I miss the simple times when everything was easier.

When Machinima first started, things were simpler because the games were simpler. Modding was easier and the audience generally understood that a lot of imagination was required from them for the film to make any kind of sense. If a gun looked more like a baguette, or if a tree looked more like a brown trident with green safety tips, it didn’t matter. You got a pass. Granted, the technical side of Machinima was shaky ground and for almost all of us there was a big learning curve in that respect, but creatively we got away with murder.

Custom animations were so rare even after a while, that bobbing characters’ bodies backwards and forwards was an acceptable substitute for emoting. If the camera was on a character while you heard a voice, your imagination did the lip sync.

The reason I’m taking you back in time is because of my own feelings of distance from the naive 18 year old boy I was when Machinima began changing me. Back then the sky truly was the limit. There was no such thing as “start small” dammit, if I could imagine the film I could create it – such is Machinima’s power – all hail the new king!! To me there was no difference between what we were doing and what the guys at Pixar were doing (yeah, I know). What they did was CGI, and as far as I was concerned we had the same. I didn’t take into account any of the many things we ignored as game players. Foot sliding, frame skipping, bad quality sound, cuboid heads, awkward poses (really, removing the gun from the character’s hand and leaving him in that weird pose made him look even weirder) were all absorbed by our blind spot, and since only players of the games would watch the stuff, the majority of us were ignorant to this whole galaxy of omissions and short cuts.

Computer games went from 1 man projects to multi million dollar ventures, and since it’s birth Machinima too has moved on in great leaps. Not only technically, but creatively. In order for the larger world to accept out creations we had to construct our films using a more universal (often cinematic) language, not just the visual colloquialisms of Quake, Half-life, or Unreal tournament (or any of the many other games engines for that matter).

As a result we now have a much better ability to tell those stories. BEAST, for example, could simply not have been told in Quake 1 or 2 with the original conventions of Machinima (so much so that it just wouldnt be the same film). What really frightens me now is the idea that this increased ability to visually present ideas might be vastly greater than my ability to actually TELL a richer and more complex story. When I wrote short shorts, it was so simple. I would have an aim, come up with a scenario, and present the ideas and thoughts that proceeded, all in one scene. That’s the hook. Simple ideas, one (or at least only few) scenes. There were no grand arcs to consider, no deliberations over scene order, much less worry about pace and lasting cohesion, the list goes on.

Last night I finished writing the story for Digital Memory, the Science Fiction film we will hopefully begin producing soon. I looked at the page and thought “Man, this is gonna be one hard film to make”. I suddenly felt much like I did all those years ago, just after realising for the first time that simply having an idea and lots of enthusiasm just isn’t enough. It was when an old friend and I wanted to make our first Machinima film, which unsurprisingly turned into a feature length story. Young dumb and full of cum, we somehow thought we could magically get through production of all the scenes and still have time in our young lives to get girlfriends. “All hail the new king” right? WRONG!!!

Along with imaginative ideas we need tenacity, self confidence, a work ethic, time (lots of it), money (a better computer can let you have the number of characters you need!), and a nice little bag of skills. I hate how the lovely song this siren sings often makes me forget some of the hard learned lessons from my (simpler) early days. Or is it that I CAN’T forget the short comings I had back then, and they live on strong and vibrant in the form of my current insecurities?

Back in the simpler times these kind of thoughts couldn’t slow me down because they didn’t exist. And I can’t even be angry about it. The ambition to make the next film better than the last is how we improve.

By comparison, formulating new plans for the technical execution of this film has been much easier than creating the story. I could choose to make a different, simpler film, or I can choose to stay with the harder story that constantly swims in my mind and refuses to be left untold. Let’s hope it all works out.

Last time we saw that a great way of populating films is to look at multiple sources. Sometimes a game has an adequate online community like in the case of The Sims 2, but of course there can be so much more. A long time ago now a site called Polycount, part of the Gamespy Network hosted custom models made for various FPS games (doesn’t quite offer that same diversity today).

Programs like Milkshape 3D make it possible to bring models from different games together in one environment. I believe the reason most Machinima artists never do such things is because of the sometimes very stringent rules that the models must adhere to. There can be bad limits on the number of polygons (especially in older games), there maybe be a specific skeletal structure and naming system, complicated texturing systems, tags for separate parts of the models and then you’d almost always need to animate the model again from scratch… in short, it can be a nightmare.

But what I’ve always found to be worse is when I need a model, and I know I wont get it cause I just can’t model. I’m no good at it, and it’s really no time for me to start learning. As any kind of artist there should always be a limit to how many hats you wear anyway. When people new to Machinima often ask “What game is best for Machinima?”, the answer is usually “depends on what kind of film you want to make”, which is a good answer as theres not much sense in making a film about interstellar travel full of futuristic technology in a game like World Of Warcraft. However the plain fact of the matter is that some games have more Machinima friendly features than others.

So imagine being able to mix as many of the communities together as you wanted. Not via limited techniques like chroma key, but actually combining 3D assets. Using Sims 2 furniture to lavishly decorate a house in Half Life 2, or some futuristic weapons from Quake 3 going into the hands of a Sim. On the large scale it would offer an almost limitless supply of resources, provided they could be exported in 3D form. For characters, the possibilities are more limited, but for props, weapons, furniture, textures it can often be done with much less effort. As I said in part one this can become even more valuable when you move outside of the game engine as you may still be able to use resources for other games (and as nicely pointed out by Gtoon in a comment, there are already pipelines geared towards a similar way of thinking, like Reallusions 3DXchange tool). Provided you obtain permission from authors and have no intention to sell your film, it really does open up the possibilities.

As a very limited example of this, I have a short film made using models from the Freedom Force community. Freedom Force would be a great game for Superhero Machinima but finer control of the models can be difficult. So (with permission of the models authors) I have a bunch of Freedom Force custom-made models in Motionbuilder, and have recreated a page from a Marvel Civil War comic. Maybe I could have placed them all in a Sims 2 house. Now THAT would have been interesting. It was just a little piece for fun so in great Leo Lucien-Bay style, the sound is F’d up but the film is watchable.

I hope that we can really benefit from a larger amount of remixing for future projects. We have done it to small extents, but never really taken it very far. Imagine the possibilities. Of course there is a question of opposing styles, but considering the large amount of content available It can definitely be made to work. Digital Memory (a sci-fi film we hope to begin work on soon) will most definitely be made from the arms and legs of different bodies. Lets hope it works.

Today I hoped to continue from my previous blog post but received the very sad news that Peter Rasmussen, most well known to us in the community for the films Stolen Life and The Killer Robot, has died. I was very shocked to hear this and truth be told I’m still hoping someone says theres been some miscommunication, but I fear that is not the case.
I had only spoken to Peter a few times, and while many of us never new him personally, I have no doubt that many others share the same respect I had for him, and will miss him and the further contributions he was to make to our art.

It’s been extremely hectic here at The Show over the last few months but finally things have cooled down and I can get back to updating this blog and working on our next big film.

Some of the work we’ve done recently, you will know about, whereas others have been kept fairly quiet. Shortly after finishing Roommate Wanted I started another commissioned project for Antics Technologies. Very much like RW, the aim was to make a film that showed some of the strengths of the tool and show how accessible it can be. For anyone who has used Antics (there’s a free version now, so you really have no excuse if not) it has some great benefits such as simple set construction and the great way the characters can interact with objects and scenery. Everytime I use it I end up thinking it’s very much like The Sims 2 without all the annoying things you have to do to get the characters to behave.

One thing that was very difficult to get around though, was the basic lip sync and lack of facial animation, and of course using one of my favorite Reallusion products to fix that was not a big option in this case. Regardless, I think it turned out quite nicely. It’s actually been out for a few weeks now, but because I’ve been so deep in another commission and recently moved house, I could only announce it now. It’s called Anonymous Coward and you can catch it in the Antics Cinema (where you will also notice a film by CJ Ambrosia). The guys at Antics seemed quite pleased with it, so hopefully you guys will enjoy it too.

The third project was a big one. Unlike the previous two which I was easily able to do alone, this project had a much bigger budget so really needed the team and as always, Dreaded Kane emerged from the bat cave and rolled up his sleeves (for any1 who doesn’t know, Kane is a long standing member of the Justice Lea – er.. Binary Picture Show). The film was called Peter’s Story, and was unlike anything I ever imagined us doing. This was a 6 minute information video and as the title suggests, it’s a narrative film and I worked very closely with Professor Paul Foley of De Montfort University (going to last years UK Machinima festival was very worth it).

It was great to do (first ‘useful’ thing we’ve done) and everyone loves money, but now that’s over I can get back to writing films with lots of swearing, angst, and possibly some nudity until the next such project comes along. For ages I’ve been meaning to fix up our website, so that’s a big priority too.

I’m resuming work on the project I started shortly after BEAST. It’s a Sci-Fi film in which I hope to use Daz 3D character models . Yes, they’re way too high in polycount, but tomorrow I hope to shed some light on it all (should be very interesting), along with the part the recently released Craytalk 5 will play in the film.
What’s more, I was given a sneak peak at Iclone 3 and it’s got me very excited!
But enough for today. check back later for more happenings at Binary Picture Show and my thoughts on IC3!

Since doing BEAST I’ve been so busy I haven’t even had time to blog about the new things I’ve learned, or the new plans that I have for the next big Binary Picture piece. I haven’t had chance to talk with many of my close online friends, and the research I was doing for our next big film has been on pause for about a month now (when I finally unveil that it’ll be so cool though!).

But it’s not all bad news! One of the things I have been able to do recently is a little comedy short for Reallusion, using Iclone 2.5
It’s a fun little piece fit for the family (no need to cover your kid’s eyes while a man bashes the crap out of another man who’s tied up in the chair this time) and it’s called “Roommate Wanted”. Although not yet at it’s peak, I’ve always liked Iclone, and thought it has potential to contribute very nicely to Machinima. For various reasons most of the things made in it seem to be music videos so I was quite happy to do a film. Hope you all Enjoy it. You can find the youtube link below and a Stage 6 version should follow shortly.

For any of you Icloners I’ve also made available the living room set that I made for the film. You can import it to Iclone as a prop. Has transparent windows, and you can edit the texture.

Youtube Link
Living Room prop (for iclone)

I’d also like to give a big thanks to Phil Rice who very nicely did the voice of “Mr Bilko”!

As promised, these notes, though written after the films production, will try to explain some of the creative decisions behind Beast. I’ve already made a couple of posts regarding it’s significance in terms of facial animation in Machinima, so I’ll leave out the technical stuff.

As many already know, Beast was made in an attempt to make the audience engage strongly with a Machinima film. I would say it’s designed to evoke an emotional response more so than most Machinima films so was very difficult to make. Many Machinima artists are familiar with making comedy or action whereas is this is something much less practiced for many of us.
First of all the idea behind the film is something many people feel strongly about as revenge is a well visited theme in cinema. Some of you may have watched the film and found that it reminded you very much of certain others and in fact it’s heavily inspired by Park Chan-wook’s ‘Vengeance Trilogy’: Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. It may also have reminded you of other films like Reservoir Dogs and maybe Se7en, the list could probably go on and on.

(Read the rest)

While the film is nothing revolutionary in terms of storytelling it was a massive challenge not only because of the limitations often experienced in Machinima, but also because it was meant to exist as a short story and as such needed to be kept concise, potentially compressing a feature length story into a five minute film. This means the film’s objectives had to be laid out clearly and while I didn’t want the audience to understand what was happening immediately, I had to make sure the film wasn’t too confusing at any point.

The script was divided into four sections I called the introduction, the banter, the reveal, and the revenge and it was in these sections the very short growth of the characters was to take place. The opening of the scene is something that is very easy to recognize as borrowed from some of the inspirations that I mentioned above. The beauty of having Skiff tide up is that it placed the man in a position of complete power and control. This automatically makes the viewer start to ask questions, which are further compounded by the man asking a question that must doubtlessly be running through Skiff’s mind. Not “Where am I?” but “Who is this man?” and “Why am I here?”. With the introduction over there was only the ‘banter’ section left for the audience to glean what kind of people these characters where before the film changed. I think this is where the bonds with, or dislike of the characters is best made. Some might think this is something that really happens in the ‘reveal’, but in reality the reveal doesn’t give you much choice as far as emotions go. It set the Man up as the victim and Skiff as the bad guy –period. In the banter there was more room to maneuver and the characters have a chance to judge each other in addition to us deciding who was good or bad at this point. Of course the reveal is where the heartstrings are ultimately pulled yet where the ambiguity many people have expressed feeling also seems to come in.
The Man’s story is obviously a sad one, but it’s afterwards that we seem to see a change in Skiff’s character, and the abrupt move on to the revenge section snatches his ability to show any remorse or verbally express any possible feelings of regret. That’s great if you’re on the man’s side, but for those in the audience who anticipated an option for forgiveness or defiance – that is snatched away. At the film’s release event, at The Machiniplex someone even brought up the possibility that this wasn’t the man who committed the crime and that it may have been a case of mistaken identity. While I think that’s a stretch, it’s none the less one possibility that the viewer might be left exploring due to the sudden change of pace. This isn’t how things were planned originally. My first idea was to make the man gradually decend into a rage during the reveal, but I felt that the energy during the revenge wouldn’t have the same high.
The last aim was to hint at a feeling of emptiness in the man after Skiff had been killed. This is what I thought would ultimately make the story a tragedy: the fact that although the man had now succeeded in his long-term aim, he was at a dead end rather than relieved or satisfied. This in turn could raise further questions for the viewer. What now? Where will he go? Can he rebuild his life? Does he deserve to?
This is why in the end, despite the films burrowed premise, and somewhat familiar scene of the “guy tied to a chair” it was difficult to craft.

If anyone would like to find out even more, Ricky Grove has written quite a bit about the film, over at the Machiniplex blog.