Machinima Expo » Machinima

We are moving to a new blog address

rgrove — Tue, 24 May 2011 18:05:29 +0000

We’ve decided to move to a new, simpler blog for the 2011 Expo. We are consolidating addresses and just making everything simpler for us (thanks to Phil Rice). We’ve chosen the Tumblr platform which is very easy to use and update. Our new blog address (we’ll update at Machinifeed) is:

http://blog.machinima-expo.com/

The 2011 Machinima Expo will take place on November 19th and 20th, 2011. You can attend via Second Life or through our web portal at:

www.machinima-expo.com

If you need to contact us here at the Expo for any reason, please use the “Contact Us” at the blog link listed above.

-The Expo Team

Muvizu to Sponsor Expo 2011

rgrove — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:26:33 +0000

It’s with great pleasure that I’m announcing that Muvizu, the new, free machinima program, will be sponsoring the 2011 Machinima Expo. We are delighted that they’ve chosen to work with us again this year and provide funding, chiefly for prize purchases. Their commitment to last year’s Expo was phenomenal and we are very glad to have them on board again this year. Thanks especially to Vince Ryan at Muvizu for his help in making this possible.

If you haven’t tried Muvuzi, head over to their excellent website and check it out. Very easy to use software based on the Unreal Engine, plus friendly forums and lots of tutorials.

Winner of December Muvizu/Expo Contest is “Close Up” by Rollo

rgrove — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 06:08:24 +0000

The MachinExpo and Muvizu would like to thank everyone for their interest in the “Holiday Hell” film contest. Although we didn’t get as many entries as we’d hoped (probably due to the holidays), we do have a winning film we’d like to announce:

“Close Up” by Rollo.

We liked how well the film was shot along with the strangeness of the story. Rollo uses Muvizu well, especially in the rendering department. Congratulations to Rollo! We’ll be sending Rollo a brand-new copy of Sony Vegas Pro 10, the digital video editing package, for his winning entry.

Also, Muvizu and the MachinExpo plan on hosting another competition in the spring, so stay tuned for the details.

Machinima Expo 2010 Programming Schedule

rgrove — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:37:06 +0000

Here is our final Expo 2010 Programming schedule. We’ve been tinkering and adjusting for over a month now and have finally got it set. Well over a dozen hours of presentation video, live panels and Q&A’s along with an awards ceremony and big parties at the end of each day DJ’d by Hathead himself.

You can download the PDF of the Machinima Expo Schedule HERE

Note: Access to films and live events is mainly through our web portal at www.machinima-expo.com or through live video feed at various locations in the virtual world of Second Life. Links to those locations are listed at the web portal listed above.

ALL TIMES ARE PACIFIC/LOS ANGELES TIME ZONE

Friday, November 19th

-Final Dress Rehearsal.
Screening Reels start up.
-Booths start up (in Second Life)
-All Second Life locations open during
rehearsal.

Saturday, November 20th

9am Awards Ceremony
(Ricky and Kate)

930am Screen Grand Jury Prize Winner
-Conversation with Director of Grand Jury Prize

1000am Meet the Filmmakers
-Introduction of showcase artists Jorge Campos & Legs Machinima + short interviews with filmmakers Freeta Kayo (Success Begets Success), Carlos Alberto Leal Rodriguez, (Jonathan Jekill), Eddie Duggan (Looking for the Truth) & Maxime Lebled (Ghosts)

11am Keynote Address w/Tracey Harwood

1130am A Conversation with Tracey Harwood & Henry Lowood

1200pm –ONE HOUR BREAK–

1pm Women in Machinima Panel
-Ingrid Moon (chair) , Pooky Amsterdam, Lucinda McNary,Freeta Kayo & Squirrelygirl

200pm Classic Machinima Talk (Video + Panel)

-w/Henry Lowood, Phil Rice, Ben Grussi)

300pm The Wolf and Dulci Show LIVE

4pm Closing Party at Hathead’s Terrace in Second Life.

Sunday, November 21st

900am Voovees Director Presentation (Video + Live Q&A)
-w/Indy Liu & Simone Gale

930am The Movies Presentation (Video + Live Q&A)
-w/Killian

1000am Muvizu Presentation (Video + Live Q&A)
-w/Vince Ryan & Barry Sheridan

1030am Moviestorm Presentation (Video + Live Q&A
-w/Matt Kelland

1100am Gary’s Mod/HL2 Presentation (Video + Live Q&A)
-w/Harrison Heller

1130am Reallusion iClone presentation (Video + Live Q&A)
-w/John Martin II

1200pm –ONE HOUR BREAK–

100pm Second Life presentation (Video + Live Q&A)
-w/Pooky Amsterdam

130pm Sound Design for Machinima (Video + Live Q&A)
-w/Ricky Grove

230pm Writing and Adapting Scripts for Machinima (Videos+ Live Q&A)
-w/Joseph Kwong, Todd Stallkamp, Kate Lee

330pm Closing Remarks w/Ricky,Kate & Phil

4pm Closing party at Hathead’s Terrace in SL.

Sunday, November 28th

-Booths Close
-Screening Reels close.

Note: -Times are all listed as Pacific Time (Los Angeles)

-A time zone converter (courtesy of Russell Boyd) is at: http://machinexpo2010.blogspot.com/

-Follow the whole event live at the machinima-expo.com portal or join us and your friends in second life. Locatations slurls are available at the machinima-expo.com web portal under the
“locations” tab.

-Watch our blog http://machiniplex.net/expo/ and twitter http://twitter.com/machinexpo feed for up to the minute news and late breaking announcements. Hashtag for twitter is #machinexpo

-Booths for our sponsor (Muvizu, Moviestorm, Voovees and Reallusion are located in Second Life. See web portal for slurl

2010 Machinima Expo Highlight Reel Films

rgrove — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 03:56:09 +0000

One of the goals of the Machinima Expo is to find interesting films to screen at the festival. But every year we end up with a couple dozen films that have striking scenes, but don’t quite make it to the full screening list. So, this year we are trying something new: a MachinExpo Highlight Reel. We decided early on that we wanted to include as many filmmakers as possible this year while still keeping the level of quality as high as possible.

So we noted exceptional scenes in those films that didn’t qualify as full screeners and came up with 30 hand-picked scenes from over 200 films submitted to the Expo this year. And what I particularly like about these scenes are how different they are from each other and how imaginative they are. Plus, there are some very strange moments in these scenes some of which are my favorites from any of the films submitted this year.

Our congratulations to those filmmakers chosen this year. We hope that our support of your work will encourage you to create more films in the future.

The 2010 Machinima Expo Highlight Reel films are:

ABDUCTED by Logan Payne

All Inclusive by Luca van Grinsven & Graham Fitzgerlad

Blood of Ghosts by Nicole Small & Alexandra Burnell

The Comeback by Paul Carr

Cube is Safe by NicoleX

The Disease: Bloody Mountain in Happy Mood by Ole Etzel

The Doomed Highway by James Potts

The Dragon Slain by Turlough Kelly

El Giafaron – An Incongruent Truth by Laurina Hawks

F.B.I. The Movie – Family Differences by Steven Gekas

Fire Quest by Larkworthy Antfarm

Gene Williams -Heroes! by Gene Williams

The Homecoming by LividEye Yoshikawa

I Surrender by Toxic Menges

Lutte Fratricide

Looking for the Truth

mAdvertising by Pooky Amsterdam & robwag Soothsayer

Mass Force – Fallen Angel by Colin Cooper

The Medium is the Message by Celestial Elf

RAGE by Logan Payne

Screaming in Agony by Crettex

S.A.B – Senior Avatar Bitchin by Xerras Azalee

Shadows of Dalaran City by Crettex

Some Days by Tommaso Palermo

Sting of the Scorpion, Part 1 by Faires Rivers

The Temple by David Moss

Two Friends One Festival Zero Ideas by Steven Gekas

Virtue for Vengeance by Aaron Jeans

Muvizu to Sponsor Expo Prizes

rgrove — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:24:49 +0000

Muvizu, the free 3D animation software developed by Glasgow-based Digimania, will be supporting the 2010 Machinima Expo with a generous donation of prizes for our jury winners. And, although we haven’t announced our programming schedule yet (look for it in early November), Muvizu will be hosting a booth in Second Life and showing an “Intro to Muvizu” video as part of a series of Sunday, November 21st machinima software presentations.

The major prizes that Muvizu will be making possible are:

Jury Grand Prize:
-M-Audio Microtrack II Digital Audio
Recorder
-Rode NT1A Condenser Microphone

Jury winner 1:
-Blu Ray Bundle which includes a Pioneer Blu Ray Writer/Selected Blu Ray Animation DVD’s and a Blue Microphones Snowball Mic

Jury winner 2: -Hollywood Camerwork 5-DVD course in film blocking and staging.

Jury winner 3: -Blue Microphones Snowball Mic and Asus ASUS ENGTS450 GPU

Latin/Spanish Prize winner:
-Blue Microphones Snowball Mic + Adobe Soundbooth CS5 Audio Editing program.

In addition, all winners will receive 10,000 Linden dollars for use in Second Life.

Our sincere thanks to the Muvizu crew in moody Glasgow, Scotland. Especially the wily Vince Ryan, for helping set all of this up.

Note: we will be announcing a Muvizu film competition co-produced by Muvizu and the Expo in the coming days. There will be some fabulous (and I mean it) prizes announced for the 5 winners.

So head over to muvizu.com and download their free program. The community there is tight; the folks that run the site are funny and helpful and the program is easy and fun to use. Development is moving quickly, too. Lots of increasingly interesting films being created using this software.

And stay tuned for more on the Muvizu-Expo film competition!

Reallusion to Sponsor 2010 Machinima Expo

rgrove — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 05:02:13 +0000

It is our great pleasure to announce that Reallusion, the company behind iClone, CrazyTalk and other 3D animation tools, has agreed to co-sponsor the Machinima Expo in November, 2010. Last year Reallusion gave significant support to the Expo in the form of a software presentation, advertising and, most importantly, providing the prizes for our 5 jury films. Their support was a significant factor in making last years Expo a success.

This year Reallusion has gone even further in their support for the Machinima Expo by providing financial assistance, an introductory video for their flagship 3D animation software (iClone 4) and, once again, providing prizes for our jury winning films. Not to mention the fact that many films we are screening at the Expo this year are made using iClone and CrazyTalk.

Our warmest thanks to John Martin II and CEO Charles Chen for providing much-needed support for this our biggest Expo event yet. We are so proud to include Reallusion amongst the Expo’s most important supporters and friends.

From the Company Overview at Reallusion.com:

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Reallusion is a leader in the development of 3D cinematic animation tools for consumers, students and professionals. Recognized as an industry pioneer, the company provides consumers with easy-to-use avatar animation, facial morphing and voice lip-sync solutions for real-time 3D filmmaking and previsualization for professional post-production. Reallusion’s core technologies are widely used by consumers, gamers and filmmakers to ready their PCs with a total real-time movie studio that plugs-in to the gamer mentality with videogame-like play-to-create technology. Professional content developers equip their studios with Reallusion technology to streamline production efforts to match the lightspeed demands of animation. In addition to PC software, Reallusion is a trusted digital imaging and mobile 3D development partner to brother, Panasonic, Skype and Nokia with embedded applications in leading consumer devices worldwide. For more information, visit www.reallusion.com.

Jury for the 2010 Machinima Expo Announced

rgrove — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 05:27:56 +0000

We are very proud to announce the 5-person jury for the 2010 Machinima Expo today. The Expo team made a considerable effort to find jurists with a variety of experience and backgrounds in animation, film and CGI. Of the five jurors one is an award-winning experimental installation artist, another is an academic with a particular interest in animation, still another is a working senior cartoonist in Hollywood, we also have a working screenwriter and a professional filmmaker and author. The fact that they all work outside of the main Machinima community give them an excellent perspective on the best films submitted this year. Which is exactly what we are looking for. The Expo is grateful to our jury members who have taken the time out of their very busy schedules to help us choose the very best films to give awards to. Having seen all of the 15 films we are sending them this year, I envy their experience of seeing them for the first time. The quality and variety of films are the best I’ve seen since we started the Expo 3 years ago. And that gives us all a lot of hope and inspiration for the future. Without further ado, here is our jury for the Machinima Expo 2010:
Joseph Farbrook
	JOSEPH FARBROOK grew up in New York City and Santa Fe, raised by his father, a concrete poet, and his mother a painter. Farbrook attended the University of Colorado, where he wrote electronic music, poetry, and fiction. Becoming interested in a more immersive approach to narrative, he began using computers and the Internet as creative media. Subsequently discovered by the art department, he was offered a fellowship to pursue an MFA in digital art. Working in a visual arts environment, Farbrook began creating electronic installations, interactive video, and virtual reality narratives. He also developed media-reflexive live performances mixed with interactive screen projections. Farbrook’s latest work explores the intersections between video, video games, and sculpture. Farbrook exhibits both nationally and internationally. Recent venues include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, La Fabrica Arte Contemporaneo in Guatemala, Museo De Arte Contemporaneo in Columbia, as well as venues in the Netherlands, China, Czech Republic, and the USA. Farbrook is presently an assistant professor of interactive media and game development at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Tracy Harwood
	TRACY HARWOOD is the Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Creative Technologies and is well regarded as a machinima scholar. Her recent article “The Machinima Movement” is required reading for those interested in the current state of machinima and it’s future. Tracy gave the keynote address for the Expo 2009. We are grateful and excited that she’s returning to offer her perspective on machinima aesthetics and community this year.
Gregory Lamberson
	Gregory Lamberson is an author and filmmaker, perhaps best known for his 1988 cult horror film SLIME CITY and his novels JOHNNY GRUESOME and PERSONAL DEMONS, the first book in an ongoing series called “The Jake Helman Files,” which continues this October with DESPERATE SOULS. This year also saw the publication of his werewolf novel THE FRENZY WAY, and his new sci-fi horror flick SLIME CITY MASSACRE is currently playing film festivals and horror conventions. His 2008 filmmaking book, CHEAP SCARES: LOW BUDGET HORROR FILMMAKERS SHARE THEIR SECRETS , was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, and he edited the popular website Fear Zone for two years. He is one of the founding directors of the new BUFFALO SCREAMS Horror Film Festival, and his website is www.slimeguy.com.
Lisa Morton
	LISA MORTON is an award-winning writer of fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. She’s written for the animated series VAN-PIRES and SKY DANCERS, and her cult science fiction comedy MEET THE HOLLOWHEADS won the Grand Prix Award at the Shock-Around-the-Clock Film Festival. She is a three-time recipient of the Bram Stoker Award (presented by the Horror Writers Association), and she won the 2009 Black Quill Award for Editing (on the anthology MIDNIGHT WALK). Her first novel, THE CASTLE OF LOS ANGELES, was recently released to critical acclaim. She lives online at www.lisamorton.com
James Tim Walker
	JAMES TIM WALKER is a 10-time Emmy nominated animation artist with over 30 years experience in the industry. His first job was on Shinbone Alley as an assistant director in 1971. He won the Emmy award in 2004 for his work on the animation series Samurai Jack. Tim is currently working in the Warner Bros. animation dept. We are very grateful to him for agreeing to jury this years Expo films.

Our Thanks to the Expo 2010 Screening Team

rgrove — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 04:02:21 +0000

We are delighted that the submissions for each year’s expo have steadily increased, both in number, and quality. 200 films have been submitted, 14 of which were entered for the Latin / Spanish special jury prize section. Last year, there were 153 films submitted. So, our submissions are up by approximately 25%. Thank you!

Many of you will be eagerly watching the blog and asking the big question ‘Am I In?’, so you’ll be glad to know we’ll be sending out personal emails letting you know as soon as the screening team has finished their final sorting process. This is likely to be in around three to four weeks from now. The email will let you know if your film has been selected or not, and if so, in which category you find yourself. Those movies which make it to the screening group will be shown in full at the festival. Films which are outstanding enough to be considered Jury material will be passed on to an independent group of Judges, chosen from outside the immediate Machinima community. The composition of this jury will be announced shortly.

Before we fall completely into the full furore of pre-festival organisation, this is a great opportunity to thank our screening group for all the hours of work that they dedicate to their task. Since the beginning of June this small group of volunteers have been watching, discussing and assessing submitted films, and this process continues until the end of the month as they catch up with the deadline rush of entries.. The festival would not be possible without their help and continued willingness to give up their time.

We’d like to thank;

Tom Jantol – for his insightful discussion points, and endless dedication to quality.
Dulci – who despite an incredibly busy schedule, still managed to keep on task, and lend us her valuable and unique perspective.
Phil Browne (Biggs Trek) – for his down to earth approach, willingness to be open and commitment to the festival.
Damien Valentine – for his common sense attitude, and straightforward honesty.

and last, but very much not least, the chair of the Screening group Ricky Grove.

Ricky has a complete passion for Machinima film and it is wonderful to hear how excited he is about this year’s submissions.

We’ve been lucky enough to have a screening team who keep turning up, do their job really well with no drama or expectations of reward, and we’re incredibly grateful for that. Their attitude exemplifies the spirit of this community led event.

Thank You Guys !!

-Kate

Machinima Makers Help Starwarsuncut Win 2010 Primetime Emmy

rgrove — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:50:34 +0000

We are very proud to announce that several members of our Expo Staff have been involved in the winning bid for the Interactive Fiction award in this year’s 2010 Emmy Awards.

http://www.starwarsuncut.com/

You may already know that the starwars uncut project was the brainchild of Casey Pugh, a developer of Vimeo, a video sharing site which has the reputation of being more grown up and artsy than its mainstream Youtube cousin. Casey wrote a script which chopped the original star wars movie into 15 second segments, then put these online so that each clip could be claimed and remade in whatever format the creator liked, and there’s a real mix..from live film to 3d CGI, to stop motion and of course some machinima!

The whole project revolved around Vimeo, with filmmakers uploading their remade 15 second clips and then linking these to the starwarsuncut site

Pugh: “I am thrilled that I have received almost every type of parody, film style and animation possible. It truly shows off the internet’s power to harness people’s creativity.”

Is this the first Emmy winner which uses Machinima? We think so, but if you know differently, let us know.

-There’s a rough cut of the final film available here (sound not complete)

http://www.starwarsuncut.com/watch

-Casey Interview

http://biginterview.org/post/220835534/casey-pugh-may-the-crowd-force-be-with-you

-See stats here

http://www.quantcast.com/starwarsuncut.com