Machinima is a portmanteau of “machine” and “cinema,” which refers to movies filmed using video games. This tradition is decades old, but its present era is exemplified by projects like Grand Theft Hamlet.
Created during the pandemic by professional actors, the documentary feature was filmed entirely within the notoriously violent virtual world of Grand Theft Auto 5. The team auditioned strangers from the streets of the virtual city and used the in-game cell phone camera for cinematic shots, proving that a major film could be created within an active, real-time virtual environment full of real people’s avatars.
Machinima first gained a foothold in the late 1990s with a group of animators and filmmakers in New York City who called themselves the Ill Clan. Looking for a faster alternative to the days-long process of rendering animation, they discovered they could puppeteer characters instantly inside the video game Quake. Since the characters were permanently equipped with axes, the Ill Clan created their first film, Apartment Huntin’, about lumberjacks. Using the game’s engine, they had a designated “cameraperson” teleport between locations in the game to create cuts and shots from different angles.
This novel form of filmmaking quickly gained popularity. Early successes included the Halo-based sitcom Red vs. Blue and the creation of machinima.com, which became a central viewing hub before the rise of YouTube. The medium found its way into mass culture when South Park filmed a famous Emmy-winning episode inside World of Warcraft. This golden era of the form included milestones like the launch of Halo 2 in 2005, which allowed for in-game voice chat, which in turn led to a revolutionary live talk show called This Spartan Life—in which interviews took place inside an unpredictable virtual world, often interrupted by other players attempting to kill the guests.
But machinima.com faced controversies (like bad contracts with young creators) and eventually pivoted to simple gameplay videos, shutting down entirely in 2020 and erasing its entire archive. The original artists felt sidelined, though many parlayed their talents into related endeavors, like making “cut scenes” for video games.
Today, however, machinima is experiencing a significant resurgence, particularly in documentary filmmaking. Award-winning films like Knit’s Island and The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (which recreated a teenager’s life in World of Warcraft) underscore a revival in the medium’s cultural relevance and highlight its potential for democratizing creativity, all with ever-evolving graphics for a growing range of outputs.
Credits:
This episode was produced by Andrew Callaway and edited by Chris Berube. Mix by Martín Gonzalez. Original music by Swan Real, Jamilah Sandoto and Paul Vaitkus. Fact-checking by Lara Bullens.
“Hidden Levels” is a production of 99% Invisible and WBUR’s Endless Thread. The Managing Producer for “Hidden Levels” is Chris Berube. The series was created by Ben Brock Johnson. Series theme by Swan Real and Paul Vaitkus. Series art by Aaron Nestor.
