This just in from Lonneke Theelen of the Mediamatic Workshop in Amsterdam, open to "students, colleagues, friends and co-media-professionals.":

Workshop Machinima " Games as Tools

26 | 27 | 28 | 29 September 2006 @ Mediamatic

Machinima is the art of making film inside the real-time 3D virtual environment of a video game engine. By treating the in-game viewpoint as a camera, the gamespace becomes the set, the characters turn into actors, and the gamer becomes a director.

This 4-day workshop is about making films in game environments in the first place, but we'll also take a look at ways in which games-as-tools can be used in live performances, interactive story spaces and more.

In this workshop participants will make their own machinima movies or game based projects, guided by experienced machinimamakers and animators. The trainers will cover all the practical topics, like designing 3D sets, creating character interactions, re-camming, virtual lighting and camera scripting. But also we will look at machinima as a wider cultural practice, investigating the impact of gaming on visual culture.

This workshop is intended for filmmakers, animators and gamers, who are interested in each others arts and other mediaprofessionals who are interested in and game-based projects. Some experience with playing video games is helpful, but not essential. More information can be found on http://www.mediamatic.net/machinima. Mail your questions to workshops[at]mediamatic[d.ot]nl or call Klaas Kuitenbrouwer: +31 20 6389901.