The raise of the Machinima

Organized by the London Metropolitan Business School and the Open Rights Group, the world-first feature-length machinima, Bloodspell, will be shown on the coming 22 November (starting at 5:15PM), followed by a panel of specialists addressing the issues that this new film genre encompasses at the London Metropolitan University Graduate Centre (the Libeskind-designed building). For those new to the topic, machinima, in very basic form, involves the use of software that has been designed to create video-games to produce films with their own script and narrative. The word “machinima” was coined some time ago by Hugh Hancock, who has also written and directed Bloodspell. The event will be started with Hugh introducing what machinima is and the story behind Bloospell, to then sit back, relax and enjoy the full film. After the viewing, University of Southampton’s Professor Lilian Edwards, the queen of Cyberlaw, will chair the mentioned panel. This will include University of Edinburgh’s Andres Guadamuz, one of the most brilliant young legal scholars in UK, who will treat the legal issues around open content; Holly Aylett, managing editor of Vertigo Magazine and Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at London Metropolitan University will address issues of machinima as part of independent films and put into the context of broader film studies; and Internet and technology super-guru Ian Brown, from the Oxford Internet Institute will talk about the convergence of film and games through digital technologies.

An evening on the edge of what is going on in the use of new technologies for cultural production and if you around London, there is an event in Facebook where you can confirm your attendance...