And Now For Something Completely Machinima

Backflip is a docu-style film, made over a period of three years where Nikita Diakur presents his progress using AI to teach a character to backflip. The character is the 3D scanned artist and the learning process applied is based on a technique he read in an academic paper. To say its chaos is an understatatement, and something anyone in research could probably have told him when attempting to replicate a finding in a publication (which of course is why LLMs using text alone will never be 'intelligent'). It is also everything one would expect from a character rig with the physics of a double-jointed arachnid... but it sure is hugely entertaining to watch, and brilliantly edited together. Backflip is a must watch for anyone using AIs for animation, not least because it serves as a reminder of just how tough this all was pre-mid 2023!

1:13 News updates: Half Life 2 celebrates 25 years, GTA6 release and Elden Ring DLCs
5:06 John McInnes connecting machinima to virtual production with Baad Viibes
7:43 Backflip review and discussion
16:10 Focussing on the glitch
25:57 How smart is AI really?
34:54 Narrative arc and the use of AI

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Ricky Grove
Music: Coast by Anno Domini Beats

This week, we review a trailer for a movie, although the full movie is now also available: Cyberpunk 2077, by Jack Hunt. In many ways this is an astonishing and timely feat, not least because the ultimate edition of the game released earlier this month too (5 December). We start by discussing The Witcher's update, a piece of news that is highly relevant to the release of the film we review.

1:03 The Witcher 3 mod toolset release - extending the game's life or eploiting the machinima community?
3:54 Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition presents even more opportunities for machinima creators
8:00 Cyberpunk 2077 The Movie - Trailer - not a cutscene fest!
10:05 Don't have time to invest in playing the game? Watch the movie!
11:51 Is this the ultimate advert for the game?
19:14 The function of a game trailer vs the function of a cutscene
23:21 Connecting to the game... Phil loses it!
27:42 Ricky rescues the discussion #Sims10

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Ricky Grove
Music: Anno Domini Beats

This week's film picks are of epic battle scenes: one made in Warhammer and the other Unreal Engine. There are similarities and contrasts between these two works, respectively created by a gamer, Game Thumb, and a CG production team, Glow Productions - and that also includes the opinions of the CM crew reviewing the works! What's your view, please do add you comments on our YT review or ep blog post. The ep begins with an update on Ricky's take on the SAG AFTRA deal for his Army of Darkness characterisations.

1:07 the SAG AFTRA deal
5:14 Tracy's review of Northern Wars (Warhammer) and Oryctes (UE) focussing on the mood scenes
16:09 Ricky reverses the argument
18:07 Phil invokes Wittgenstein
34:20 Damien's observes that neither film could easily be made in the other game engine!

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Ricky Grove
Music: Anno Domini Beats

We start this week's episode with a discussion about Reallusion's new facial mocap system, Accuface (which Phil and Damien have already invested in), move on to a brief contest update (being run by Pink Floyd no less), and then follow this up with our film review. If you liked the Saw series of films, then this is for you - its a particularly sadistic let's play style machinima made in The Sims 4, called I Abducted My Entire Neighborhood in The Sims 4, by Lets Game It Out... and its also just Phil's sense of humor too! We contrast our discussion with some older references to classic machinimas, which help us to make our point about just how talented this creator is.

1:36 Reallusion’s Accuface release discussion

18:43 Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon call for animations

22:54 Review and discussion: I Abducted My Entire Neighborhood in The Sims 4 by Let’s Game it Out

47:09 The game is a palette: contrast the film with The Snow Witch, Phil’s OBIT or RVB (Roosterteeth), illustrating the imagination of the creator

50:32 Forcing The Sims to act – Phi’s outtake video from Male Restroom Etiquette

Credits:
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Anno Domini Beats

What's it like to be an in-game stuntman? This week's review is of a fun take, with a more serious undertone, on the NPC's perspective of life in the background of a game for a very average player. The concept is hilarious, the execution needs a little work, but overall we loved this one by For Science and filmed in Star Citizen.

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Editor/Producer: Ricky Grove
Music: Coast by Anno Domini Beats

Damien's picks this week take a look at two of the first Starfield machinimas by @TheKShow and @Mod81Gameworld respectively. The first is a 'tell and show' with a neat cinematic demo invoking Starship Troopers, and the second is a slightly more original lore-based teaser for an upcoming series called The Mantis. We begin this episode with an update on Star Citizen’s new spin off game, Squadron 42, which is now ‘feature complete’ and their launch of a new contest which can be entered on TikTok, leading Tracy to speculate on their strategic response to the release of Starfield! Ricky highlight’s a recent important update to Second Life’s render system which has important implications for machinima creators.

1:06 Star Citizen and Squadron 42 updates
4:00 Day of the Vara 2953 Star Citizen contest
5:42 Second Life’s new PBR rendering system
11:14 Film reviews: the first is an overview of the potential for machinima in Starfield, including a cinematic screen test in the style of Starship Troopers, and the second uses a side story in the game to tease a series based on the Mantis lore and character
18:22 Tracy explores the impacts of Starfield on the Star Citizen community of machinima creators
20:50 Our discussion returns to Barely Not Monkey’s Adrift and some of the challenges faced when creating game-based machinima
27:46 Reflection on the quality of the writing in The Mantis and Phil’s copyright free creative ideas service for our audience
31:34 We are machinima experts – Ricky says, so it must be true!

#starfield #machinima

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Ricky Grove
Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Anno Domini Beats

This week we present a critique of two very contrasting machinima productions - one took literally months to make and the other just a few days. In our first pick, the creator has asked: just how big are the maps in games these days? Well, vast actually - and quite frankly it blows our minds to think that so much effort has gone into answering the question. The film is called Longest Walkable Distances in a Video Game, by How Big is the Map. Our second film is a review of a creative experiment in Unreal Engine, called The Alchemist's Confession by Cory Williams - it was inspired by a found marketplace asset and is experimental in a number of ways, not least in the five days it took to make it. Ricky highlights the weakness in the writing albeit the film is technically masterfully produced and acted, using mocap and LinkedIn (yep, you heard that correctly!). We also start this episode with some links we hope you enjoy and a discussion about the voice characterisation of G Man in the Half Life series.

2:03 The unmistakable character of G Man and his speeches in the Half Life series
6:12 Longest Walkable Distances in a Video Game discussion
25:05 The Alchemist's Confession discussion

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer: Ricky Grove
Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Anno Domini Beats

Not strictly machinima, but something we've named mAIchinima! This week, we discuss two films using generative AI to create narrative works. In both cases, the techniques employed emphasize the sound - music or voice acting - but whilst one is intentional, the other is not. We share our thoughts on these works and discuss some of the current limitations and benefits observed, which leads us into a timely discussion about style in filmmaking. We also discuss some recent developments in AI for creatives, such as the role of Glaze masking and Nightshade corrupting tools.

1:36 Glaze and Nightshade generative AI tools discussion

12:42 New games with machinima potential

14:48 USB microphone by J Lab

14:46 Nina | Denver Pluto discussion

33:33 Prelude to Dust discussion

43:00 Style and its use in filmmaking, Waltz With Bashir and Giger

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer: Ricky Grove
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Anno Domini Beats

In this episode, we review one of the first avant garde machinima pieces created by the community. The film is called 9, by German machinimator Claus-Dieter Schulz, has been restored by Phil and is re-presented on his Machiniplex Remastered channel. It is a notable example of modernist cinema which moves towards abstraction and it is clear to see that Claus-Dieter was inspired by the likes of Oskar Fischinger, Hans Richter and Stan Brakhage. There were very few in the early days of machinima that turned in this creative direction, where most creators were instead inspired to devise original stories inspired by popular films, TV series, commercials and products, so our discussion reflects on this point as well as the early reactions to the work we recall.

Speakers: Phil Rice, Ricky Grove, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer: Phil Rice
Editor: Ricky Grove
Music: Anno Domini Beats

Celebrating our 100th episode on the CM podcast/YouTube show, we reflect how far machinima has come and some of the recent trends we've observed in our film reviews - a medium we all love. Please do add your thoughts and reflections in the comments below too.

3:25 The impact of isolation during COVID-19 led to Damien’s participation in the show.
5:17 Phil reflects on the decline of the Machinima community and how it affected him personally.
7:00 Ricky’s skepticism, feeling that the community and passion for the medium have been lost after M.com’s acquisition and subsequent demise.
7:43 Phil feeling heartbroken but then rebounding with renewed positivity, excitement about the growth of the show, from a small YouTube channel to a well-oiled machine with a podcast and blog.
12:30 Tracy’s research and news contributions have been instrumental in the show's success, and her and Ben’s book publication is a testament to the show's growth and impact.
17:13 Tracy reflects on the evolution of machinima, from its origins to the present day, the emergence of Unreal Engine as a dominant tool for creators, with its accessibility and customisability allowing for a wide range of creative works.
18:47 Unreal Engine has democratised machinima, making it possible for creators from every corner of the planet to produce high-quality work, free of charge.
21:07 Machinima's growth and AI tools in filmmaking and for animation, including realistic character generation and interaction, and how it's democratized creative possibilities for artists.
22:17 The resurgence of interest in machinima, with a new generation of creators pushing the medium forward through AI integration.
24:05 Recognition of machinima for its importance in the creative computing industry, with a new network funded by the European Union including machinima in their archive of cultural heritage.
26:15 The diversity of game engines used in machinima this year, including GTA, Red Dead Redemption, World of Warcraft, and Second Life. films like @DurenMachinima "Neo Stormwind", @yescommissioner2685 “Prazinburke Ridge”, @JPFerre "The Ghost", @RGStudios "After War", @TheParryGod "Patient Zero”, @orencloud “Secret Moon", @Anomidae "Interloper" and @kradproductions “917” among many others.
28:57 The role of humor in creativity.
32:17 The nostalgia for early machinima is evident in the recreated experiences in modern films
32:50 Future of machinima: #mAIchinima, where games become embedded in AI generated animation and films integrate these cultural references.

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood, Ricky Grove
Producer: Tracy Harwood
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Anno Domini Beats