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Machinima Filmmaking as Culture in Practice: Dialogical Processes of Remix

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Computer Games and New Media Cultures

Abstract

The topic of game and player culture is addressed herein as individual and sociocultural processes of authorship in relation to machinima filmmaking. The terms machinima (from machine, cinema and anime) and machinimators (referring to filmmakers) were coined by gamers in the late 1990s. Machinima is a practice whereby game worlds and game play are captured and edited, thereby transformed into a film. This chapter frames the phenomenon of machinima by looking at it with a view to topics of authorship, media ecology and remix practices. Two case studies are presented in order to leverage a discussion on machinima authorship as an example of evolving, dialogic processes circulating in media ecologies. This dialogic authorship involves remix (re-assemblage), and it occurs within the shifts in our current situation of media convergence. The aim in this chapter is to shed light on the dialogic practices of authorship such as machinima and is inspired by the dialogic theories of the Russian literary philosopher M.M. Bakhtin.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The research on machinima as a creative practice is a subproject in ‘Sense-making strategies and user-driven innovations of virtual worlds’, a collaborative research project at Roskilde University and Copenhagen Business School. Online: www.worlds.ruc.dk.

  2. 2.

    Similar questions arise in the context of modding (see Unger, Chap. 32).

  3. 3.

    The Sims 3, http://www.thesims3.com/moviesandmore/createmovie (Accessed 27 May 2010).

  4. 4.

    Information on making machinima includes Wikipedia and how-to-do books, such as Hancock and Ingram (2007) and Marino (2004).

  5. 5.

    The Machinima Archive is a collaboration between the Internet Archive, the ‘How They Got Game’ research project at Stanford University, the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences and Machinima.com, see: http://www.archive.org/details/machinima (Accessed 27 May 2010).

  6. 6.

    ‘Molotov Alva’ was shown on Home Box Office, USA. It is no longer on YouTube, but available for purchase via Gayeton’s website, or can be viewed on a Dutch showcase for digital art: http://molotovalva.submarine.nl/ (Accessed 27 May 2010).

  7. 7.

    http://www.inworldwar.com/ (Accessed 27 May 2010). My further study into machinima focuses on how indie filmmakers, such as Brant Smith aka DJ Bad Vegan, use different 3D game platforms for filmic experiments.

  8. 8.

    For a discussion of the issue if SL is a game or a virtual world, see Thimm (Chap. 11).

  9. 9.

    ‘Metrotopia – The Forgotten Evil’ (Metrotopia Contest Entry). http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=T8Bfp81XAQ0 (Accessed 27 May 2010).

  10. 10.

    Pose ball is an SL inworld object used to animate avatars, e.g. dancing, sitting, etc. Online: https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1524059 (Accessed 27 May 2010).

  11. 11.

    ‘Toxian City’: http://www.toxiancity.com/ (Accessed 27 May 2010).

  12. 12.

    Demo video on ‘Final Fantasy’ (made by professionals as a trailer and released by the game company): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SJPeFNbhOs (Accessed 27 May 2010).

  13. 13.

    Camtasia. Online: http://www.techsmith.com/download/camtasiatrial.asp (Accessed 27 May 2010).

  14. 14.

    ‘Gamelan Bali SL’ machinima on YouTube includes a posting on inauthentic instruments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kqlh50gYBY&feature=email (Accessed 27 June 2010).

  15. 15.

    Scorpio Milo, a character from the manga Saint Seiya: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpio_Milo (Accessed 27 May 2010).

  16. 16.

    ‘Wonder Woman’ (Metrotopia contest winner). Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5aouCBUPmE (Accessed 27 May 2010).

  17. 17.

    Glasz’ vampire film. Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ5yrgnXSvM (Accessed 01 June 2011).

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Acknowledgements

The research was funded by the Danish Strategic Research Council (grant no. 09–063261) with additional support from Nordic Innovation (Nordic Virtual Worlds Network).

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  1. The Department of Communication, Business and Information Technologies, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark

    Lisbeth Frølunde

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  1. Lisbeth Frølunde
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Correspondence to Lisbeth Frølunde .

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  1. , Institute for Educational Science, University of Magdeburg, Zschokkestr. 32, Magdeburg, 39104, Germany

    Johannes Fromme

  2. , School of Education, University of Hamburg, Mollerstr 10, Hamburg, 20146, Germany

    Alexander Unger

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Frølunde, L. (2012). Machinima Filmmaking as Culture in Practice: Dialogical Processes of Remix. In: Fromme, J., Unger, A. (eds) Computer Games and New Media Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2777-9_31

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