This video illustrates how a machinima video can be used in the place of storyboards as a tool to show how the movie is going to be played out in the finished film:
Allows filmmakers to make their entire movie in rough, quickly and easily. The director can control the action, place and move cameras, rehearse timings, and even do a rough edit of the film, without needing to be an animator, and witout needing to construct sets or call in actors.
This way cost is significantly reduced since it makes the filming process easier. No more unnecessary shots and scenes ending up on the cutting room floor. Using machinima would be great for actions shots in which the director is trying to get the right angle.
I have been reading a book called Machinima about using machinima to make movies with no cost. Machinima is based on the technology that is used to make computer games. A machinima movie would basically look like the movie cut scenes that pop up when you’re playing a computer game. Basically to create Machinima all one needs to do is take a pre-existing game and make modifications (or mods) to the game engine. The game engine is what controls the AI characters, the characters not controlled by the player. This describes what one accomplish with modifications:
For machinimators (filmmakers using machinima), modding is a vital piece of the puzzle. It doesn’t matter if the story is set in a world that doesn’t currently exist in a commercial game, or if the basic game doesn’t have exactly the right characters. As long as the engine does all that the machinimator wants it to, sets and characters can be added. There’s nothing stopping machinimators from recreating medieval Parague in Unreal Torunament, or an Antarctic research station in Battlefield. Half-Life could play host to Al Capone or the Stainless steel rat or both.
This video below was created from the Max Payne game engine with added voice overs:
This movie was created from using the game engine of Grand Theft Auto IV:
The only thing with using machinima vs traditional 3d animation is that you sacrifice quality for speed. An animator has to render movement frame by frame which takes hours if not days. A machinimator on the other hand relies upon the game engine which generates the environment, the characters and how the characters move. The only thing is that the detail and realism of 3d animation has yet to be achieved by machinimation. But video game developers have been getting better at it. Only time can tell.
If you go on machinima.com you can check out more movies and also music videos that utilize machinima technology. Check it out.
The artist attempts to make inner truths visible, audible, or sensible in some way, by manifesting them in the external, material world (through drawing, painting, song, etc.). To produce their finest works, artists lose themselves in the flow of creation from their inner worlds. The visionary artist creatively expresses her or his personal glimpses of the Divine Imagination.
ALEX GREY
