Play's the Thing: Machinima in the Gameworld reviews
Review by on 24 Sep 2008
So what do John McCain, Alfred Hitchcock and a Budweiser commercial have in common? No it isn't a bad joke: they all feature in 'Play's the thing: Machinima in the Gameworld, part of the Machinima season at this year's Cambridge film festival.
For those who are still baffled by the term, Machinima is a new art form often created using videogame engines with either specialist software or 'hacks' (or 'mods' ) that allow users to generate their own content and manipulate the Gameworld inside a video game to do exactly as they please.
This has created a new film genre available widely for free to watch on websites such as Youtube and Veoh, with the most popular videos accumulating millions of ‘hits’ - or views.
Machinima videos range from short spoofed music videos, commercials or parodies to longer full-length feature films. Part of the beauty of the genre is how easy it is for anyone without any knowledge of programming to create their own Machinima movies on very little or no budget at all, with software such as Moviestorml.
Machinima in the Gameworld’ featured various different examples of Machinima in a 90 minute screening, many of which were being shown on a cinema screen for the first time. Games featured included 'Second Life', 'Half life' and one of the most popular online games of the last few years , 'World of Warcraft'. Short films ranged from a documentary of what you can do in 'second life' to a highly enjoyable and hilarious parody of The Budweiser 'American heroes' advert, using the characters of Half-Life 2.
The screening was accompanied by a panel of Gareth Hughes from Sony games, Johnny Ingram of Moviestorm and Saint John Walker of The Film and Digital Media Exchange. The panel gave the audience an insight into the history of Machinima and how and why gamers and amateur film makers alike are bridging the gap between playing games and customising them directly as their own.
The event and the type of audience it attracted both showed that the genre originally associated with 'geeks' and 'hackers' is now moving towards the mainstream, giving amateurs an affordable and easily accessible way to create projects that would previously have been impossible without a high budget.
So what do John McCain, Alfred Hitchcock and a Budweiser commercial have in common? No it isn't a bad joke: they all feature in 'Play's the thing: Machinima in the Gameworld, part of the Machinima season at this year's Cambridge film festival.For those who are still baffled by the term, Machinima is a new art form often created using videogame engines with either specialist software or 'hacks' (or 'mods' ) that allow users to generate their own content and manipulate the Gameworld inside a video game to do exactly as they please.
This has created a new film genre available widely for free to watch on websites such as Youtube and Veoh, with the most popular videos accumulating millions of ‘hits’ - or views.
Machinima videos range from short spoofed music videos, commercials or parodies to longer full-length feature films. Part of the beauty of the genre is how easy it is for anyone without any knowledge of programming to create their own Machinima movies on very little or no budget at all, with software such as Moviestorml.
Machinima in the Gameworld’ featured various different examples of Machinima in a 90 minute screening, many of which were being shown on a cinema screen for the first time. Games featured included 'Second Life', 'Half life' and one of the most popular online games of the last few years , 'World of Warcraft'. Short films ranged from a documentary of what you can do in 'second life' to a highly enjoyable and hilarious parody of The Budweiser 'American heroes' advert, using the characters of Half-Life 2.
The screening was accompanied by a panel of Gareth Hughes from Sony games, Johnny Ingram of Moviestorm and Saint John Walker of The Film and Digital Media Exchange. The panel gave the audience an insight into the history of Machinima and how and why gamers and amateur film makers alike are bridging the gap between playing games and customising them directly as their own.
The event and the type of audience it attracted both showed that the genre originally associated with 'geeks' and 'hackers' is now moving towards the mainstream, giving amateurs an affordable and easily accessible way to create projects that would previously have been impossible without a high budget.
Review by on 23 Sep 2008
Just like DREAMS AND SHADOWS and SYNTHETIC CINEMA before it, PLAY’S THE THING was more of an homage and demonstration of Machinima as an art form rather than a greatest hits of the genre celebration. This session focussed more on the gaming than the narrative aspect of Machinima, with special guest Gareth Hughes, an employee of Sony Games, providing insight into the workings of the games used to create the pieces screened. Representing the Machinima side of the affair was Johnnie Ingram, co-author of Machinima For Dummies, who shared some interesting thoughts on the nature of the genre he has dedicated many years of his life to. As far as the shorts themselves it was a real mixed bag from the simple yet amusing THE PASSION OF THE MCCAIN, which spliced together pieces of speech by the Presidential candidate and former potential rival Hilary Clinton to create a bizarre short love story. This was a perfect example of the kind of videos that could be found throughout the Internet from amateurs, created in their spare time, with Machinima allowing for an interesting new avenue of presentation. Some of the other pieces ran a little long such as SHADOW OF A DOUBT and LIFE ON LIFE, a hazard of Machinima that is sadly commonplace. Strangest of all was HL2 NIGHTMARE, a relentless series of Hitchcock references that certainly won’t be seen elsewhere anytime soon. Overall this was not the strongest showing for the art but was certainly not without its merits.
Matt Waters, Festival Daily
Just like DREAMS AND SHADOWS and SYNTHETIC CINEMA before it, PLAY’S THE THING was more of an homage and demonstration of Machinima as an art form rather than a greatest hits of the genre celebration. This session focussed more on the gaming than the narrative aspect of Machinima, with special guest Gareth Hughes, an employee of Sony Games, providing insight into the workings of the games used to create the pieces screened. Representing the Machinima side of the affair was Johnnie Ingram, co-author of Machinima For Dummies, who shared some interesting thoughts on the nature of the genre he has dedicated many years of his life to. As far as the shorts themselves it was a real mixed bag from the simple yet amusing THE PASSION OF THE MCCAIN, which spliced together pieces of speech by the Presidential candidate and former potential rival Hilary Clinton to create a bizarre short love story. This was a perfect example of the kind of videos that could be found throughout the Internet from amateurs, created in their spare time, with Machinima allowing for an interesting new avenue of presentation. Some of the other pieces ran a little long such as SHADOW OF A DOUBT and LIFE ON LIFE, a hazard of Machinima that is sadly commonplace. Strangest of all was HL2 NIGHTMARE, a relentless series of Hitchcock references that certainly won’t be seen elsewhere anytime soon. Overall this was not the strongest showing for the art but was certainly not without its merits.Matt Waters, Festival Daily
Film details
Play's the Thing: Machinima in the Gameworld
GAME, SET AND MACHINIMA
UK, 2008.
90 mins. English.
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