Machinima [Part 1]

Machinima (pronounced /məˈʃiːnɨmə/ or /məˈʃɪnɨmə/) is the use of real-time graphics rendering engines (a game engine), mostly three-dimensional (3-D), to generate computer animation

And when it comes down to it, there isn't anything better than playing video games for homework...10 hours of video games to be exact. Last night my co-producer, Chance, and I played 10 hours of Halo: Reach to capture the 67 shots we needed for our latest film tht mixes live action actors mixed into a machinima world of Halo: Reach.

The process was as follows:

I. Storyboard the film. When dealing with a digital world you need to know what your shots are doing and how they're flowing because as we learned, plot can go south very quickly. You can see our storyboards here.

II. "Acting" it out with virtual characters. We had to suit up our avatars and move them through a given level with the positions of our "real" actors in mind. I imagine there is some kind of expensive technology that could merge us and them but we made due.

III. Capturing the scene in HD. We purchased a PCI-e HD capture card by Aver Media that allowed us to capture anything that was plugging into the hdmi slot (for us, the xbox).

Ten hours later we have 67 raw shots that need to be arranged, cut up, and corrected to prepare for the live action shots that will be done in front of a blue screen.

So far so good.

Your friendly neighborhood giant,
~Alan