From jokaydia: Exploring Virtual Worlds and Games in Education

Machinima

Machinima (muh-sheen-eh-mah) is a genre and a set of filmmaking techniques which combines the use of 3D video-games and virtual worlds, with real-world filmmaking techniques to create animated films. By combining the techniques of filmmaking, animation production and the technology of real-time 3D environments like Second Life, Machinima makes for a very cost- and time-efficient way to produce films, with a large amount of creative control.

The Second Life platform offers great tools for creating machinima, including the ability to build customised sets and stages for the action to take place, customisable avatars to play any character imaginable, and scripting and building tools to create interactions, gestures, props and effects. Using machinima techniques in Second Life offers some fantastic opportunities for students to explore the production of multimedia by making their own films. The low-costs associated with undertaking these tasks, plus the suite of tools available on the platform allow students to create their own content quickly and easily, whilst learning a range of skills including writing scripts, storytelling, storyboarding, film editng and production, team management etc.

This could be used as a way of recording students research within Second Life, as a tool for responding to texts, issues or events, as an engaging form of digital storytelling or as a process for learning about digital media production technqiues. It also offers the opportunity to engage students in learning whilst playing their favourite games.

Some examples of machinima being used in education include:

• Australian Film, Television and Radio School students are using Second Life to create film (or Machinima), allowing them to explore and develop skills in creating scripts and storyboards, capturing and editing footage, recording audio and embedding soundeffects and voiceovers and publishing and promoting their works. Watch a video about the project on the ABC's 'The Good Game' for more information.
• Cyber-Casebook: Dred Scott v. Sandford. Charles Nesson from the Harvard Law School's CyberLaw project in Second Life came up with the idea of producing a reenactment of the Dred Scott trial in Second Life. It illustrates the pedagogical potentials of interactive media and its ability to inspire engage students. The intention is that this new method for creating learning resources could eventually replace traditional casebook learning for legal students. However, this technique could be used in a wide range of subject areas where case studies are traditionally used. View the Dred Scott v. Sandford Machinima on Youtube.
• The Global Kids project incorporates a range of activities including students making machinima - not only to record their work in Second Life, but also to make videos which comment on their world and the issues they are facing. One example of Global Kids use of machinima is a collection of five public service announcements which were made by teens who were taking part in the Global Kids After School program. Each group picked a topic and developed a short film to explore the issues. These were the first videos created by the students, to learn the basic of creating machinima around social issues. Their final project will focus on child soldiers.Watch the Global Kids Public Service Announcements on YouTube.

Machinima can also be made with a range of other virtual worlds and gaming engines including: There.com, Quake, Halo, Rome: Total War, Company of Heroes, Anachronox, World of Warcraft, Half-Life, F.E.A.R. and The Sims.

For further information visit Machinima.com: Second Life, read the Machinima FAQ on the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences website, view a collection of machimima videos made by residents in Second Life, orread the wikipedia article on machinima.