game Developers Conference and formed the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences, which held the first Machinima Film Festival during QuakeCon in August of that year. In the event, which was covered by mainstream media, Tom Hall's Anachronox: The Movie won three awards, including Best Picture.^[28] John Carmack is a widely recognized and influential game programmer. ... The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is the largest annual gathering of professional video game developers, focusing on learning, inspiration, and networking. ... The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and advocacy of the machinima industry. ... The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and advocacy of the machinima industry. ... The Official QuakeCon logo QuakeCon is a bring-your-own-computer computer gaming event held every year in Dallas, Texas, USA. The event, which is named after id Softwares game Quake, sees thousands of gamers from all over the world attend every year to celebrate the companys gaming...

With the improvements in 3D game engine technology many developers added in-game cut scenes to their games. This led to improvements in animation capabilities and soon most game engines had the functionality (although often available to the developers only) necessary to produce machinima. A game engine is the core software component of a computer or video game or other interactive application with real-time graphics. ... A cut scene or cutscene (sometimes also referred to as a cinematic) is a sequence in a video game over which the player has no control. ...

Unreal and Battlefield 1942 are examples of video games which are currently used to create machinima. Use of the original Unreal Tournament was possible through the third-party tool Unreal Movie Studio (UMS) by UnFramed Productions, and later Real-Time Movie Studio (RTMS) by Mod team reactor 4. Understanding the future potential of machinima, Epic Games, the developers of Unreal Tournament 2003, included a tool called "Matinee" with the game, and sponsored a contest for US$50,000 to create a machinima film with the video game. The Unreal engine was used by director George Lucas for pre-visualization of the later Star Wars movies and by some other directors. Unreal is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Epic Games and published by GT Interactive (now owned by Atari) on May 22, 1998. ... Battlefield 1942 is an expansive first-person shooter (FPS), set in World War II, developed by Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows (2002) and Apple Macintosh (2004). ... “Computer and video games” redirects here. ... Unreal Tournament, abbreviated UT, (sometimes referred to as UT99, UT Classic, UT1, or UT:GOTY to differentiate from Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004, and Unreal Tournament 3) is a popular first-person shooter video game. ... Epic Games, also known as Epic and formerly as Epic MegaGames, is a computer game development company based in Cary, North Carolina, United States. ... Unreal Tournament 2003 or UT2003 is a first-person shooter video game designed mainly for multiplayer gaming although the game had a built in single-player mode that mimics multiplayer gaming by featuring AI-bots. ... The Unreal Engine is a widely-used game engine developed by Epic Games. ... George Walton Lucas, Jr. ... Star Wars is an epic space opera saga and a fictional universe initially developed by George Lucas during the 1970s and expanded since that time. ...

The video game The Sims, which had a "photo album" feature, was used by players to stage elaborate "comic book" stories. For example, over several months in 2003, Nicole Service, a Sims player known online as "nsknight" staged a highly-rated photo album telling the story of three sisters whose mother is murdered. (Wired News) Other players have staged stories of abusive relationships, drug addiction, and interracial adoptions. The Sims 2 has a built-in movie making feature. For games with Sim in the title, see List of Sim games. ... This article is about the computer game. ...

The Movies is a game developed by Lionhead Studios that puts the player in the role of a movie director and allow them to create short feature films using the game engine. A similar technique is used on the MTV television show Video Mods that shows music videos, rendered using characters from popular video games and Demos, including The Sims 2, BloodRayne and Dawn. However, the creators of the show only re-use the models, which are manually animated using 3D-animation software, not the game engines. The Movies is a simulation game created by Lionhead Studios for Microsoft Windows and subsequently ported to Apple Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. ... Lionhead Studios is a United Kingdom-based computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. ... This article is about the computer game. ... BloodRayne, is a horror-themed third-person action video game. ... Dawns realistic face Dawn is both the name of NVIDIAs technology demo and its main character. ...

Advantages and disadvantages

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Image File history File links Broom_icon. ...

Advantages

• Possibly smaller distribution size: To distribute the movie, the producer only has to distribute the movie scripts (and any new resources used in the movie), which are much smaller than the entire rendered movie, though this requires both parties (producer and viewer) to have same rendering engine (same game, that is) and hardware capable of rendering the movie. If the engine and hardware allow it, the movie could be watched at extremely high resolutions, beyond what the average computer was capable of rendering smoothly at the time of release. The size of a rendered video of comparable resolution could put most viewers off, even those on very fast connections.
• Lower cost and production time: Because of lower hardware requirements (movie can be made and rendered on desktop computers), lower software costs (games cost much less than professional 3D animation software), and lower production time (because low-end 3D engines can render animation quickly, if not real-time). Moreover, mistakes in the movie can sometimes be corrected quickly by simply editing the script and because of the lower rendering time.
• Arguably easier movie making: Because most games' interfaces are very simple and easy to use, it is easy to make simple movies, though it can be more frustrating to make complex ones because of the limited movie-making capability (see below).

Disadvantages

• Limited capability: The possibilities (what can be done in a movie, that is) are limited by the genre of the game and the flexibility and (movie-making) capability of the game engine itself. Also, because game engines were primarily designed for game-playing, not for making movies, the movie-making capabilities of game engines (and, consequently, the quality of the produced movies) tend to be limited, when compared to 3D animation software used by professionals. It is important to note that, because of the technical limitations, most machinima uses sharp writing in order to make up for the lack of visual flair (even this depends on the game being used to make the machinima). The puppeteering in machinima offers limited control over facial expressions, gestures, and body posture - all of which are indispensable to the creation of visually meaningful communication.
• Possibly high playback hardware requirements: Unless the entire rendered movie is distributed, in order to play a movie (run movie scripts), the viewer needs the same rendering engine as the one used by the producer, and a computer with capable hardware (to run the movie scripts to view the movie), depending on the complexity of the rendering engine (the game, that is) and movie. Consequently, this prohibits low-end machines and machines without rendering capability (e.g.: cell phones, PDA, low-end computers, Video CD players) from displaying the movie.

Motorola T2288 mobile phone A mobile phone is a portable electronic device which behaves as a normal telephone whilst being able to move over a wide area (compare cordless phone which acts as a telephone only within a limited range). ... Look up Personal digital assistant in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Video CD (aka VCD, VideoCD, View CD, Compact Disc digital video) is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc. ...

Notable examples by game engine

See also: List of machinima productions

Machinima productions are usually categorized by game engine or by film genre (drama, comedy, action). The following examples are organized using the former method. This is a list of notable productions made with machinima techniques, organized by the game or games used to make the series. ... A game engine is the core software component of a computer or video game or other interactive application with real-time graphics. ... Even in the early days of film history, the audience appetite for new content was voracious. ...

Portal

Portal was the first television experience to machinima. It aired on G4 for two seasons largely playing on comedy. It took many MMORPGs, with exceptions like the Sims Online and Second Life. It also had the main host in live action. Portal is a former TV show which aired on G4. ...

Quake

It was with Quake that machinima truly took off, and it was for this game that the first true machinima film was made. Released in 1996 by United Ranger Films, an off-shoot of a then well known Quake clan named The Rangers, Diary of a Camper was the first true piece of machinima. A short silent film, lasting less than two minutes, it told the story of The Rangers rooting out an embedded player (the camper) within DM6, a popular Quake deathmatch map. At this point in time, the term "machinima" had not been coined, and these films were being touted as "Quake Movies". The piece became very popular within the Quake community, and soon spawned other Quake Movies, such as Wendigo and Avatar's Blahbalicious and Clan Undead's Operation Bayshield. Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... United Ranger Films was a machinima production group responsible for the first examples of machinima. ... Diary of a Camper, released in 1996 by a then well known Quake clan named The Rangers, is considered the first true piece of Machinima. ... Blahbalicious is a machinima film made using the Quake game engine. ...

One of the more famous Quake machinima groups is Quake done Quick, or QdQ. QdQ produced several speedruns for Quake, and reworked them into movies, using special tools to show speedrun in third person. Their most famous movie by far is Quake done Quicker, and the group itself believes that their movie Scourge done Slick (which requires the Scourge of Armagon expansion pack) is their best work thus far.^[29] For a full list of productions, see the Quake done Quick article. As of 2006, the group is still active, making rare speedrun releases. Peter Horvath doing a grenade jump on a Spawn in E4M3 [1] (The Elder God Shrine) in order to jump over a large lava pit for the upcoming Quake done Quick with a Vengeance Part II Quake done Quick is a series of machinima and speedrun movies in which Quake... A speedrun (IPA: ) is a play-through of a computer or video game, created with the intent of completing it as quickly as possible, optionally under certain conditions, mainly for the purposes of entertainment and competition. ... Quake Mission Pack #1: Scourge of Armagon is the first official mission pack for id Softwares first person shooter, Quake. ... Peter Horvath doing a grenade jump on a Spawn in E4M3 [1] (The Elder God Shrine) in order to jump over a large lava pit for the upcoming Quake done Quick with a Vengeance Part II Quake done Quick is a series of machinima and speedrun movies in which Quake...

The ILL Clan is known for their series of shorts featuring Larry and Lenny Lumberjack. Their first movie (and one of the earliest notable machinima pieces) was Apartment Huntin', and was created using Quake. Their award-winning short, Hardly Workin, was created using Quake 2. They have also made three to four live performances in front of audiences in recent years. The ILL Clan is a Machinima production team, based in Manhattan, New York City. ...

Also one of the most notable Quake machinimas is The Seal of Nehahra, which details the story of the original game and expands considerably on the backstory. With a run time of 3:53:34, it's also one of the longest machinima feature movies. The Seal of Nehahra is a 2000 American film, created by Mindcrime Productions as part of the Nehahra Project. ...

Borg War is a feature-length movie created using the variant of the Quake 3 engine used in the game Elite Force 2.

Halo

The most popular and well known Halo machinima is Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles, a comedic machinima series filmed within the Halo series of Xbox games. Created by Rooster Teeth Productions, and premiering online on April 1, 2003, the show has so far released five seasons on DVD The series ended in 2007 with 100 episodes. It has been suggested that Covenant Vehicles in Halo be merged into this article or section. ... For divisions in United States politics, see Red states and blue states. ... Rooster Teeth Productions is an award-winning production group from Austin, Texas that specializes in the creation of machinima, or films created using real-time, interactive engines from computer and video games. ... is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Size comparison: A 12 cm Sony DVD+RW and a 19 cm Dixon Ticonderoga pencil. ...

Another popular Halo machinima group are Fire Team Charlie productions, who started production on Fire Team Charlie in Mid-2003. Fire Team Charlie productions has made a name by delving into the code of Halo and modifying it to increase their movie making possibilities. It ended in 2006 with 19 episodes.. Fire Team Charlie is a machinima series created by Fire Team Charlie Productions, part of a group called Xbox Ottawa. ... Fire Team Charlie is a machinima series created by Fire Team Charlie Productions, part of a group called Xbox Ottawa. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Codex, Episode 1 debuted on 9 February 2005. Unlike any previous Halo machinima series, The Codex is a drama, and is set within the universe of the Halo games. While previous Halo machinima series focus almost exclusively on comedy, The Codex has a definite story, and has often been described as a movie divided into episodes, rather than a series proper. It is also one of the few series to be set within the confines of the Halo universe, dealing with situations described in the games and happening concurrently with other well-known events. The Codex is a 20 episode online machinima series, set in the Halo video game universe following the story of a Covenant invasion of a Human world in order to recover a Forerunner artifact, and the story of the Humans resisting that invasion. ... is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

This Spartan Life also differs from other Halo machinima in that it is a talk show, similar in concept to The Late Show with David Letterman. Every episode of the show is divided into parts that are uploaded on the show's site in a sequential fashion. Every episode features an opening monologue, interviews with guests as well as two fixed features, the Solid Gold Elite Dancers, a group of Covenant Elite dancers, and Body Count, a debate segment featuring players killing each other as they debate their points. Some of the comedy in the show itself is derived from the fact that often, players not involved in the show's making are unaware that the show is being filmed at all, and thus fire upon show contestants as they try to act out their parts. This Spartan Life is an award-winning talk show created by Bong + Dern Productions and produced and directed by Chris Burke, who hosts the show under the pseudonym Damian Lacedaemion (pronounced ). Premiering in 2005 and distributed over the Internet, the show is created using the machinima technique of recording the... A talk show (U.S.) or chat show (Brit. ... Late Show with David Letterman is an hour-long weeknight comedy and talk show broadcast by CBS from the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway in New York City. ... An Elite wields an energy sword. ...

Rome: Total War

While Rome: Total War's engine has been used relatively widely commercially, there has been much less player-made machinima. The first, and most notable use of Rome was a show made specifically for the History Channel called Decisive Battles, which used the engine's ability to show vast numbers of characters to reconstruct some of the most historically significant battles in history. The game turned out to be an excellent way of visually representing the fight for a mass audience, something traditionally difficult to do. In the UK, the game was also used for the show Time Commanders, which aired on the BBC. This was a kind of game show, in which contestants playing Rome were pitted against an enemy AI in a simulation of an ancient battle, in an attempt to see if the player could reverse history. Rome: Total War is a grand strategy computer game where players fight historical and fictious battles during the era of the Roman Republic, from 270 BCE to 14 CE. The game was developed by Creative Assembly and released on September 22, 2004. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Decisive Battles (TV series). ... Time Commanders is a series of programmes made by Lion TV for BBC Two. ...

The most significant player-made example to date is Nicholas Werner's Potentior, a forty-minute long reconstruction of the Battle of Alesia. Despite its relatively recent release date, it has already sparked controversy on the Internet Archive's Potentior page. Combatants Roman Republic Gallic Tribes Commanders Julius Caesar Vercingetorix Commius Strength ~30,000-60,000, 12 Roman legions and auxiliaries ~330,000 some 80,000 besieged ~250,000 relief forces Casualties 12,800 40,000-250,000 [] The Battle of Alesia or Siege of Alesia took place in September 52...

Neverwinter Nights

Whilst there has never been a huge amount of Machinima creation in Neverwinter Nights, the 3D RPG from Bioware, two notable series have used its engine as their basis. This article is about the 2002 computer role-playing game. ...

Strange Company's BloodSpell stands as one of the most complex Machinima projects to date. A feature-length "punk fantasy" series about a world where "Blooded" mages spill their blood to use their magic, and they are hunted by the black-clad Church of the Angels, it created an entirely original storyline. Unusually for a Machinima piece, it achieved some critical acclaim in the popular online and offline press, including the Suicide Girls website, the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper, and mega-blog BoingBoing. A "Director's Cut" feature is due to premiere at the Machinima Europe festival in October 2007. Strange Company is a group of machinima creators and distributors based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... BloodSpell is a 2006 fantasy film produced by Strange Company. ... The SuicideGirls logo, used on the website and associated merchandise. ... This article deals with The Daily Telegraph in Britain, see The Daily Telegraph (Australia) for the Australian publication The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper founded in 1855. ...

Neverending Nights stands as one of the longest-running Machinima series to date, running 30 episodes (as of September 2007), with the first episode premiered in 2004. A comic fantasy series, it tells the tale of Grayson (a fighter) and Peter (a ranger) in their quest to become rich and famous, and their various mishaps. It is something of a cult favourite within the Machinima community, with luminaries such as Hugh Hancock of Strange Company praising their work. Neverending Nights, sometimes abbreviated as NEN, is a machinima comic fantasy video series created by Adam Freese and Tawmis Logue using the computer game Neverwinter Nights. ... Strange Company is a group of machinima creators and distributors based in Edinburgh, Scotland. ...

The Sims 2

The Sims machinima started with the photo album concept in the first Sims game. With the photo album a person could create full stories using all the game's resources. The Sims 2, which came out in the Fall of 2004, included a built in movie making utility for players to film what their Sims do. After the release of The Sims 2, Maxis, The Sims games creators, held contests hosted on their website for the best movie makers. The most notable examples of The Sims 2 machinima are listed below. Maxis Software is an American company that was founded as a video game developer and is now a brand name of Electronic Arts (EA). ...

Rooster Teeth Productions, the authors of Red vs. Blue, have also created a serial production, The Strangerhood, using The Sims 2. The initial installment of the series introduced eight occupants of a neighborhood, who wake up one morning with no memory of who they are, where they are, or how they arrived. The characters have diverse, quirky, and intense personalities. Owing to the limitations of the simulation engine it was necessary to create a number of clones of each character, each with a different expression (happy, sad, angry, etc.). The unused versions are herded into an out-of-viewpoint room and exchanged as necessary to obtain the various facial expressions. Rooster Teeth Productions is an award-winning production group from Austin, Texas that specializes in the creation of machinima, or films created using real-time, interactive engines from computer and video games. ... The Strangerhood is a comedy series created by Rooster Teeth Productions. ... This article is about the computer game. ...

Company of Heroes

Relic Entertainment's Company of Heroes, a 3D real time strategy game for the PC, with some built in machinima capability, was released in September 2006. Relic produced an eleven minute in game machinima piece to publicise the game, which subsequently won the award for Best Virtual Performance: Custom Animation at the 2006 Machinima Film Festival. Relic Entertainment is a game development company that specializes in 3D real-time strategy games and has released a number of innovative PC games. ... Company of Heroes (CoH) is a real-time strategy (RTS) computer game developed for Microsoft Windows by Relic Entertainment. ... The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and advocacy of the machinima industry. ...

World of Warcraft

A scene from one of the machinima portions of the South Park episode titled Make Love, Not Warcraft.

Blizzard Entertainment's popular massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft has also spawned many machinima productions. Perhaps most famous is the Leeroy Jenkins film, featuring a character of the same name causing the downfall of his party. Xfire, a company that has created a popular internet communications and file sharing tool, has sponsored several contests which have provided incentive for many producers to use the WoW engine. The South Park episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" uses World of Warcraft machinima for some in-game sequences and was made with the full support of Blizzard. Image File history File links South_Park_machinima. ... Image File history File links South_Park_machinima. ... Make Love, Not Warcraft is episode 147 of Comedy Centrals animated series South Park which first aired on October 4, 2006. ... Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, is an American computer game developer and publisher headquartered in Irvine, California. ... “MMO” redirects here. ... This article is about the Internet meme, game character, and World of Warcraft player. ... Xfire is a freeware instant messaging service targeted toward gamers, that also serves as a game server browser. ... This article is about the TV series. ... Make Love, Not Warcraft is episode 147 of Comedy Centrals animated series South Park which first aired on October 4, 2006. ...

Half-Life series

While there have not been many machinima made with Valve Software's first game (Half-Life), there were a few that achieved popularity over the internet. Those include Militia II [1] and ClanWars [2].

But the power and versatility of the Source engine coupled with Valve Hammer Editor and Faceposer have made Half-Life 2 very useful for quality machinima. A notable example is A Few Good G-Men, a machinima produced from the famous courtroom scene from the Rob Reiner film A Few Good Men. One of the most notable features of the Source engine is Faceposer's ability to take any voices in sound form and have an ingame character automatically lipsynch to the words. Faceposer is also used for various choreography functions, such as having ingame characters move to certain positions or play a certain animation. Another fairly known example is Still Seeing Breen, by Paul Marino, set to music by Breaking Benjamin. Source engine logo A Half-Life 2: Episode One scene running on the Source engine, demonstrating High Dynamic Range, Rim lighting, Phong shading, facial expressions, realtime cameras and VGUI. In-engine Team Fortress 2 character line-up, demonstrating a cartoon-oriented set of basic shaders, depth of field, facial animation... Valve Hammer Editor, formerly known as Worldcraft and now commonly called Hammer, is Valve Softwares map creation program for their first-person shooter computer game Half-Life and for all of its mods, sequels, and expansions, as well as all games using the Source engine. ... The Source SDK (or Source software development kit) is a collection of tools compiled by Valve Software that is used to create levels or full-on Half-Life 2 modifications (or mods). ... A Few Good Men, a play by Aaron Sorkin, was acclaimed on Broadway and was subsequently made into a successful film in 1992. ... The ILL Clan is a Machinima production team, based in Brooklyn, New York City. ... Breaking Benjamin is an alternative metal band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. ...

F.E.A.R.

Not many machinima productions made with the F.E.A.R. - First Encounter Assault Recon game engine have gained widespread popularity to date. The best known one is a mini-series called P.A.N.I.C.S., produced by Rooster Teeth Productions (creator of the Red vs. Blue series). P.A.N.I.C.S. spoofs both the F.E.A.R. game that it's filmed inside of, as well as supernatural thriller/comedy movies like Ghostbusters. This article is about the computer game. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Rooster Teeth Productions is an award-winning production group from Austin, Texas that specializes in the creation of machinima, or films created using real-time, interactive engines from computer and video games. ... For divisions in United States politics, see Red states and blue states. ... For other uses, see Ghostbusters (disambiguation). ...

The Movies

A scene from the DDay Sound Archive movie, created using The Movies editor. This scene is rendered at the "online" resolution for streaming from the company website.

The Movies machinima films are generally simpler to create, as the game contains all the tools required to produce the final movie. As of September 21st, 2007, more than 140,000 movies have been uploaded on to the "The Movies Online" website, albeit most movies are not much different from the random movies created by the game itself. However, more serious machinima makers have been continuously striving to make better movies, and their output has become more and more visible within the machinima community. The promise of combining the ease of access to such a large library of scenes, with better outside post-production tools, spell an interesting future for this type of machinima. The Movies community has made a lot of progress in modding the software. We are now seeing films that were thought impossible a year ago. Image File history File links Lionhead_movies_screenshot_dday. ... Image File history File links Lionhead_movies_screenshot_dday. ... The Movies is a simulation game created by Lionhead Studios for Microsoft Windows and subsequently ported to Apple Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. ... The Movies is a simulation game created by Lionhead Studios for Microsoft Windows and subsequently ported to Apple Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. ...

Shadowrun

1-800-Magic is a 2007 machinima miniseries from Rooster Teeth Productions, the creators of Red vs. Blue. Using the machinima process of adding new sound and dialog to video game footage, the series is made using Shadowrun, a game for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Windows Vista platforms.^[30] 1-800-Magic is a 2007 machinima miniseries from Rooster Teeth Productions,[1] the creators of Red vs. ... 2007 The following is a list of notable machinima-related events in 2007. ... A miniseries (sometimes mini-series), in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. ... Rooster Teeth Productions is an award-winning production group from Austin, Texas that specializes in the creation of machinima, or films created using real-time, interactive engines from computer and video games. ... For divisions in United States politics, see Red states and blue states. ... “Computer and video games” redirects here. ... Shadowrun is a first-person shooter developed by FASA for Windows Vista and the Xbox 360. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... It has been suggested that Xbox 360 Elite be merged into this article or section. ... Windows Vista is a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. ...

Second Life

A number of machinima have been created using the game engine of Second Life, which supports in-world editing of character appearance, object creation and skinning, and the recording of events. See Second Life Community: Media.

Sam & Max

During the release of Sam & Max Season One, developer Telltale Games also released fifteen short machinima cartoons in between episodes. The shorts range from one to two minutes in length and typically feature Sam and Max interacting with locations and characters from the most recent episode, though the shorts are not part of Season One's storyline. Telltale Games also created several machinima shorts for the 2007 Independent Games Festival in which Sam and Max greet the attendees and make cracks about game design. This page is for Telltales episodic Sam & Max games. ... Telltale Games is a video game developer based in San Rafael, California and founded in June 2004. ... The Game Developers Conference has annually hosted the Independent Games Festival (IGF) since 1999 to reward innovative games produced by independent video game developers as well as full-time college and high school students. ...

Notable examples by genre

The following machinima examples are organized by film genre. Even in the early days of film history, the audience appetite for new content was voracious. ...

Abstract

Machinima works that eschew a narrative structure, instead focusing on experimentation. Gene Youngblood refers to this type of filmmaking as Expanded Cinema.^{[citation needed]} A handful of exemplary works^{[citation needed]} would include: Gene Youngblood (b. ... Expanded Cinema by Gene Youngblood (1970), the first book to consider video as an art form, was influential in establishing the field of media arts. ...

• Butoh Cone (Julian Oliver)
• Carmageddon data-bending
• The Pellucid World

See also

• Computer-generated art
• Demomaker
• Artistic computer game modification
• Digital puppetry

A computer-generated mountain Computer-generated art is art created with a computer. ... .werkkzeug 1. ... Artistic computer game modification involves the use of a computer game for the creation of a digital artwork. ... Digital puppetry is the manipulation and performance of digitally animated 2D or 3D figures and objects in a virtual environment that are rendered in real-time by computers. ...

Notes

References

is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... “PDF” redirects here. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Disney Interactive Studios is the video game publishing division of The Walt Disney Company. ... A screenshot from the Stunt Island intro movie, a movie itself created using Stunt Island Stunt Island is a computer game designed by Adrian Stephens and was published by Disney Interactive in 1992. ... June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Joystiq is a video gaming weblog founded in June 2004 that has since become one of the most successful sites within the Weblogs, Inc. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Condé Nast Publications Inc is a worldwide magazine publishing company based in New York City. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Geography Status City (1951) Region East of England Admin. ... “PDF” redirects here. ... ISSN, or International Standard Serial Number, is the unique eight-digit number applied to a periodical publication including electronic serials. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... “PDF” redirects here. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The ILL Clan is a Machinima production team, based in Brooklyn, New York City. ... For other uses, see Scottsdale . ... Peter Horvath doing a grenade jump on a Spawn in E4M3 [1] (The Elder God Shrine) in order to jump over a large lava pit for the upcoming Quake done Quick with a Vengeance Part II Quake done Quick is a series of machinima and speedrun movies in which Quake... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Machinima. ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 225th day of the year (226th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Machinima at the Open Directory Project
• Machinima Premiere, films, articles, blogs, and reviews
• Machinima.com, films and articles
• Machinima for Dummies, supported by an active blog with errata and additional content
• Paul Marino at the GDC, Paul Marino's speech on Machinima at the Game Developers Conference 2006
• Warcraft Movies, a resource for World of Warcraft machinima
• Sims99, another engine-specific site