Aryya of Azeroth

Marvel at Machinima Part II - The Creation of "Aryya of Azeroth"

Academia poses an interesting question. How far does the researcher need to get involved with his subjects or topic? In other words, does the researcher need to know how to fly an airplane in order to study team communication between pilots? Does she need to live with wolves in order to understand their behavior? Does someone who is interested in machinima need to create one? In the latter case of machinima, I argue yes, she does, because it gives her a better understanding and appreciation of the artistic skills that are necessary to produce a piece what some call a “low-budget” film. With the creation of a machinima, I wanted to investigate my earlier claim that machinima represent video art and the production of an in-game film can be compared to film making to a certain extent.

That was the main reason why I decided to create a machinima myself as part of my final project. I did this with the help of Aryya, a Paladin in the massively multi-player online role playing game World of Warcraft. Aryya is actually the avatar that is the main character of my narrative. I was mainly interested in the possibilities of film making that are given within the game context. Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of World of Warcraft, embraces the creation of Machinima (Hayes, 2008) but strictly forbids the commercial use of such a production (see Appendix I). Blizzard provides an in-game camera that has however limited abilities in terms of camera angles, and an easily accessible recording mode that allows shooting long sequences within the game. The footage can then be rendered and used in any film editing program.

The first step for my project was to develop a script that would be possible to enact with the camera settings of World of Warcraft. The writing of the script necessitated the early choice of location. Since I wanted to shoot in locations that were beyond the game level of my existing character, I had to create another character with a higher playing level on a different server that could fulfill that task. Fortunately, I was able to convince two other players to support me with the project. Their involvement added a new angle to the story and provided the final twist in the end.

During the creation process, I encountered several limitations: Using in game content only does not allow for lip movement of the avatar at all. I used my own voice in the dubbing process at first but since my characters’ lips don’t move, this seemed rather unnatural. I decided to re-do the narration and used a third person voice over narration rather than dubbing. Even though the avatar’s movements in the game itself are usually very smooth, it was difficult to create a longer sequence that did not include choppy or awkward movements in the film. Changing the camera angle was almost impossible within a longer sequence. Every time I changed the camera angle I had to edit the sequence within iMovie and use the often “cheesy” transitions that the program provides.

It also proved incredibly difficult to present a front view of the character, since the default only shows the character’s back or depicts the scene through a point of view shot. The creation of a front shot called for almost acrobatic control of mouse and keyboard at the same time. Blizzard allows the elimination of the user interface, which is certainly an artistic choice of expression because it eliminates all game text that is usually presented on the screen. When the character is presented with a quest, for example, usually a text box pops up that presents the task. If the interface is disabled that box does not show and the sequence needs to be narrated in more detail in order to make sense to the viewer. On the other hand, if the interface is displayed the film seems self-referential to the game. Nevertheless, I tried to be as creative as possible with my choice of camera angle, and I followed Tom Gunning’s “Cinema of Attractions” by consciously addressing the viewer in certain scenes. Even though World of Warcraft provides in-game score, I decided to add the soundtrack later in order to have more control. All the footage from the game had to be edited in iMovie which is a fairly simple film editing program. While the final product shows resemblance to very basic animation from an earlier stage, it points to the difficulties of the production of film, no matter if considered art or not.

In sum, the creation process made me appreciate the creative work of other “machinimators.” I think in order to create an award winning machinima like “Edge of Remorse,” for example, and external programs that are offered by different software providers are needed. The creation of a machinima is a time consuming, often costly process, and I found my earlier statement that machinima can be considered video art, if not film making per se supported in many regards. I hope that the creation of my machinima shows some of the constraints rather than the possibilities of this medium leads to a better appreciation of the work of “real machinimators.”

Marvel at Machinima Part I_e

Martin Picard argues that “machinima’s production techniques are similar to filmmaking practices” (2006, p.2). It should be safe to state that machinima can be considered a form of digital cinema. In Blizzard’s massively multi-player online role playing game, World of Warcraft, the cinematic possibilities are limited unless the creator resorts to expensive software tools like Cambot. This stand-alone software application models the traditional film making process in a variety of ways. Elson and Riedl explain that once the script and the scene parameters are set, the program automatically “blocks characters, identifies possible shot compositions, and edits available shots into a final reel” (2007, p.10). The inputs that need to be given to the program are sets, environments that are labeled “indoors” or “road” and a script that is analogous to a script in traditional filmmaking. The commands that are contained in the scripts, like gestures or positions, are translated into algorithms and later rendered by a separate visualization engine. This very complicated process within a program (that is still in the development phase) leads to crafting “aesthetically acceptable movies” that come close to digital cinema and animation.

The importance of studying the relationship between the creation of machinima and filmmaking leads to a wider context of the study if video games constitute an art form. Opponents of video games point in unison to the dangers of violence and addiction in young adults, and push the discussion of video games as an art to the periphery, if not out of the picture at all. Thus, most of the discussion about video games and art stems from academics who have a serious interest in this fundamental question. The same group, art historians and new media scholars, show an increased interest in machinima productions and many regard them as an art form (Picard, 2006), and thus machinima make a valuable contribution to the expansion of game studies. In order to take this discussion from a theoretical to a practical level, I decided to create a machinima myself.

Marvel at Machinima Part I_d

In dance videos like Dance, Voldo, Dance, the creators carefully choreographed every move of their avatars to achieve an amazing example of “gameplay as performance”(Picard, 2006, p.6). The fact that these classifications resemble genres in traditional filmmaking could support the argument that machinima can be seen as artistic works.

Marvel at Machinima Part I_c

There are ample examples of this particular form of machinima that Lowood calls “textual productions” because they add to the existing narrative content provided by the game developer. While those types of narratives could be classified as fiction films, machinima offer other genres as well. Documentaries, like My Trip to Liberty City, that is based on the video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City, bring an outside perspective into the game world and take the game content to a level independent of the original game text. In this particular machinima, created by Jim Munroe, the avatar leaves the comfort of the car and explores the city on foot (Horwartt, 2008). This changes not only the intention of the game that is based on performance within the car, but adds the same artistic freedom of expression, which is often found in documentaries. Other genres include comedies or political machinima dealing with topics like fair trade or implications of war and riots.

Marvel at Machinima Part I_b

Machinima based on player performance, also called “historical archives,” a term coined by Henry Lowood, (2008, p. 418) might be incomprehensible for someone who has never played a video game. Nevertheless, they give an account of tactical approaches to tasks and quests within the game and thus might also be considered a valuable introduction to the game content for those who do not have explicit knowledge of the game. Machinima that focus on the extension of existing texts provided by the game developer, on the other hand, are not only appealing to a broader public, but might also be praised for their aesthetic value. Those 3D animations often require a script, avatars that are used as actors, voice-over narration and even editing that compares to the production of “real films.” The filmic possibilities vary between games and supporting tools. While “some games and demo programs like SimLife, The Movies, Unreal Tournament and now Machinimator allow for the construction of nearly any environment and avatar imaginable,” (Horwatt, 2008, p. 9) others force the creator to stay within the parameter of the video game. In many cases, however, players and creators often have the ability to access the code of the game in order to re-program game context and expand the possibilities offered by the game developers. Creators engaging in “modding,” a term coined to describe the modifying of hard or software in order to perform a function beyond the intention of the game designer, might cross the boundaries of legality.

Machinima that stay within the legal restrictions of the game content are embraced by the game developer, since they can be used as a marketing tool. Henry Lowood points to “Edge of Remorse,” a machinima created within World of Warcraft that adheres to the rules of Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of this online role-playing game. Even though the movie does not provide sub-titles, voice-overs or spoken dialogue, the cinematic devices of story-telling used, such as montage, flashbacks, and sound effects, make the story easily comprehensible. “Edge of Remorse” tells the story of two brothers who are in love with the same childhood friend. The love destroys the inseparable trio and brings death to all three. The eight minute film consists of about 120 cuts and fades and won the 2006 Machinima Festival Award (Kotaku, 2006). The message of the story can be easily grasped by any viewer, independent of familiarity with the specifics of the game.

Marvel at Machinima Part I_a

What is machinima? First, of all, machinima is misspelled. While this seems to be a minute detail, the correct spelling machinema that fell victim to a typo, might give an early indication of what machinima is meant to be: an amalgamation of machine and cinema. Machinima is most often cited as the “art of making animated movies in a 3D virtual environment in real time” (Marino, 2004, p. 2). In other words, a player finds herself recording her performance while playing a 3D game, and then transfers the footage into a film editing program to create a video film about her performance. This very simple description of course only scratches the surface of a process that proves to be much more intricate than the final product might suggest.

It might be interesting to explore in more detail how machinima came into being. Henry Lowood points to the fact that machinima were first created in the context of competitive multiplayer games from the mid 1990s, like Doom or Quake, both first person shooter games developed by id Software (Lowood, 2008, p. 1) Players then carried the production of game videos on to massively multiplayer titles like Warhammer or World of Warcraft. Those early productions focused mainly on the performance aspect of the game. After the introduction of this game genre, players had advanced skills in mastering not only the gameplay and performances practices, but also developed an understanding of the game engine behind the game. The next step after the mastery of those elements was to appropriate existing game text and re-work it into filmic performance documents.

Earlier examples of machinima evoke memories of the silent era in film because of their “choppy” appearance, simple camera movements and limitations with regard to voice and sound. Those early works focused mainly on performance aspects, giving practical advice to other players. Topics included the advancement of the characters’ level, or strategies and tactics most appropriate for certain tasks within the game. Stanford University’s How They Got Game Project, The Internet Archive, The Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences, and Machinima.com founded “The Machinima Archive” in 2003 as a source of more than 500 machinima projects as of 2008. The number of existing machinima projects as of today is unknown but game videos can be found on numerous online sources. Lowood and his team at Stanford University created an excellent archival movie about the history of machinima that gives a impression of the development in the production of game videos. Please watch.