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Over the past 6 months, I've taken a brief detour into the world of Machinima. Creating videos/movies/stories using footage shot from within video games.

Visit www.machinima.com for examples of what I'm talking about.

Unlike editing more traditional films, right now in Machinima there is no "stock footage" available so you have to "shoot" everything yourself.

In my last film I would have loved to use a site like this to purchase "stock footage" to more quickly move the process along, but I couldn't locate any on any sites.

It would be nice if there was a Machinima category on Pond5 that supported this genre of filmmaking.

I hope you'll look into it and consider it.

I've been involved with Machinima for a couple of years now. A major stumbling block to selling machinima clips on p5 are the legal issues surrounding machinima works.

Its a very complicated subject. Briefly, there are two really big issues that get in the way. The first is the 'End User License Agreement' or EULA that you have to agree to before you can install or use a game. Almost all games prohibit the creation of machinima. Although the EULA don't mention machinima specifically, its covered by derivative uses. Sims2, The Movies, and possibly Half-Life and a few others, are exceptions. However, even the games that allow machinima creation most certainly DO NOT allow you to sell machinima works you create with your games.

There are many great websites that feature awesome movies created by very talented people. One of my favorities is http://www.mprem.com. (You should also check out http://www.machinima.org for lots of good background info. ) However, practically no one is making any money from their machinima works. People make them simply because they love doing it. The game companies don't really want to get rough legally with their fans, so they tend to look askance at machinima works that are done on an amateur basis. Rest assured, though, they have an army of lawyers ready to intervene if there is any commercial aspect to films made from their games.

BTW, a rare exception is http://www.roosterteeth.com/home.php, who make good money with their productions, especially http://rvb.roosterteeth.com/archive/. They have a unique deal with Microsoft, however.

The other huge impediment to creating commercial machinima, which P5-style clips would certainly be considered, is artwork. All the 3d models, textures, sounds, music, and environments are copyrighted works beyond the game itself. If an artist wanted to upload a machinima clip to P5, he or she would need to own or have licensed the artwork used in it, and would have to have the property releases to prove it.

Basically it boils down to this: if someone were to create a cool clip using the machinima features of Sims2 (for example), it would be illegal to upload it for sale at Pond5 because all of the characters and artwork are copyrighted by the game publisher. If the artist went a step further, and created custom 3D artwork themselves or bought it from others so that the artist own the rights to ALL the artwork in the clip, it would still be illegal to sell that clip on P5, because the use of the game engine itself is copyrighted.

There are alternative game engines out there though, that do allow you profit from works you create using them. Here are a few:
http://unity3d.com/
http://www.garagegames.com
http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-233/game-engine-with-225-physics/

yeah I LOVE half life 2 (best game ever), and with garys mod you can make all kinds of stuff. There is however an opensource 3d game engine called the "Irrlicht Engine" Ive been experimenting with it I havent uploaded anything with it, but I think it would be legal to use because it is open source (although I havent read the eula on it)... but yes game models and textures all belong to other companies.

I have wonder though,,,, If I designed my own models and textures, and I used the half life 2 engine to "render them out" would that be legal? Im guessing not because the physics etc.

You'd have to read the EULA very closely, with a lawyer's eyes. Remember that machinima probably won't be mentioned specifically. Though it's possible, I am skeptical and would recommend proceeding with caution. About 3 years ago a filmmaker made a great film called http://hardlightfilms.com/deviation/, which was accepted into the Tribeca Festival.

The director, Jon Griggs, used only artwork he'd created or paid for separately, including all sound effects. He asked for and received permission from Sierra and Valve to submit the film to the festival. But everything ground to halt when he wanted to upload it to Atomfilms.com. He waited a very long time to receive any kind of answer - they essentially stopped talking to him - but in the end they said yes. The problem for the publisher was the fact that atomfilms.com is ad supported, which means somebody is making money from a Valve/Sierra product.

So there is a precedent that suggests its possible, but Griggs' story also suggests that his might have been a special case.

Yeah its probably too risky.
There are plenty of other open source 3d engines like Genesis3D,
Espresso3D, and ogre.

Just wondering dnavarrojr, if you don't mind,,, what kind of stock were you looking for, and about how much would you reasonably consider paying. Ive done a lot of personal marketing research, but I never considered machinima as a potential market.

I use WoW myself to do a lot of guild trailers (for which I am paid for my time in making them). I've got a small network of friends who will render stuff out for me and I've been building a nice collection of pre-rendered video that I can use in other projects.

I asked about this subject on Machinima101 and the discussion came down to the same thing... Copyright issues with the models. So, I'm working on getting one of the free sites to start hosting and allowing downloading of video for machinamists.

Some people have to learn the hard way about Copyright issues. Copyright infringement can become very expensive and one might just find out how many friends he really has. If one really wanted to know what is or isn't they should go to www.copyright .gov/circ1.html and spend a few minutes reading what he/she can or can not do.

Its not just a question of models. The textures on the models, the skyboxes, the terrains, any pre-fabs, they're all copyrighted by the creator and/or publisher. More importantly, however, use of the game engine to render scenes is itself an owned right - in any game! Some game engines transfer that right to the end user: Blender, Unity, Torque, and others. Most do not - Rockstar's "Grand Theft Auto" is perhaps the lead example.

I know that Blizzard, owners of WoW, encourage machinima as non-commercial fan-created content. I don't know what their position is on commercial work. Again - read the EULA carefully.

Finally, just to give an example of how wacky this can get: imagine you create a machinima scene in rights-free game engine using all your own 3D and 2D artwork. Unless you've got a work-for-hire agreement or release from all of the players who puppeteer the characters, they can sue you for copyright infringement.

Right on. That's why I said he/she should spend some time reading the Coypright regulations. When one uses work his/her friends make for them just set themselves open for a infringement lawsuit in thr future.

Yeah, I try to do everything myself... if I get help I get my parents or sister lol

Although,,, the average person doesn't know film or copyright law. lol I was hearing about the making of the film 'narc,' and they said that the two actors (who were playing policeman) asked random people if they had seen the missing person. Of course there was no missing person, but the people on the street assumed the actors were real policeman, and just responded naturally. They didn't get release forms from the people on the street...lol ???!!?!
A lot of film people dont do things properly, and no one knows about it.
Maybe thats why directors seem to have such a deepseeded hatred for lawyers. lol

The reason why I asked about half life 2 was because a while back I saw some videos made with garys mod that you could buy... hmmm weird.

But yeah,,, don't mess with corporations, they know. I wouldn't use anything from a game engine commercially.
Every now and then the curator catches me on something i did improperly, so im grateful for the curator reviews.