An Introduction to Machinima
Short Fuze is at the forefront of a revolution in mass market movie-making. With the growth of social media and video-sharing sites, everyone wants to create movies, but it is just not cheap, fun or easy enough for most people to make movies and post them. Moviestorm intends to address this issue and put 3D animation into the hands of everyone.
Matt’s background is eclectic, he trained as an anthropologist at Cambridge University, then became a journalist specialising in African politics. Then he took a huge leap sideways into software design, and built healthcare systems for the NHS, and helped to design the first portable computers. Another leap sideways saw Matt co-founding the first consumer internet service provider in the UK, way back in 1993, and five years later, He founded a company making the first games for mobile phones with a University friend. They sold that company in 2003, and spent a year taking on consultancy work and wondering where to go from there. So one bored evening, they decided to make a movie just for fun, because as Matt describes ‘it beat the hell out of writing business plans.’ And they did. And lo! It was successful, so they decided to see if we could make a business out of zero-budget movies. And that's how Moviestorm was born.
Matt’s initial premise for the idea behind the development of Moviestorm was ‘How to make a movie with no funds what-so-ever!’ He made his first short film three years ago with a team of four other colleagues including one programmer and a model designer. He admits that it’s no Pixar production but, cost £40 to produce the whole piece through hacking into games engines and adding other animated items in through programming- there were of course major issues attached to this in terms of copyright as each frame of a game or character is protected- luckily for Matt the companies involved have since turned a blind eye to this. This experience gave him the idea to create a tool through which copyright wouldn’t be an issue, involving no hacking or 3D modelling- a virtual movie tool, through which the creator owns what they make. The advantage of machinima is that it is an incredibly quick process, which includes the entire production pipeline from scripting to final edit:
The software is also extremely easy to use, Matt comments ‘…if you can play Simms you can make a movie in Moviestorm, the differences are that you can lip sync, have direct control of emotions and make the cameras work a lot like real cameras with various lenses etc.’
Matt’s software can be downloaded for free as a basic pack and add-ons can be purchased for between £4.00 and £6.00 making it easily affordable. It is also incredibly quick for anyone to produce a movie. So why is it important for everyone to be able to make a movie? Matt notes that the audio visual world is now the dominant form of communication, however with the costs, time and skill involved only around 1 in 1000 people in the world is capable of having a voice. Machinima will make it so that more people can make a film and put it on the internet. Matt observes that there is a lot of rubbish out there but, every now and then you stumble across a gem and that is because someone has had an opportunity which machinima allows so easily without training or costs involved in creating an independent live action movie or 3D CGI animation in a programme such as Maya or 3D Studio Max.
Even in traditional movie making often the production would be quite laborious between script and storyboard with much time spent between the director’s vision and the storyboard artist’s realisation of this through imagery. This type of pre-visialisation through a machinima programme means that scenes, shot composition, camera positioning and lighting can be quickly composed and viewed in a matter of hours. It can give a good idea of colour, tone and lighting, something a storyboard or animatic cannot. Other applications include testing for pirotechnique explosions and using it to show an example of your visualisation of a piece if you are trying to seek funding or get a job. Many voice-over actors are also using it as a tool to showcase their talents therefore divorcing their voice from preconceptions because of their appearance, placing their voice in any number of characters and situations.
Moviestorm does not intend to replace 3D Studio Max or Maya, it does not have the capacity of these programmes, and however, these programmes are far more complex to learn. Never-the-less it does have compatibility with Max, Maya and Sketch-up. It allows you to render in the programme and create stills, AVI or MPEG movies, you can edit in the ‘cutting-room’ or you can take your footage into another editing programme such as Adobe Premiere. Moviestorm is compatible with both Macs and PCs and is constantly updated with new applications- new developments in the pipeline include lighting, foliage, and potential elements. Matt confesses Moviestorm will continue to grow and develop and will never be complete!
We recorded an interview with Matt - download the mp3's below:
