Episodes
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What a fantastic short to end 2024 on... this week is yet another great creative work by GibbsonTV, released in April. The film is based on the award-winning Roblox-inspired game Lethal Company by Zeekerss. It's not actually machinima, being made in Blender, but in the spirit of being inspired by the game and with a original tale, it has all the right heritage for our show. Check out our comments and add your own - and see you on the other side of the New Year for more creative tidbits.
1:04 Introduction to the film, the game and the rules of storytelling
8:16 Inspired by Alien
10:36 The tools and the craft in storytelling, at times reminiscent of RVB
15:15 Voice acting and AI, and a little disappointment
16:53 Finding a way to be a creative long-term
18:28 Realtime vs 3D animation – the benefit of thinking like a machinimator
19:35 Anachronisms…
21:50 Sound advice?
24:26 Mocap and Damien’s approach to filmmaking
27:32 A demo reel strategy and drawing from the experiences of the early days in machinima
Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
Not an actual comparison but a review of two shorts: The Internet is for Porn by Evilhoof & Flayed, originally released way back in 2005 and The Marstons Celebrate Christmas, But Things Get Out of Hand, by Paradise385 released 22 Dec 2023. Lots of lampoonery in both our reviews, but we especially hope you enjoy watching them. Happy Christmas from the crew here at Completely Machinima.
1:45 The Internet is for Porn - porn, pawn or pwn?!
26:35 The Marstons Celebrate Christmas - a flaw fest, perfect for a glass in hand viewing, right after Miracle on 34th
39:50 Ricky's bonus update... HL2Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
Missing episodes?
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Our monthly news update this month covers more genAI matters, game-related items and WoWness in the form of a 2 hour + stunning orchestral performance celebrating 20 years of musical history. Check out the news and our discussion, and do leave comments too!
1:35 Pioneers in Machinima, published by Vernon Press, is becoming part of the genAI ecosystem + a plea to keep us up to date
13:05 AI filmmaking studio launched aka #mAIchinima
14:29 Silent Hill Remake 2 mod by Praydog
15:30 Philip Rosedale back at Second Life, yay!
21:25 Remarkable Life of Ibelin – a remarkable story
22:50 20 years of WoW, orchestral extravaganza
26:18 Steam Launcher update w/ machinima tools
29:30 Dragon Age Veilguard release
31:30 Half Life 2 20th anniversary RTX remix
37:40 The corollary of the unfinished game…
44:24 Mr Musk’s Diablo 4 recordCredits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
A Source Filmmaker short by Dominzki, this is another of his well-crafted stories told in 3 parts, called Mission. This episode we focus on the third part Exodus and discuss its merits in detail. We conclude that if there was ever a machinima that should be made in a film studio, this would be it. Check out our comments.
1:17 Tracy's introduction to the film
11:47 Complexity and dialogue
13:51 Scifi and the clone, and the director's clever device of using a disrupted world to portray the ethical considerations of cloning
15:31 Clay-like characters and the portrayal of emotion
17:09 The soundtrack and its role
18:53 Making this IRL, maybe Kim Kardashian could play the lead?
19:23 The Mobius strip is the masterful component
24:48 The art and craft is evidentCredits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
This week's film review is a Star Citizen cinematic machinima by Virtuality Media called Dangerous Love, beautifully made and with a well chosen music accompaniment. Its a tale that has a tragic twist for its lead character. The layers of emotion and depth to the storytelling are inspirational. Check out our review and do add your own comments.
1:12 Introducing the film and the creator
6:50 The music choice
7:50 The shots, life and death
14:50 This film is an inspiration
16:29 A story driven music video
17:25 Editing is weak
Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
Who doesn't love a good olde Western? This week we delve into a great short by avidredeadenjoyer, released 21 Sept 2024, called The Loss. It has been made in the only engine a Western machinima can be, RDR2. We all especially liked one particular shot, which really goes to the heart of why machinima has added so much to movie-making. This week, we also talk about a second pick, a Frontier: Elite 2 short by The Mystic Mushroom accompanied by the Blue Danube: The second best space sim ever made... Enjoy!
1:15 The Western vibe
4:00 The tropes, the story and the cinematography
5:15 Mid shots vs close-ups
7:25 The sentiment portrayed
11:22 The beginning, middle and end!
13:06 Music and foley
13:30 Steam trains: down memory lane for Tracy
16:02 An outstanding shot – tell us more @avidredeadenjoyer!
21:40 Mixing with Chopin maybe not the best choice?
24:50 The second best space sim ever made…
Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
A packed ep this month, key tools, what's happening roundup and some fascinating projects - links to everything on the Show Notes page of our website.
1:29 BBC Sound Archive
2:30 Auto painter AI for Blender
2:56 Google image/film search AI
5:00 Tribute to David Graham
6:05 Mouse: PI For Hire!
7:05 Azeroth politicised? Surely not!
10:13 Pigeon Bringer of Doom and Destroyer of Humanity, by Solofilms
10:50 The Flower that Never Dies, by NewGates Entertainment
11:21 Terminator and Cyberpunk 2077, by eli_handle_b.wav
12:27 Warhammer, JT Music
13:03 Ian Hubert’s Dynamo Dream Part 2 is finally out
14:13 Star Citizen Con updates SC1.0
18:31 Squadron 42 gameplay reveal update
23:09 Hubnet machinima, Overclock and EE Studios
26:15 Luminaria still open!
27:00 GTA Hamlet documentary, Sam Crane
28:40 Reallusion 3D character contest results – stunning work!
31:30 Movies Tycoon out of early access
Credits -
Speakers: Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
This week's ep we dedicate to a 3D animation by a French student collective made in their final year of studies, streamed through @TheRookiesCo channel. It is not technically #machinima as its made using traditional #animation tools but nonetheless we absolutely loved it - and its a recommendation by one of our channel's regular followers @3dchick. The film is a post-apocaylptic robot tale, inspired by Zaha Hadid's architectonic style.
2:00 Ricky's intro
8:25 Benevolence vs malificence? A moral tale for bots!
13:46 How to achieve personality in machines? This is an example reminiscent from the early days of machinima and the work of Peter Rasmussen
16:21 Cultural references in this film were not film-based but engineering based - is this a reflection of contemporary times and the emergent use of 3D animation tools?
18:45 A clever use of missing information to set the sceneCredits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood (Phil Rice MIA)
Producer/Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
In this ep, we discuss The Nomad | Cyberpunk 2077, a Lifepath cinematic by Zero-Sum Story, and Ian Hubert's Lazy Tutorials, which are not for the feinthearted yet somehow full of the very best machinima advice, such as "... just drag it to a place where you don't think it looks stupid" and "... imagine doing all this and actually putting in some effort - its something to think about" - yep, it sure is. Enjoy the discussions.
Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
This week, we review a machinima that has taken its inspiration and cue from the original movie Forbidden Planet, released in 1956. This is the animated and stylized sequel we've all been waiting for, set immediately after the events reported in the film. It has been written and directed by Biggs Trek, aka Philip Browne, whose creative talent shines through in this.
1:19 Intro to the film
6:00 Takes us back to the original film, in a very good way!
14:52 A couple of quibbles?
19:53 Color grading
23:00 Clay face
27:00 Eye movementCredits
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Ricky Grove
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
News update: interjecting our normal weekly service for a short special - Damien discusses the latest Kitbash contest. Links in the show notes.
Credits -
Speaker/Producer/Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
We have another packed news update ep this week, check out the show notes for links to our discussion points -
1:14 iClone 8 update discussion, and Phil picks the discussion up again at 34:38 on broken grass6:30 Baldur’s Gate 3 modding tools release discussion
8:20 Starfield expansion pack discussion
10:00 Documentary machinima: focus on TF2
10:45 Hollywood is broken: enter machinima? (Andreasson Horowitz seem to have had their eyes and ears closed for a few years!)
12:27 Game Sprout’s article about gameplay becoming performance
12:50 Denuvo’s release of Unbotify and discussion
25:00 YouTube app update discussion
27:30 Nice projects to take a look at, genAI and Metropius, an example of a deiselpunk world-based story with numerous creative treatments – worth taking a look at for its interesting monetisation strategy
32:00 Kane Pixel’s Backrooms, more ‘found footage’ fun!
37:36 Sketchfab and Epic’s Unreal Marketplace merge into FAB
45:15 YouTube AI disclosure rules – how are we complicit in a new citizen science project? We extend the discussion reflecting on the algorithm detection processes and what impact this may have on AI generated music and AI cloned voices.
1:06:50 Biggs Trek’s Forbidden Planet: Children of Krell (which we review in our ep next week) magazine article
1:07:47 Shameless plug: Phil and Damien’s channel livestreams, respectively on Sunday and Monday
Credits
Speakers: Damien Valentine, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice -
This week, we take a deep dive into a film from one of the original machinima creator studios, Dead on Cue. This comprised the duo Mike Holochwost and Brian Mayberry. The film, Fake Science, had a couple more iterations, including one that allowed it to be played in the game itself, which was Half Life. It was released some 3 years before YouTube, and is another great example of how games could be used to produce artworks. Its wide recognition led to careers in games dev and production for both Mike and Brian, the former working on RoosterTeeth's RWBY series and the latter on cinematics for games like the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic and Defiance. Brian is still active in the games dev industry and is working on his first game, called Gone Camping. Check out the discussion and memories we share.
Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Ricky Grove
Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
In this ep, we reflect on the key trends in #machinima we've observed during Season 4 of the Completely Machinima podcast. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the year too, so do add comments below.
During the past year, we have reviewed over 22 hours of content, and presented detailed analysis of over 50 films on this channel. As vets of the original community practices (that's pre YouTube and the M.com/Inc days), one of the great pleasures we take in this podcast is that we get to look at machinima and virtual production across the breadth of genres and engines, by creators from anywhere in the world, and reflect on where its come from, how its evolved and is developing.
This year, we have seen amazing quality films made in popular games such as Half-Life, World of Warcraft, Elden Ring, Star Citizen, Warhammer 40K and Team Fortress 2; have had the pleasure of exploring work made in entirely new games, like BeamNG and Deep Rock Galactic; and others made using engines in their base form such as Unreal, iClone and Source. We've also started to see #genAIs become integrated into processes and works. What a year for creatives and creativity!
Our main observation is that we have noted a resurgence of interest in machinima as a terms for the creative form, and we feel creators are at long last focussing on creative practices rather than their channel return. Of course its great when these things collide but it was never what machinima was about originally: it was the passion for great storytelling, using novel processes to achieve a desired outcome and to share that with a community of equally passionate others. Other observations are why we are not seeing as many traditional short stories as we used to...
We hope you enjoy this ep as much as we have making it.
Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Editor/Producer: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
This week we review two films and again attempt to work with a rather impressive AI genie who covers things we just could not... The first film selected is a Deep Rock Galactic music video machinima called We All Lift Together, using the Futuna theme song Warframe, made by Szczebrzeszyniarz Brzeczyszczyczmosszyski (yep, that's why we needed a genie). The second is a stunning visualisation of Helsreach made in Warhammer 40K by Richard Boylan, using a brilliant reading of Aaron Dembski-Bowden's novel by Jonathan Keeble. Whilst the graphic style presented us with some challenges, which we discuss at length, the quality of this is outstanding.
2:15 We All Lift Together music video discussion
17:47 Helsreach adaptation, made in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, discussionCredits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine, AI genie
Editor/Producer: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
In this ep, we discuss a film by Patrick Zeugirdor, which uses the game BeamNG to simulate realistic freeway crashes. The game features advanced physics and modding capabilities, allowing for detailed crash simulations. The film shows various crash scenarios, each with multiple camera perspectives, highlighting the game's recamming feature. We debate the film's educational value, its potential to encourage poor driving behavior, and its popularity due to morbid curiosity - a good combination? Suffice to say, it evokes some strong emotions from us! We also discuss the game's potential for use in narrative storytelling and its realistic portrayal of accidents.
2:33 Phil introduces the film
8:33 Ricky’s comments: crash test dummies; machinima as spectacle; is this educational?
14:13 Damien’s comments: it’s not a comedy! and limitations of the game
18:16 Tracy’s comments: from a nice driving vid to a compete horror story to has this just gone too far?
30:13 We discuss the pros and cons of the film and its effectsCredits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
This week is our monthly news ep. We discuss various developments in the machinima and virtual production community. Tracy mentions the Reallusions 2024 3D Character Contest, highlighting Stefan Dufour's entry. Phil and Tracy discuss the potential of AI in character creation. Damien reports on Activision shutting down a Call of Duty mod and the impact of AI on modding. We also cover the Dragon Age: The Veil Guard game, the Secret Level series on Amazon Prime, and the new game inZOI. Phil introduces Daz AI Studio, a generative AI platform for DAZ Studio, and reflects on the impact of AI on the music industry, sharing the story of composer Sasha transitioning to AI-generated music.
1:14 Reallusion’s 3D Character Creator contest
3:41 Skibidi Toilet being made into a move with Michael Bay? No way!
5:03 Sandbox, the spiritual successor to Garry’s Mod
8:42 Celebrating TF2 community – a great fan-made trailer promo
9:21 Activision shuts down a key CoD mod – not the best choice, and we discuss how the community is responding to this, free mods and review bombs
16:58 Gamescon notes… Dragon Age; Secret Level on Amazon Prime; Inzoy
22:34 DAZ Studio has a great AI tool in it
25:25 Filmmusic.io update – the real impact of generative AI?
Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Rice
Producer/editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
What is #machinima?! Good question these days, and this week we review a new video essay on tackling just that question... which is always interesting for us pioneers and vets to reflect on in this podcast. In the vid we review, Collin Aull introduces a few thoughts we've not really considered before, plus some comments we've discussed many times over the years, so its worth a listen as well as if you want to spot some of the older machinimas from those very early years in the narrative edit.
1:14 Ricky discusses his latest performance award success
8:49 Shout out for @Mr_Matt_Lee - some of the best build tuts around
11:22 Ricky introduces Collin Aull's video essay: The Game of Video
15:52 Damien's comments
17:27 Phil's comments
24:05 Tracy's comments
our conclusions... the biggest problem today is finding good machinima (because we know it exists as evidenced in EVERY episode of this show)!Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
This week we take a look at another stunning Team Fortress 2 short called Assault on 2Fort by JP Stevens aka Lolripk, a recommendation made to us by Dominzki (whose own TF2 short we reviewed in E135). What a great choice this is: we loved this film, a classic RED vs BLU tale but with a layer of emotion that is as beautifully portrayed as it is unexpected in SFM. These characters have real depth to them and we note how that's been achieved, even though the focal character doesn't even speak. Did we mention the fight choreography too? We reflect on the game lore, the significance of the community in the creative process, and how this story is told from an unusal perspective. We also reflect on why machinima series almost never complete... but we certainly hope Lolripk doesn't follow the pattern!
1:44 Introduction to film, its qualities: great choreography and emotional depth to characters
11:26 Why this is an unusual red vs blue story
15:27 What is the lore in TF2?
19:00 Violence portrayed: why it bothered some of us more in this than in E140, and vice versa
24:28 Little details, and why they mattered in this
35:45 The Source creator community rocksCredits -
Speakers: Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood, Phil Rice
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats -
A Star Citizen extravaganza: this week, we discuss a brilliant re-creation of Erik Wernquist's epic short, Wanderers, released by one of its creators Mr Hasgaha. Whilst this is a faithful scene-by-scene depiction of the original, its actually so much more than that too. We comment once again on the incredible qualities of the game, and how the fact it is an open world reflects the original inspiration for Wernquist's film: the artwork of Chesley Bonestell, whose paintings were partly the reason that NASA exists today. The machinima also pays homage to Carl Sagan in the only way it can, to his words in the iconic book Pale Blue Dot. If you have only particles of space nerd in you, we think you'll absolutely love this week's film, certainly we all do.
2:21 Based on Eric Wernquist's original, We Were Wanderers - film vs game and why cinematic machinimas like this matter for conveying director intent
4:45 How to pay homage to Carl Sagan without actually using his voice? Check this film out!
15:55 Making machinima in Star Citizen, what are the challenges?Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats - Show more
