I’m trying to figure out a really catchy great name for the upcoming Machinima Night at Landmark 22. October. This is what I’ve come up with – MachinimUP or MachiniMIX – but to be perfectly honest – I feel that’s just a foolish way of hyping it all up. Why not continue to be perfectly honest, frank and to the point with Machinima Night III?

I’m officially on vacation and I’m unofficially trying to get my head focused on upcoming projects and dreams this fall so I can dive straight into them when I come home. My day job will be requiring quite a lot of attention – so I must have a few things straight soon.

This blog has helped me gain perspective so many times before – I think it’s only reasonable that I should continue brainstorming here. So to whomever is interested – this is where my mind is at when it comes to this years Machinima Night.

Earlier vs now
Previous Machinima Nights have been aboutdescribing what machinima is and trying to categorise the art into genres.

I’m not sure I want to do that this year.

I think I want to start off by describing machinima by using a series of clips from machinima. I’ve recently bought Adobe Premiere (better be worth the frakkin money!)- which I’m hoping to get my head around as soon as possible – so editing will be a sinch.

I want to talk about these sequences and what is actually going on. I want to describe the machine part in machinima – as this is the part that often gets misunderstood in my presentations.

So first half hour will be focusing on “what’s the “machine” about in machinima?”

The industry of Machinima
Then I’d really like to get into where Machinima is today. It would be perfect if I could get an overview of how many competitions there are in a year – how many movies get published – how many fans create machinima – how many submit machinima to the competitions.

I have to admit that I’m not too optimistic of managing to gather all this information in time – but it would be lovely. So any help will be greatly appreciated.

I’ll write a few e-mails and do a little snooping. Of course the subject will have to start with a little history of what Machinima really is – why it’s here – and why it’s so popular.

I think half an hour – unless I get some really interesting information that is worth a good run through.

Copyright issues
I don’t know if I want to touch on this subject. I still want this to be a topic that desserves a full night’s discussion – not a little byline in an evening that’s mostly about the amusing qualities of machinima.

An interesting case study could maybe be – “Why Rooster Teeth can sell Red vs. Blue DVDs“. At the moment I don’t know – may be a short answer – may be an interesting “Lessig got involved”- answer. Will of course be researching that as soon as possible – remember – I’m just brainstorming here.

What I enjoy most about this case study is that it gives me an opportunity to show a Red vs. Blue – clip – which is always a source of laughter and happiness in the crowd. I don’t often use Rooster Teeth in my presentations because most people associate machinima with them – and I want to share with the audience that machinima is so much more. So they quite often get left out – which I’m starting to feel is rather unfair – since it is Rooster Teeth that first introduced me to machinima. So two flies in one smack, as we say in Norwegian.

But I’m not certain the subject belongs here. If I’m really good – I can do a short and understandable and thought provoking insightful little 20 min speech on the subject and then maybe a break so people can discuss it among themselves for a bit? But I’m not sure that my presentation techniques have the confidence to do that. I’m afraid that I’ll more than likely just barf out the complexities of the legality issues and leave the audience confused an uninterested in what I’m saying.

I don’t know. I think if I’m to bring up Copyright issues – I need to feel confident that I can express the issues clearly, to the point and with question. As American as I can get – I think.

Collaborative art
I think this will be the heart and soul of the show reel. I think I’ve decided to focus on the Never Stay Tuned series.

Never Stay Tuned 4 (international) from Olibith Kirin Tor on Vimeo.

How many people are involved – why did they start – who is what a.s.o. I find their machinima films so unique because of the characters they’ve created and the way they represent mash-up culture at it’s best. Only if they’re willing to collaborate with me of course. But I do love the way that they constantly contribute in each other’s films and seem my like a unit at times. The true art of collaborative art can be found in this group of WoW’ers – and I would like to tell the Bergensers about it.

And as a special treat – I know a guy – a nice guy – who’s made machinima. And I want him to tell us about the experience. But I don’t think I’ve convinced him completely yet – so I’ll leave him alone (till he says “yes” of course) for now.

Media
As for media – I thought I’d go all out on this one. Create posters a few weeks in advance – send press invitations and everything. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last couple of years is that media attention is a good currency to have. And since I’m in the process of writing a PhD proposal with an average grade behind me – I need all the currency I can get! The more gravitas I can get behind my proposal – the closer I will be to living the life of my dreams. And it needs to be worth trying, at least. I can’t let this go into my “regrets” box in life.

So what do you think?

Do you think this would be an enjoyable night? What are you missing and why?

If you don’t want to leave a comment – let me know by e-mail: linnsovig gmail.com

I would love some feedback and advice! ;)