overcast #011b
Part B of Episode 11 takes yet another different turn in format; Part A was mostly within a hotel room, Part B comes from the road - literally. I finalize my post-festival thoughts, spending quite a bit of time discussing the role of women in machinima, as represented in this year’s festival. From the almost overwhelmingly masculine-themed submissions, to the women participants in the award ceremony, and so on. My son stops by for an interview late in the show and shares his perspective on this whole topic.
Thanks for listening! Let me know what you think.
This Week’s Hot List (URLs from the show’s content):
- 2006 Machinima Film Festival
- The Submission List
- The Snow Witch by Britannica Dreams
- Creative Commons (Music)
- BloodSpell Soundtrack
- Decorgal’s take on Independent Music
- Gennifer Henderson’s take on the MFF Awards
- “Game Over” by Pierce Portocarrero
- “Stolen Life” by Nanoflix Productions
- ** Final Segment Link **: Moo Money’s Jay-Z Blog Post
- Featured Music for this podcast was by Overman from the following films:
- BloodSpell
- The Fixer
- PEDS, Season 2
- Male Restroom Etiquette
- Father Frags Best Trailer
- CPL EA 99 Teaser
- other miscellaneous music
Comment by moo Money — December 20, 2006 at 10:11 pm
Ahahahaha. I thought she looked topless too! She must have some flesh colored top on because I can’t see how that would slip past the censors. Awesome ep of overcast.
Comment by Michelle — December 20, 2006 at 10:35 pm
Super listening as always! It was interesting to hear some balanced thoughts on the role of women in machinima. Awesome interview from Overman Junior too.
Comment by gToon — December 20, 2006 at 11:29 pm
Wonderful cast! I love the immediacy of the show. The part where the big truck goes by was so interesting. I hope you will consider doing another “on the road’ podcast at some point in the future. I think it really works well.
Thank you for saying what I’ve been wanting to say for the last month. We need more women at the festival and we need more of their films up for awards. How to do this? Certainly not by giving women some sort of handicap. I suggest that AMAS actively encourage women to submit films. I know for a fact that some women machinimators did not submit because they felt they wouldn’t be considered seriously. AMAS, and members of the machinima community should work to help women realize that their work should be submitted and will be taken seriously. I think there should be a separate seminar on “women in machinima” next year with prominent female directors, actors, etc. invited. We just have to encourage and reach out to get more women involved.
Why are we noticing the lack of women’s films this year at the fest? Well, personally, I paid more attention to women’s films this year. The quality and amount of films by women, I believe, was larger this year. And finally, my best machinima collaboration was with a female director (Michelle @ Britannica Dreams).
As for the two festival awards presenters, it seemed to be in questionable taste to me, considering the lack of women presenters and award winners, but I don’t think it was a big problem. Knowing the people who put the awards ceremony together, I don’t think they have any kind of issues with women. I hope they don’t repeat that idea next year though. We need better images of women at the festival. That wasn’t a good way of encouraging women to participate as equals. I think it was ToddNYC who pointed out to me that the festival just reflects the game world. He’s probably right (as usual). We just need to work harder as a community to make women feel confident and welcome at the fest.
I loved your son’s take on the whole thing; “eeh..lllaya..meeeoooooh..hiip?” I don’t think I’ve heard it put any better. There’s a budding scholar there, Phil. Please bring him back for another show. Perhaps to comment on some controversial issue…
I didn’t quite get the Moo Money youtube film and the blog. Perhaps I’m just slow witted with all of the Christmas maddness going on. There was a parallel performance in Second Life of the concert that was being broadcast on a screen behind the live performers?
Looking forward to your greatest hits before the end of the year. You are indeed the Overman!
Comment by Decorgal — December 21, 2006 at 2:00 am
Just a side note, I think that there are many women machinima directors, especially in the Sims 2 realm. The general machinima realm- definitely not as it reflects the gaming world. The fact that many of them (i.e. women) did not submit movies for consideration is due more to the issue of copyrighted music than anything else. Speaking for myself, I don’t at all feel that my work won’t be taken seriously- in fact, I’ve had a friend who’s active in the general machinima community who’s been pushing for my participation for the past 2 years but copyrighted music in my films prevent me.
Comment by Krad Productions — December 21, 2006 at 7:21 pm
Great show, Overman. You bring up some really good points (as always). This reminds me of a riddle one of my friends told me the other day. Maybe you’ve heard it before:
So a father and son are coming back from a hunting trip, and they crash into an oncoming truck. The father is unfortunately killed instantly, but the boy suffers some major injuries and remains alive. He is however, unconscienous. The truck driver stumbles over to the car with the father and son in it and proceeds to call 911. The boy is then airlifted to the nearest hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital, and entering the ER for a critical and immediate procedure, the surgeon walks in.
The surgeon takes one looks at the boy. “I’m sorry,” the surgeon says to one of the nurses. “I can’t operate. He’s my son.”
How is this possible?
It’s a mad, mad world. Sexism really blurs a lot of lines and creates a lot of stress in today’s world, that’s for sure. I’m lucky enough to have a few really awesome girls as friends that I can easily talk to and relate to without feeling any social pressures. But in the end, gaming seems to be a man’s world. That’s not to say that it’s a good thing- it just seems to be the way it is. Not necessarily talking about Machinima here, but I think Nintendo is a really sweet company. I don’t own a Wii, nor do I really plan to, but I think it’s a wonderful product to help capture the interests of people of both genders of all ages. DS, too. I was at my Grandma’s house this summer. She refuses to touch a computer, and anything with a buttons and screen besides a TV absolutely eludes her. Without saying a word, I handed her my DS Lite with a copy of Nintendogs loaded. She picked it up and gave me a curious look. “Pet the puppy,” I said. And so she did. It was a really special experience. Old meets new, technology meets simplicity, two eras find common ground, ETC. Good times. I’ll remember that moment for the rest of my life, that and when she danced to “Mambo Number 5″ at my cousins wedding. Now that was something else! ;-P
You’re right, though. I’d love to see more less-macho machinima out there. Some of the best pieces I’ve ever seen don’t involve aliens or guns (says the Halo 2 machinimator). I saw Snow Witch, and I consider it up there with some of the best Sims 2 movies I’ve seen this year.
Best Wishes,
Evan-
Comment by todnyc — December 22, 2006 at 10:24 am
Fun show Phil.
Yup, this conversation (re:women in machinima) is important. Smart not to criticize the festival, but definitely something to think about.
I think as machinima inches away from game-centric themes and humor, we’ll see more of just about everything; politics, abstraction, and porn.
Comment by Overman — December 22, 2006 at 2:04 pm
“we’ll see more of just about everything; politics, abstraction, and porn.”
Woohoo! Yeah!!!
I simply LOVE abstraction.