Making Films with Video Games: What is Machinima?

Film is an ever-evolving medium. People with home movies can be stars on the Internet and independent filmmakers have more diverse tools to use. A very interesting and exciting form of film has emerged within the last ten years that takes video game worlds and tools to make movies and tell stories. The method has gone from unknown to popular, to the extent of conventions, web communities, and a constant stream of new material. The art is called machinima, and it is a different take on film that most anyone can pursue

The basic things one needs to make machinima are minimal. You need a video game, preferably one that multiple people can play, a script, and enough knowledge to manipulate the camera in the game environment. By focusing on a player, or by showing the action through the screen of another player, action can be captured and recorded. Machinima is a cheap way to produce short films and series. Many people who make machinima are very experienced with the game they use, which is highly recommended. This turns out to be of great aide; the more you know about the game and its limitations, the more you can harbor what the game can do to make filming easier. The tricks and faults you find in the game itself can often be used to the advantage of the story, and the main challenge of machinima is telling a story with using limitations in the game.

Machinima is becoming more and more mainstream with each year and new hit. Groups and kids create independent shorts with PC games, console games, and often use mods (alterations of the game) to fill their needs. Other groups have gotten more commercial, such as the case of the folks behind the web machinima series Red vs. Blue. The team used the popular games Halo and Halo 2 to make a comedy series. Groups such as these are sprouting more frequently, and have even garnered enough support to branch out to different series, sell merchandise, and produce quality films with editing software. For more information on this group, visit www.redvsblue.com.

Machinima is a form of film that has been available to game players for years, but has only recently been explored in full. Games from The Sims, Halo, World of Warcraft, and others are prime and ready for talented and novice filmmakers to harness and turn into art. If you or your friends want to try to make machinima films, find more tips and inspirations at www.machinima.org, and for more series to discover visit www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinima.