Machinima

After watching several machinima videos, there were many that stood out, but the ones that stood out the most to me was the video series Secret Lives and the drama My Second Life. I was surprised to find how intricate the machinima videos were in terms of camera angles, sound effects, and character portrayals. Most of the videos were emotionally deeper than I would've expected; the video game design style was misleading because of the deeper themes most of the videos portrayed.

One of the most noticeable aspects of machinima videos is their use of camera angles. Most of the camera angles were on the same level and served the same purpose as those seen in movies and film. The camera angles used on the settings, props, and characters made the video more believeable. Zooming in in scenes and characters, circling around, or dropping in from a bird's eye view are all helpful in making the video more realistic. The music and sound of the example machinima videos also must be well incorporated with the video and the characters. The music and sound effects are what the videos more interesting and exciting. The intricate body gestures and movements also added to making the video more interesting and believable.

The screenplays were surprisingly written out in an incredible amount of detail. The descriptions of not only the characters, but of the setting and props as well help depict the whole scene. Some of the vivid descriptions include attire for characters and descriptions for the motion of the cameras. The screenplay for Singin' in the Rain included full descriptions for the setting and props. The dialogue in the screenplays and videos are another important aspect in creating successful machinima videos. For screenplays, the dialogue must be clear and concise to accurately portray realistic conversations. The diction must be used effectively to also accurately present the character and their personality to the reader without any use of visuals.

My potential machinima ideas for Little Brother include character background stories for characters like Ange, Van, or Darryl. I think it would be interesting to create a background story on Ange prior to her encounter with Marcus. Another interesting video could be a background story on Van as well and her side of the love triangle between Van, Marcus, Ange and Darryl. This video could also have more on previous adventures of the team during games for Harajuku Fun Madness. Lastly, another interesting video would be about Darryl and his time locked up with the DHS. I could show his point of view on everything that happened and his suffering in the jail cells with his fellow friend Zeb.