Making movies in video games: why the film world is finally ready to take ‘machinima’ seriously
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Tuesday, May 16, 2023
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The term has been defined as “films made by real-time three-dimensional computer graphics rendering engines”, but it essentially means films made using video games.
Key Points:
- The term has been defined as “films made by real-time three-dimensional computer graphics rendering engines”, but it essentially means films made using video games.
- My own machinima film is titled We Are Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On.
- The exact origins of machinima are debated, but it’s generally agreed that the first machinima film was Diary of a Camper.
- In 2003, the production company Rooster Teeth created a web series Red vs Blue using the video game Halo (2001).
Machinima’s critical reception
- I think a closer look at Ebert’s comments on machinima reveal the biases and misapprehension around video game culture that explain this.
- While recognising the revolutionary potential of video games as a filmmaking technique, Ebert saw machinima as “visually impressive but empty”.
- He thought it was restricted by its associations with the style and themes of video games, forever existing outside the realm of “cinematic art”.
The future of machinima
- This year also marks the first time that a major international film festival has presented an entire programme of machinima.
- Oberhausen may not have the global brand recognition of Cannes or Venice, but when it selects its programme, the film world sits up.
- Oberhausen’s sold-out programme of films made within video games can be seen as the moment when machinima transcended its gaming subculture, to become a mature artistic medium in mainstream visual storytelling.