And Now For Something Completely Machinima Ricky Grove, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine, and Phil Rice

A well-trodden path in alien encounters, this week’s short is Genesis by Edy Recendez, filmed in Unreal Engine. From the very beginning the film is such fun, with great editing and sound design – right up to and including the ending ‘rap slash dance’ credits.  Ricky, Phil and Damien also talk about the upcoming Diablo 4 release. 
 
0:08 Introduction
3:56 The detail is important to the director
7:15 An archetypical story concept
8:45 Sound design and foley
11:22 The ending credits – a rap slash dance!
17:01 Diablo 4… releases 6 June
20:00 Elden Ring, again
Credits -Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine (MIA Tracy Harwood)Producer/Editor: Ricky GroveMusic: Arps Solina

This week, Ricky, Phil and Damien discuss Torn Seas – a feature made with Unreal Engine, by Richard Boisvert.  We don’t often review feature-length films on this show, not least because few are brave enough to make them, and we talk about that aspect a bit too.  Overall, we were impressed by this film but we also have a few suggestions to consider.  
5:21 Cinematic Design. 
9:35 Difference between Ricky’s tolerance for sentimental stories and your tolerance. 
11:22 The problem with Pixar and Unreal. 
15:42 The value of screenwriting and narrative. 
20:24 Voice acting and sound effects. 
24:24 The role of a script’s ambiguity. 
28:47 Learning as he goes along. 
30:44 A kind of audition for Hollywood. 

Credits -Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine (MIA Tracy Harwood)Producer: Ricky GroveEditor: Damien ValentineMusic: Arp Solina 

Made in the still developing game, Star Citizen, this week's film is a large-scale production showing 97 players creating a complex battle scene. The film is called Sandstorm, directed by Wailander.  Ricky, Phil and Damien discuss the extent to which machinima is about showing off the game vs telling a story, what the role of the director is in game-based machinima productions and, of course, take a deep dive into the history of machinima in the process. They also reflect on just how wealthy (with in-game currency) the creators of this work actually have to be!  
0:05 Intro to the film. 6:50 Sound effects and effects. Aircraft and flight sounds are tremendous, but dull. The biggest weakness is the emotionless commander. 
10:24 The post-credit sequence.13:53 Phil’s criticism of machinima. 16:52 A fan-made marketing video for the game. 20:21 Battle of the Empire Strikes Back. 24:17 Vermisimilitude. 
Credits -Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine (mia Tracy Harwood)Producer: Ricky GroveEditor: Damien ValentineMusic: Arp Solina

This week, Ricky, Phil and Damien begin with an brief discussion of the roles AI is being used for to restore old machinimas, and in particular the very exciting upcoming release Phil will be doing of old Machiniplex films - more on that in due course!  
The film discussion centres on After War by RG Studios, and their approach to telling a story without moving a camera in the Half Life 2 world. 
3:19 Ethical considerations in upscaling. 
5:35 How good is the game? 
7:59 How to choose a film. 
11:43 Single camera in one place in one shot. 
16:21 The sound of the film. 
19:34 Challenging your expectations. 

Credits -Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine (MIA Tracy Harwood)Producer/Editor: Ricky GroveMusic: Opening title sequence: Flow by MK2; Closing titles: Arp Solina

Recently, we've seen some really great HL2 shorts, and this week we have an excellent one for you - Patient Zero is by TheParryGod aka Richard Makk, released in Feb. This is so well done you can cut the atmosphere with a butter knife, the choreography between the actors is brilliant and there are even some gratuitous small animal shots to boot.  Hear us discuss the details and check out the film following the links on our Show Notes post on the Completely Machinima website.
Credits -Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine (mia Ricky Grove)Producer: Phil RiceEditor: Damien ValentineMusic: Arp Solina

This week's film selection comprises 2 shorts, both untitled but actually worlds apart in their development. Its not often we get to comment on a first ever machinima project as the framing for a creative idea but our first film is just that, by Sydney Walker, and made in an environment we have never seen used for machinima before, Final Fantasy 14. Our second film is a psychological thriller, drawing us in from a the whole world of familiar cinematic language in a way that we struggled with in the Astartes Project.  BUT, the title needs work because "iClone shorts" just doesn't cut it for us... over to Just Art Animation Studios!  
Credits -Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien RiceProducer: Phil RiceEditor: Ricky GroveMusic: Arp Solina