Game Turns Players Into Indie Moviemakers

Many are aware that the 'hotest' piece of machinima out right now is The French Democracy. Its a somewhat political film regarding the french riots. It pretty cool to see these machinima films get swept up by the media for one reason or another. This one has made it all the way to the Washington Post

"The French Democracy" was made by Alex Chan, a 27-year-old who lives in the suburbs of Paris. In an e-mail this week, he said he doesn't particularly consider himself a film buff or even a huge game fan. He almost didn't buy The Movies because he would have had to sell his favorite PlayStation 2 game, God of War, to pay for it.

Chan decided to get The Movies with the idea of telling a story about the recent events in France, some of which started near the town where he lives.

Congratulations to Alex in getting his voice heard through machinima filmmaking, as it is a creative expression representative of many who could not speak so loudly.

Inside Machinima

Been in lurker mode lately. Since my interview at Bioware I've been in video game mode. This is a mode I usually try to avoid because once I'm in, its hard to get out. But I managed to play and finish Half-Life 2 as my first choice since I was taking the leap. This is so yesterday but 'Wow' what a fantastic game. It really opened my eyes on what a gaming experience can be about these days. I have a lot of thoughts about this that I won't spend hours typing but its really changed my thoughts on in-game cinematics and its possibilities in regard to game play. Maybe there should be no 'cinema' in cinematics...

Anyways, in a time of a lot of news worthy machinima stuff going on and cool releases what sparked my interest to post was watching the film 'Inside Machinima' by the guys over at Machinimated Studios. Kinda along the lines of This Spartan Life these guys produced something pretty unique and cool; a machinima film about machinima. This is the kind of film you can show friends who may not get the machinima thing (and still may not after watching) but will get you a hellva lot closer than most. Plus I got a kick out of some of the 'inside' jokes.

Another little treasure in a world of fools gold. ;)