Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Machinima Madness

Definitions

I Was a Teenage Machinima Maker - A short, but phenomenal article that explains what machinima is, the steps involved in producing it, and the effect that it can have on teens

Machinima Explained: From Concept to Finished Scene in Bloodspell - The article might be useful to teachers in helping them to see the kind of literacy practices involved in the creation of machinima.



Examples

April Hoffman - The Awakening, Part 2 is a great example of how teens are using the avatars and backgrounds from videogames to create their own full length feature films.

Bells & Spurs - Machinima-style video created based on an existing piece of text.

Chaucer's A Pardoner's Tale - Students used machinima created from the World of Warcraft videogame to interpret A Pardoner's Tale

Machinima to Watch - Be sure to preview before using with students as the content may not be appropriate for the classroom

Machinimasia - This site appears to have been recently launched, so there isn't a lot of content on it yet, but you will find a nice example of "comic machinima" here. For more examples, visit Gamics.com or Comical Capers.



Spin-offs (Nintendo Miis)

Machinima-like techniques are being used to create tutorials for making “miis” . . . . What is most interesting to me, though, is the interview-based style of the tutorial. They don’t SAY anything about “here’s how to do it” . . . they SHOW how to do it, they keep the pacing brisk, and then the interview track provides almost metacontent and commentary via an interview format. It is really quite clever when you actually think about what they are doing/accomplishing. It also says a TON about the learning and thinking styles of 21st Century kids.

Contrast that with the official Mii advertisement/tutorial.

And contrast Second Life with Mii Parade.

Even business people like to play!





Implications

ILL Machinima: Has the slope of the curve increased? - An interesting blog posting re: the relationship between machinima, tech trends, media, and the future. Be sure to read the last insightful comment posted in response to the mention of copyright issues that explains the important distinction between copying the game itself and using the game engine as a creative tool.

One Word For You Hollywood: Machinima - Interesting article outlining the commercial advantages of machinima. Note that it appears in the Money section of CNN, not the entertainment or technology section.




Tips

Capturing Game Video: Part 1 - Outlines basic steps.

Eric Linden's Top 10 Machinima Tips - A list of steps to get would-be machinima-makers started using Second Life

Machinima Articles - By Category - How To - A list of articles that explain how to accomplish various effects and tasks in machinima production

Making Machinima: Part 1 - Describes the machinima-making process in detail, along with info. on technical considerations. It assumes a pretty strong level of tech skill.

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