Fri 4 Jul 2008 | 
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Tricks of the Machinima trade
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SBS's virtual blogger Mixin Pixel is your guide to making films in virtual worlds. Explore the area with Mixin each week as she makes a film that will be shown in the real world, on SBS TV.
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Machinima is basically filmmaking using a real time 3D platform. I use Second Life for the purposes of my documentary filmmaking because what interests me is the choices people make for their virtual lives when they have complete freedom. Even though the graphics are far inferior to many other gaming environments, there are tricks to making it work for you.
There are plenty of resources to show you the basics of machinima. The best place to start is the Second Life Machinima wiki. There you will find plenty of tutorials and useful resources.
This blog will be more appropriate for people looking for more advanced advice on machinima creation and will cover topics such as composition, lighting, camera movement, legal issues, and more general technical issues such as lag reduction to create more visually sumptuous machinima .
Lainy Voom is one of my favorite filmmmakers in Second Life. Her work is moody and poetic. She has a strong eye for composition and strives to make her work beautiful. One of the biggest criticisms I have with much of the machinima I see is that there is so much unnecessary camera movement. Just because you can move the camera doesnt mean you should. Lainy creates movement through editing to great effect.
Check out Black Swan for a wonderful sample of what Im talking about.
You'll also find much more at http://www.lainyvoom.com/.
Robbie Dingo's first attempt at machinima 'Better Life' is still one of my faves. Read Robbie Dingo's blog, and watch films at My Digital Double Life.
You'll find more of Robbie's films here.
He keeps his sets and backgrounds simple or muted so the focus is on the subject. Well most of his pieces are beautiful visual storytelling - see Stage, Suzanne's Guitar (also on youtube). Love ya work Mr Dingo
I know I just slayed camera movement but Buhbuhcuh Fairchild of Alt-Zoom Studios is an expert in camera movement. His terrific short film for HeadCase Humanufacturing uses camera movement in a very effective way. He must have used the camera he created and available free at the Alt-Zoom Studio. The compositing of real life into the Second Life environment is also very well done and makes for a very sophisticated film.
Chouchou's Coma is a sublime trip check it out at ChouChou.
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Comments (3)
The difficulty of Machinima-making or Making Machinima Well
Making good machinima is difficult. Making any machinima at all is easy; making machinima that does not make people barf is somewhat harder. An eye for composition, colour, movement and stillness, good camera control, and interesting subject matter or subject matter treated in an interesting way all contribute to good machinima. Not everyone has the background or the innate talent to make something good. I am rather appreciative of your selections; you _know_ good machinima :)
10 Jun 2008 21:25 AEST
From: Second Life
Why do people need interfaces for talking?
1) Consider that the computer or internet interface is for some people nothing more than a sophisticated phone. 2) It's very difficult to talk to people face to face over 40,000 kilometres. 3) People with disabilities need different interfaces and technologies to communicate.
23 May 2008 14:05 AEST
From: wulguru
why
why do people need interfaces for talking
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About this Blog
Machinima is basically filmmaking using a real-time 3D platform. Mixin Pixel is an avatar, who will blog on the minutiae of detail involved in creating a film in a virtual landscape, like Second Life.
Mixin Pixel Mixin Pixel is Shelley Matulick's pink-headed representative in the big wide world of Second Life. Mixin loves making machinima. And why not it's dead cheap and brain dead easy. This blog will hold your hand so you can make the best looking machimina you possibly can.
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10 Jun 2008 21:35 AEST
Feldspar Epstein
From: Second Life