Creating and using machinima

This page contains these sections:

Table of contents

• Summary of this page
• Contributing to and using this page - including a guest book for visitors
• Creating and using machinima:an engaging medium for teaching and learning that addresses needs and expectations of NetGen learners and others
  • Introduction
  • Machinima?
    • Examples
  • Creating machinima
    • What tools do I need?
      • What software do I use and where do I get it?
      • Are there any hardware 'must-haves'?
      • Anything else?
  • Using machinima for teaching and learning
    • What's so good about it?
    • Any problems associated with it I should know about?
    • What learning theories underpin it and what pedagogical approaches are associated with it?
    • How have others used machinima in education?
    • What's the ROI (Return on Investment) if I decide to learn to create and use machinima?
  • Conclusion
  • Recording and reflecting on my own learning experience
    • My first attempt at filming in Second Life - September 2008
    • Troubleshooting and creating custom characters - mid October 2008 (duplicated in my Mahara blog)
    • Hard lessons when starting out to make machinima - late October/early November 2008
    • It takes time…baby… it takes time…. to learn to learn machinima (early November)
    • Accepting reality - well past time to share an inferior product but a valuable experience never the less (November 2008)_
• Related knowledgeGarden pages
• Related web sites
• References

Summary of this page

Contributing to and using this page - including a guest book for visitors

Creating and using machinima:an engaging medium for teaching and learning that addresses needs and expectations of NetGen learners and others

One of my Second Life avatar skins - Rilla Shan

Introduction

This paper/wiki page explores creating and using machinima, an engaging medium emerging from the online 3D gaming culture, familiar to many ‘NetGen’ learners who’ve grown up in a digital world of internet connectedness and shared user-generated content. It allows for rapid, cost effective production of animated content for various purposes, including capture of evidence for educational assessment and/or portfolio artefacts. It is an increasingly common format for shared creations on sites such as Youtube and is beginning to appear in mainstream cinema as well as educational and other contexts.

The world we now inhabit continues to display the diversity apparent in human history, along with a story-telling and game-playing culture that has served not only entertainment, dissemination of news, sharing culture and building community, but more importantly, teaching and learning. Rapid technological changes have enabled a globalised, internet connected environment in which, especially in developed countries, a participatory culture pervaded by digital media and portable, powerful multimodal communication and/or computing devices has arisen. This has facilitated the growth of massively multi-player online (MMOs) three dimensional games and multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) such as Second Life. Substantial communities have been generated both within and around these, with machinima one of the new media forms users have begun to create and share through generic and dedicated media sharing sites.

Machinima is accessible in that free or inexpensive, easy to use tools are available for production on personal computers, often packaged with the ‘game’ or viewer. Anyone so inclined or encouraged can actively create, appreciate and respond to the shared stories made available through this, our participatory ‘web 2.0’, in which users may also be producers.

Educators are beginning to explore the possibilities and relevance of machinima, along with other emerging media and environments offered by digital gaming and virtual worlds.
Andreas Kirchhoff, who included the topic of machinima in a 2008 creative gaming festival in Germany, sees it as linking film and gaming culture, “building bridges especially for older non-gamer-audiences ...(such as teachers)...The opportunity to create your own narrative content motivates an experimental approach to (or play with) technology, which… helps… understand how games work” (cited in Carr, 2007, Para:5).

Machinima?

Machinima (muh-shin-ee-mah) is a mash-up/portmanteau of the words ‘machine’ and ‘cinema’ (Marino, 2004). They are virtual movies filmed within real-time, three-dimensional (3D) virtual environments such as Second Life, and 3D video-games such as Everquest, The Sims and World of Warcraft. Machinima are “rendered using real-time, interactive 3D engines, such as those of games, instead of professional 3D animation software (Wikipedia, 2008). The actions of virtual actors, (as avatars in game environments), can be filmed in both existing and customized virtual environments, allowing users/players to create content using a personal computer. The technologies available, both external to and within these ‘games’, enable players to capture computer generated imagery (CGI) screenshots and action that can be stored on a hard drive for later editing.

Examples

The following Introduction to Second Life was made and shared on YouTube in 2006, however, it provides a four minute overview that conveys a sense of the Second Life experience and possibilities. It is one of many machinima available on YouTube that consider the use of Second Life in education. It can be viewed as embedded media in the wiki page, or alternatively, you could visit the YouTube site and view it there. An advantage to this is the availability of related videos you can just click to view. See it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q&feature=related.



Alternatively, you could visit the YouTube site and view it there. An advantage to this is the availability of related videos you can just click to view. See it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q&feature=related


Further examples
This Second Life website page showcases user-created photos and machinima: http://secondlife.com/showcase/machinima/. One of particular note is from the London Oncology Clinic, the machinima promoting its real world services and clinic, as well as its Second Life location, itself intended to inform and familiarise people with it before visiting in real life. View it at http://www.youtube.com/mauriceslevin

Aimee Weber’s ‘Solar System’ is considered the “first fully realised machinima for educational purposes” (Wagner, 2006). Weber declares “Anybody who hasn’t been hiding under a prim for the last year knows that Machinima is what the cool kids in gaming are doing these days” (ibid, Para:1). Her blog contribution documenting the process of making her machinima, and a link to view it, is available at http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2006/03/her_worlds_her_.html.

The Australian Film, Television and Radio School students create machinima using Second Life to build skills in cinematography. This video, ‘The Good Game’ communicates the initiatives well. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/stories/s1748375.htm

Bajo's Adventures in Machinima - 15 September, 2008
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/video/default.htm?pres=20080915_2100&story=4

ABC Television’s Good Game Community for sharing videos and photos.
http://affiliate.kickapps.com/kickapps/service/displayHomePageExperience.kickAction?page=Homepage&as=15742

Second Life in Education - Educational Uses of Second Life - Machinima.
http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses#machinima

Creating machinima

There are levels of sophistication in making machinima, from basic capture of what is visible on the screen using the ‘game’ viewer, to the full gamut of roles involved in a traditional filmmaking project. These could range from conceptual scriptwriting and storyboarding, locating or building original virtual sets and props, recruiting virtual actors, organising avatar appearance and wardrobe, uploading textures and character animations, directing, controlling camera operations, recording and editing sound and video, to final production and release.

A summary of Weber’s (ibid, 2006) machinima making process begins with creating a screenplay, which is basically dialogue combined with cinematic direction. This is followed by storyboarding in order to provide some direction for filming, then set building (virtual). Mouse camera control can produce a shaky effect, so Weber and others choose to film using the Alt-Zoom camera for a smoother result. Waypoints are set and the camera operator/avatar then rides the camera. Fraps was used to capture the action, with the process then moving to post-production using Adobe After-Effects or Premiere to edit, assemble and coordinate footage, music and narration for the movie. Weber advises that machinimators may need to be familiar with the keyframing technique to allow smooth transitions from one effect to the next, for sound and visuals.

What tools do I need?

The tools required may vary depending on the virtual 'gaming' environment. There are numerous options once you begin to explore the 'how-to' of making machinima.

What software do I use and where do I get it?

• Fraps (3D virtual filming/capture) – a free trial download is available from http://www.fraps.com. The full version can be purchased for around $50. Most game providers now provide advanced tools with their games. Second Life is a good example http://www.secondlife.com. Another application for purchase is Machinimation.
• Audacity or similar (audio editing) – a free application, along with its additional LAME encoder pack. Available at http://www.audacity.com
• Windows MovieMaker (free with Windows OS; allows basic editing to arrange video clips, images, include text screens, sound tracks, transitions etc to create movies in a compressed format output) or similar, such as iMovie.
• Video editing software such as Adobe After Effects; Adobe Premiere (proprietary software for a more professional approach).
• WeGame - a media sharing platform for gamers in public beta since January 2008 www.wegame.com. You download the free application, start it up, launch your game and click record. You can also instantly publish your video to the WeGame site. (I have yet to investigate this option). It seems you must fulfill the following system requirements and hardware:

Operating Systems - Windows XP (32-bit) (Recommended), Windows Vista (32-bit);
Minimum Hardware - 1GB RAM, 15 MB hard drive space for installation, 2GB free space for recorded videos;

• Mac users would particularly appreciate Susie Spinkoli’s Beginners’s Guide to Good Machinima blog at http://www.sl-educationblog.org/?p=127 but is a valuable resource for any interested in machinima. This site presents some initial comments on the machinima process with an invitation to visit her Second Life location to view works by other machinimators.

Recommended Hardware - for best recording and gaming experience AMD or Intel Dual Core CPU, 2 GB RAM, 15 MB hard drive space for installation, 5 GB free space for recorded videos

Further information to be added - contributions welcome.

Are there any hardware 'must-haves'?

• Computers with high capacity hard drive for storage of raw video;
• Adequate graphics/video cards and processing power;
• Sound recording equipment (aim for quality).

Further detail to be added - contributions welcome.

Anything else?

High bandwidth internet connection (particularly if using Second Life 3D engine or online multi-user games such as World of Warcraft). It is also recommended any extraneous applications should be closed to maximize the processing power available whilst filming and in editing processes.

Using machinima for teaching and learning

Herrington and Oliver (2001) include learning resources as one of three main elements constituting online learning settings, with learning tasks and learning supports as the others. In advising on the use of media, they consider audio, video clips and virtual reality: machinima as a combination of these certainly offers a rich source of information. It is an appealing medium of expression particularly for learners who have grown up immersed in digital media and technologies, online games and socially networked communities of interest.

Daly-Swanson (2007) documents her explorations of machinima made in Second Life for the role of librarians in education. Her presentation encapsulates the main areas of consideration identified including:

• the impact of media for learning design
• machinima as a genre (and relationship to multiliteracies/digital literacies)
• appropriateness for notions of 'produsage' http://www.produsage.org in which users may also be producers (beyond the industrial age concepts of one-to-many central transmission/broadcasting) and value for a learner-centred approach.

Machinima is a visually rich instructional media that appeals to millenials/NetGen learners, characterized as ‘digital natives’ (Prensky, 2001). As Daly Swanson (op cit) states:


Alexander and Levine (2008) reinforce the notion of ‘web 2.0 storytelling’ as an emerging new genre and it is inspiring to witness the range of formats and channels considered that might serve the use of machinima. The authors note the two main applications of “Web 2.0 storytelling” for colleges and universities as “composition platform and as curricular object” (P 52).

What's so good about it?

• It’s engaging!
• It enables a contextual presentation that makes information more meaningful.
• Machinima draws on the power of narrative to enhance the learning experience.
• It’s a user-generated medium accessible to those outside the traditional, competitive and expensive traditional arena of cinematography, in at nutshell, it allows a DIY (Do It Yourself) approach.
• Machinima is cost effective (compared to live filming) for resource production and for learners focused on developing machinima.
• It offers an equitable alternative resource for remote and rural learners lacking access to the high bandwidth preferred for real-time immersion in virtual worlds and game environments.
• Machinima is multi-modal communication, incorporating images, audio, animation and text in the final video product. The appeal and appropriateness of such media is reiterated throughout Educating the Net Generation, edited by Diana and James Oblinger (2005), with ‘NetGen’ learners revealed as having highly developed visual literacy.
• It’s easily shared.
• There’s a whole culture of informal peer feedback and review to draw on, an aspect that can align well with most current graduate capabilities statements in Higher Education aiming for critical, reflective and collaborative practice.

Any problems associated with it I should know about?

• Varied technical skills and applications required - professional development and an steep learning curve involved;
• Hardware and computing power may be a significant burden on infrastructure and budgets. File storage space for uncompressed video is high. Capture and editing applications also demand adequate processing capacity;
• Copyright and Intellectual Property issues must be considered, particularly with any music and images incorporated into a machinima project. This includes permissions from virtual actors, locations, props and other object in the virtual environment used.

What learning theories underpin it and what pedagogical approaches are associated with it?

Virtual environments such as Second Life “could provide engaging worlds in which students are actively involved in “story-centric” problem-solving activities”, supporting the belief that machinima as a medium for learning resources “could revolve around compelling virtual worlds, believable characters, thought provoking themes, and rich stories” (Mott et al, 1999, p78). These authors draw on Gerrig (2003) who describes the power of narrative experiences, of storytelling as “a fundamental form of meaning-making (pp78-79) that addresses the pedagogical goals of learning effectiveness and intrinsic motivation.

Constructivism has an emphasis on active learners, who according to Gerrig, when immersed “in a captivating world of intriguing characters” (ibid) can participate in activities that enable them to co-construct knowledge, explore and reflect. The importance of linking the story to the pedagogical activity is highlighted in giving meaning through its place in the overall sequence of narrative constituents. An excellent example is the presentation of a scenario that enriches and deepens learner involvement for case-based learning. Agostinho similarly advocates the “use of characters to present tasks and critical information in a simulated environment” to support “more authentic learning environments online” (2006, P88) for a constructivist approach.

Machinima has been effectively exploited to present a complex scenario in Air Gondwana, a fictional airline, to engage law students in moving from novice to mentor roles as they develop negotiation skills (Butler & Prosser, 2007; Meredith, 2008). Interactive activities that incorporate questions and answer activities throughout traditional and machinima video media play can enhance the support offered by stand-alone machinima resources. Such enhancements may require specialized services.

Machinima as an emerging medium of expression has arisen out of the digital game arena. Bryce and Rutter (2006) outline the growth in research that highlights “the rich diversity of interest in digital games”, citing Wolf and Perron (2003, Para:2) to explain the tensions and blurring between and across academic disciplines.The emerging field of video game theory is itself is itself a convergence of a wide variety of approaches including film and television theory, semiotics, performance theory, game studies, literary theory, computer science, theories of hypertext, cybertext, interactivity, identity, postmodernism, ludology, media theory, narratology, aesthetics and art theory, psychology, theories of simulacra, and others.

Further theories and approaches considered include literary theory, cultural studies, film studies, new media and community and identity. However, narrative-based learning is certainly a theoretical approach that informs the use of machinima in teaching and learning and melds with constructivist philosophy as considered in the following references:

• Narrative-based learning (narrative-centred or story-centric learning). Refer to Alexander and Levine (2008); Mott et al (1999); McQuiggan et al (2008).
• Game-based learning (game studies; digital-game based learning). Refer to Richard Van Eck (2006);

It would appear machinima might, therefore, contribute to situated learning environments that provide “access to expert performances and the modeling of processes…such access enables narratives and stories to be accumulated, and invites the learner to absorb strategies which employ the social periphery (legitimate peripheral participation)…a ‘window onto practice’ (Herrington & Oliver, 1995, Para:16).

How have others used machinima in education?

• Promotion and awareness
• Instructional media (eg how-to tutorials)
• Rich scenarios for case-based/problem-based learning
• Digital storytelling
• Sharing experience and knowledge
• Comics, specifically those from game contexts described as 'gamics' (Ciprick, cited in Lafferty, 2008) in the graphic novel genre to present alternative media for equity and accessibility
• New media production in creative industries
• Reviewable immersive presentations (such as a tour of the solar system or a molecule or body organ, a company location, an art exhibition, music or drama performance).

A seminal resource for educators is the Second Life in Education (SLED) wiki which suggests the potential of machinima as “a way of recording students research within Second Life, as a tool for responding to texts, issues or events, as an engaging form of digital storytelling or as a process for learning about digital media production techniques. It also offers the opportunity to engage students in learning whilst playing their favourite games” (SLED, 2008).

What's the ROI (Return on Investment) if I decide to learn to create and use machinima?

• It takes time to learn the skills. Realistically you can expect to put in more than you are paid for, however, the rewards appear worth the investment and can be applied and extended more efficiently and creatively once the basics are acquired. Students appear to appreciate and engage with the media. Professional skills/services can be purchased which does allow an informed idea to be realized without so much investment in technical skills acquisition. The cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills acquired (such as law and multimedia) are commendable in the current climate, increasing an individual academic’s human capital. Similarly, students also develop digital literacies through exploring machinima, an effective means of sharing their discoveries and opinions in communities of interest that extend beyond their classrooms. Education Queensland’s Headstart project using games in learning has networked with the Global Kids initiative and social justice issues.
• Costs ($) - most of the software is free or relatively inexpensive; however, professional software for editing may not be. This may limit the quality of the final product if one is forced to use unedited footage. Institutional support services may be able to assist.

• Extra hardware may be required, depending on your level of usage and the recommended specifications for game environments.

Just as for students, the intended audience and/or participants for teaching and learning, those who embark on an exploration of the machinima medium, may gain enjoyment and satisfaction in meeting creative and technical challenges.

Conclusion

Just as for students, (the intended audience and/or participants for teaching and learning), any who embark on an exploration of the machinima medium may gain enjoyment and satisfaction in meeting the creative and technical challenges it presents. It is an emerging mode of expression already engaging the ‘NetGen/millenials/digital natives with its historical use for recreation and sharing of content in socially networked communities of interest now so easily accessed through the increasing power and availability of technologies. Its emerging appearance in educational and other contexts has excited a revived interest in narrative and digital game based approaches to teaching and learning.

Toolkits for creating and using machinima are freely available for production and editing on personal computers, with a wealth of accessible resources and literature to support and inform interested educators. Significant commitment and investment of time on a personal level, as well as challenges for supporting infrastructure in terms of processing power and file storage, never the less appear to represent a viable return on investment

Recording and reflecting on my own learning experience

Some of this experience will be recorded in Janice's Reflective Learning Blog (a Mahara blog), as well as points included here. It takes the form of an Appendix in the paper version.

Related knowledgeGarden pages

• TOC: Technologies, tools and applications Content capture, editing and authoring
• HowTo: create a screen movie or Creating a screen movie
• Software for capturing screen movies
• Learning in a virtual 3D environment: SecondLife
• Another Second Life
• FET8611 - Using Second Life in Education
• Second Life

Related web sites

• Australian Film, Television and Radio School (virtual worlds and machinima) http://www.aftrs.edu.au/disciplines/virtualworlds/studyingvirtualworlds.aspx
• Academy of machinima arts & sciences http://www.machinima.org particularly the What is machinima? the machinima faq. Available at http://www.machinima.org/machinima-faq.html
• Call, E. (2005). Making machinima in Second Life. Available at http://static.secondlife.com/_files/making_machinima.pdf. This White Paper includes technical and creative tips, overview of a demo machinima 'Silver Bells and Golden Spurs', production time and costs, distribution, quality and business opportunities.
• Education Queensland – The Machinima toolkit 4 teachers. Available at http://www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.asp?pid=39771
• Fraps: Real-time video capture & benchmarking FAQ http://www.fraps.com/faq.php
• Kemp, J. (2007). Making machinima: in seven simple steps. http://www.slideshare.net/jeremykemp/making-machinima" rel="external">Available at http://www.slideshare.net/jeremykemp/making-machinima
• Machinima listserve - SL has recently started a listserve for anyone making or interested in machinima. https://lists.secondlife.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/machinima
• Mediamatic.net (2006). Machinima Workshop: Making films out of games. Mediamatic. Available at http://www.mediamatic.net/page/10026/en
• Robin Good - a link from Second Life about machinima in independent filmmaking inside computer games / virtual worlds http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/10/10ndependent_filmmaking_sets_stage_inside.htm
• SimTeach (2006) Information and Community for Educators using Multi-User Virtual Environments. Available at http://www.simteach.com
• SLED (Second Life in Education) site is a valuable resource available at http://www.sleducation.wikispaces.com
• Susie Spicoli’s Beginner’s Guide to Good Machinima (SLED Blog) http://www.sl-educationblog.org/?p=127 Presents some initial comments on the machinima process with an invitation to visit her Second Life location to view works by other machinimators.
• Thinking Machinima - Paul Marino's random insights into machinima and its related subjects. Visit a blog article at http://www.machinima.org/paul_blog/2006/06/second-life-machinima-making-strides.html - or the blog home page at http://blog.machinima.org.

References

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