Pixar for the People
Better than an adaptation: Movies made inside classic video games
Julian Dibbell
Tuesday, November 1st 2005
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photo: courtesy of Machinima.com
A scene from the trailer for HALO 2.
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Luckily you've chosen an exceptionally brilliant port of entry: The faux-absurdist classic "Why Are We Here?" is episode one of Rooster Teeth Productions' long-running Halo-based comedy series Red vs. Blue, whose first season took Best Picture at the 2002 Machinima Awards (the Mackies). Season three—continuing the adventures of a dozen rocket-toting slackers trapped in the rote and pointless existence of game characters—has a prime slot at the upcoming 2005 Machinima Festival (November 12 at the Museum of the Moving Image) and looks good to take the top Mackie again. Not that it's a lock: Competitors like The Journey (an artily retouched Euro-toon built with the Unreal Tournament game engine) and Game: On (a slick Volvo ad that cuts between live film and Grand Theft Auto) push hard at the medium's potential as a low-budget Pixar for the people. But whatever its promise for filmmakers, for film lovers the best machinima still follows the Red vs. Blue lead, striving not so much to transcend as to extend the limits of the video game experience.
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