Who doesn't love a good olde Western? This week we delve into a great short by avidredeadenjoyer, released 21 Sept 2024, called The Loss. It has been made in the only engine a Western machinima can be, RDR2. We all especially liked one particular shot, which really goes to the heart of why machinima has added so much to movie-making. This week, we …

A packed ep this month, key tools, what's happening roundup and some fascinating projects - links to everything on the Show Notes page of our website. 1:29 BBC Sound Archive 2:30 Auto painter AI for Blender 2:56 Google image/film search AI 5:00 Tribute to David Graham 6:05 Mouse: PI For Hire! 7:05 Azeroth politicised? Surely not! 10:13 Pigeon Bring…

This week's ep we dedicate to a 3D animation by a French student collective made in their final year of studies, streamed through @TheRookiesCo channel. It is not technically #machinima as its made using traditional #animation tools but nonetheless we absolutely loved it - and its a recommendation by one of our channel's regular followers @3dchick.…

In this ep, we discuss The Nomad | Cyberpunk 2077, a Lifepath cinematic by Zero-Sum Story, and Ian Hubert's Lazy Tutorials, which are not for the feinthearted yet somehow full of the very best machinima advice, such as "... just drag it to a place where you don't think it looks stupid" and "... imagine doing all this and actually putting in some ef…

This week, we review a machinima that has taken its inspiration and cue from the original movie Forbidden Planet, released in 1956. This is the animated and stylized sequel we've all been waiting for, set immediately after the events reported in the film. It has been written and directed by Biggs Trek, aka Philip Browne, whose creative talent shine…

News update: interjecting our normal weekly service for a short special - Damien discusses the latest Kitbash contest. Links in the show notes. Credits - Speaker/Producer/Editor: Damien Valentine Music: Animo Domini BeatsBy Ricky Grove, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine, and Phil Rice

We have another packed news update ep this week, check out the show notes for links to our discussion points - 1:14 iClone 8 update discussion, and Phil picks the discussion up again at 34:38 on broken grass 6:30 Baldur’s Gate 3 modding tools release discussion 8:20 Starfield expansion pack discussion 10:00 Documentary machinima: focus on TF2 10:45…

This week, we take a deep dive into a film from one of the original machinima creator studios, Dead on Cue. This comprised the duo Mike Holochwost and Brian Mayberry. The film, Fake Science, had a couple more iterations, including one that allowed it to be played in the game itself, which was Half Life. It was released some 3 years before YouTube, …

In this ep, we reflect on the key trends in #machinima we've observed during Season 4 of the Completely Machinima podcast. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the year too, so do add comments below. During the past year, we have reviewed over 22 hours of content, and presented detailed analysis of over 50 films on this channel. As vets of the origin…

This week we review two films and again attempt to work with a rather impressive AI genie who covers things we just could not... The first film selected is a Deep Rock Galactic music video machinima called We All Lift Together, using the Futuna theme song Warframe, made by Szczebrzeszyniarz Brzeczyszczyczmosszyski (yep, that's why we needed a genie…

In this ep, we discuss a film by Patrick Zeugirdor, which uses the game BeamNG to simulate realistic freeway crashes. The game features advanced physics and modding capabilities, allowing for detailed crash simulations. The film shows various crash scenarios, each with multiple camera perspectives, highlighting the game's recamming feature. We deba…

This week is our monthly news ep. We discuss various developments in the machinima and virtual production community. Tracy mentions the Reallusions 2024 3D Character Contest, highlighting Stefan Dufour's entry. Phil and Tracy discuss the potential of AI in character creation. Damien reports on Activision shutting down a Call of Duty mod and the imp…

What is #machinima?! Good question these days, and this week we review a new video essay on tackling just that question... which is always interesting for us pioneers and vets to reflect on in this podcast. In the vid we review, Collin Aull introduces a few thoughts we've not really considered before, plus some comments we've discussed many times o…

This week we take a look at another stunning Team Fortress 2 short called Assault on 2Fort by JP Stevens aka Lolripk, a recommendation made to us by Dominzki (whose own TF2 short we reviewed in E135). What a great choice this is: we loved this film, a classic RED vs BLU tale but with a layer of emotion that is as beautifully portrayed as it is unex…

A Star Citizen extravaganza: this week, we discuss a brilliant re-creation of Erik Wernquist's epic short, Wanderers, released by one of its creators Mr Hasgaha. Whilst this is a faithful scene-by-scene depiction of the original, its actually so much more than that too. We comment once again on the incredible qualities of the game, and how the fact…

This week's selection is a stunning cinematic imaginary by Unknown Dino, focussing on the next version of Half Life (soon to be released... er, well, possibly in the next 10 years or so?). There is a lot of craft in this film, called HL: Overworld and made in Blender, which has taken its inspiration both from the HL Reddit community and the HL2 Art…

Another packed episode of news items we found for machinima creators everywhere. We take a look at some games news including several that have released music albums recently and discuss why we think that is. We go through some of the latest AI matters, including Vimeo's new AI content guidelines. We found one of the best Unreal master classes we ev…

Crazy, it is certainly that - and more. If you enjoy slasher horror, we think you'll love this - and its definitely not for U18s! The film is by Toaster and is a music video for Code Mistake, a deathcore metal spectacular by CORPSE and Bring Me the Horizon. We examine Toaster's GTA5 machinima, reflect on its anime qualities, and conclude its signif…

This week, we discussion two films: @neisannnn 'What a Wonderful World', a love letter to Star Citizen, where we focus on its surreal nature, use of backwards music, and ability to capture the game's vast universe. Our second film is 'Plumbob Princess' by @lReMi07l - one of the all time best machinimas we've seen in Sims 4. We discuss the visual qu…

This week's film is a machinima that deals with pollution in the most overt way it can. Andy Hughes' Inner Migration juxtaposes Cyberpunk 2077 against some 'found footage' taken from early 40s/60s films and General Motors corporate 'forecast' of the future of technology. We discuss how machinima is an interesting way to explore social commentary an…

This month's news omnibus covers our usual breadth of topics - from Reallusion's Character Creator contest; to a 'how to create in SL', available only in SL; to Project Odyssey's contest for genAIers; to the winners of the second AIFF; to some fabulous projects such as @EpicSpaceman latest film, an Elden Ring band, Jennifer McKnew's Sydney and Sock…

This week's film review is of [GTA5] 賽銭箱に身を投げる ロスサントス市警察, made by @mzanku - its absurdist humor but also deeply disturbing, which hits us all in different ways around half way through watching the film. Following our discussions, we conclude the creator probably didn't intend for the work to be culturally appropriated as an interpretation of US pol…

In this episode, we analyse our picks' cinematics, beginning with 'Day of Darkness' made in Eve Online by Dire Lauthris and completing with 'The Wanderer' made in the Source engine by Dominzki. We discuss the use of ambiguity, character development, and narrative qualities, as well as the advancement of video game cinematics and in-engine technique…

This week, we discuss the art of machinima filmmaking, emphasizing the importance of craftsmanship, freshness, and humor in exceptional storytelling, as evidenced in 'Lonely Episode Two: The Package Thief' by TheBizTheBiz. We analyze the efficiency and density used in delivering witty lines and twists in what is essentially a modern retelling of th…

Welcome to our latest bonus episode. We had the pleasure of catching up with Phil Rice aka zsOverman to talk exclusively about his latest machinima, called Being Moses. If there's such as thing as a parody of a Let's Play, this film is it! Check out Phil's comments and watch the film - links on our show notes web post. Credits - Speakers: Phil Rice…