jun-falkenstein
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Cinemassively: Beach Party 2
Life's a beach, and this orc is ready to party, in Beach Party 2: Endless Waves. When he moves to a new town, he thinks he'll never make friends, but then he stumbles onto the beach. Between surfing, saving the local hangout, and dancing the night away, his summer schedule is suddenly full, and he learns the meaning of love and friendship.This machinima, created by Jun Falkenstein, of Stone Falcon Productions, was created way back in November 2006. She created it to enter the Blizzard and Xfire 2006 Summer movie contest, where she won second prize in the Short Feature category. She employed a beach movie theme, which was wildly popular in the Frankie and Annette days of the 60s, yet it's still timeless enough to be featured these days.[Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
WoW Moviewatch: Gametrotting machinima documentary
Lifeskool highlighted machinima as part of their Gametrotting series last year. According to Jun Falkenstein, of Stone Falcon Productions, those interviewed were asked to speak to the audience as if they'd never heard of this emerging medium. While most coverage of gaming and machinima tends to miss the mark, I found this documentary to be humorous and quite informative.Some of the juicy morsels of this short doc include commentary by Philip Debevoise, of Machinima.com, and machinima from a variety of different platforms. World of Warcraft is discussed pretty heavily in the documentary, showcasing clips from Snacky's Journal, WoW 300, the South Park WoW episode. [Via Jun Falkenstein]Previously on Moviewatch ...
Cinemassively: Gametrotting machinima documentary
Jun Falkenstein recently blogged about a machinima documentary that she was in last summer. When I checked it out, I was surprised to see the all-star crew of machinimators that they assembled for it. They were asked to explain machinima as if the audience had never heard, or seen, of it.In the video, Philip Debevoise, the President of Machinima.com, discusses what machinima is all about. Frank Dellario, of the Electric Sheep Company-owned ILL Clan, gives us a peek at how his team works as well. I really enjoyed seeing the variety of platforms that this mini-documentary highlighted, and I hope to see more coverage like this in the future![Via Stone Falcon Productions]
Cinemassively: Snacky's Journal, Episode 1
With the Snacky's Journal Episode 4 teaser released yesterday, I guess I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. This award-winning series, by Stone Falcon Productions, is about a gnome rogue, Snacky, and his night elf friend, Angie. They get into all sorts of trouble together, including murloc mishaps, weight training gone wrong, and a fishing fiasco.Episode 1 introduces us to Snacky through his writings in a journal that Angie gives him. As he is finishing up, he is interrupted by his friend, who suggests that they go murloc tipping. You'll just have to watch to see if things go as planned. Apparently Episide 4 could be the very last, so enjoy the series while you can!
Stanford machinima panel recap
Thursday's WoW machinima event at Stanford showcased the winners of the World of Warcraft Summer Movie Contest. Following the screening of the best videos, Daniel Kayser of GameTrailers.com hosted a panel discussion with a few Stanford professors and other machinima luminaries. Also, Joystiq's Christopher Grant sat on the panel.For an hour, Kayser led the group through questions about the state of machinima, its history, and its future. In general, the participants anticipated a bright, creative future for machinima, but they were uncertain how the art would change once corporations tried to exploit the style.Matteo Bittanti, from Stanford's Humanities Lab, commented on the continuing shift of machinima from in-jokes to a general artistic tool; many of the contest winners relied on WoW jokes, but the grand prize short, The Edge of Remorse, bore no direct relation to WoW as a game. Bittanti anticipated that the balance would continue to even out, with more machinima stories unrelated to games able to find a broader audience.Machinima's practical definition was another topic. Ezra Ferguson of Rufus Cubed Productions said that a feature-length machinima production is inevitable, especially as the game tools continue to evolve to show facial emotions and better acting. Animation director and one of the night's winners, Jun Falkenstein questioned the point at which those machinima tool updates would change the technique into a standard animated movie. Are the rough edges in machinima part of its definition?Henry Lowood, Curator of Stanford's History of Science and Technology Collections, also stressed that accessibility and rapid production are the root of machinima. He mentioned French Democracy, a story created with The Movies that responded almost immediately to last year's riots around Paris. He said that this method of quick reaction is "a power we really have never had before."Will machinima become regular-old animation once the results mirror other computer animation tools? Are accessibility and quick response the real root of the style?
