Machinima: Dreams and Shadows reviews
Review by on 24 Sep 2008
Overall the results of these fascinating machinima experiments are variable, both in tone and quality. The three-star rating acknowledges that variability but it certainly deserves 5 stars for creativity. It is extraordinary how much atmosphere can be created amid these often slightly lumpen human figures and puppet-like movements. To that end, although the visual aspects were sometimes highly engaging (I think here of a weird piece which saw a figure diving through internet screens like Alice through the looking glass into a series of shifting 3D worlds), machinima relies a lot on the power of sound to weld with the images: evocative voice-over and loud music help give the images their power.
Some of the pieces were surprisingly conventional: gangster movies and love stories with familiar tropes and settings. I felt the films worked best when reflexively drawing on explorations of their unique mode of production. An otherwise conventional take on film noir became interesting through the motif of "clockwork", the title of the film: the clock tower accumulated dead bodies, the gangster world shifted forwards inexorably like clockwork. In the midst of that imagery, the slightly jerky video-game figures looked just right, like clockwork toys bound by familiar scripts leading inevitably towards death.
I greatly enjoyed my first taste of machinima. It was a testament to how playing around with games can be transformed into art, even if it doesn't always quite work. I feel the medium has even greater potential and I'd love to see it break away still further from the conventions of traditional cinema. Don't imitate, innovate!
Overall the results of these fascinating machinima experiments are variable, both in tone and quality. The three-star rating acknowledges that variability but it certainly deserves 5 stars for creativity. It is extraordinary how much atmosphere can be created amid these often slightly lumpen human figures and puppet-like movements. To that end, although the visual aspects were sometimes highly engaging (I think here of a weird piece which saw a figure diving through internet screens like Alice through the looking glass into a series of shifting 3D worlds), machinima relies a lot on the power of sound to weld with the images: evocative voice-over and loud music help give the images their power.Some of the pieces were surprisingly conventional: gangster movies and love stories with familiar tropes and settings. I felt the films worked best when reflexively drawing on explorations of their unique mode of production. An otherwise conventional take on film noir became interesting through the motif of "clockwork", the title of the film: the clock tower accumulated dead bodies, the gangster world shifted forwards inexorably like clockwork. In the midst of that imagery, the slightly jerky video-game figures looked just right, like clockwork toys bound by familiar scripts leading inevitably towards death.
I greatly enjoyed my first taste of machinima. It was a testament to how playing around with games can be transformed into art, even if it doesn't always quite work. I feel the medium has even greater potential and I'd love to see it break away still further from the conventions of traditional cinema. Don't imitate, innovate!
Review by on 23 Sep 2008
This was a presentation of some 15 or so short animated films, the common theme being that they were produced using computer game engines (such as Unreal Tournament, Grand Theft Auto, and Second Life), and "filmed" (i.e., video-captured) roughly in real-time. No massive Pixaresque render-farms here then!
The animation quality varied widely. Most of them had the stilted, jarring movements and clipping errors commonly seen in computer games. I find it immensely grating (in games, and hence also in these films) to have a beautifully accurate photorealistic image, which then moves so unrealistically. It would be better to hold off with the visual photorealism until the physics are also as true to life!
Having said that, one should judge these films within the context of the chosen media. Even accepting that the machinimators are constrained by the limits of their chosen engines, I found that the majority of these films were lacking in imagination and artistry. Venison Curry, as a case in point, was an abject lesson in total lack of inspiration. I don't doubt that a lot of time and effort went into making some of these films, but that in itself does not give them merit, or make them art.
Frankly, this was a waste of my time and money. It felt like a session browsing around YouTube, except that you find better material on YouTube.
This was a presentation of some 15 or so short animated films, the common theme being that they were produced using computer game engines (such as Unreal Tournament, Grand Theft Auto, and Second Life), and "filmed" (i.e., video-captured) roughly in real-time. No massive Pixaresque render-farms here then!The animation quality varied widely. Most of them had the stilted, jarring movements and clipping errors commonly seen in computer games. I find it immensely grating (in games, and hence also in these films) to have a beautifully accurate photorealistic image, which then moves so unrealistically. It would be better to hold off with the visual photorealism until the physics are also as true to life!
Having said that, one should judge these films within the context of the chosen media. Even accepting that the machinimators are constrained by the limits of their chosen engines, I found that the majority of these films were lacking in imagination and artistry. Venison Curry, as a case in point, was an abject lesson in total lack of inspiration. I don't doubt that a lot of time and effort went into making some of these films, but that in itself does not give them merit, or make them art.
Frankly, this was a waste of my time and money. It felt like a session browsing around YouTube, except that you find better material on YouTube.
Review by on 22 Sep 2008
Like most Machinima this batch of short films was hit and miss. Given there are only an estimated five to six hundred ‘Machinimators’ in the world according to an estimate by Hugh Hancock, creator of feature film BLOODSPELL and one of the first to coin the term Machinima, it is not surprising that this is the case. Despite the debatable quality of the narratives of some of these pieces, no one can deny the clear difficulty required to produce them in the first place. However to quote Hancock any Machinima that is unable to thrive as a stand-alone piece of film ‘has failed’and by this measure unfortunately the majority of the shorts did just that, they failed. It was certainly not all bad though, with products such as THE DUMB MAN, JILL’S SONG and THE DAYS AFTER providing more than adequate narrative that would appeal even to those not aware of the genre. In the case of CLOCKWORK and VENISON CURRY the level of compelling story telling measured up favourably with anything that flesh and blood actors and directors could put forth and whilst visually one could never confuse the computer game graphics for the real thing, there are times that the story behind them allows suitable suspension of belief to become truly enthralled in the tale being told. Finally, evidence of Machinima’s potential to branch out was also demonstrated through a Radiohead music video created by Phil Rice, a veteran of the art since 1998.
Mike Waters, Festival Daily
Like most Machinima this batch of short films was hit and miss. Given there are only an estimated five to six hundred ‘Machinimators’ in the world according to an estimate by Hugh Hancock, creator of feature film BLOODSPELL and one of the first to coin the term Machinima, it is not surprising that this is the case. Despite the debatable quality of the narratives of some of these pieces, no one can deny the clear difficulty required to produce them in the first place. However to quote Hancock any Machinima that is unable to thrive as a stand-alone piece of film ‘has failed’and by this measure unfortunately the majority of the shorts did just that, they failed. It was certainly not all bad though, with products such as THE DUMB MAN, JILL’S SONG and THE DAYS AFTER providing more than adequate narrative that would appeal even to those not aware of the genre. In the case of CLOCKWORK and VENISON CURRY the level of compelling story telling measured up favourably with anything that flesh and blood actors and directors could put forth and whilst visually one could never confuse the computer game graphics for the real thing, there are times that the story behind them allows suitable suspension of belief to become truly enthralled in the tale being told. Finally, evidence of Machinima’s potential to branch out was also demonstrated through a Radiohead music video created by Phil Rice, a veteran of the art since 1998.Mike Waters, Festival Daily
Film details
Machinima: Dreams and Shadows
GAME, SET AND MACHINIMA
UK, 2008.
90 mins. English.
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