Machinima for Dummies: Women Who Have Changed Machinima

Women Who Have Changed Machinima

Hugh "Nomad" Hancock — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:17:00 +0000

It’s Ada Lovelace day - the day for blogging about influential and generally cool women in tech.

Now, various people have in the past claimed that Machinima is a male-dominated artform, so I thought it was worth talking about some of the women who have shaped the artform to what it is today…

India Drummond - as the maintainer of Sims99, she has supported and grown one of the largest sources of Machinima on the Internet, equivalent in size to Machinima.com and WarcraftMovies.

Katherine Anna Kang - founder of Fountainhead Entertainment, founder board member of the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences, director of the hit Machinima film “Anna” (still one of my favourite Machinima films ever), producer of the MTV-played Machinima music video “In The Waiting Line”, and project director of Machinimation, one of the first and few dedicated Machinima toolsets.

Michelle Petit-Mee - Director of some of the most critically acclaimed Machinima films of all time (including Snow Witch and my personal favourite, A Mermaid’s Tale, which she made with Kheri Batal), teacher and commentator, and now full-time Machinima creator with Bioware.

Jun Falkenstein Director responsible for the stunningly popular, award-winning and successful “Snacky’s Journal”, “Ballad of the N00b”, and many more top World of Warcraft films.

Sasha “Moo Money” Rudie - Prolific Machinima commentator, responsible for the Moviewatch daily feature on World of Warcraft Insider and one hell of a lot of Second Life Machinima news, now full-time Machinima journalist with Machinima.com.

Kerria Seabrooke - Creative Director of Machinima pros the Ill Clan, working on the CSI Machinima and Tiny Nation amongst much, much more.

JayDee Mega-successful Sims 2 director, best known for her multi-million view film “Helena”

Jackie Turnure - Producer of Stolen Life, winner of the Best Picture at the 2007 Machinima Europe festival, and one of the few Machinima feature films ever created.

Selserene - prolific and influential WoW Machinima creator, responsible for the “In For A Penny” series.

Decorgal - prolific creator of Sims mods, models and recolors, including the ground-breaking lipsynch mods for Sims 2, and the creator of the popular Sims machinima series “Adventures In Dating”.

Trace Sanderson - Innovative and successful Second Life machinima director, best known for her hit surrealist film “The Dumb Man”

Ingrid Moon - Former senior staffer with Machinima.com, founder of Machiniplex.com, showcase site for top Machinima films, organiser of the Machinima Expo, and international Machinima evangelist.

Tracy Harwood - Machinima advocate and organiser of the first Machinima Europe festival.

Kate Fosk - leading current commentator on Machinima, Machinima Europe 2007 nominee for Experimental Machinima, and evangelist for the “Anymation” movement.

Tari Akpodiete - the former Community Manager at Moviestorm, and a prominent voice in the machinima community.

Sally Brewer - One of the first women involved in Machinima production - producer of Strange Company’s Eschaton series, one of the founding writing team on Machinima.com, and Strange Company staffer from 1997 to 2002.

You all rock.

Anyone we’ve missed? (It’s unintentional, we promise). Comment below!

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Carla Broek

Thu, 14 May 2009 19:19:14 +0100

Great to hear machinimas are not male exclusive - nor is technology! Thanks for the post!

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Kate

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:24:57 +0100

I’m really glad that more female film makers and organisers are becoming better known within (and outside) our community. Great post, thanks!

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Sisch

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:43:46 +0000

A great list of female machinima filmmakers! Thanks for the mention, CD!

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Dulci

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:57:17 +0000

Thanks for showing the ladies some love!

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Paul Jannicola

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:46:17 +0000

This is a great post, Hugh! More people need to acknowledge the contributions of women to Machinima.

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by CD

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:23:35 +0000

Let me add two of the most successful German female Machinima filmmakers:

Sisch: http://sisch.blogspot.com/ Creator of the remarkable ‘Saving Grace’ and other movies.

Frenhofer: Writer and director for the most sucessful German Machinima Series ‘Der Abgrund in uns (The Abyss Within Us)’ and other movies.

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Hugh "Nomad" Hancock

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:20:53 +0000

HOW did I forget Trace? Trace, my apologies. Adding.

JayDee I’m aware of too, and adding her as well.

Jun - I was well aware of your brand, but not of you personally, so you’ve hit the nail on the head with what happened there.

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Phil Rice

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:00:56 +0000

Sims 2 filmmaker JayDee (I don’t know her real name, sorry). Exceptionally popular director and modder for TS2. Before it was taken down for music copyright reasons, her music video “Helena” had many millions of views on YouTube (I want to say it was more than 10 million, but I’ve no way to confirm).

Trace Sanderson (Lainy Voom), director of “The Dumb Man.” Getting her start as a highly respected Sims 2 filmmaker, is now widely regarded as one of THE premier Second Life filmmakers.

Lots and lots and lots of female talent out there that probably won’t make this list, making some really great films.

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Jun

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:48:21 +0000

LoL, thanks for the (addded) mention! To be fair, it’s hard to tell who is what gender over the internet, and most people know my “production company” name instead of mine (this is purposeful, branding is important!).

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by moo Money

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:23:06 +0000

I would add Legs, Swiss machinimator and creator of the epic vampire movie, Precious Blood.

Also Jun Falkenstein, of Snacky’s Journal fame. She’s won boatloads of awards for that series.

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Hugh "Nomad" Hancock

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:19:34 +0000

Oh - I didn’t realise her connection with Stone Falcon. That’s so very, very cool - I’m a huge fan. Added, as you’re quite right.

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Drewbie

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:11:05 +0000

A women in machinima list without Jun Falkenstein is a travesty.

"Women Who Have Changed Machinima" by Tari Akpodiete

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:10:09 +0000

wow, thanks for the mention. i’m a bit surprised - and very flattered - to be listed, and of course, extremely honoured to find myself in some very illustrious company.

Tari Akpodiete http://www.digipendence.com