screen
09 13 2005
Interview: Paul Marino
by Pierluigi Casolari
Paul Marino is one of the founders of the machinima revolution. Pierluigi Casolari spoke to him about games, movies and the ongoing transmedia convergence.
A great revolution gave birth to the machinima phenomenon. Some people started to use and think about games in a radically different way. Not as arenae but as platforms, theatres, worlds that could be used to build narratives. Hugh Hancock from Strange Company told me that the machinima community shares several affinities with such democratic, underground, ideological movements as web culture, hacker culture and demo scene. But now several mainstream games and software house are including machinima tools in their software. For example, The Sims 2 include a machinima option in his gameplay. While this might increase machinima popularity, it could weaken the machinima community. What's you take on this paradox?
We've been seeing this for quite some time - in fact, ever since the days of Quake Movies (the precursor to Machinima films). I personally don't see it as a weakening of the community, but more as an expansion of its definition. When gamers first started making Quake Movies, there were the purists (myself included) who didn't accept a Quake Movie unless it was distributed in its native demo format (this was the way Quake recorded movies inside the game). However, it became more obvious that if a filmmaker was going to gain an audience of his/her work, they need to distribute the film in a way that can be seen by the most people. Eventually, more Machinima filmmakers began releasing their films in AVI and Quicktime form - and this became an accepted way to show off their work. This is just a small example of how Machinima is evolving. The same argument could be made around filmmakers who choose to shoot HD video as opposed to film. It doesn't mean the medium becoming less relevant, just shifting to accomodate those that make and view it.
Often machinima practitioners argue that machinima is going to represent the future of digital cinema. They also argue that machinima will replace traditional digital animation because it is cheaper, faster and easier to use. What do you think about it? Do you think that machinima will become a standard tool in big studios and eventually replaces other animation styles?
Do I think machinima will enter larger studios, who have larger budgets? Surely (and it already has). Do I think Machinima will replace other animation styles? Possibly, but not in all cases. Machinima will definitely impact how "traditional" 3D animation is made - particularly within the next few years. With the addition of faster and highly sophisticated virtual 3D technologies as well as finely detailed and more expressive artificial characters, the way 3D animation is produced will shift closer to Machinima production. Combine this with affordable solutions and Machinima will shift the playing field of visually-based storytelling. However, this will still only exist as one method of creative expression. Cel, stop-motion and various other forms of animation will still be extremely creative outlets for filmmakers. In the end, its the story, not the means, that gets the focus.
Creating machinima implies recycling game engines. Using open source game engines does not create any problem, but when machinima directors want to use proprietary software they have to deal with copyright issues. The problem is that only corporations can acquire commercial applications that cost several hundred dollars. What do you think about? What is your take on Creative Commons? Do you think that CC could bring some benefits machinima future?
Only part of that statement is true. Machinima is defined as filmmaking within a real-time 3D virtual environment. It's a merging of filmmaking, animation and 3D game development. This definition was constructed to reflect how it differs from current filmmaking techniques. Its circumstantial that it uses video games- this is mostly because 3D games are affordable and accessible to large amounts of users. This definitely helps expand the community, but the video game isn't core to Machinima production - however, the technologies associated with video game development is.
On the licensing side, yes, its true that most larger game engines require a substantial amount of licensing fees to create a commercial Machinima production. However, I think this will shift in the next year or so, as Machinima grows. One factor of why 3D game engines are so costly is the amount of money it takes to develop them. When you have only a limited amount of companies buying your game engine technology, you have to recoup your costs over that limited amount of licenses. Thus, game engines can cost into the hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of US dollars. However, as Machinima begins to expand, a Machinima specific application (one that a person can use for commercial production) has the possiblilty of gaining a large amount of users, which would make the costs significantly less. I think Creative Commons is a great IP concept and it could really help the Machinima community quite a bit. CC is perfect for our culture of related & repurposed media - one that Machinima films are truely are a part of. Again, once the adoption of these new practices begins to grow, they will each help each other's existence.
I know you are working on a machinima project that will be broadcast on television. I'd like to know something more about this project.
I've just finished working on a series of Machinima shorts that were produced for the Independent Film Channel here in the States. The series was developed with Rooster Teeth Productions - the guys behind the phenomonaly successful Machinima series, Red Vs. Blue. It is based on Rooster Teeth's other Machinima series, the Strangerhood - using the characters from that series. The IFC series focuses on an independent filmmaker who has signed a contract with a big American film studio and has his filmmaking vision compromised nearly every step of the way by the studio executives. It was a real blast to work on this series. IFC gave us complete creative license for the series and working with Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum and the rest of the Rooster Teeth was a lot of fun.
Can you tell me something about your next machinima projects. And what about your book? Are you planning a second edition or some traslation, maybe in Italian?
I'm just exploring my next Machinima projects now - so its a bit hard to tell. My Half-Life 2 music video stirred up some attention, so I may look into doing more Machinima work in that area. In regards to my book, its possible that we may publish an updated version. Machinima technology rides on the same growth curve as does 3D game technology, so the material, while currently relevant, could use a refresh in about a year or so. I've had a few requests for the book covering newer game tech (like Valve's Source engine - the tech behind Half-Life 2), - if there's a substaintial amount of those requests, it would pretty logical to do a second (and updated) edition. As far as an Italian version, I'll need to speak with my publisher about that. Again, it may relate to how many copies they think may sell in Italy (unfortunately, my Italian hertiage doesn't extend into being able to write in Italian).
Do you think the next generation consoles could help or change the production of machinima? Are you working with the new game platforms right now?
The next generation of consoles are extremely well-suited for Machinima production. Besides the graphical horsepower they possess (which from the demos and specs, its really exciting stuff), they also are networked units, which may bring Machinima back to its resolution-independent (and pure) form. If you consider how powerful these consoles are, a user may ulimately be able to create a Machinima production with his/her Playstation 3. Rather than show a streaming video file of the film (ala Quicktime), the elements of the Machinima production such as the recordings, the characters, the sound, etc. can be uploaded as digital assets and downloaded by his/her friend on their Playstation 3 - to be played back in all their digital glory.. Distributing Machinima over consoles would be a similar idea, only using 3D characters and assets. While there aren't current plans to use the next-gen consoles in this fashion, the capabilities exist - so I can see it being a huge advantage to Machinima production. I'm not currently working with next gen consoles, but I will in the not-too-distant future.
Link:Thinking Machinima
A great revolution gave birth to the machinima phenomenon. Some people started to use and think about games in a radically different way. Not as arenae but as platforms, theatres, worlds that could be used to build narratives. Hugh Hancock from Strange Company told me that the machinima community shares several affinities with such democratic, underground, ideological movements as web culture, hacker culture and demo scene. But now several mainstream games and software house are including machinima tools in their software. For example, The Sims 2 include a machinima option in his gameplay. While this might increase machinima popularity, it could weaken the machinima community. What's you take on this paradox?
We've been seeing this for quite some time - in fact, ever since the days of Quake Movies (the precursor to Machinima films). I personally don't see it as a weakening of the community, but more as an expansion of its definition. When gamers first started making Quake Movies, there were the purists (myself included) who didn't accept a Quake Movie unless it was distributed in its native demo format (this was the way Quake recorded movies inside the game). However, it became more obvious that if a filmmaker was going to gain an audience of his/her work, they need to distribute the film in a way that can be seen by the most people. Eventually, more Machinima filmmakers began releasing their films in AVI and Quicktime form - and this became an accepted way to show off their work. This is just a small example of how Machinima is evolving. The same argument could be made around filmmakers who choose to shoot HD video as opposed to film. It doesn't mean the medium becoming less relevant, just shifting to accomodate those that make and view it.
Often machinima practitioners argue that machinima is going to represent the future of digital cinema. They also argue that machinima will replace traditional digital animation because it is cheaper, faster and easier to use. What do you think about it? Do you think that machinima will become a standard tool in big studios and eventually replaces other animation styles?
Do I think machinima will enter larger studios, who have larger budgets? Surely (and it already has). Do I think Machinima will replace other animation styles? Possibly, but not in all cases. Machinima will definitely impact how "traditional" 3D animation is made - particularly within the next few years. With the addition of faster and highly sophisticated virtual 3D technologies as well as finely detailed and more expressive artificial characters, the way 3D animation is produced will shift closer to Machinima production. Combine this with affordable solutions and Machinima will shift the playing field of visually-based storytelling. However, this will still only exist as one method of creative expression. Cel, stop-motion and various other forms of animation will still be extremely creative outlets for filmmakers. In the end, its the story, not the means, that gets the focus.
Creating machinima implies recycling game engines. Using open source game engines does not create any problem, but when machinima directors want to use proprietary software they have to deal with copyright issues. The problem is that only corporations can acquire commercial applications that cost several hundred dollars. What do you think about? What is your take on Creative Commons? Do you think that CC could bring some benefits machinima future?
Only part of that statement is true. Machinima is defined as filmmaking within a real-time 3D virtual environment. It's a merging of filmmaking, animation and 3D game development. This definition was constructed to reflect how it differs from current filmmaking techniques. Its circumstantial that it uses video games- this is mostly because 3D games are affordable and accessible to large amounts of users. This definitely helps expand the community, but the video game isn't core to Machinima production - however, the technologies associated with video game development is.
On the licensing side, yes, its true that most larger game engines require a substantial amount of licensing fees to create a commercial Machinima production. However, I think this will shift in the next year or so, as Machinima grows. One factor of why 3D game engines are so costly is the amount of money it takes to develop them. When you have only a limited amount of companies buying your game engine technology, you have to recoup your costs over that limited amount of licenses. Thus, game engines can cost into the hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of US dollars. However, as Machinima begins to expand, a Machinima specific application (one that a person can use for commercial production) has the possiblilty of gaining a large amount of users, which would make the costs significantly less. I think Creative Commons is a great IP concept and it could really help the Machinima community quite a bit. CC is perfect for our culture of related & repurposed media - one that Machinima films are truely are a part of. Again, once the adoption of these new practices begins to grow, they will each help each other's existence.
I know you are working on a machinima project that will be broadcast on television. I'd like to know something more about this project.
I've just finished working on a series of Machinima shorts that were produced for the Independent Film Channel here in the States. The series was developed with Rooster Teeth Productions - the guys behind the phenomonaly successful Machinima series, Red Vs. Blue. It is based on Rooster Teeth's other Machinima series, the Strangerhood - using the characters from that series. The IFC series focuses on an independent filmmaker who has signed a contract with a big American film studio and has his filmmaking vision compromised nearly every step of the way by the studio executives. It was a real blast to work on this series. IFC gave us complete creative license for the series and working with Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum and the rest of the Rooster Teeth was a lot of fun.
Can you tell me something about your next machinima projects. And what about your book? Are you planning a second edition or some traslation, maybe in Italian?
I'm just exploring my next Machinima projects now - so its a bit hard to tell. My Half-Life 2 music video stirred up some attention, so I may look into doing more Machinima work in that area. In regards to my book, its possible that we may publish an updated version. Machinima technology rides on the same growth curve as does 3D game technology, so the material, while currently relevant, could use a refresh in about a year or so. I've had a few requests for the book covering newer game tech (like Valve's Source engine - the tech behind Half-Life 2), - if there's a substaintial amount of those requests, it would pretty logical to do a second (and updated) edition. As far as an Italian version, I'll need to speak with my publisher about that. Again, it may relate to how many copies they think may sell in Italy (unfortunately, my Italian hertiage doesn't extend into being able to write in Italian).
Do you think the next generation consoles could help or change the production of machinima? Are you working with the new game platforms right now?
The next generation of consoles are extremely well-suited for Machinima production. Besides the graphical horsepower they possess (which from the demos and specs, its really exciting stuff), they also are networked units, which may bring Machinima back to its resolution-independent (and pure) form. If you consider how powerful these consoles are, a user may ulimately be able to create a Machinima production with his/her Playstation 3. Rather than show a streaming video file of the film (ala Quicktime), the elements of the Machinima production such as the recordings, the characters, the sound, etc. can be uploaded as digital assets and downloaded by his/her friend on their Playstation 3 - to be played back in all their digital glory.. Distributing Machinima over consoles would be a similar idea, only using 3D characters and assets. While there aren't current plans to use the next-gen consoles in this fashion, the capabilities exist - so I can see it being a huge advantage to Machinima production. I'm not currently working with next gen consoles, but I will in the not-too-distant future.
Link:Thinking Machinima
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