Action and Comedic Machinimas! Your Thoughts?

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Has anyone here noticed an absence of comedic machinimas in the Halo universe? And how Halo action machinimas somewhat revolve around the same thing? In my opinion, I haven't seen many comedic machinimas being produced by the machinima community, and many action machinimas have accepted this ideology that makes them all somewhat revolve around the same thing.

 

I'll Start Off with the Comedies I know comedic machinimas are difficult to pull off because you want your viewers to laugh, and that's the point of a machinima of such a genre. Whether it's a series or a short, writing comedies is difficult. Comedy had the broadest appeal in the Halo machinima community, and the comedic atmosphere has seem to fallen since the decline of machinima and Halo 3; probably the same time commentaries and gameplays made their meteoric rise (2009 anyone?).

 

I'm not going to touch on commentaries and gameplays since this is a discussion about machinima and everyone's views.

 

Noticing how it is so hard to write a machinima of an extraordinary caliber, why not get a team together to write and produce one? Is comedy a good way to generate more attention to machinima again? Is anyone writing one right now? What do you think?

 

Secondly, the Action Machinimas As for action machinimas, a lot of them revolve around the same thing(s). I get how it's a whole lot easier to just be shooting at each other and making things explode, but when scratching the surface on what the machinima is about it might make us think if it's really all that great. In these machinimas we see these characters that barely get any development in them whatsoever (if any). The voice acting adds to another layer of work which could be another cause that may blind the viewers by touching on what should be seen in these machinimas—and it could either be character development, more plot development, possibly better dialogue, better writing, and/or others.

 

If the character goes through a heroic sacrifice, I may not care at all if he or she dies because he or she, like all the others, have been shooting the enemy like the rest of the characters we've seen in that machinima. If there isn't that much put into the character (statically or dynamically), he or she is just gonna be another one of those characters that dies like the rest in the background.

 

Generally speaking, the viewers of such machinimas with many explosions and deaths appeal to them.

 

So far the ideology of these Halo action machinimas normally go like this:

• Set on a UNSC Colony Planet, The Covenant begin making their attacks. Feeling the tense heat of the battle, forgettable commanding figures call for help.
  
• A specialized SPARTAN, ODST or Marine Squad is sent in to deal with the situation which usually consists of a Generic Team Captain, a Marksman, a Heavy Weapons Specialist, a Grenadier and a Barbie Doll technician. They gain the upper hand in the conflict and learn a bit more about the enemy.
  
• The failures from the Covenant Forces are reported back to a Zealot Rank Elite/Sangheili who he/she then takes matters into their own hands.
  
• Short and pointless emotional developments between the Lead Male Protagonist and a Female Subordinate Major Supporting Character which gives a sense of love in the air.
  
• ONI gives the squad a special mission. They are then sent to a special facility. A final battle between the Covenant Forces and the Squad occur, thereafter.
  
• The Zealot Rank leader comes along and almost or successfully kills a member of the squad. Protagonist gets angry and kills the Zealot leader.
  
• The squad then destroys or retrieves a "Forerunner" or Alien Artifact that could supposedly win the war. They head back to headquarters and the story ends.
  

This has become the norm of most Halo: Reach machinimas and this has become a major issue. There's hardly a chance for us viewers to experience something new because most machinimas revolve around the Halo timeline—and it's funny how the machinima will state something along the lines: "Does not revolve around the Halo story" yet, it quite actually does. Most machinimas like these make me mark them as a FILLER because it isn't depicted in the Halo canon, and one can deem the machinima as a filler if it contains any relation in any way, shape or form to the Halo Universe. We really do not have to focus a majority of our attention to making the stories strictly limited to the Halo timeline but even then, one can make a successful machinima set in the Halo Universe if they research their materials a bit right.

 

This isn't about making something new, but more along the lines of putting a greater effort into these machinimas. I would like to see more originality and/or creativity added into these machinimas. There are machinimas that I do certainly like that go by the ideology of action machinimas I explained above, and it doesn't make me dislike these favorites of mine, but makes me wish there was a greater effort added into these machinimas that many others want like character development, interesting plot twists, cliffhangers that would want people to come back for more, speeches that come from the heart, and no cheesy romance (USE WITH CAUTION). Even though I can point out a lot of flaws in my favorite machinimas (Rise of the Spartans, The Forgotten Spartans), the general fan-base is absolutely blinded by the eye candy and much added action put into these machinimas. I can say I was once blinded by all of this, but now I know many of the flaws that are in these machinimas, but it doesn't bother me with a fiery passion that makes me hate or harshly criticize machinimas like RotS or TFS.

 

Since I have a great passion for making action-packed machinimas one day, nothing will stop me from making what I love which is machinima. I'm not gonna become like George "every Star Wars movie I touch is bad" Lucas and give up because I got haters who criticize every single thing I put into my films. I'm going to make Halo machinima to make myself happy, and captivate those who will appreciate what I make—no matter how small the fan-base is that I have.

 

I will try my best to create MY machinimas that don't go into Halo lore. I had a friend one day on Xbox Live telling me that he doesn't like action machinimas that don't relate at least somewhat to the Halo lore, and I told him that his opinion was kinda ridiculous (bare in mind that no opinion is ridiculous or sorta). I would like to see some Halo machinimas that are very original unlike those we see today, and maybe see directors use more of the game engine than overuse the eye candy, but what can you say, it gives you a great amount of fans if you make some action machinimas with all that eye candy. Personally, it doesn't bother me too much because I like it, too.

 

In the end, it's what the director makes that makes him happy with his action machinima and I don't blame Darknal or Arbiter 617 for that. I certainly do love watching what they create which further accelerates my passion to create action machinimas one day.

 

So what's your thoughts about action machinimas?

 

Remember to be MINDFUL about both topics, and to respect each and everyone else's opinion! So let's start: /discuss!