Machinima for the Masses
In late November, news started spreading across the net about a new machinima -- a movie created using a video-game engine -- whose content went way beyond the usual World of Warcraft dirty dancing and Halo jokes. Called The French Democracy, this 13-minute story about last year's French riots was so simple and powerful that it was eventually reviewed in The Washington Post. Its creator, a French designer named Alex Chan, lives near the scene of the riots and said he wanted "as many people as possible in the world to know what really happened in our cities." Told through jerky, Sims-style graphics, The French Democracy offered a personal view of the riots rarely seen in media outside the country. It followed the lives of several black men in France as they deal with racist discrimination on the job and in the street, day after day. By the time they're throwing Molotov cocktails, we know why. Through Chan's virtual lens the riots are more than a random act of violence: They're the outraged reaction of a community full of people who have been beaten down one too many times. Read more... This was seized 4 u at WIRED News. |
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