And Now For Something Completely Machinima

🕯️ Maker Series: Phil’s Music Notes – [Horror] Intervals 👻 

🎃 A pre-Halloween special exploring the dark side of sound. 

At its core, music is a game of intervals — the spaces between notes that define every melody, every emotion. Even without musical training, we instinctively recognize the cheerful sound of a major chord or the melancholy of a minor. But some intervals go far beyond sad or happy… some are unnerving, unsettling, even evil. 

In this pre-Halloween edition of Phil’s Music Notes, we dive into the tritone, the infamous “Devil’s Interval.” Once banned by tradition and feared for its d...

How do you make virtual worlds sound real? 🎧

In this episode of Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound, Ricky Grove reveals the secrets of sound frequency—the subtle audio magic that transforms machinima and 3D game-engine films into unforgettable experiences. Perfect for filmmakers, animators, and sound lovers alike.

🎬 Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound –  Ambient Sound in Machinima

Discover how sound transforms storytelling in filmmaking, with a deep dive into frequency—the subtle audio that sets mood, builds atmosphere, and immerses your audience. This episode focuses on machinima—films created using 3D ga...

How do you make virtual worlds sound real? 🎧

In this episode of Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound, Ricky Grove reveals the secrets of ambient sound—the subtle audio magic that transforms machinima and 3D game-engine films into unforgettable experiences. Perfect for filmmakers, animators, and sound lovers alike.

🎬 Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound – Episode: Ambient Sound in Machinima

Discover how sound transforms storytelling in filmmaking, with a deep dive into ambient sound—the subtle audio that sets mood, builds atmosphere, and immerses your audience. This episode focuses on machinima—films...

This week, we continue our discussion, reflecting on Season 5 and our predictions for 2026.... yep, sure is a lot going on in the world of #machinima! Do add your own thoughts into the comments (on our show notes).

1:01 Our predictions for 2026
1:10 Tracy’s thoughts!
4:26 A quick interjection on the Minecraft short we reviewed
6:47 Damien’s views and perspective on tools being used
7:38 Ricky’s prediction on genAI and it’s layering out and ethical approaches
10:27 Who is the world’s smartest dumb person?! Phil tees up some fab analogies – who is going to keep golfing...

In this first part of our 200th episode of Completely Machinima Podcast, Ricky highlights ⁨@NeuralViz⁩ AI-driven films as a significant advancement, while Phil praised the fast-paced, subtle social commentary. We discuss legal developments affecting AI use, such as Warner Brothers suing Midjourney. The success of Blender's "Flow" at the Oscars is noted, emphasizing the growing capabilities of open-source tools. The conversation also touches on the breadth of aesthetic approaches to machinima projects, the rise of big-budget projects like "Predator: Killer of Killers," and the evolving role of generative AI in storytelling. Tune into next week's part B to hear abou...

This is our final film pick for Season 5, and it stimulates quite a discussion. The film is a concept test of tools and techniques, but the story and aesthetic is less inspiring. Check out our thoughts and do add your own comments below.

1:47 Introduction to Reflekt by @derunique
4:00 Anachronistically broken 
10:25 Gelling the story? 
11:54 The aesthetic of Unreal 
13:19 Who is the apocalyptic soldier Unreal tutor? 
14:00 The attraction of Unreal – its all about the technology, and little about the story 
15:02 Comparison to Project Zomboid movie (S5 ep 193) 
15:40 Camera work in Unreal is uninspir...

This week's film selectiion is a technical masterpiece, made in RDR2. It is both an homage to the game and the film. John Wick's Red Dead Redemption is made by eli_handle_b.wav, and is worth every second of your time watching it! 

1:49 Introduction to film, editing quality, compositing and matching RDR2 to John Wick – technically outstanding!

4:11 How?!!! Skill level is well above average

7:00 This is not just cut scenes

9:13 A tribute to both the game and the film

9:47 There are no scripted behaviour mods for RDR2 – the camer...

A DC inspired short made with love and artful skill, this week's pick is also an homage to the creative talent of a young creator now sadly passed. Despite us not necessarily being the target audience - due to certain demographic features - we really enjoyed reviewing this. Check out our comments and do add your own. 

1:32 Introduction to the film: form and creative technique – Smallville comedy vibe X superhero, and a shout out for collaborations everywhere 
6:00 The challenge of being a Minecraft modder and making machinima possible – the Blockbuster mod and BBS mod 
9:20 Player control...

This week, we discuss a 2013 episode of @Draxtor's interviews series with artists filmed in Second Life series, this episode with Australian artist  @lynettewallworth270. 

1:43 Get involved in the latest Star Citizen contest, links in Show Notes 
3:26 Introduction to the pick 
9:12 Phil describes early traditions of interview shows filmed in virtual worlds, such as Late Night with Toxie (filmed in Quake) and This Spartan Life (Halo) 
12:44 Could this episode now be updated using AI? 
13:33 Quality of audio is the most valuable part 15:49 GenZ viewing patterns are changing – how well does SL as an interview format reflect...

This is not genSLOP... or is it?! This week's discussion focusses on a recent genAI meme, vlogging from the Fall of the Empire as a Stormtrooper tourist.  The series we take a look at is by Galactic Archives, which has garnered a phenomenal number of views in just a couple of weeks.  Its quite different to The Glurons we discussed a couple of months back by NeuralViz, which remains a standout for us.  There are some excellent learning points from the way this short / series has been created as a narrative arc though, despite the creative process and generative too...

We love AFK! This week's ep covers another of AFK's ambitious world building attempts to round out the Star Wars universe... and of course it works. What do you imagine the worst jobs to be for the most hapless Stormtroopers? These totally make sense to us! Check out our comments, our overview of AFK's background and other projects, and what we really think of this short.
 

1:39 Intro to film

3:14 Humor and world building

6:12 The most clever way to integrate sponsorship?

10:26 Memories of advertising…. Err maybe

12:47 Background to the ser...

This week's pick is the complete contrast to the Happy Wheels gag-fest, Ep 191: the film is called They Were Once Here by Werlias and it has everything you would expect from a Project Zomboid machinima, plus some things you wouldn't. Its a dark and sad tale, beautifully told, and delivers a real emotional punch. It makes excellent use of Zach Beever's classic composition for the game, and harnesses a bunch of mods to achieve the outcome. Catch our review and reflections on this one. For those of you into zombie fests, we're sure you'll enjoy it.

1:00 Intro...

This week, we cover a lot of things this month, as usual, but start with a tribute to a machinima pioneer who has sadly crossed the bridge into an unknown world - Tutsy NAvArAthnA. We then go through some more fascinating projects that we want to share, more about genAI and machinima, a bunch of new tools and techniques, some wise words from some great artists, latest games and relevant updates. All links on our show notes link below.

1:39 Tribute to Tutsy

3:45 Projects 

5:50 Conversations

7:40 genAI, Anthropic case discussion, implications for creative p...

In days of yore, when Machinima ruled the digiwaves, they commissioned stuff like this week's pick... we have a rather more heated discussion than usual about the pros and cons of the choice and the commissioning strategy. Check out our thoughts and let us know what you think. Maybe you were caught up in this mess, we certainly hope not... or at least, we hope the lesson was well learned. Ricky tells it from his experience, as part of the Hollywood set - seen it all before. Enjoy the show! 

1:28 Intro to Happy Wheels, evolution of a c...

To think this film's creator knew nothing about animation prior to making this short is absolutely astonishing. Of course, as we discuss, many crossed this path as a consequence of the pandemic, but there are few gems we've found like this. The film, Rally, draws heavily on Santiago Menghini's experience as a live action director and producer. What's fascinating, in our analysis, is our evaluation of ambiguity and how its clever use makes up for the animation and limitations. Watch the movie, check out our comments and add your own.

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien...

"Courage is not the absence of fear, it is acting in spite of it." Yep, never a truer few words than said in jest. This week, we discuss a cutscene extravanza of Arthur's life story in the game, apparently endorsed by Roger Clark himself. Its a story told in three acts, supported by some great musical choices, even if we don't completely agree on that. What we do agree on is that Charles Liu has done a superb job of selecting just the right shots to portray the character. Check out our review, watch the film and do add...

This brings back so many memories for us, the 1980s and 90s, Frank Drebin's utter incompetence and Leslie Neilsen's brilliance. Hat Loving Gamer has excelled himself with this interpretation, taking in a bunch of retro games - everything from PacMan to Mario and then adding in a bit of Halo and GTA for good measure. Our selection of this film also has absolutely nothing to do with the launch of NS2 or the announcement of a new NG movie... Enjoy the discussion.

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Ricky...

Projects, mods, demos, Mickey Mouse, not machinima and genAIs... all in the mix this week. We also talk about new tools, game news and Predator: Killer of Killers, the first full length BIG budget machinima. Check out the discussion, links on our show notes, and add comments as usual. 

Credits - 
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood 
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice 
Music: Phil Rice & SunoAI

Our latest deep dive into machinima history, and this month we focus on Baron Soosdon, a Finnish creator whose work is legendary among us. The film pick, I'm So Sick, is an excellent example of the type of work he produced during his machinima career (circa 2006-2011) which, shockingly, never actually won an award - it was however runner up at Bitfilm Festival. The film is a WoW fan fiction and a cultural mashup of its era, including subtle references to some of the key happenings in niche entertainment at the time: release of Edge of Remorse by Jason...

Yup, there's nothing to do in Starfield, except this kind of thing! Seriously, we love how this teases a potential mod by the creator, ⁨@StarfieldCinematics⁩, and we reflect on the portrayal of the characters, the juxtaposition of the narrator voices and the pacing in what is essentially just a teaser. One thing we all agree on is just how stunning this game world is. 

1:57 Analysis of Starfield machinima 
8:12 Comments on the trailer's content and style 
12:29 Technical and narrative observations 
25:31 Audience engagement and future prospects 

Credits - 
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harw...

Ever wondered what it might be like to experience GTA as an NPC - or an animal? Well check out our pick this week! An hilarious let's play by @PuttherUncut "I Pretended to be a RAT NPV in GTA RP and Trolled the ENTIRE SERVER | DonDada RP", released 5 June 2022. Shades of Robin Hood in the approach - 

2:37 Putther Uncut's Rat NPC trolling... 
5:10 Details of the rat's actions 
8:24 Damien's reaction and analysis 
11:53 Phil's perspective and technical insights 

Credits - 
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood 
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice 
Music: A...

In this episode, we discuss an account of an historic battle, which is commemorated annually on the 17th of Ramadan across all Muslim countries: the Battle of Badr 624AD. The film has been created by the Bellum et Historia channel, released on 16 November 2024, and made in Total War Atilla and other games, using various mods. These are, however, a little hazy because the creator has chosen not to reveal the creative process, making full attribution of assets used quite a challenge to fully appreciate, not least how the game technology was used in the creative process.  Nonetheless, we talk a...

Our monthly roundup of all things we enjoy about this crazy world of machinima.

Key discussion items -
Machinima and virtual production updates
AI-generated content and tools
Video game trailers and announcements
Character creation software developments
AI music generation and legal considerations
Creative video game content creation techniques

0:01:21 - AFK Season Three Star Wars parody discussion  ⁨@EpicallyCasual⁩
0:04:36 - GTA VI trailer speculation  ⁨@RockstarGames⁩ ⁨@RickyGrove⁩
0:11:33 - Character Creator 5 announcement  ⁨@reallusion⁩
0:22:10 - Star Wars video game with machinima potential  ⁨@EAStarWars⁩
0:34:24 - Phil's AI music generation experiment with Suno  ⁨@SunoAi7⁩
0:4...

This week's machinima is made in Skyrim, and whilst its a little older, it shows off beautifully the quality of the game, characters and lip sync capability.  The film, by Wanderersofthedas was released in 2015, and was made using lines drawn only from the game's NPCs.  It makes for an oddly familial campfire conversation, notwithstanding the numerous references to in game lore.  Do you and add your comments on our channels, as usual.

0:31 Introduction by Damien, using NPCs in a single player game

4:12 Schizophrenia!

6:37 The role of the campfire, and familial dysfunctional conversations 

8...

This week's ep focusses on the 2024 Crowbar Productions Machinima Mayhem contest winner: Fragile Harmony, made in Garry's Mod by Logan and released on 9 Sept 2024.  Logan sent this in for us to take a look at, and we're sure glad he did.  Yes there are a few things we could be critical about, but storytelling isn't one of them.  Check out our review and leave your comments in the usual way.

1:14 Introduction by Phil, a classic Philip K Dick sci fi, storytelling and production values: deer in the headlights

9:16 Emotional reactions, lip sync and the aesthetic qua...

This week we discuss a machinima form we've not really talked about before - anime. Whilst its one of Ricky's favourite creative forms, for the rest of us its a little out of our comfort zone!  We take a look at two films, both made in Final Fantasy 14 (FFXIV), Frieren: Beyond Journey's End by Wheat Tea (released 2 Feb 2025) and Arcadion by Magitek Productions (released 1 Jan 2025).  Check out our discussion and reviews, and do add your comments.

1:24 What is anime machinima?

3:44 Studio Ghibli: “An insult to life itself”

4:20 About FFXIV for machinima

7:14 Friere...

In this week's episode, we discuss the month's news items we've found most interesting and relevant to making machinima, including more great projects to be inspired by, genAIs we've spotted, Steam's rip off, inZOI's challenge to Sims and the phenomenon known as the 'Minecraft Movie'.  Check out our discussion and do add comments on our YT or blog posts.

1:18 Projects: a zombie film in GTA5, Trillo’s Cuco, NeuralViz’ Tigg Talk – an alternative perspective on tariffs

3:33 The speed of a creative and production process – efficiencies and pivoting to topical content a la South Park!

6:25 An...

This week is another pick from the Archives, a short by Thuyen Nguyen aka @evaneon and  @collectivenounfilmworksdev4297 . The film was released in 2007 - it is a love letter to games and gamers at a time when seemingly the whole world was filled with haters. Catch up with our comments and reflections and do add your own below. 

1:13 About the Archive - How They Got Game, a Stanford University project

3:30 The Most Powerful Person in the World by Thuyen Nguyen

7:17 I am omnipotent!

9:12 The historical context – and the ‘hot coffee mod’

12:50...

Alongside S5 E176 Red Faction Guerilla: Optimism Bias (Apr 2025), Tracy spoke to Andrew about his machinima series, his creative practice and the problems he encountered when attempting to distribute the work.  They also discuss his upcoming works and aspirations for his future career.  Check out the interview (also on YouTube).

Credits -
Speakers: Andrew Knight, Tracy Harwood
Editor: Phil Rice

A viewer nominated series, this week's ep is another great example of brilliant writing. Optimism Bias was directed by @AndrewGoodKnight and originally released in 2013 having been showcased at the Melbourne International Animation Festival  @melbourneinternationalanim3991 - its Australian comedy, deeply rooted in game lore, at its very best.  Tracy also grabbed an interview with Andrew which you can check out in our season specials, released alongside this ep.

1:17 Introduction to the film and its original inspiration – not surprisingly RoosterTeeth’s #RVB

9:35 Everything is funnier in an Australia accent!

10:15 Puppeteering vs keyframe

11:15 Phil’s broken...

It's lovely to hear a fellow machinima fan discuss their passion for the creative works that have inspired them. This week's ep is a documentary by one such person, Angelikatosh, who reminisces about the 'golden age' of classic World of Warcraft films.  We highlight a few films from our own and possibly slightly older archives that she's not managed to cover too.

1:19 Introduction to this week’s pick – a documentary about the ‘golden age’ of WOW machinima

4:55 What Ben’s tome says!

8:00 Why has WOW machinima dried up?

10:07 What the hell is Activisi...

One of the most extraordinary picks we've made, probably ever, on the show! This week, we review an emergent absurdist talk show, focussing on the life of the Glurons - a post-human race of critters set in a future world, but most creatively uses generative AI tools.  Its outstanding quality is, however, the writing.  Check out our review and pick up the links mentioned on our show notes blog post on the Completely Machinima website (link below).

1:27 A first for a machinima show: Unanswered Oddities by Neural Viz, episode 7 is part of a creative AI series, a ta...

This is our regular monthly news update on things relevant to the world of machinima.

1:19 Projects: Isoterica’s latest release, DisUtopia; Hamilton in Animal Crossing by GK Animations; EvilDrPorkChop’s No Man’s Sky cinematic

4:28 Phil’s Chuck Norris vs 50K Cavemen – a true scientific experiment

11:20 ElevenLabs vs a cast – choices and rationale

15:30 The Remarkable Life of Ibelin – shortlisted for the Oscars (sadly, didn’t win) >>> but Flow, made in Blender did WIN!!! Congratulations to the creative team

20:00 John Gaeta’s Escape.ai platform

21:30 At All Costs, car chase physics...

This week we review a 'golden age' machinima, starring none other than Ricky Grove playing 'Bogart', and Ingrid Moon playing err, 'Ingrid', with Phil having created the score and Ricky having produced the sound design.  Its a short by German-American creator, Andre Pesch, called The Days After, made in GTA San Andreas. Its a story that pre-2020 probably we'd have all said, simply, yep that was great, without any real appreciation for what is actually being portrayed in this 2006 film. However, there's a sense in which this now brings back memories of lockdowns and isolation, and the fear of a...

A once in a lifetime event in Elite Dangerous? Yup, that's what fascinated us all too.  This week we review a series of machinimas that approach the destruction of a Thargoid ship attacking planet Earth in different ways - a strange and unusual phenomenon in a game world that we reflect on, only possible in open world sims.  

1:30 Elite Dangerous: an historic event – Thargoids heading for Earth

3:30 The ship’s problems, community action, the countdown and the consequences – a once in a lifetime event in the game

5:30 Recording the event: a documentary; first person r...

A packed news episode, with Tracy's analysis of the AI art copyright ruling decision and a discussion with Damien about his hit fan series, Heir to the Empire - the Star Wars story that everyone always wanted to see made.  Do comment on the discussion (on the YouTube channel or the Blog post).  The links are available in the show notes.

0:45 Tracy is the first woman on Mars!!!

2:38 RunwayML’s third annual film festival – call for submissions now open

4:20 Second Life evolves [again]

7:00 Bloomsbury’s video series: Richard Williams’ Animation Series

7:30...

This ep, we take a walk down memory lane to the first major peak of #machinima with a documentary produced by  @ProducerStuartBrown , released in 2003. The film is a fly on the wall documentary of the creative practice of the legendary Hugh Hancock (founder of #Machinima.com) and his @strangecompany

0:39 Introduction to the film; shock and awe: Hugh’s bravado, character, energy and enthusiasm shines through
3:09 Foundations of Machinima.com, the Strange Company, the ILL Clan and others – the first peak of machinima
6:54 Stuart Brown’s YouTube channel
7:50 Minority report: “This may be the future of filmma...

This week's pick is nostalgic for a time before machinima... its a rare look back at the demoscene era that informed and influenced the evolution of machinima all those years ago.  The film selection is called We Are Demo, made in 2016 by Fairlight, Noice, Offence, and it was originally shared on X by the Commodore Computer Museum. Check out our review and thoughts, and do add your comments on our YouTube channel.

This week's pick is a machinima run through of the female V character in Cyberpunk 2077, by Charles Liu, edited to a Johnny Cash classic, Hurt. Sound design in this is everything, and we especially like how the fade is used to emphasise the game footage vs the words of the song at different points in the film.  Check out our views -

1:14 Intro to film, music video, a perfect complement to I’m Still Seeing Breen (S5 E163)?

3:37 Music storytelling vs film storytelling – interplay and aesthetic choice

6:10 Phil’s perspective: over saturation?

10:15...

The Little Limpet is an Elite Dangerous animation by CMDR Nickweb85, released in July 2024. It has shades of Disney X David Attenborough X Busby Barkley. You could say it has something for everyone then... well, assuming you enjoy a good space opera/ballet (which of course we do).  Check out our comments -

0:44 Intro to film, Elite Dangerous, Pixar-like, composited game footage using Blender

4:17 Story, Tom Cook’s music and anthropomorphic animations

6:45 Experimental work, testing emotional representations

7:59 Ep 1 vs Ep 2, a Busby Barkley space ballet

10:16 Criticism: why split the epi...