My instant thought on the tools vs game discussion is that for now I am enjoying making lemonade out of lemons. That is to say that GTA:SA has challenged me to try and make a good film in spite of the limitations of the game and the hacks and the modifications; however, I’m sure that soon I will want to take a break from that battle and work with more cooperative puppets. That’s why Iclone looks kinda tasty.

Thank you again for the narrative on the current events of Machinima.

So many interesting topics you bring up. The rights discussion at the festival was certainly a splash of cold water on the face. John Martin’s presentation a bit later was good timing. Having worked with John and with IClone, I think it stands a good chance of becoming a much more popular tool for serious machinima filmmakers. Suhnder is right in that game based machinima won’t go away, but many of the good filmmakers might leave because of the murky rights issues and because of the huge silence from game companies. Paul has been working for the last two years to create a special license for machinimators, but to date there’s only Epic (Unreal) that has a license (and an expensive one at that).

There was talk at the Fest of banding together as filmmakers and sending a letter to major game companies; trying to apply pressure and get them to communicate. If this doesn’t work, I know I will be forced to work in programs that allow me to own my own material. Todd is right in that we may end up losing something with this approach, but I think what we gain will be more than worth it.

I’ll be posting a longer commentary on the fest and these issues in my journal at Mprem.com in the next couple of days. I’ve also got some documentary footage I’m trying to slap together. Will post as soon as I can.

Another great show, Phil. Too bad you couldn’t get your recorder in the theatre. Strange that they let my video camera inside. Go figure…

In a sense it is like starting over and finding a new audience.

But machinima made in games will always exist. It will never go away as long as better looking games with more flexible tools are being released. *cough*UE3*cough*

On a more philosphical note, we play games to have fun and use tools to do work. Perhaps machinima is starting to grow up a little. Overman has used a similar metaphor before - ‘the children of anymation’. Both a little sad and exciting at the same time - parents know this feeling all to well.

I think that tools like iClone will allow more people to tell their stories by removing the requirements to defeat the game at some level however it doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the cyberpunk edge that gives machinima its flavour.

I agree whole heartedly, iClone is a serious alternative.

My question is what do we lose when we stray from games into tools?

Catch all the iClone good times at coolclones.com!

Was very nice to meet you, Phil. I regret not being able to hang out with you more!

I’m not so sure about iClone but it does have potential. The games industry will come around. But they will want their share. Right now it costs more for them to answer emails and return phone calls than they will ever make back in rev sharing. First it needs the big hit, the South Park or Toy Story.

Was expecting Psycho theme in the end shower scene…

Ingrid / CR