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Author's Note: How Machinima Works
I first became aware of machinima before I even knew it had a name. I'm a fan of the "Halo" video game series and discovered a comedic Web series called "Red vs. Blue." The series used the "Halo" game engine as a digital puppet theater, with the puppeteers controlling multiplayer characters. Instead of shooting each other, the guys behind "Red vs. Blue" would manipulate their characters to act out scripts. As I was writing this article, our site director, Tracy Wilson, pointed me to a charmingly silly machinima music video for the Jonathan Coulton song "Code Monkey." That's how I became a Jonathan Coulton fan. I still like machinima -- when used correctly, video games are a great vehicle for storytelling. But I think all potential machinima artists need to remember that the story should always come first. The tools are useless unless you have something to say.
Sources
- Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences http://www.machinima.org
- Georgia Tech Machinima Group http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/machinima
- Machinima Premiere http://www.mprem.com
- Machinima.com http://www.machinima.com
- Methenitis, Mark. "Let's Talk About Machinima." The Law of the Game. April 2007. http://lawofthegame.blogspot.com/2007/04/ lets-talk-about-machinima-part-1-of-3.html
- Museum of the Moving Image http://www.movingimage.us/machinima/
- Newitz, Annalee. "Machinima for the Masses." Wired Magazine, January 25, 2006. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70058