Hugh Hancock steps down from AMAS board

Though most posts here are about Machinima in general, Thinking Machinima is also the official AMAS blog and requires me to make official AMAS postings from time-to-time. Today's posting is one - confirming Hugh Hancock's decision to step down as an AMAS board member.

The AMAS board has released a statement in regards to this event:

"As Hugh Hancock announced on the Strange Company blog, he has stepped down from the AMAS board. Since helping to co-found the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences in 2002, Hugh was an invaluable board member of the Academy. His contributions put the word "Machinima" into the cultural lexicon and helped shape the AMAS Machinima Festival to what it is today. We respect Hugh's decision to focus on his filmmaking and other areas of interest and wish him all the best in his future endeavours."

MachinExpo Announces a Call for Entries!

Continuing the "Machinima is growing" theme: Our good friends over at the Machiniplex are organizing this year's MachinExpo - which takes place November 7th-9th, during the Festival Arcadia in Montreal, Canada.

The event, which will include Machinima workshops, panels and screenings, is in its 2nd year at the Festival Arcadia - a large videogame cultural center point in Canada. The Expo is seeking submissions to the screen at the event, and will select 5 entries for the Expo's Jury award, with a 6th award being given to one outstanding work of Canadian origin.

The full announce is below. The deadline is Oct. 6th, 2008, so between the Machinima Fest 2008 and the MachinExpo, you better put a move on it.

International Machinima Expo Call For Entries
July 29, 2008

The International Machinima Expo (MachinExpo) is now accepting submissions for its 1st annual showcase which will feature the best work by emerging and established machinima directors. Part of Festival Arcadia in Montreal, Quebec, the event takes place from November 7-9, 2008 at Place Bonaventure in downtown Montreal before an audience expected to exceed 20,000.

Sponsored in part by Machiniplex.com, the expo is organized by Ingrid Moon of The Machinima Roadshow as well as three other veteran machinima producers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, and Phil Rice.

MachinExpo will feature workshops, panel discussions, live film premieres, and several hours of screening of machinima films from all around the world. A jury of professionals from the entertainment and video game industries will select five (5) films for a Jury Prize, with a special 6th film awarded a Special Jury Prize honoring one exceptional Canadian machinima film. There are no category / genre restrictions on submissions, and there is no entry fee. Deadline for submissions is October 6, 2008.

For more information, including submission guidelines and instructions, please visit www.machinima-expo.com, or contact expo2008@machiniplex.net.

Good luck everyone!

2008 Machinima Fest now accepting submissions!

This year's Machinima Festival (taking place at Eyebeam in NYC, November 1st), has begun accepting submissions for this year's Mackies! If you havent submitted your Machinima work to this fest before, then by all means, hop to it and submit! You only have until September 12th!

Good luck to all the entrants!!!

Submit Your Machinima to the Cambridge Film Fest!

As Machinima matures, we're seeing more traditional film fests embrace the artform and include works in their programs and competitions. Reflecting this sentiment, Matt Kelland of Short Fuze/Moviestorm sends word of the Cambridge Film Festival, which is looking for additional Machinima works for their program. More of the down-low from Matt:

"We've finally got hold of almost all of the directors of machinima films we've selected for the Cambridge Film Festival, and asked them if we can show their work.

We do have some remaining slots, and we are now requesting submissions. If you have a machinima film which you would like us to consider, please email me at matt [dot] kelland [at] moviestorm [dot] co [dot] uk telling me where I can see your film and why you think we should show it. (Don't send me the film, just a URL!)

The 28th Cambridge Film Festival runs from 18-28 September 2008, and it's one of the three largest film events in the UK. The Guardian described Cambridge as “a match for the Edinburgh and London Film Festivals…” while The Times said that it “easily outclasses its metropolitan rivals”. The machinima stream will include four screenings, plus workshops and a debate."

The entry deadline is July 28th (09:00 GST), which is just a tad over a week away - so get hopping on that submission if you'd like your work considered for screening!

Valve's Left 4 Dead may have Machinima hooks

Right from Kotaku: Valve's Doug Lombardi took a few minutes out of a busy E3 schedule to talk a bit about Left 4 Dead - Valve's zombie opus due for release in November. Beyond the usual can't-wait-to-see-what-Valve-is-up-to-ness, Lombardi explains in this interview that they're considering a movie mod post release...


More and more game developers are considering Machinima options for their games -and why not? Videos made from the games only serve as additional exposure of their product to those who might not otherwise see it.

2008 Machinima Fest site fades into view

While I've been working on other projects (aka my full-time spot), the initial version of the 2008 Machinima Fest site has been launched. There's not a ton of info at the moment, but what has been posted is key - namely the list of this year's categories. Most of the cats are the same, but some have been renamed and some have been added.

Standing kudos to the team for putting it all together! And stay tuned for the Call for Submissions in the very near future!

Determining Fair Use for Online Video

The Center for Social Media just released their latest project - A Code of Best Practices for Online Video. The results of their work is truly exceptional - helping to define acceptable approaches for user-created video.

The team involved with this project (members such as Mimi Ito, Henry Jenkins and Jennifer Urban) are extremely savvy -- not only the biz and legal takes in the online video space, but also of the content itself. Its an extremely well-rounded group, so their perspectives and experiences bring an unprecedented heft to the findings.

I haven't poured through the entire document yet (PDF), but having had some conversation with the team around Machinima in light of fair use makes things look pretty optimistic.

Congrats to the Code of Best Practices committee! I look forward to hearing more about their work in the coming future.

Sims 2 Machinima sells IKEA

I'm still not sure what to make of this. Part of me thinks EA and IKEA are awesomely smart to cross-market their brands. And then there's part of me that is very unnerved looking at some of his own furniture within the generated walls of a Sims 2 household.

Actually, I think The Sims™ 2 IKEA Home Stuff is a really great idea. IKEA is the cheap, yet design-y furniture store that resembles one big DIY doll house, and the Sims2 is the digital manifestation of that same dollhouse. From that angle, the IKEA add-on pack was inevitable.

Whatever you might feel, I think its a great to see a full-up Machinima commercial helping to sell the end product. Not to mention how much happiness I find in watching the Sims struggle furiously with a BILLY bookcase and that one goddamn allen wrench.