During the Machinima Festival Wednesday, students will exhibit short films they made in class. The students created their own machinimas, short computer-animated films, in a computer science class during Spring semester.
The U’s School of Computing worked with the Entertainment Arts and Engineering Program to develop a specific course devoted to machinima, or machine cinema.
One of the students created a machinima called “The Passion of the McCain”, a short black and white political satire demonstrating a fictional affair between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain. The machinima was selected to compete for an award in Brown University’s Ivy Film Festival Machinima Competition.
Robert Kessler, a professor in computer science, was inspired by the idea of machinima films and decided students would learn about computer-generation by making their own. Disney Interactive Studios representatives will present the U with a a $20,000 scholarship for student summer camps.
The School of Computing will award two scholarships to students in the class after the presentations.Some of the machinimas presented depict western and super villain themes.Machinimas originate from demoscenes, 5-10 minute long breaks in a video-game that give players more understanding about the game’s storyline.Last year only 30 students were enrolled in the class, but all 175 seats in the auditorium were filled. The program hopes to draw in more people this year.
The festival will be held in the WPRA Auditorium in Orson Spencer Hall from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.