Oscar Nodal

PhD Student in Film

Machinima and Genre

Supervisors: Dr Alfio Leotta and Raqi Syed (School of Design Innovation)

ABSTRACT

The term machinima refers to the combination of the words machine and cinema and is used to describe the audiovisual fictions created with a game graphic engine. Although machinima has been growing in popularity there has only been limited academic research on this medium. As the first comprehensive critical study on machinima making, my project aims to fill a major gap in literature. More specifically, my project will examine the way in which film genre conventions, tropes, and aesthetics can be deployed to influence the production of machinimas. The project is based on an both a practice -based research and autoethnographic machinima-making approach. I will produce four machinimas that belong to different genres (western, horror, fantasy, and sci fi). I will draw from both genre theory and the analysis of selected genre films to identify the conventions and themes of the genres mentioned above. Ultimately, my research questions the way in which genre theory can shape machinima production and how effectively machinima can convey genre conventions.

BIOGRAPHY

Oscar Nodal is a postgraduate student at Victoria University of Wellington, his research examines the way in which film genre conventions, tropes, and aesthetics can be deployed to influence the production of machinimas. Oscar’s machinima works have been exhibited in Mexico, Italy, United States, and Russia.