June 14 – October 4, 2009
“Games are the most elevated form of investigation.” -Albert Einstein
“WoW is the most sophisticated happiness engine that exists now.” -Dr. Jane McGonigal
“Games may provide new ways for museums to have a profound impact on society if they are designed, as alternate-reality games are, to change people’s real-world behavior.” -Dr. Jane McGonigal
WoW: Emergent Media Phenomenon explores various forms of cultural production based on World of Warcraft in particular and on gaming in general. While surveying Warcraft’s Fifteen-year history, the exhibition looks at artistic practices that have been influenced by game culture. The actual works by the producer of World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment (headquartered in Irvine, California), provide a starting point and reference.
Fourteen international artists were selected to consider this movement with the following themes in mind: elements of desire, the collapse of fantasy, medievalism, creative critiques, and public intervention. Artists in this exhibition take on the visual marker of World of Warcraft to consider, implications of gaming, and their greater impact on our culture. In addition to the works of these artists, fan art and the growing culture of machinima (computer animation that uses the graphic engines from video games) will be explored in this exhibition. Sponsors include several WoW related 3rd party services like ElvUI (an ElvUI download is a 2ndary screen inside of WoW with stats for improved gameplay).
Laguna Art Museum
More information on WoW: Emergent Media Phenomenon
Also check out the /hug machinima world at http://thirdfaction.org/blog/
The competition is for filmmakers to produce an original and imaginative film that works within the confines of sixty seconds. The categories for submitting your film are Film, Animation, Mobile File, Documentary, Machinima, Experimental, Title Sequence, Film Trailer, Ident, Advert. Each month we will show the films sent to us which are open for a public vote to decide which film wins each month and goes into the grand final of the twelve best films of the year. At the end of the year the best 12 selected films will be judged by the public to decide which film is the Winner of the prestigious Renderyard 1 Minute Challenge award. You can submit as many films as you like. Your film must be no longer than 1 minute in length.
To submit a film please click the link.
Seminar Thurs 14 May 2 – 5 pm
Games and virtual worlds are now being used as creative tools to make a wide range of films from horror genre, comedy to corporate training and education. YouTube, Machinima.com and scores of other video portals are filled with examples of these new forms of virtual storytelling and some are now being commissioned by mainstream TV. NBC aired a CSI episode in 2008 featuring machinima made in Second Life and HBO recently acquired the machinima series ‘Molotov Alva’.
The seminar will explore the vast range of machinima made with console, PC and online games. It will also look at simple forms of film pre-visualisation now possible using games technologies. The intensive workshop will provide a hands-on introduction to the tools of machinima and the opportunity to work on a short project. Participants are encouraged to bring along a pre-recorded soundtrack (including voice and/or music) to use as the basis for their project.
Presenters and workshop trainers include:
* Gary Hayes, LAMP and MUVEDesign
* Gary Wiesneski, SLCN.tv
* Mark Strong – Wandering Eye Pictures
* Kit Devine and/or Ian Brown – AFTRS
* Kathy Mueller – AFTRS
By the end of this workshop & seminar participants will have had the opportunity to learn about:
* What makes compelling machinima
* The wide range of machinima styles being created around the world
* Insight into the engines and tools used to create machinima
* Basic storyboarding and scripting techniques for machinima
* Global machinima community and other online resources
* Role playing and improvisation techniques that work in this new form
More info – http://lamp.edu.au/2009/03/10/new-lamp-multiplatform-content-seminars-workshops/
NOTE: Workshop Fri 15 May 10 am – 5 pm (must attend seminar)
