The Art of Machinima

As many fans of the popular game Halo:CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3 know, machinima is quickly becoming a new and dynamic medium. Machinima is essentially someone creating a video, using a video game engine and the already created content to tell and act out their story. The most well known of these being Red Vs Blue, a popular machinima series published by the talented group over at roosterteeth ( http://www.roosterteeth.com ) with their story spanning over several seasons and two versions of halo, the first portion being created with Halo:CE, and the second being made using Halo 2. They have also created two mini series and several public service announcements that are quite humorous and dutifully filmed. The Halo games aren't the only games being used to make machinima, games such as Half-Life, Secondlife, The Sims, and World of Warcraft are just a handful of games that serve as the guts of any good machinima. When I first stumbled across Red Vs Blue while looking for halo related content, I was blown away by the series and immediately inspired to create machinima of my own, sadly I lacked the proper equipment to do so and my ideas were placed on the back burner. With the release of Halo 3 and its in-game film recording system, my dreams were brought back to the forefront on my project list. When I began I had absolutely no idea how to create machinima, so I decided that I would write this blog to answer some possible question future machinima directors might have.

There are many games you can use to create a machinima, but for my purposes, I will be explaining the process using Halo 3 and the game films feature. The first step to creating a machinima has to be the story, there are several well filmed machinimas out there that have absolutely no storyline. I could only compare these to bad pornos without any of the redeeming factors of sex, nudity, and vintage hair styles. When deciding on my story idea for Shadowfall, I first decided what type of story I wanted to tell, humorous, action, etc. With story type ironed out I began hashing out a rough plotline, figuring in key points in the story, characters, and possible sets. With the addition of Forge to the game, setting up a scene has never been easier. Once all these steps have been taken, you are ready to begin filming...or are you? The answer is NO definantly not, one of the more important tasks of making machinima is to see what others have done before you. Obviously the best known Halo machinima example would be the Red Vs. Blue series, but by going to Machinima.com ( http://www.machinima.com ) you can see other films that have been created as well. While watching, take not of the plotline, filming techniques, and any other details that could help you avoid some pitfalls and potentially project ending setbacks. It is also a good idea to find things you like about these films as well, remember there is nothing wrong with incorporating ideas into your project, just be sure that they are just incorporated not plagarized. This project is still yours, and you should strive to create something you can be proud of that came from your imagination.

After you've gone through these steps, the next step would be to decide the scale of what you are trying to accomplish. If this is going to be a grand production, you will need additional cast or puppeteers, properly laid out maps, and some means of communicating with your team to coordinate throughout the process. The next step would be to film a "dummy" or test piece, something that lets you begin practicing your filming skill, and once polished will give you something to show to people showing interest in joining your project team. Another major mistake I see often is people believing that in order for it to be a successful machinima you have to cram it full of people, action, and other over zealous features. It is completely possible to have a great film that is very small scale. Once all these steps have taken place you are ready to begin the filming process. Let me preface this by saying that this is my personal technique and I am still quite new to machinima, so feel free to experiment with your own ideas and techniques.
Begin a custom game in the custom game lobby, setting weapon and vehicle types on the map that will work with your project. Once in the game visualize your story and start "acting" it out. Any time when dialouge is involved, you will need to manipulate the joysticks on your controller to make it appear as if your character is actually speaking. If working with a team, it is a good idea to have the lines written and distributed before filming begins and have your actors speak the lines using the mics and manipulate the character in sync with the spoken words. Once you have the footage content you need, end the game and go the Game Films lobby, bring up the match you just ended and now the real filming begins. During the editing process you may have an idea that you didnt think of while filming, so it is best to get as much footage to work with as possible. This includes filming the same shots from multiple angles and distances which give you more creative freedom while editing. Each bit of footage recorded is recorded to film clips, if you don't have the account with extra storage capacity you will most likely be limited to fifty pieces of unique content so pulling your footage frequently will ensure you don't lose a vital piece of footage because you are at your memory limit.

Once all your footage has been committed to film clips you are ready to playback and record the footage to an external device. Most people use a capture card in their computer to get the footage, but you can get the same quality by using the A/V cord and a digital video camera plugged in to either your television, or VCR whichever you use to run the game through. The best technique to save time is to start and stop recording as soon as each clip begins to play and finishes, this will save you some time during editing deleting bits that are no good to you. After all the film has been recorded you are ready for the editing process. In good conscience I cannot tell anyone how to edit their own work, all I can offer is some advice. Don't try to use ALL your footage, set a time goal of how long you want the piece to be, try alternative footage as much as possible to be sure you're using the best angle, and most importantly have fun. It is possible to make a good machinima without music, but it certainly adds more to it when a film does have a bit of music. As with any film, you should strive to find music that fits with the theme you're trying to get across, works well with the music, (ie, timing matches action on screen, sets the tone, tells more of the story), or just generally livens up the project. After the editing is done, be sure to watch your movie back to check for any errors, and other possible problems that might come up. The most important part of this process is that you love the final product, if you don't chances of others loving it are few and far between.

Once the editing process is complete, and you are ready to publish your work there are a couple options out there. Youtube is the most commonly used and searched video website which is just what is needed to when you publish your film. You can also use a personal webhosting site, and/or anything that would allow you to get your movie out to the general public. Once you have published your movie to the web, all that remains is to sit back, relax, and watch the show. If this is to be a multi segmented story, give yourself some time before jumping into another film, keep a critical eye out for any mistakes that may pop-up in the film and look to not make the same mistakes in your next film or episode. The best way to get good footage and storylines is practice practice practice. This process by no means is easy, but the best way to get into it and get good is to get in and work your way up. I will be posting my latest machinima as soon as the dialouge is recorded and I hope it will help further explain my thoughts on the process and perhaps even help someone.