Machinima Workshops and Machinima Gallery
at GC 2006
Games Art at the Leipzig Fair
10 years of Machinima – making films without
big budgets
For this year’s GC
(Games Convention), the GC joins forces with the
research project “Animation in New Media”
to present a machinima gallery and two machinima workshops
to show how creative you can be with computer games.
Machinimas are animated films made by using computer
game software. The term “machinima” is
an invented word combining “machine” and
“animation”. In the Games Art section
at the fair, the comfortable Machinima Lounge provides
relaxed viewing of the best machinima films, whilst
the two-day workshops each give 20 participants an
opportunity to produce their own film in the computer
game The Movies. Workshop participants can pre-book
online at http://www.lvz-online.de/special/24958.html
.
Computer games, particularly ego shooters, still have
anything but a good reputation in Germany. Non-players
are especially inclined to fear that playing brutalises
young people, making them indifferent to violence
or perhaps even spurring them on to acts of violence.
Many are unaware that thousands now use computer games
not to fight monsters or final enemies, but to put
them to an unintended creative use in order to produce
3D animations. The real-time technology of computer
games makes directors, cameramen and actors out of
battling mythical creatures. The films produced in
this way are usually distributed via the Internet
where followers of this form also enjoy lively exchanges.
The movement began in 1996 when Leipzig programmer
Uwe Girlich wrote the software that makes it possible
to read and process recordings from the game Quake
so that what had happened could be changed after the
event – machinima was born. Since then, a small
subculture has become a vibrant movement involving
several thousand people and the results they produce
are now beginning to attract attention in the mainstream
industry.
The Leipzig project “Animation in New Media”
involving Dr. Karin Wehn, Dirk Förster and Ingo
Linde, has been researching the phenomenon of “machinima”
since 2000 and sets out to look into the subject as
comprehensively as possible both in theory and practice
and to give interested beginners a chance to try out
this low-cost and innovative film technology. To do
this, it has invited artists and experts.
2 Machinima workshops
During the GC, two practical workshops will be presented
by two of the best known and frequent prize-winning
machinima artists of recent years, Friedrich
Kirschner and Klaus Neumann. Kirschner works at
the Ars Electronica Future Lab, Linz, and established
a reputation with his abstract and artistic videos
whose origins in the ego shooter Unreal Tournament
are no longer apparent. As publisher of the online
magazine machinimag.com,
Klaus Neumann made a name for himself with his unconventional
contributions to the “Protection of Species
in Digital Life” with The Sims2 and as publisher
of the website machinimadeutschland.de.
Together with Alexander Scholz from the magazine Screen,
they also make up the team behind the virtual “Bob
Block-Show” which picks up on and makes
fun of phenonoma in the world of games live and with
the inclusion of the public.
On two days each, both artists spend 4 hours introducing
20 participants to the basics of machinima. The aim
is for each participant to develop a small film, either
alone or in cooperation with others. There is no charge
for attendance at the workshops – the only requirement
is an admission ticket to the GC on the days concerned.
No previous knowledge is required, nor is there any
age limit. Computers and game will be provided.
Dates:
Workshop 1: 24/25 August 2006, 11.00
a.m. – 3.00 p.m.
Workshop 2: 26/27 August 2006, 11.00
a.m. – 3.00 p.m.
Participants can register on the website of the Leipziger
Volkszeitung: www.lvz-online.de.
More information is also available there.
Screenings of machinima films
Anyone who just wants to see how far developed and
different machinima films can be should make themselves
comfortable on the bean bags in front of the TV screens
in the screening area. A curated programme runs all
day here with a mixture of entertaining, artistically
ambitious and critical machinima films of recent years.
Talks, discussions and readings with well-known experts
In addition, icons of the machinima scene such as Hugh
Hancock and Friedrich Kirschner are given a hearing
every afternoon as well as introducing their current
projects. Well-known feature writers and media specialists
like Mathias Mertens reflect on this interesting phenomenon
of pop culture.
Founding of the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences
Europe
Another highlight: a European institution is to be
set up modelled on the Academy
of Machinima Arts and Sciences (AMAS).
It is planned to establish Machinima Europe as a portal
for film-makers and viewers, as well as for festivals
and cultural institutions dealing with the subject.
Friedrich Kirschner, board member at AMAS says: “Given
the large number of festivals and workshops now dealing
with the topic of machinima in Europe, a first port
of call for this new form of animated film has become
highly desirable.”
In the long term, Machinima Europe intends to offer
its own workshops for the sector, to cooperate with
AMAS to organise the official European machinima film
festival and try to initiate dialogue with European
publishers and game developers regarding the legal
position of machinima productions.
Other highlights
The “Bob Block Show” is due to appear at
the industry’s GC party and opens the press
conference on Press Day when Hugh Hancock premieres
his machinima film Bloodspell (Part 7).
Partners
Projekt „Animation in Neuen Medien“
GC
(Games Convention), Messe Leipzig
Uni
Leipzig, Institut für Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft
Deutsches
Institut für Animationsfilm (DIAF), Dresden
Academy
of Machinima Arts and Sciences
Leipziger Volkszeitung
Game sponsors:
ACTIVISION
Computer sponsors:
ATI
Technologies (EUROPE) GmbH
Hewlett
Packard
Yello
Related Topics
Animationsproject-Blog
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