The Sweet Aroma of Passionate Machinima

(subtitled) Making Love, Coffee and Machinima - An old adage “make love to your microphone” stuck in my mind all these years. One of my mentors along the way demonstrated how I could become intimate with my microphone and really feel what I am saying to convey my emotions through voice. Not only did I lean into my microphone, but I would vary my stance and position to animate the words to reflect the passion I desired to communicate. There is a sensuality about making good media, whether it is a romantic comedy or a thriller.

A certain sense of timing is required that comes with experience and with understanding – to let go. So you are asking what does this have to do with making machinima – and especially with making love through machinima. Soni is not talking about making unsavory machinima, not that I am passing judgment on content. Rather, this discussion is about achieving that intuitive sense that leads you to capture the right angle in a scene, or allows you to move with and as the camera. The passion that arises from deep within and kicks in when you are totally engaged in what you are filming, and the idea that you are one with what you are doing – seeing all and being all – yeah, sort of like being a mini machinima god. For myself, music is often the driving force (but that is me, and I will talk about sound another time).

But being god, or even a demi-god is not about having control – it is about letting go and allowing your elements to click into place. My avatar has a certain way about her – I have watched in awe as she has surprised me with certain moves (LOL, not crazy!). It is that knowing enough to let go – oops, another cliché comes to mind, “if you love somebody set them free.” There is a freedom inherent to achieving passion in your machinima and that is when your work moves from the realm of good to an excellence that is appreciated through the visual and aural senses. Heck, you can smell great machinina. You should want, really want, to experience the machinima again, immediately.

“I love the smell of good machinima in the morning” (my paraphrase) was headlined for a couple of days on Lowe Runo's Avatar United site. It caught my attention and came to mind when I prepared this blog. The smell of magnum machinima is an aroma that should pervade this professional guild. Love and coffee – and machinima – if done right – should wake our senses – as makers and as tasters (we and our viewers). The smell should be one of victory, although I am not sure I want to extend the metaphor completely to Apocalypse Now. But you get the idea. BTW, the sound was magnum in that movie - again we'll do sound another time!

Here's some clips...

Smells Like Victory (reference to quote cited above)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPXVGQnJm0w&feature=related

Ceiling fan effect (great scene open and transition 1:30 into film)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b26BD5KjH0&feature=related

So what are some machinima that provoke you - whatever genre! Your turn! Next blog, I will show you those that inspire me.

Most of you failed your homework assignment last week and didn't name off some magnum machinima makers, but you have another chance this week. Take a whiff of some good machinima, and share it by posting a link!

Recognizing "Magnum" Machinima

A few thoughts to get us started....When I began to contemplate a name for this review blog, I played a bit with alliteration. MMMMM...what works with M.A.G. Well there's MAG.NET. A search produced sites on magnets! and a fairly bland machinima site focused on Halo (and even Halo looked boring on that site). MAGNET sounds like a great social networking site among MAG members. Not only are you an attractive lot, but your works will attract many to this site! And don't be surprised if I play off of MAG Net in the future. haha.

Then I came across MAGNUM. it means Great (Latin), and refers to many things, such as a type of gun, a British band, a band member of a Finnish group, boots for police and fire/rescue services, a brand for cars/trucks, a brand for electric guitars/bass, a condom, ice cream for those warm days in Tampa!, a type of computer workstation, a rocket, a satellite, a professional wrestler, the main character in a popular American TV show, among others and my favorite - Multicolor Active Galactic Nuclei Monitoring (MAGNUM) - a telescope.

All this brings me to my point! MAGNUM means Great! PRO MAG is intended as place to showcase the best machinima works, drawing from those game engines that allow machinimakers to tell stories and draw upon our emotions (yes art, too). The goal is intention - the intention to relate to each other through machinima! and to do it in great ways! Audiences sometimes have different perspectives than creators on what makes a machimina great - so watch the following link from Wagner James Au's New World Notes (from 2008 but relevant to my point) and think about what might make this machinima "great" to him and others...http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/07/great-machinima.html. Don't read too much into this video, I only use it as an example of the varying definitions of what triggers a "magnum" response from a viewer.

Aha! so now, I look toward PRO MAG, and put a call out for comments by Pro Members (and reviewers are welcome to comment) - what makes machinima great to you?! Who are the top machinima makers of all times? or even last week! Be concise, for many of you have to get back to making machinima. This site is intended to motivate, not distract you!

Please feel free to email me with tips on names and sites of MAGNUM machinima makers that the reviewers might invite to submit their works for inclusion on this site. sonicityfitzroy@yahoo.com. Let's keep it MAGNUM!

- Soni