Whilst January's news begins with more of the same ole genAIs doing their thang, because they can, there's now evidence of more concerted effort to control the efforts of creators... because the corporates and policymakers can at least try to do that, right?  Well, maybe, but all this has achieved in the past is even more creative energy invested in jumping through the hoops, clambering over the walls and crashing through the hedges - so Happy New Year, we're looking forward to seeing what the amazing machinima creative communities of all engine persuasions around the World can achieve in 2025!  Plus, we discuss iClone's new update, a couple of interesting creative projects celebrating content creators in their own ways, as well as interesting milestones.

1:15 SORA-not SORA

6:51 Runway’s Act One

7:39 Face Depth Frame Mancer

9:00 Riot Games dishing the riot act

11:06 Fortnite’s achievements

12:53 Why was Andy Serkis not playing the horse?

14:00 JT Music’s Halo tribute

14:42 Bullet Time Agent

17:14 Reallusion’s iClone update

18:51 After Astartes: this is what happened to Syama Pedersen

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

Kicking off 2025 with a review of a classic and iconic #machinima by one of the pioneers of the movement, Paul Marino aka ILLRobinson. I'm Still Seeing Breen, made in HL2, holds a special place in our memories from those early years - not only was it a perfect 'protest piece' as the feature machinima demonstrating its potential for a 2005 Sundance Film Festival panel discussion (alongside RoosterTeeth's RVB) but was further developed for MTV2's Season 2 premiere of its Video Mods TV show later that same year. In this episode, we go over the back story, discuss how this was made and its impact on machinima in general.

1:14 Introduction to film and the Valve 20th anniversary edition of Source Filmmaker updates
5:31 Back story to its release: the snub, the support from Valve, the successes and the features (Ottawa Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, MTV2 and Tony Shiff, et al)
16:45 The genius of selecting a music video for making machinima! 
18:05 Creating the head animation in Source, editing and scene selection
23:00 Communicating and community in the early days
26:30 Why the Gman and why a close-up?
31:00 A watershed moment, a turning point, but the end/beginning of the next phase too
35:00 An inspiration
38:53 A big mistake
41:54 How the games companies robbed the machinima community
44:00 A question for Paul

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats 

What a fantastic short to end 2024 on... this week is yet another great creative work by GibbsonTV, released in April.  The film is based on the award-winning Roblox-inspired game Lethal Company by Zeekerss.  It's not actually machinima, being made in Blender, but in the spirit of being inspired by the game and with a original tale, it has all the right heritage for our show.  Check out our comments and add your own - and see you on the other side of the New Year for more creative tidbits.

1:04 Introduction to the film, the game and the rules of storytelling

8:16 Inspired by Alien

10:36 The tools and the craft in storytelling, at times reminiscent of RVB

15:15 Voice acting and AI, and a little disappointment

16:53 Finding a way to be a creative long-term

18:28 Realtime vs 3D animation – the benefit of thinking like a machinimator

19:35 Anachronisms… 

21:50 Sound advice?

24:26 Mocap and Damien’s approach to filmmaking

27:32 A demo reel strategy and drawing from the experiences of the early days in machinima

 
Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

Not an actual comparison but a review of two shorts: The Internet is for Porn by Evilhoof & Flayed, originally released way back in 2005 and The Marstons Celebrate Christmas, But Things Get Out of Hand, by Paradise385 released 22 Dec 2023.  Lots of lampoonery in both our reviews, but we especially hope you enjoy watching them. Happy Christmas from the crew here at Completely Machinima.

1:45 The Internet is for Porn - porn, pawn or pwn?!
26:35 The Marstons Celebrate Christmas - a flaw fest, perfect for a glass in hand viewing, right after Miracle on 34th
39:50 Ricky's bonus update... HL2

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

Our monthly news update this month covers more genAI matters, game-related items and WoWness in the form of a 2 hour + stunning orchestral performance celebrating 20 years of musical history. Check out the news and our discussion, and do leave comments too! 

1:35 Pioneers in Machinima, published by Vernon Press, is becoming part of the genAI ecosystem + a plea to keep us up to date 
13:05 AI filmmaking studio launched aka #mAIchinima 
14:29 Silent Hill Remake 2 mod by Praydog 
15:30 Philip Rosedale back at Second Life, yay! 
21:25 Remarkable Life of Ibelin – a remarkable story 
22:50 20 years of WoW, orchestral extravaganza 
26:18 Steam Launcher update w/ machinima tools 
29:30 Dragon Age Veilguard release 
31:30 Half Life 2 20th anniversary RTX remix 
37:40 The corollary of the unfinished game… 
44:24 Mr Musk’s Diablo 4 record 

Credits - 
Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine 
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice 
Music: Animo Domini Beats

A Source Filmmaker short by Dominzki, this is another of his well-crafted stories told in 3 parts, called Mission. This episode we focus on the third part Exodus and discuss its merits in detail. We conclude that if there was ever a machinima that should be made in a film studio, this would be it.  Check out our comments.

1:17 Tracy's introduction to the film
11:47 Complexity and dialogue
13:51 Scifi and the clone, and the director's clever device of using a disrupted world to portray the ethical considerations of cloning
15:31 Clay-like characters and the portrayal of emotion
17:09 The soundtrack and its role
18:53 Making this IRL, maybe Kim Kardashian could play the lead?
19:23 The Mobius strip is the masterful component
24:48 The art and craft is evident 

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

This week's film review is a Star Citizen cinematic machinima by Virtuality Media called Dangerous Love, beautifully made and with a well chosen music accompaniment. Its a tale that has a tragic twist for its lead character. The layers of emotion and depth to the storytelling are inspirational. Check out our review and do add your own comments.

1:12 Introducing the film and the creator

6:50 The music choice

7:50 The shots, life and death

14:50 This film is an inspiration

16:29 A story driven music video

17:25 Editing is weak

 
Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Animo Domini Beats

Who doesn't love a good olde Western? This week we delve into a great short by avidredeadenjoyer, released 21 Sept 2024, called The Loss. It has been made in the only engine a Western machinima can be, RDR2. We all especially liked one particular shot, which really goes to the heart of why machinima has added so much to movie-making. This week, we also talk about a second pick, a Frontier: Elite 2 short by The Mystic Mushroom accompanied by the Blue Danube: The second best space sim ever made... Enjoy!

1:15 The Western vibe

4:00 The tropes, the story and the cinematography

5:15 Mid shots vs close-ups

7:25 The sentiment portrayed

11:22 The beginning, middle and end!

13:06 Music and foley

13:30 Steam trains: down memory lane for Tracy

16:02 An outstanding shot – tell us more @avidredeadenjoyer!

21:40 Mixing with Chopin maybe not the best choice?

24:50 The second best space sim ever made…

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Animo Domini Beats

A packed ep this month, key tools, what's happening roundup and some fascinating projects - links to everything on the Show Notes page of our website.

1:29 BBC Sound Archive

2:30 Auto painter AI for Blender

2:56 Google image/film search AI

5:00 Tribute to David Graham

6:05 Mouse: PI For Hire!

7:05 Azeroth politicised? Surely not!

10:13 Pigeon Bringer of Doom and Destroyer of Humanity, by Solofilms

10:50 The Flower that Never Dies, by NewGates Entertainment

11:21 Terminator and Cyberpunk 2077, by eli_handle_b.wav 

12:27 Warhammer, JT Music 

13:03 Ian Hubert’s Dynamo Dream Part 2 is finally out 

14:13 Star Citizen Con updates SC1.0

18:31 Squadron 42 gameplay reveal update

23:09 Hubnet machinima, Overclock and EE Studios

26:15 Luminaria still open!

27:00 GTA Hamlet documentary, Sam Crane

28:40 Reallusion 3D character contest results – stunning work!

31:30 Movies Tycoon out of early access

Credits -
Speakers: Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Damien Valentine
Music: Animo Domini Beats

This week's ep we dedicate to a 3D animation by a French student collective made in their final year of studies, streamed through @TheRookiesCo channel. It is not technically #machinima as its made using traditional #animation tools but nonetheless we absolutely loved it - and its a recommendation by one of our channel's regular followers @3dchick. The film is a post-apocaylptic robot tale, inspired by Zaha Hadid's architectonic style. 

2:00 Ricky's intro
8:25 Benevolence vs malificence? A moral tale for bots! 
13:46 How to achieve personality in machines? This is an example reminiscent from the early days of machinima and the work of Peter Rasmussen 
16:21 Cultural references in this film were not film-based but engineering based - is this a reflection of contemporary times and the emergent use of 3D animation tools? 
18:45 A clever use of missing information to set the scene 

Credits - 
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood (Phil Rice MIA) 
Producer/Editor: Damien Valentine 
Music: Animo Domini Beats