The Rise and Fa … well just the Rise of Machinima Sept. 8th

History of Machinima

The Beginning

• Doom (id soft) 1994 – demo feature

– Captured in-game element movement – not actual video frames– good for showing other people strategy

and to show off

The Beginning

• Quake 1 (id soft) 1996 – demo feature. – True 3D game– greater camera control and quality

shots – demos hosted on websites

Let their be Quake

•Quake Play Demos Spread•Demos got more elaborate

–Larger audiences –Narratives start to form

•“Diary of a camper” –First Quake movie–By Rangers

Editing Quake

•LMPC format–By Uwe Girlich, a PhD in Germany–Turned quake demos into text files

•Keygrip–Nonlinear editing tool for Quake demos

The Second Quake

• Quake 2 (id soft) 97-98– Allowed player made content to be added– But no third party software to help make

movies

New Camera Techniques

• Keygrip 2– New feature called Recamming

• The Strange Company– First Quake movie with self-made

assets– “Eschaton: Nightfall” (1999).

• Other Movies followed.– “Father Frags Best” – “Apartment Huntin’”

Another Quake?

• Now Quake 3 … buuuuut no new demo features.– Id soft needed to protect its Network

Code– This made it hard for Quake movie

makers

• With that Quake movies started to fade.

DemoScene

•A Demo–“non-interactive audio-visual presentations, which are run real-time on a computer”

- Wikipedia

•“Gift” by Potion

Machinima.com

• Machinima.com started in 2000– Hugh Hancock, strange company– Anthony Bailey, Quake done Quick– “Machine” and “Cinema” =

Machinema = Machinima.

• Quad God – First Quake 3 film– Released first on Machinima.com

What Else Happened in ‘00

• Foutainhead Ent. Lead – Katherine Anna Kang, director of business

development at id Soft

• Other games used for Machinimas– Unreal Engine– Half-life– Rune

• Roger Ebert column – In Yahoo! Internet life about Machinima – “extraordinary”

• ILL Clan’s “Hardly Workin’”

2001

• ILL Clan wins awards • Showtime Networks Alternative Media Festival

(2001)

• Machinima Articles and Press– A.I. used machinima for preproduction

• Epic Games– Makers of Unreal Engine – Annouced Matinee, a tool specifically

for machinima creation

Machinima.org

•Machinima.org–Started in 2002 at GDC–First Machinima Film Festival Aug. 2002, Quakecon

•But the films were once again fading.

Machinima goes main stream

• “In the Waiting Line In” - Zero 7– first Machinima music video – appeared on MTV 2003

• ILL Clan preforms live machinima– At Florida Film Festival.

New tools

• New Games– Dark Ages of Camelot– Bafflefield 1942– Halo

• Amateurs gain production tools– Fraps– Access to Final Cut, Premiere

RvB

• Red vs Blue – Starts in 2003/2004– Easier to deliver online content– Quickly gains a lot of viewers

New Engines

• Year of the Great Games– Unreal 2004– Doom 3– Half-Life 2– World of Warcraft

Last year

• The Codex released– Made with Halo– Split into episodes

• God of War Machinima Promo– Heavy.com and Sony release Pimp my

Weapon • The Spartan Life premieres• Georgia Tech has students make

machinimas• PC game The Movies released

This Year

• Empire at war is released – cinematic camera feature

• Georgia Tech Machinima Group starts

• More Large Machinimas Released– Bloodspell (Strange Company)– Potentior (Nick Werner, Stanford)

More Machinima

• Guards• My Trip to Liberty City• Pachinima• PANICS• The Journey• Purple vs Pink• American Baby in Iraq• Flying Mounts

Project 1

• Critique Machinima• Turn in on the Class server• Due on the 21st