‘Beyond Machinima’
In a very detailed interview visual effects designer John Gaeta, best known for his Oscar-winning ‘bullet time’ effects for The Matrix, talks to Gamasutra about his collaboration with EA’s Rudy Poat on a startling new film using real-time game engine manipulation and AI. We’re talking video mashups, interactive films and dynamic camera angles here… It’s interesting to note that a lot of the thought and techniques mentioned by Gaeta are also stressed in the book Synthetic Worlds by Edward Castronova. Synthetic Worlds is a must read anyone interested in the business, design and culture of the new-new media and gaming industry.
In the year 2006 we can only really be thinking about these things in terms of an animated feature, but we all know that it’s only a matter of time until we are able to do some virtual cinematography inside of a game system. Essentially we’ll be able to create a hybrid environment using some of the techniques used in film. That’s all starting to filter into games now, and it’s adding a heightened sense of realism. Even importing moving, high def environments like a seascape that changes into something I can interact with at a certain distance. There are many interesting “mashings” that are about to happen over the next few years. – John Gaeta
This post is tagged: Animation, business, information design, innovation, new media, serious games