I had almost no exposure to machinima before taking this class, and so I was surprised to see such a big difference between the examples on the syllabus. Before class I watched Red vs Blue, which played out like a miniature sitcom episode. The beginning introduced all of the characters, the dialogue was mostly back and forth banter, and there was a clear story. On the other hand, the examples in class focused on conveying concepts rather than characters and plot. Lambert discussed how his pieces were meant to engage with his role as a consumer, and so the shots he chose, the dialogue he used, and the games he showed were all towards that purpose. This differs greatly from the composition and goal of Red vs Blue, which made me wonder what other forms machinima could take.
Even when just considering dialogue and cinematography, two of machinima's many aspects, there seems to be a wide variety of options. Red vs Blue used voice-over lines, and this choice put the focus on the dialogue. The cinematography consisted mostly of shots between characters as they spoke, putting emphasis on the speaker and their words. This decision makes sense for a comedic episode, as the audience will focus on the jokes and personalities of the characters. In Reckoning 4, the audience often doesn't see the speaker, or has other visual stimuli to consider, such as the GTA 5 clips of following the police officer. The audience has to synthesize all of these different elements at once, rather than focus on just one of them. The contrast between these two examples suggests there are even more possibilities.
I was especially interested in Lambert's process of recording real banter during multiplayer games, as it reminded me of YouTube videos of funny or toxic teams during Overwatch matches. It can be entertaining or cathartic to be on the outside looking in on such scenarios, and it could be interesting to see how such conversations are depicted in other contexts. I also wonder if there could be machinima that tell stories without the need for dialogue at all. What would such a piece look like using only camera angles, changes in music, etc.? What would be the advantages and challenges to such an idea? I imagine that it could create a narrative similar to Journey, where the player feels attachment to the characters based entirely on their actions.
I found this first dive into machinima to be very intriguing, and I'm curious what else is possible within the artform.
It's interesting to me the concept of a Machinima, as to me it feels similar to some of the mods we discussed before. It's re-purposing the game, using its initial context to tell a new story. Machinima feels like a different form of modding, where instead of making a new interactive experience, you make an non-interactive experience. Red vs. Blue uses this to tell a comedy, while Reckoning tries to express different ideas. I think that we could develop something like your thinking of. It would be like a silent film. Most of my experience from the Machinima comes from the Saxy's. A Sourcefilm maker contest hosted by valve, and the various categories were similar to many modern film genres,…
In a way, I think that the way machinima engages with us feels different from how we take in other narrative cinema and film because of its context around games. Seeing recorded images without being able to interact with them, the experience feels mesmerizing, especially with Super Mario Clouds and Kent Lambert’s work. I definitely think machinima floats somewhere between game and art. If something is produced without dialogue, I imagine that it would be even more engaging and hypnotic, as it encourages viewers to project their own thoughts and creativity onto the piece. I felt this with Super Mario Clouds when I began to daydream and make up my own stories while watching the clouds go by. Machinima ha…
Like you, with the exception of Red vs. Blue, I had no exposure to machinima prior to this course. Kent's work is especially intriguing -- as you say -- because of the disjuncture between the audio and visual elements. Dialogue is definitely part of the video, but it doesn't necessarily connect directly to onscreen activity. At first this is somewhat unsettling, but it's in this deconstructed space, this disconnect between audiovisual elements, that the audience can make meaning through a synthetic process. (This synthesis seems to require more active engagement than more traditional/formal narratives in which the action tends to be clearer.)
As to your other idea regarding dialogue-free machinima, I think it's certainly possible. The overall effect might be…