Political humor has its place, but when it is disarmingly portrayed by a pink Flufemuffin, the message gets through big time. Game engine film making, also known as Machinima or cinema done on machine, can be taken to greater and more advanced levels with the use of augmentation of the original platform. While the use of After Effects or ParticleIllusion can do this in any film with a timely animation or cartoon, the turnover on current events has to remain fast and relevant.
This is not computer-aided design or expensive CGI – this is done from a virtual platform where a 360-degree studio set is created, and where any place is possible and truly anything can be made.
What gives this additional life is the use of true talking heads, you will certainly recognize these people. They are real life portraits fashioned onto a virtual avatar, and with the use of “Crazy Talk,” the results are JibJab meets Pixar. See for yourself what happens in this kind of ingenious mashup. The film leads with a typical Hollywood type opening for the trailer. What would you do if “It Spread?” What do you think of this new look for animation?
YouTube webseries will continue to grow and flourish. Actors are expensive and need coffee breaks and dressing rooms, avatars do not. This is a kind of film-making which is going to define our decade – and also the release of “The Deep” which is an $18.5 million dollar movie being created in the Valve’s game engine.
As the tools for creation become more ubiquitous and cost-effective, we will move passed the first person shooter fragfest stories that currently populate machinima.com to the kind of films which are narrative and expository. Those of us with tales to tell and low budgets are embracing these newish platforms. While Red vs. Blue the Halo Powerhouse from Rooster Teeth sets some standards for a Machinima series, the use of game engine platforms by independent movie makers signals the coming of the “virtual sundance.”
“It Spread” – A Film Created In Game Engine Style
Image Credits: [Draxtor] [Pooky Media]
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