How we made “Education for Leisure”, a Moviestorm machinima film

I’d be really pleased if you have a look at this film that I’ve been involved in producing since February this year, a machinima interpretation of Carol Ann Duffy (the recently appointed Poet Laureate)’s controversial poem “Education for Leisure”.

Education for Leisure from The White Room on Vimeo.

With a group of six TV and film-makers from the Northwest, it was part of the DMEX programme I’m working on, training media freelancers with digital skills through work placements, seminars and collaboration. We produced this short film using Moviestorm, a very new free software tool which was launched in the last year or so. The Moviestorm blog explains a bit about the process and team.

My role was effectively as a project manager, acting as the ‘boring glue’ to let everyone else be creative.  The twist with this project: it was a ‘virtual collaboration’ – we only met twice in person, all other production meetings were held using weekly Skype text meetings, and all shared resources and tasks were assigned and monitored using Huddle - two free resources I would heartily recommend for eryone from a voluntary group to an international project team.  Huddle particularly may lack the features of a most sophisticated bespoke system but actually it’s simplicity means it’s so much easier to use.

Our group was made up of writers, producers, editors and researchers – primarily use to working in the hectic environment of TV production offices, and some were self-confessed technophobes.  We split up tasks between more traditional roles (like script writers, editing, or sourcing and recording actors) and two brave Directors who learnt out to use Moviestorm to create film-like scenes.

The beauty of Moviestorm is, unlike typical machinima using existing console games, it’s designed to be copyright free for users to create their own actions using the simplicity of computer game tools and it’s leagues easier to learn than learning animation from scratch.  It’s also sophisticated in enabling directors to effectively ‘draw’ expressions on characters with fairly subtle nuances (even using ‘angry’ ‘happy’ sliding faders!), again, not typical of computer game machinima.   The downside: it was actually a far steeper learning curve than we may have thought with lots of annoying technical glitches (not to mention being epically processor and file-size hungry), but perhaps future releases of the software will be more feature rich and versatile – it’s early days.  There were plenty of limitations too, as Moviestorm to date doesn’t have so many costumes or sets – so we had to be creative in the sets, script and change a few things on the way.  Having to infer a goldfish was being flushed down a toilet (without a toilet, bathroom or goldfish on set) was a slight challenge!  But then again, aren’t all budget films intrinsically creative through such limitations?

I’m pleased with the final film, not least because I know how much hard work has gone on behind the scenes from the team – Harvey, Karen, Lee, Frances, Pawan and Jim.  The team, unlike many machinima makers, come from a traditional film-making background and I think have given the short a more cinematic feel than many other examples of this emerging genre.  And dialogue from real local actors – plus a composed sound-track from my old time musical collaborator Dave Fox – gives it a really distinctive edge.

For me what made it especially rewarding was how readily everyone took to using digital tools for production, communication, and even making decisions – and how, a lot of the time, it made the whole process easier and more democratic (we didn’t have a budget and everyone was doing it in their own time). And it’s always great to work with such creative people who can do such magical things with a limited amount of time and cash!

Please let me know what you think of the film.  We’re holding a premiere on the big screen event on July 2nd at Cornerhouse Cinema in Manchester to preview the film and talk a bit about the programme and how it was made.  Email me (susi@digitalconsultant.co.uk) if you would like an invite.

The next DMEX Labs project is called “The Mill” and will be a ’social media soap opera’. A similar team will create a drama distributed through social networks about the lives of a group of young creative types in Salford’s Islington Mill. I’m currently putting together the project team and formulating the brier with exec producer Carlton Reeve.  Very excited to get it moving, which I think will be a really cutting-edge production in its own right.  I’ll blog some bits about it as we go along. The production will be launched  in early September.