Machinima: Art, Science and Attitude

At the heart of this fast emerging artform, Machinima (machines meet cinema), is the idea that any bedroom-bound auteur-geek can create these animated webfilms. Using the existing virtual worlds created for popular computer games, you can shoot your own film using the video game characters as the actors for your own scripts. This is DIY filmmaking at its best! As Machinima moves more and more into the mainstream, it is attracting serious attention, with Graham Leggat, former director of communications for the Film Society of Lincoln Centre, likening episodes of Rooster Teeth’s online hit Red vs Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles to Samuel Beckett in terms of sophistication. The instant and ongoing appeal of Machinima is its irreverent humour, sharp and provocative writing, political advocacy and satire, and the bending of gaming aesthetics to Machimima’s own ends. This day-long forum will explore the promise of Machinima with leading international practitioners Paul Marino (USA); Eddo Stern (USA); Jessica Hutchins (USA); Friedrich Kirschner (Austria); Gustavo Sorola (USA) and Jason Saldana (USA)

11 – 11.45 am Machinima 101 with Paul Marino – An entertaining guided tour through the history, highlights and science of Machinima, giving those new to Machinima a proper introduction and providing Machinima fans with a walk down a virtual memory lane. Paul Marino is an Emmy award-winning animator, who now runs the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences. He is the author of 3D Game-Based Filmmaking.

12 – 1pm Eddo Stern/Jessica Hutchins - Eddo Stern is a writer, theorist, new media artist and founder of C-level [AFF guests in 2003], an artist-run new media lab in L.A. Eddo and his collaborator, writer Jessica Hutchins, will present examples of their work including Waco Resurrection, Tekken Torture Tournament and new Machinima Landlord Vigilante.

2.00–2.45pm Friedrich Kirschner - Friedrich Kirschner is a filmmaker and visual artist who re-purposes computer games to create animated narratives and interactive performances. Friedrich will illustrate how to use computer games, household input devices and other rarely seen interfaces for content creation.

3-4pm Selected highlights from the Machinima Academy of Arts and Science 2006 Mackie Awards - with commentary by founder Paul Marino followed by Q& A

4.15- 5.15pm Best of Rooster Teeth Productions - cult Machinima giants Rooster Teeth have sent out two members, Gustavo Sorola and Jason Saldana, to screen episodes of their Red vs Blue series 4, The Strangerhood, their sci-fi, reality TV sitcom and P.A.N.I C.

5.30 –6.30pm Panel discussion – Paul Marino, Eddo Stern, Jessica Hutchins, Gustavo Sorola, Jason Saldana and Friedrich Kirschner in discussion about the broader commercial possibilities, and the emerging cultural and aesthetic directions of Machimima.

11-6.30pm
Mercury Cinema

Free Admission

International airfares for participants in the Machinima program, except Eddo Stern, were kindly provided by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.