WEBVTT - Making Movies with Machinima 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.960 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:18.280 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello there, everybody, 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:20.680 welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poette and 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:23.040 I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:25.919 And sitting next to me, as usual, is senior writer 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:29.320 Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, Crispy, and hey there to all 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:33.919 of you at home. Very nice, thank you. What if 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:36.319 they're not at home? Hey there, to all of you 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:40.080 not at home. I don't want to leave anyone out, 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:44.120 all of you, all of you at work who should 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:46.520 be working. But instead of listening to us, thank you 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.600 very much, why don't we get started? Okay, So to 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:53.000 start this off, I thought we would go to our 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:57.400 tried and trusted method of reading a little a listener mail. 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:05.559 And this a listener mail comes from Mori. Mori says, Hey, guys, lately, 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:09.120 I've become obsessed with the Machinima web series Red Versus 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.880 Blue and was wondering where Machinima started and how it's made. 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.360 I'm sure many others have suggested this to you, but 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:16.959 I think it would make a great topic for you 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.360 guys to talk about your dedicated listener morey Well, Mari, 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.640 actually you're the first person to bring this one up. Yep. Ever, no, 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:28.480 I mean for us, But I actually wrote how machinima works. 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.000 And I too, am a fan of Red Versus Blue. 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.080 And I'm just going to let you talk because up 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.720 until today when we were doing research for the podcast, 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.360 I hadn't even never even seen an episode of Red 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.200 Versus Blue. But you had at least seen some machinima, right, 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:48.120 like maybe a code Monkey video or something. Well, yeah, okay, 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:51.480 and I wasn't thinking of that. All right, Well, let's 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.800 let's define what maschinima is before we get started. Okay. So, 0:01:56.000 --> 0:02:01.320 massinema is essentially using an existing computer generated world and 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:08.600 sometimes characters to create stories. Yes, machine animation, machinema, yep. 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:12.679 But it's not like regular you know, computer animation. No, 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.840 because all the work for building that world and building 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.359 the graphics has been done for you. You are actually 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:22.480 using a pre existing product to create your stories. Yeah. 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:25.560 It's almost like, uh, you know, using one of those 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.360 kits that you might find in uh, you know, a 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.400 piece of movie making software. You know, you've already got 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:34.440 the pieces you already get the camera angles and the 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.680 and the characters and and those things, but rather than 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.400 using the toolbox that comes with that kind of software, 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:44.480 you're actually using games. And uh, it actually can take 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.000 a couple different forms, right, I mean it could be 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.240 basically your recording of the actions, uh, you know in 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.720 the games that permit it, um, you know, recording of 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.640 the the actions of the characters, and then basically making 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.440 up a story to go with that, or actually taking 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.399 uh those pieces and making your own from scratch, which 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:06.320 it seems would be a bit harder. It might be 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.800 a bit harder, but in my experience, those tend to 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:13.080 be the most enjoyable ones to watch, because it's not like, uh, 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.840 you're trying to force words to fit the action. You've 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:18.080 already created the action and now you're or you already 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:20.080 created the words, and now you're you're creating the action 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.320 around it. Um. It's a lot like a puppet show. 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:27.320 I mean, it really is most similar to puppetry because 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.720 you have players who are manipulating or actors if you prefer, 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:35.480 manipulating characters on the screen using controls, and the characters 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:39.640 are responding appropriately, and then by doing that you can 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:43.400 create scenes, and by stringing scenes together, you can actually 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:48.240 tell a story. Now the recording of video games, that's 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:50.880 not new. A lot of people have been doing that 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:54.040 for quite some time. There were people who would videotape, 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.600 say a speed run through a video game, like let's 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.520 say someone is really really good at super Mare Brothers 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:05.240 and wants to videotape ah, an attempt to complete the 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.040 game as fast as humanly possible and uh and would 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:11.680 you know, videotape that upload it to YouTube or some 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.920 other service, and that would be that. So that's one step. Yeah, 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:17.839 I mean there are tons and tons of walkthroughs for 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.320 all kinds of games, not not you know, not just 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:22.320 the kinds that you would make machinim out of. I 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.719 mean there are you know, this is how you play 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.000 Level six, you know, all kinds of stuff. There's actually, yeah, 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.359 even more now that you have things like achievements in 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.440 Xbox three sixty and you've got you've got entire websites. 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.680 And in fact, Rooster Teeth, the company that produces Red 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:41.200 Versus Blue, they have a separate product they call Achievement Hunter, 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:45.120 where they show how to achieve certain achievements in Xbox 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.720 three sixty games so you can go and watch a 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.400 video and that they explain it that way. So, yeah, 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:53.919 you have the these which are instructional. They're not telling 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.440 a story, and they're not using the game in any 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.920 way that it wasn't meant to be used before. And 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.279 in fact, several games even include the ability to record 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.960 footage within the game itself, like Quake. That would be 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.120 the example that actually that's kind of what started machinima 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:13.440 off in the first place. So let you have the 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.440 game Quake that allowed you to to record short snippets 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.640 of gameplay, usually so you could brag it to people about, Hey, 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.480 look how many people I sniped in this game or whatever. Right, 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:25.640 But then you had a group of people who got 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:27.560 very clever and they said, hey, how about we use 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:30.560 Quake this. You know, we can record stuff. Let's record 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.359 um a little story. And they did, and that was 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.719 the beginning of what became machinima. People said, hey, you know, 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.640 that's an idea. We can actually create what looks to 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:44.920 be a computer generated animated film, but we don't have 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:49.360 to develop any of the environments or characters. We don't 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:51.680 have to create any of the animations. All we have 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:53.760 to do is write the story and acted out and 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:56.720 then we're done. The game will do everything else for us. 0:05:57.279 --> 0:05:59.240 And uh, I mean it sounds easy when you put 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.320 it like that. There a lot of different barriers you 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:03.719 have to get through while you're creating it. I could 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:07.800 think of a major one. What's that Basically you can't 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.440 shoot anything as part of your movie that doesn't actually 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:14.320 already exist in the game. Yeah, that's um without without 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.800 any post production. That is true. If you are going 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.360 to shoot your story using a game, you are relying 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.760 upon the uh the environments and the objects and the 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:28.960 characters that the the game developers have provided to you. Now, 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.880 there are some games that have very big communities where 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:36.920 the communities actually are allowed to submit new items for 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.000 the game. The SIMS does that. Several other games do 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.120 that as well, where you can actually develop and build 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:44.920 an object and then imported into the game and even 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.200 offer it to other people. So there are ways around it. 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:50.800 Sorry I didn't go ahead. I was going to point 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.320 out that actually a lot of it uh e A 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:58.120 stuff like especially along the Maxis line, like the sims 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:03.280 UM you know, spore basically spores one giant uh community 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:05.520 as part of the game, you have to basically have 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:09.520 an Internet connection, and um, you can find other people's 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:13.520 creations as you play, as you run into other species. Basically, 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:16.880 the chances really great that you're going to run into 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.280 something that somebody else created as part of the you know, 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.040 the startup of the game when you're creating new creatures, 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.320 and uh, I remember back in some City days when 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:27.160 I used to play the game that, uh, you know, 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.040 later versions of the game would let users create new 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:32.280 buildings and you can import those into the game, which 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:35.160 was kind of cool. Um, So, I mean, it just 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:37.120 sort of seems like machinima is just sort of a 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:41.160 a logical next step where you would, you know, build 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.280 on the community. Yeah, and a lot of games do 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:46.480 support that, not all of them, of course, Just like 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:50.520 several games have the ability to to set a camera 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:53.600 anywhere in the game. Here's some other cool things about 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:57.480 machinima that you know, you can't do in the real world. Okay, 0:07:57.680 --> 0:07:59.880 with a lot of games, you can break the laws 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:03.800 of physics, right, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can. 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:05.760 You can. You can have you can set a camera 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:08.600 on the ceiling and you don't have to worry about 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:10.560 securing it. There it just it'll stay there because you 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.680 told it that's where it belongs. With a camera on 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:21.320 the ceiling. Oh oh that hurts, I'm having a video flashback. 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.360 Or you can put it in a corner. Nobody puts 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:29.960 baby in the corner, but you could put a camera there. Um, 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.200 so you can. But the new thing is you can 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:33.960 put the camera anywhere. You can put it in the 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.280 middle of the sky and it's gonna be fine because 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:38.480 you know, if you tell it that's where it needs 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:40.200 to be, that's where it's gonna be. No, no, not 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:43.360 every game supports this, I should add some games do, 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.320 some games don't. But for a game that does, it 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:49.720 gives you unlimited options of where you set your camera. 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:51.600 You can do as many different angles as you like, 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:54.720 and you can get some really cool effects. Now, other 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:59.120 games you have to obey whatever the game's rules are. 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.200 You can't ness necessarily create a camera, and you may 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.840 actually have to have one player act as the camera, 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.920 capture that player's view and use that as the main view. Now, 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.160 that's how Red Versus Blue works. One of the characters 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.640 that's in the game that you never see is the camera. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:17.960 The camera's looking around and the point of view of 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.560 that character becomes your view into the world. Now. It 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:24.080 also means that when they want to do things like 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.040 crane shots or aerial shots, they have to come up 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:29.760 with really clever ways of doing it. For example, for 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.720 a crane shot, they would have the camera man jump 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.240 on the end of the tanks turret and they would 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:38.040 have someone sit in the tank and then slowly raise 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.720 the tourret to the right level, and there's your crane shot. 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.440 For the aerial shot, they would have someone jump on 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.560 a bansheet. They'd fly the banshee up into the air 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.800 and the cameraman would very carefully perch there and capture 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:54.120 the footage. And of course this could cause some problems 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.480 down the line if you if you just accidentally twitched 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:58.600 the controller just a little bit, you fall off and 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:01.320 then your shots ruined. Um. But the nice thing is 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.480 if your cameraman dies, he responds in thirty seconds, so 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.959 unlike real life, where you know it takes longer than that. 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:15.960 I mean, you can't respond at all. Uh So you 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.280 know there's no report of you know, six people died 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:20.839 during the shooting of this, but hey, they're all back 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.280 alive now. No, it's more like the report from mashinimas 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.960 this one guy died six times while doing that, right 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:29.559 as opposed to six people die. You know, I got 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:34.280 a question for you, Um, so are they playing as 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.559 as in the case of Red Worst Blue, where they're 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.920 actually playing the game. Are they playing online with you know, 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:44.160 where anybody could run into them, because that would mean 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.319 that it would be very difficult to control the action 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:51.120 that you're seeing in the film. Point But how but 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.640 they're playing together with multiple people. What what they're doing 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:59.040 is they've set up a land. They've yeah, they've hooked 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:03.320 up multiple Xbox machines, and so that puts a limit 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:05.080 on how many people you can have in a scene 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:08.480 right there. Um, if they do any network stuff, it 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:10.840 would have to be a completely closed party system, because 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.560 otherwise you would have all these people just randomly pop 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.559 up and you would have all these different little messages 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:17.360 popping up on the screen. That would be that would 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:22.319 ruin your shot. So life where you know, somebody stumbles 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.240 into the show like, oh my gosh, it's you guys, 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.480 I'm so sorry. I think it'd be more like he'd 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.719 stumble into the shot and then be like, Okay, I'm 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.640 gonna snipe Sarge, and then I'm gonna snipe Caboose, and 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.360 then I'm gonna snipe Church because boy, he deserves it. 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.040 And uh, these are all characters from Red Versus Blue, 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:41.680 and uh yeah, I think, um, my experience with people 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:45.320 online pretty much means that instead of being silly, they're 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:48.280 gonna first they're gonna kill you. Then they're gonna be 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.839 silly so you get you get shot first, and then 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.280 they do whatever their little victory dance happens to be, 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:59.000 which usually is involves them crouching right over your face, 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.120 sadly and simply. I think they do that in real 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:04.160 life too, crouching over your face. I don't want to 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.640 know what you're doing this weekend, Chris. Let's just move on. 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:11.800 So again, Missinema is another way of telling stories. And 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:15.000 the important thing here to remember is that, I think 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.680 for for the most successful missinema folks out there, the 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:21.640 thing that comes first is the story. And uh that 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:23.520 means that you know, if you have a story and 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.320 it's worth telling, it doesn't really matter how you tell that, 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:28.920 it just matters that it gets told. And massinema is 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.400 just one tool that's available to you. And then the 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.600 cool thing about missinema is it's a tool that allows 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.800 you to go to places, to have sets, and to 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:41.120 have special effects that you could never do in practical terms, 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:44.280 you know, things that you know, the average movie maker, 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.920 amateur movie maker, i should say, has no hope of 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.720 achieving on his or her own without such a tool. 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.040 But with mishinima, you can go into other space. You 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.280 can you know, have all these cartoonish characters. You can 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.760 have these huge routes that you would never are actually 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.320 see in real life, all interacting in different ways. So 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:05.600 it really opens up a huge number of options for 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:10.960 you as a filmmaker. Well, Um, one of the things 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:14.520 that as I was reading your article, Um, one of 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:18.000 the things that I found really compelling was the legal 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:22.439 issues behind all of this, because you know, you are 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:26.280 using someone else's art, and uh, you know, it seems 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.600 like in one way it might be good for the 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:33.080 gaming companies because it's drawing a lot of attention to 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:36.120 the game. You might say, Hey, those characters look interesting. 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:38.400 I wonder what game they're from, and you know, it 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.000 looks like a lot of fun. I might check that out. 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:48.720 Versus the need to protect copyright and intellectual property and stuff. Yeah, 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:50.920 that's that's one thing to keep in mind if you 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:54.320 ever decide to take on a machinima project for yourself, 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:57.800 it's good to find out if the company has any 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:00.439 sort of the company that makes the game, if they 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.240 have any sort of policy on that kind of thing. 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.360 Some companies are totally cool about it, and like Bungee 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.079 that makes Halo or used to anyway before the whole 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:13.480 Microsoft thing. Um, Bungee was incredibly supportive of the roost 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.120 Rooster Teeth people when they were making Red Versus Blue, 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:18.280 and they could have gone the other way. They could 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:20.760 have said, hey, you know, that's our intellectual property that 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.200 you're messing with there, and yeah, your your jokes are 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.320 all funny and everything, but um, please stop because that's 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:31.280 our work. But they didn't. They said this is great, um, 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.080 have fun, and they even got behind it. They even 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.240 contracted the Rooster Teeth people to make official Halo videos 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.360 as promotional tools for things like when Halo two and 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:45.480 Halo three came out. So it pays to do your 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.520 research before you go and start making your project, because 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.040 the one thing you don't want to have happen is 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:54.960 to create something that people love and is genuinely getting 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:58.160 some success and then get penalized for it, right, And 0:14:58.200 --> 0:15:01.000 that's that's just terrible when you poured your heart and 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:04.080 soul into a project and then you're told by a company, Hey, 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:06.080 you can't do that, and if you keep doing that, 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.160 I'm going to sue you for X amount of dollars. Yeah, yeah, 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:14.000 I can't count how many times? Never mind, um so 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:18.360 at least three since Wednesday. So what would you recommend 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:20.720 for someone who wants to start doing this? They say, 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:23.120 you know, I'm I'm willingly give this a try, you know, 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.360 at least to see how complicated it is. I mean, 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:27.840 what do you need? Do you need basically just the 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:30.560 game console and and and a computer? Said that you 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:32.480 can dump the stuff into the computer and do some editing, 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.640 or I mean, does this need a really complex expensive rig. 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.440 It kind of depends on what games you're using, and 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:43.680 it depends on what your ultimate um goal is, and 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.520 also depends on how high your standards are. Frankly for 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:49.880 a production. Uh, if you're using a game that has 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:54.720 an in game capture system where you can create you know, cameras, 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:58.560 third person cameras and capture the the images there, you 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:01.680 may not need anything other than and the computer, a 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.240 few copies of the game so that everyone who's participating 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:09.320 can you know, essentially act on the scene, and probably 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.160 I would say, some video editing software so that you 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:15.840 can add audio tracks in later. In my experience, trying 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.760 to capture audio while doing these things doesn't work very well. 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.600 I wouldn't imagine so well for one and for one thing, 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.960 it's just hard to concentrate on, oh, this is my line, 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.240 and then I have to move over here, and I 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.440 have to waive the gun, and if you're doing all 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.440 of that all at the same time, it gets it 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.400 gets pretty complicated. If, however, you do what a lot 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:40.120 of what practically every animator does, which is you record 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.520 the vocal tracks first, and then you have those to 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.320 work off of while you're creating the scene, it makes 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:46.960 it a lot easier. So you need some software to 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:50.560 capture the vocal tracks. You'll need some microphones obviously um 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.440 so microphones and the software to capture the vocal tracks. 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.160 You'll need the copy of the game. If it does 0:16:56.200 --> 0:17:00.280 not have in game video capture software included, you will 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.520 need to find a tool to allow you to do that, 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:07.359 something to record the video output from that, right, and 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.919 in all, if it's a console system, you're gonna probably 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.400 need something so that you can hook the console up 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:16.320 to your computer to capture that footage, because most console 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.320 games don't have the the record feature built in, at 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:24.520 least not until fairly recently. Um, since the achievement Hunter 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.520 stuff has really taken off, there have been some a 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.440 lot of games to include some sort of recording software 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.800 so that you can record particularly spectacular wipeouts or whatever, 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.399 and then upload dumps so that people can enjoy watching 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.000 your character catch fire as these flipping through the air 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:43.960 screaming um, which I find endlessly entertaining by the way. Um, 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:48.320 So yeah, there's a huge variety. I mean, it goes 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.800 from as simple as you can get with if you 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.399 wanted to record everything in game and you're happy with 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.640 that quality, there's that level, and then there's the whole 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:00.240 all right, I need video and audio editing soft where 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.920 I need microphones, I need maybe even creating a little 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.320 sound studio. The Red versus Blue guys, they started off 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:13.040 by setting aside a closet, coding it in foam, and 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.600 shutting the voice actors into the closet to record their 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.400 lines and they're done that. Yeah, yeah, I have been there. 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:24.840 I am looking at one of those right now. Yeah. 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:27.440 In our podcast studio, we have a little corner set 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.960 aside for sound booth stuff. And the sound booth is 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:35.720 is really not much more than a glorified closet. It's 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.200 it's comfortable and safe in there, actual custom built it 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:41.760 is I have. I've actually stood in a you know, 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.560 an actual cultural class like the egg carton foam. Yeah. 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:49.760 Well that's how the Red versus Blue guys started. So, um, yeah, 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:52.160 you can start with a pretty small investment. But if 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:55.119 you want something that's gonna really be snazzy and and 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:57.280 have you know, nice titles and things like that, you're 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:00.560 gonna want some video software, video editing software, and some 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:04.439 audio editing software. Um. For those people who think I 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.879 have an anti Mac bias, I actually recommend Max for 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.200 this kind of work. I think that Max, I think 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:15.200 I think Max are great machines for editing media. Um. 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:18.160 I edit all my media for all of my personal projects. 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:20.480 I do all of that editing on a Mac. So 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.199 you're admitting that your anti Mac bias is just a 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:25.760 faux anti Mac bias for now, but I'll bring it 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.960 up again later some other podcasts, you know it. Yeah, 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.800 they'll never die. Well, Um, the audio equipment and I've 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.280 always worked with UM. Now I don't own a whole 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:37.000 lot of it myself, um, but I do have access 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.920 to studios and just about everybody I know he uses 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:42.439 a Mac. But um, you can use PCs for it. 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:47.120 Certainly you're playing a complications out there for it. Yeah. Yeah, 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:49.440 just can get a little expensive, you know, getting all 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.200 the getting the soundboard and the mics and all that stuff. 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:54.920 Probably want to start small, and it seems like you 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:59.640 wouldn't exactly be looking to put these in Hollywood anyway, probably. 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:02.280 I mean. The strange thing is is that for the 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.120 really popular ones, some of them have been shown at 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:08.840 at film festivals or at at other big events. So 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:12.200 there have been some cases where stuff that was made 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:15.280 on an Xbox with some guys who just thought of 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:17.800 some funny jokes while they were playing some some video 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:22.480 games have been shown to a full, full theater audience, 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:25.120 which is pretty impressive when you think about But that's 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.560 the other nice thing about machinima is it's another way 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.760 for the average person to really break into a creative 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:34.679 industry that traditionally was really closed off. I mean, you 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:40.680 had to have phenomenal luck to get into the entertainment industry. Um. Yeah, 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.919 connections or luck or some combination thereof. But if you 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:48.199 have enough talent, patients and and some you know, good 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:52.160 old fashioned effort to put together a really good machinema project, 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:55.720 you can get a lot of attention and and even 0:20:55.760 --> 0:21:00.119 make a living off of it. Yeah. And uh, I 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.160 mean especially considering the amount of money that you might 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.359 have to spend. Again. And the underneat thing is that 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:08.560 Mishinima has introduced me to a lot of stuff that 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:12.320 I never would have really found out about otherwise. What 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:16.159 Jonathan Colton, Uh yeah, Well, so when I was writing 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:20.479 how Massinima works, um, one of our fellow writers, Tracy Wilson, 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:23.400 wrote to me and said, Hey, have you seen this 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:27.040 music video. It's a Mishinima music video. And it was 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:30.600 a Mishinima music video to Jonathan Coulton's song Code Monkey, 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:34.160 and it used the world of Warcraft right, And so 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:38.800 I watched the music video. I was immediately enchanted by 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:42.159 to use a world of warcraft kind of term. I 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:45.199 was immediately enchanted by the the both the song and 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:47.679 the video itself. The video was just really cute. It 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:50.840 was really well done and sweet, and so is the song. 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:53.560 And um, without it, I never would have found out 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:55.639