Fountainhead Boss On Machinima Perils

Thanks to Machinima.com for their interview with Fountainhead Entertainment boss Katherine Anna Kang, in which the ex-id software biz person discusses their "independent production company that specializes in documentaries and animation... our specialty is Machinima" - that is, "filmmaking within a real-time, 3D virtual environment", often involving videogame engines. Kang laments: "I'm sad that Machinima isn't as popular as I thought it would be by today... the one thing that worries me is that Machinima will be seen as a hobby and not taken seriously, and that very much annoys me." She also mentions: "We may open-source an academic version of [in-house movie tool] Machinimation in the very near future."

Video Game animation

[Fux the Penguin]

"I'm sad that Machinima isn't as popular as I thought it would be by today... the one thing that worries me is that Machinima will be seen as a hobby and not taken seriously, and that very much annoys me." She also mentions: "We may open-source an academic version of [in-house movie tool] Machinimation in the very near future."

I agree with the author of this article. I've really enjoyed a lot of the video game animation I've seen from hobbiests and students. I'm a big fan of the Star Wars Kid [jedimaster.net] and Homestar Runner [homestarrunner.com]. It's too bad that more people aren't aware of the students and hobbyists who make these highly entertaining shorts available to us, between classes and during time off from their real jobs. Perhaps with the release of the anemic version of their tool, more students and hobbyists will be able to create short works placed on obscure websites for our enjoyment. Who knows, maybe one day they will rival the likes of SpikeTV and The Outdoor Life network for our entertainment dollar.

Re:Video Game animation

[SuuSt]

That's not really Machinima, that's mostly cartoons/video editing done a computer. What she's referring to is videos made entirely within a pre-existing 3d environment like a video game engine. The acting is similar to traditional movies in that there are takes and people can mess it up, it's not being meticulously animated.

hence: Red vs. Blue [redvsblue.com]

Re:yhbt

[SuuSt]

NO U!

Re:Video Game animation

[a.koepke]

While it may or may not be "open source", it certainly isn't Free Software. If you believe in Freedom, pray for this company to go under.

Who said that open source programs must be free? Some people do have to make a living somehow.

I believe in Freedom but certainly will not be praying or hoping for any company that charges for its open source software to go under.

Re:Video Game animation

[ditto999999999999999]

"Acadmic version" certainly doesn't imply anything but an academic version. What do you mean?

A "Fountainhead Boss"? (offtopic but I had to ask)

[sigxcpu]

Isn't a "Fountainhead Boss" something from Dilbert?

Re:A "Fountainhead Boss"? (offtopic but I had to a

[a.koepke]

No... Dilbert has the Pointy Haired Boss (PHB)

Re:A "Fountainhead Boss"? (offtopic but I had to a

[daeley]

You're thinking of the non-quite-as-famous comic Randbert.

interesting, but that's about it for me

[jermyjerm]

I'm interested in filmmaking and animation, and the Machinima concept piqued my interest when I first heard about it, but for someone who doesn't have any kind of experience with 3D modeling, it seems just as prohibitive as learning 'regular' 3D animation techniques. Maybe more-so, since I don't have a LAN at my disposal (well, I'm just lacking nearby fellow geeks) and if I was going to spend time gathering voice actors and such, I might as well be spending that time finding actors for live action films.

I

For example...

[chendo]

The Blood Gulch Chronicles by Red vs Blue [redvsblue.com] is machinima.

Machinema is not...

[yellow*five]

Prerendered cutscenes. It is not necessarily "live acted", although Red vs. Blue is. It can be scripted and keyframed. It's defined by being "in engine", meaning rendered at one point in real time by what is typically a game engine. This is most often seen in cutscenes in action games that don't cut out to some prerendered or animated sequence. When a community as tech savvy as /. doesn't really understand what machinema is, I think it's a little early to worry about how seriously it will be taken.

Machinama is currently very limited in scope

[lidocaineus]

...at the moment. I am optimistic that it will change, but there's always the danger of it being niche'd to death.

I am surrounded by bohemian types - writers, actors, all sorts of artists... and everyone's always doing one of two things; either 1) trying to get as close as they can to perfect in their medium (either through traditional or very untraditional ways) or 2) trying to find a new, original medium. Machiniama is interesting because the idea isn't new, but the implementation is.

The problem

Re:Machinama is currently very limited in scope

[Schart]

...bohemian types...

/me shudders