Machinima: Storytelling Convergence?
by Jeannie Novak
Founder & Lead Writer

Machinima pioneer Strange Company’s
Steelwight is a tale of “swashbuckling heroes
and Victorian streets where monsters lurk in
places of power… “

Machinima is a blend of “machine” and “cinema.” The machine in this case is a game engine that is used by filmmakers to create an animated movie instead of a game. From the film industry side, machinima can be seen as an example of technology convergence—adopting a tool originally created for game development to make movies. From a game industry perspective, machinima takes cinematics and cut-scenes even further away from the game experience itself and toward linear storytelling. The low development costs associated with using game engines to make animated movies adds machinima to DV technology as another revolution in independent filmmaking. Compared to a computer-generated animated film such as Toy Story or Final Fantasy, it costs next to nothing to produce a full-length machinima feature.

Strange Company founder and artistic director Hugh Hancock was inspired to blend game engines with cinema after being involved in player communities that modified the original Quake game by developing in-game mini-movies. According to Hancock, “Machinima is important because it opens up a third way of creating films. Steering a course between digital video (quick to produce but restricted) and animation (unlimited but extremely slow), Machinima opens up entire genres of filmmaking to hobbyists and low-budget filmmakers. Now, rather than just making Clerks, upcoming Kevin Smiths can cut their teeth on making films with the scope of Star Wars or The Matrix.”