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Contract 3.0?
By Harry Milonas | May 30, 2009
Compared to our earlier visions, it’s always fascinating to contrast the cuts and additions that take place in a creative project.
CONTENT
1. What is the community that you will make your documentary about?
Networked game players, and the ‘griefer’ community — that is to say, the glorified ‘bad behaviour‘ against other human beings in a game space — experienced therein.
2. What interesting issues about community and identity will you be able to explore in relation to this community? (with reference to the theory you have read)
The issue in the community will be the phenomenon of griefing as a form of online delinquency. We will attempt to frame griefers as examples of the criminological theory of delinquency to griefing. We will look at how griefers disrupt the essentially cooperative community activity of networked games and how the goals and motivations differ from those of non-disruptive gamers.
Our hypothesis will be, simply, ‘griefers are delinquents’. Through the course of our documentary ‘public service announcement’, we will attempt to prove this hypothesis by applying specific points from the theory of delinquency pioneered by Travis Hirschi in the 1960s.
3. What theorists will you incorporate into your documentary? (summarise the ideas you will engage with)
Our documentary will be informed by the theories of criminologists who defined the theories of delinquency in the mid-20th century, such as: Travis Hirschi, who pioneered the theory of delinquency; Walter Reckless, who argued that delinquency arises from a breakdown in the moral and social forces that normally contain criminal behaviour; and Gresham Sykes and David Matza, who together proposed the ‘drift theory’, according to which delinquents neutralise their behaviour with a series of justifications.
These ideas will be engaged with at a subtextual level, rather than implicitly in the documentary, or indeed in the social software we have chosen to use.
4. Why are they relevant / important? (a critical analysis of these ideas in relation to the community you are documenting)
Hirschi’s pioneering viewpoints are naturally important for our baseline understanding of the delinquent thought-process, especially in regards to “criminal opportunity and low self-control“. From an outsider’s perspective, this all too often appears to be the prime driving mindset behind average case of game grief.
On the other hand, Reckless’s theories are a parable more directly suited to the glorified ‘videotaped for prosperity’ behaviour of game griefers e.g. the deliberate breaking of social rules for pleasure for oneself or even others (as in, ‘performance griefing’), while ignoring the “legitimate” opposing forces to such behaviour within online games and virtual spaces.
Meanwhile, Sykes’ and Matza offer a theoretical basis that can be angled directly to the forum board side of the project, exploring almost knowingly the trivial justifications and discussions of griefing behaviour that takes place within that aspect of the community.
5. How are you going to introduce their ideas? (in terms of the structure of your documentary or the argument you are proposing, how does the theory come in, and where/when?)
In short, the delinquent characteristics of the game griefers deserve an appropriately facetious documentary. Far from a strenuous piece of ‘edutainment’, our machinima will be closer to a mockumentary in the style of a 1960s public service announcement. A similar example of a mockumentary making a lampoon commentary on the griefing community (albeit without the 1960s theme) is Source Mod Todd, although that series forgoes the use of a pre-defined script and an overall theoretical basis.
However, this also doesn’t mean that our machinima will simply be a nonsensical series of contrived set-ups for the sake of random amusement. While we won’t be outright informing our audience “hey, Hirschi says this” or “according to Reckless…”, at the very least, all four theorists are relevant allegorical launchpads for the underlying commentary of our machinima.
6. What is the structure of the documentary? (this could be a short treatment of the way you see your documentary unfolding)
The documentary will take the form of a machinima piece, exploring key facets of the theory of delinquency and attempting to relate them to griefers. The documentary will explore divisions and disagreements in what is considered griefing. We define griefing as an anti-social behaviour and question the motivations for griefing, and demonstrate some of the prevalent forms that this anti-social behaviour takes. We also present an unconventional form of griefing — pacifism — and relate it to real-world parallels (i.e. peace protesting).
We frame the documentary with a beginning and ending sequence that sets up a representative of our implied audience, in the character of ‘Billy’ (children and/or young teenagers to be more precise). This references how young people are considered the prime culprits of delinquency, hence the common form of ‘juvenile delinquency’. It also reinforces to the Public Service Announcement format of the documentary, as the traditional PSA is inherently a paternalistic form, generally presented as a message from a wise parent to an innocent child.
7. What is the style of the documentary? (you can refer to documentary theory if you know it; if you don’t, discuss how you see the relationship between you the documentary maker and your subject, and how that will influence the work you produce. Examples of other documentaries will be relevant)
We will be taking a third-person mockumentary approach from an ‘outsider’ perspective on the game griefing community, investigating the particular quirks and characteristics unique to the community. We believe this approach offers the maximum possibilities for drama — and the screw ball comedy for the non-victims — that is inherent to the griefing culture.
Our inspirational take will be akin to a governmental education program, with the corresponding tone of condescension and moral authority. Considering our delinquent basis stems from the mid-20th-century — an era that was still rife with these informational shorts — the inherent irony in applying the current day phenomena of game griefing to such a reserved era of documentary-making is too relevant an approach to pass up. PSAs are usually about the ‘right’ course of action in the ‘wrong situation’ — the perfect antithetical definition of game delinquency. Ergo, informative amusement should ensue.
TECHNICAL
8. What type of media will your documentary consist of? (e.g. audio files, text, stills, video, animation, etc)
The documentary will be hosted on Machinima.com (a machinima-specific video sharing website, which features many drama and comedy videos), along with GameTrailers and GameVideos (two of the most prominent videogame networks and communities, which feature game news and reviews, as well as general game video content). All three sites have open comment boards for each video, and we will be interested to see the response (if any!) our documentary generates — particularly any difference in the tone of responses between the networks.
While Machinima.com predominately attracts those who are fans of, or at least have a basic understanding of machinima as a medium and form — and would theoretically comment on the merits of our production as such — the communities of GameTrailers and GameVideos cater to the average gamer; and the possible networked game players and griefers therein.
With this in mind, we decided to scrap one planned aspect of our documentary: forum boards exploring the companion form of gaming delinquency in ‘trolling‘. Trolling was always a peripheral phenomena of our approach to griefing, so virtually nothing has been lost from our documentary in the process of binning the idea. The fact that the sites where we’ll be uploading our machinima also provide comment spaces for the public further proves the irrelevancy of such an endeavour.
9. Given that your documentary will be published online, how will you tailor production and post-production to be appropriate (eg image size, frame rate, design issues, copyright)?
On the technical side, all three websites automatically convert videos to a suitable format for web distribution in terms of file size, etc. Machinima.com also handily provides a guide to any other concerns in post-production publication, which is also applicable to GameTrailers and GameVideos less strenuous rules (refer to point 23 for more details).
10. What are your skills in making this style of media?
Aside from years of academic specialisation in the writing, editing, study of integrated media and a long-time involvement with the tropes of forum communities and networked game griefing in particular, neither of us have had extensive experience in producing machinima. As we’re both adamant that approaching the documentary from a machinima perspective helps engage the subject matter best, we will need to learn as we go.
What remaining peripheral production skills will be required (e.g. image editing, audio editing) will be rudimentary at most, and either/or of us are more than qualified to handle what problems arise in that vicinity. For example, while I can compose music and edit images with relative ease, Fraser has the all-important eye for cutting the long-winded dribble out of my scenes and writing.
11. Are you enlisting the help of any crew during the production phase of your documentary?
As there will be more than the two of us on-screen in certain shots time, we will require a stand-in actor/avatar. We will get assistance from a friend who already possesses the basic familiarity with the games needed, and has access to the games for machinima purposes. For personal reasons, they wish to remain uncredited.
12. Will you need to borrow technical equipment from the Applied Communication techs? If yes, what do you want to borrow? When do you want to borrow it? (You must get the borrowing form signed by your tutor in order to borrow gear, and your tutor must be convinced that you already have sufficient technical skills to use it.)
We already have access to the equipment to produce and edit the footage, but we will need equipment to capture the footage from the console to the editing computer.
PERMISSIONS
13. What talent do you need to get release forms signed for?
As all of our ‘acting’ will be performed by in-game avatars, the concern for visual likeness rights is non-existent.
14. Are you going to interview any minors? (if yes, you must get their release form signed by their parent / guardian)
No. While the mind of the average griefer is pre-pubescent, we needn’t compare and contrast it to an actual five-year-old.
15. Do you need permission to shoot on location?
No. Any required shooting (both in the film-sense and gun-toting avatar sense) will be done in-game, far away from the bothers of private property and public indecency.
POST-PRODUCTION
16. What software do you need to edit your documentary?
For the game spaces we will be filming the machinima in, we (at the very least) require Garry’s Mod and Halo 3.
For filming purposes, Halo 3 has built-in camera systems and options specifically designed for machinima-making, while Garry’s Mod is more suited to forming the basis of our relatively realistic, but static scenes.
For video editing purposes, along with any post-production effects, we require either Final Cut Pro and/or Sony Vegas.
For audio editing purposes (e.g. voice overs, narration), we require either Sony ACID Pro and/or Pro Tools.
For image editing purposes (e.g. title cards, forum avatars/logos), any of the multitude copies of Photoshop in RMIT alone will do the job.
17. Do you have sufficient skills with that software?
Generally speaking, we’re familiar enough with every piece of required software to be confident of meeting our goals for this project.
18. Do you have sufficient access to that software?
Both Fraser and I have complete access to each piece of software, both at home and on campus.
PUBLICATION
19. What social software environment will you publish your documentary to?
Machinima.com, GameTrailers and GameVideos will be our prime social software environs, for reasons stipulated in contract point 8.
That said, we’re also looking into further relevant avenues, The Age’s Screen Play blog — which spotlights Australian gaming community creations daily, and awards prizes to ‘the best’ of a given month. However, this shall be set in motion after the assignment deadline, due to submission timing reasons.
20. Is the media you are creating appropriate for that environment?
Considering the pedigree of Gman Squad, Source Mod Todd and other tongue-in-cheek story-driven griefing pieces already on Machinima.com in particular — not to mention linked to and discussed across multiple game community forums — our documentary should aesthetically and culturally fit right in.
We haven’t come across any video that uses a similar 1960s PSA style with modern video games, but the references should be familiar enough to all modern media-savvy audiences.
21. Have you become a member of that environment?
We have registered a Machinima.com account, along with identically-titled versions on GameTrailers and GameVideos.
22. Have you done a ‘test’ publication?
The style guidelines for Machinima.com, GameTrailers and GameVideos require uploaded videos to be approved by website staff, so we cannot perform a ‘test’ publication — anything overtly ‘unfinished’ is unfortunately not publicly accepted on either of these websites. Constructing a ‘whole’ machinima piece exclusively for testing purposes is hardly time well spent in this case.
We are also aware that in the case of Machinima.com, there will be the largest delay between uploading our documentary and when it can be publically viewed on the site. If anything, we’ll be making sure to follow said style guides to ensure success first time around.
23. Does the environment stipulate any limits (eg file size, dimensions, file types, copyright, legal issues) that you will need to meet?
As stipulated on Machinima.com, the site can only accept shows that meet the following criteria:
Format: We highly prefer Windows Media Video (WMV), but others such as Quicktime, AVI, or MPEG are acceptable. One format only.
Resolution: Minimum of 320×240, maximum of 800×600.
Framerate: Minimum 20 frames per second.
Audio: Minimum 22khz 16-bit audio.
Size: Normally, maximum 100 Mb. If you have a long film which is larger, we may well accept it, but consider splitting it into several smaller films!
Meanwhile, GameVideos specifies that:
Maximum file size is 100MB and we accept .AVI, .WMV, .MPG, .FLV and .MOV formats. Do not upload copyrighted material for which you don’t own the rights or have permission from the owner.
Other than a file limit of 200 mb (more than enough!), the limits for GameTrailers are near-nonexistent (bar for contract point 22), so any video we export that meets the requirements for Machinima.com or GameVideos should also be acceptable at GameTrailers.com.
24. Are there any competitions or other deadlines that the environment imposes?
Nope.
LEGAL
25. Have you got copyright permission for all the content you use?
As the use of game footage within our machinima is covered by non-profit fair use and/or encouraged by the game developers themselves (e.g. Bungie Studios, Microsoft, Valve Software) we only need to make sure we properly credit the appropriate parties.
Any other possible content (such as music, images) will be composed by Harry, using creative commons, public domain and/or royalty-free content — again being sure to credit the proper artists.
26. Do you have an appropriate credit list that attributes every work and everyone involved?
We are keeping an ongoing credit list as the production process ensues through the weeks, with tabulation near the end of the project.
27. There is no defamation or slander?
None, other than what the game griefing community brings upon itself wholeheartedly.
28. Any other legal issues?
None whatsoever.
RISK ASSESSMENT
29. What are the most likely things that could go wrong with your project?
Biting off more than we can chew is arguably numero uno on the list. In short, I have a tendency to overcompensate with my project designs and ideas, affecting more than myself in a collaborative situation.
However, considering this project isn’t the first time Fraser and I have collaborated together, we’re more or less wise to our respective productive pros and cons, and can therefore keep eachother in check. The plusses of a collaborative project just keep rolling in.
In terms of variables out of our control, the pessimistic tropes of Murphy are always omnipresent. Disaster has struck us once before, and unlike lightening, it could very well strike again. Just because we aren’t booking unreliable technical equipment, doesn’t mean somebodies hard drive won’t spontaneously combust the night before the final due date. *knock on wood*
30. What is your back-up plan if these things occur?
If my subconscious need for feature creeping becomes an issue, Fraser is more than honest enough to point out the threat in due time.
Originally, we had planned to make the machinima as a small series of short videos hosted on a forum board. Due to illness and technical difficulties, it came to the point where we ran out of time to ‘complete’ these aspects of the documentary, so we prioritise all the components, and focused on completing the most important parts: the machinima (combined into a single video).
Last but not least, if Murphy’s fate makes its frightful presence known once again, we’ll just have to learn to laugh through the pain. Or more wisely, back up, back up, BACK UP.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
31. What is the date of your rough-cut showing?
Friday May 22, 2009, during Week 11 tute hours.
32. What is the final due date?
Friday May 29, 2009, during Week 12 tute hours. Unforeseen technical issues and illness have extended the due date to the following weekend (Friday June 5, 2009).
33. When do you intend to start post-production?
We did intend to dedicate April to the production of the machinima, with the week beginning May 4, 2009 (Week 9) a fitting post-production starting timeframe. Alas, as stipulated in contract points 30 and 33, we’ve had to delay our post-production by two weeks (beginning May 18, 2009)
34. When do you intend to start production?
The unavoidable hurdle of a large essay due date falling on the first week of April, along with upcoming Easter celebrations, has slightly delayed our current progress.
Pending further concept drafting and the scriptwriting process (and final sign off on this here contract!) production should start well and proper on the week beginning April 13, 2009 (Week 6).
35. Given your production start date, have you already booked any technical equipment you need?
The audio suites in Building 6 have been booked for more or less the first two weeks of May, handily quite a bit before the glut of undergraduate radio assignments are due. A couple of days have also been booked in-between the draft and final screenings of the project, in response to any revisions from feedback.
36. How do these dates work in with assessment deadlines from other courses?
Alluded to in contract point 34, one of the two assessment deadlines for Communication Revolutions (the sole other course with ‘traditional’ assessment deadlines) is now out of the way.
As such, most of the work on the documentary will fortunately occur between major assessment tasks, and alongside ongoing assessment tasks, such as blogging for Research Workshop A. Scriptwriting and preliminary production will therefore start in earnest in Week 6.
By the time our documentary project (or indeed, all our Transient Spaces coursework) is completed, there’s at least another week’s worth of breathing space until the final Communication Revolution assessment deadline is due (June 5, 2009).
That said, the week beginning June 1 will be a hectic one for polishing the documentary AND writing a 3,500 word essay — but we’re confident it will be somewhat manageable.
37. If you are using talent, does their availability suit your production schedule?
Other than the in-game ‘griefing talents’ of the crew member mentioned in contract point 11 — who is available at the drop of proverbial hat — no other talent is necessary in a documentary of our style.
[Image source: Photo David]
Topics: Transient Spaces (2009) | 3 Comments »
3 Responses to “Contract 3.0?”
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June 5th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
[...] Contract 3.0? | [...]
June 6th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
[...] If you would like to know more, please consult the documentary contract. [...]
June 18th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
[...] From the beginning, we were completely aware that PSAs were a rather overplayed comedy trope. Moreover, we hoped this stylistic approach would communicate the inherent naivety of those unfamiliar with griefing, and subtly be a reference point for our underlaying research basis. [...]