Machinima

I actually learned a lot from reading scripts and looking over the machinima projects. First off, the scripts provided a great deal of information on how script writing is extremely complex and thoughtful. Everything one sees and feels is outlined in the movie’s script. The script minutely describes every set, every character, and every scene in vivid imagery and detail. The script basically paints a picture of what the movie will show and there is no room for misinterpretation. Machinima showed me how incredibly hard the process is. Using video games in place of actors in order to convey the same meanings of a movie is extremely difficult. In machinima all the tertiary elements have a heightened importance. I noticed two things that have the utmost importance in machinima: audio and camera angles. The background music can completely make the film. Well placed and well thought of music really brings to life the machinima and allows it to really convey its meanings. Also, meeting all the audio requirements of a regular movie must be met. Machinima must be indistinguishable from a real life film. Also, meaning can be relayed through camera angles. The camera angle in a shot shows the viewer what meaning the producer is trying to get at. You can physically show your viewer what you want them to see and that takes away the gap that is created without humans. Humans can display certain subtleties that allow a viewer to catch on to an idea or a meaning, and this isn’t possible in machinima. This process and others like it must be replaced by well placed camera angles.

I have a pretty good idea for what I want to do with my screenplay. I did my research hypertext on how our history books are written and the bias that is incorporated within them, so I’d like to follow the same path in my screenplay. I also really enjoy the books “1984” and “Brave New World” and would like to incorporate their themes as well. Doctorow draws heavily off the influences of these books and so will I. I will start with my screenplay where “Little Brother” ends, with my opening scene be Marcus completing his video about politics. He will then be invited to shadow a senator at Capitol Hill. He decides to jam all the politicians conducting business there, but when he gets home he realizes he somehow intercepted an IP address. He plugs in the IP address through the XNet and it comes across the US Congress History committee. Marcus searches them on Google and no information comes up. He then tries to infiltrate the website and is caught by the US government. When in custody he talks to the “president of the United States” who tells him that history is completely false. It is changed every no and then and no one really notices. He also describes the societies of 1984 and Brave New World and says that they have it all wrong. The best way to manipulate and control a population is to do it through progress and liberty. If people think they have the ability to progress and question the process they don’t take full advantage of it, and that method is best for controlling people.