Boo! Why are so many of us fascinated with what goes bump in the night? For one day - but really a few days or more - we attend costume parties virtually and in real life, and treat our eyes to scary movies (and trick them with special effects), even the cheesiest movies have a sense of appeal. The holiday has grown commercially, but it still manages to carry with it a festive spirit that brings people together. The historical origins of Halloween have been traced to the Celtic festival of Samhain, the Roman feast of Pomona, and other myths and legends. It is a time for gathering and harvest. Spring brings renewal, while October 31st marks the end of summer.
In America, Hollywood has a major role in defining Halloween. It is the season when Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees are resurrected for a night, and sometimes a month. It is when everyone potentially becomes an actor for a day, and adorns their body with a costume. Machinimists, photographers and other artists capture these images in their own unique ways, from the macabre to the comedic, from clowns to fairy tale characters.
It is when people let loose and for a moment they are someone else. It's all about suspending belief and playing a role. That is the foundation of good machinima and storytelling, is it not? So maybe a good scare might be the perfect prescription for the machinima writer's or producer's block.
The photos are from a couple of Halloween parties - one at a temporary Haunted House on the Island of Fame (near the corporate and production offices of Lowe Runo Productions LCC)...
...and the other one at Asil's NeoLondon, a steampunk sim complete with role play, shopping, and machinima areas.
Forthcoming, Machinima: The Art & Practiceof Virtual Filmmaking (McFarland, December 2011) by Sonicity Fitzroy and Lowe Runo (Forward by Persia Bravin). The Professional Machinima Artist Guild graciously provides syndication of Sonicity’s blog Magnum: The Machinima Review to AviewTV.com
If you are old enough to appreciate the show Mystery Science Theater, you will get this – the idea that even bad movies have a place in our popular culture. In this case, the hosts of MST were far more intelligent and worthy of watching than the movies they reviewed.
[Photos, May 31, 2011, Squeebee's Mystery Science Theater (MST3K) in Second Life]
Is there a purpose for bad machinima in our society? What is bad machinima – do we simply feel, intuitively know it, and want to watch it like a bad train wreck. Do you have some favorite “bad” machinima?
I would be curious to know what you think they are – those “baaad” machinima – as long as you don’t call attention to some of mine, lol. I admit I have fun creating some “B” roll machinima – or participating into bad machinima.
Hmmm, okay, I will share this one made by friend and I one late night for fun while at Innsmouth in Second Life. I did a serious magazine feature on the Lovecraft-inspired sim in August 2011 for Retropolitan. The machinima sort of sprang out of just being there; it was impromptu. It is the time of the season, at least in the USA, for bad machinima: anything scary that speaks to traditions surrounding Halloween.
All this came to mind when I read the following story: The Room' Creator Tommy Wiseau To Star In Web Series. Here’s an excerpt from the article in The Huffington Post:
From the man who created the worst movie ever made
(and wants to take it to Broadway) comes a video game review show.
Tommy Wiseau, who produced, directed and starred in The Room,
a cult classic widely regarded as one of the worst pieces of
cinematic trash in history, will now appear in "The Tommy Wi-Show."
(Amy Lee, Huffington Post, 9/21/11; photo incl.)
The show kicks off September 25th, and it will be featured on the Machinima You Tube channel. Wiseau will provide commentary on video games “while somehow battling alien forces,” and the teaser promises lots of “infinite amounts of sci-fi insanity” (Lee, 2011):
In the promo, the only thing Wiseau states is, “I am relevant to your interests.” His show appears a bit of mixed reality, mug shots of Tommy in real life with some machinima inserts.
So what does this all mean for machinima? Perhaps the fact that machinima continues to find identity in pop game culture and our larger cinema industry.
Let’s be thankful that machinima also has an artistic fan base as well, and we can hope that reviewers with a keen eye for quality machinima will add to the artistic integrity of the genre/format. Wiseau’s show speaks to a segment of the machinima viewing and making population. There is room for all.
Please do not misunderstand – I love mystery science theater, and Wiseau’s show might be actually funny and strange enough to ensure a cult following. My point is that, machinima is a medium that allows expression in many different forms, artistically and commercially. It is as professional as the producer intends for it to be. But it can also be as fun as making a home movie or campy sci fi for low brow entertainment.
The question of whether Wiseau’s feature will contribute to the growth of machinima is not as relevant as the fact that machinima is finding its place (or PLACES) in our pop culture. It will be interesting to watch how it is perceived in the coming months and years among audiences and the media makers, and how it evolves with and among the various facets of entertainment arts.
Note the list of advertising slogans, and replace the client name with “machinima.”
Just Do It – Nike
We Move People – Bombardier
What Happens Here, Stays Here – Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority
It's not TV, it's HBO
What Would You Do for a Klondike Bar?
Is it in you? – Gatorade
Ideas for Life – Panasonic
Made from the Best Stuff on Earth – Snapple
Got Milk? – The National Milk Processor Board
Think Outside the Bun – Taco Bell
The Best Part of Waking Up is Folger’s in Your Cup – Folger's
I Live for This – Major League Baseball
Don’t Leave Home Without It – American Express
Maybe She’s Born With It. Maybe It’s Maybelline – Maybelline
I am waiting for “Got Machinima?” to be sported on T-shirts everywhere! And think of what you would look like with a machinima mustache. Maybe we could feature the likes of Richard Roundtree, Geraldo Rivera, Burt Reynolds, Tom Selleck, Salvador Dali, Charlie Chapin, Groucho Marx and those up and coming machinima stars and producers – maybe Wiseau....
....or even the writer of this blog!
Machinima – It’s Everywhere You Want to Be.
Forthcoming, Machinima: The Art & Practiceof Virtual Filmmaking (McFarland, Fall 2011) by Sonicity Fitzroy and Lowe Runo (Forward by Persia Bravin). The Professional Machinima Artist Guild graciously provides syndication of Sonicity’s blog Magnum: The Machinima Review to AviewTV.com
I am on a tangent - to see how machinima is being used by a broad spectrum of filmmakers, photographers and laypeople - culturally, technically, and creatively. Marco Cadioli is a video artist who has experimented with machinima in his latest project. He is known for taking images from Google Earth, and making creative short pieces. This time, the Plant Earth is a rotating melon through the use of machinima. The complete story is available here.
How genius to reconceptualize Earth as a melon through machinima. Hats off to Marco for introducing many more people to the art and practice of machinima.
There's a whole new universe to explore through machinima. The DDU - The Duran Duran Universe - launched June 2011, and the visual treats were captured through the artistic lens of machinimist JJccc Coronet. This self-described "abstract artist" has also been catching a few headlines here and there. JJ's machinima piece on the steampunk build Petrovsky Flux recently was showcased in New World Notes. It's an incredible fast moving video, with stunnning images that keeps one engaged throughout. JJccc has a wonderful keen sense of editing to music and image. This machinima artist is definitely one to follow. Two recent works to view are his feature All You Need is Nowon the Duran Duran Universe and his interpretation of Lady Gaga's Mother Monster. This machinimist is a masterful editor and that makes his transitions superb. What this artist lacks in some minor areas (a few off lip syncs and maybe some of the pieces could be shortened yet would achieve the same effect - I'm being picky picky) is surely compensated by transitions that are fluid. Music moves the message - cinematically and sonically - forward when done right. JJccc gets that.
My only pet peeve is for this artist to add credits. But Machinimist Coronet is not alone there. Having gone to numerous professional art installations and galleries in RL, I understand that some artists refrain from adding credits, feeling that it takes away from the visual integrity of their piece, preferring to pin an info notecard next to the video monitor. But it seems machinima, like cinema, as exhibited online on YouTube for example, calls for ending credits to pay tribute to the many people involved in a film. Machinima has legs and travels everywhere online. I see it as a mobile video installation.
My side tirade is not intended to take away from the beauty of JJccc's artistic lens. This machinimatographer is definitely an exciting machinimist visually, breathing life into virtual environments, pulsating to the beat of a different drummer, luminating mood with color, texture, lighting, and camera angle, and showing us music machinima can be intense and fun to watch simultaneously.
With Duran Duran's entrance into Second Life, we might anticipate other bands to crossover virtually. Maybe even Gaga. In actuality, music like image should transcend our conventions and reach into and extend from our imagination. For media makers, creativity can be shaped and experienced, but never completely enclosed in any world. Machinima represents this transcension beyond our Goggle Earth to the larger universe that awaits us beyond an Ordinary World.
For a related article on Duran Duran's visionary and co-founder Nick Rhodes, see the August issue of Best of SL Magazine. Second Life is a place that offers all to experiment with music, images and motion. Even those who have already established fame in the mainstream, there is that virtual call toward what is next, what is possible, what if I were to create a new world what would it be like, who would I invite.....
To me, this is the way of machinima, beginning with its backstory of what was, evolving to its capture of what is, and transcending to its cinematic destination of what might be.
You have to look beyond what you see, to understand what is possible.
Sonicity :)
photo credits:
Sonicity Fitzroy - DDU photos: paparazzi entrance to Club Lipstick, Secret Rehearsal Room (Belinda Barnes), Eye-Shaped Cinema, Lipstick Tower, and press shot (below - DD's Nick Rhodes, DDU's Chrissy Welinder, Lowe Runo and Sonicity Fitzroy) from Nick Rhodes' interview.
Cover image courtesy of Best of SL Magazine and Duran Duran.
Forthcoming, Machinima: The Art & Practiceof Virtual Filmmaking (McFarland, Fall 2011) by Sonicity Fitzroy and Lowe Runo (Forward by Persia Bravin). The Professional Machinima Artist Guild graciously provides syndication of Sonicity’s blog Magnum: The Machinima Review to AviewTV.com
