Deviation (2006 Film)

''Deviation'' is a 2006 short film that was the first short film in the machinima genre to be premiered in competition at a major film festival, the Tribeca Film Festival.
Chien, I (2007) Deviation / Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles, ''Film Quarterly'', pp 24-29
Badal, S, ''Swimming Upstream: A lifesaving guide to short film distribution'', pp204-212, Focal Press, January 1, 2008,
Deviation, ''Screenhead'', May 15, 2006
Deviating Machinima, 3Dfilmmaker.com. May 17, 2006

Background

The 6 minute 12 second-long short machinima film ''Deviation'', was written and directed by Jon Griggs of Hard Light Films. Using the virtual world of the online game '' Counter Strike'', Griggs directed the virtual actors and recorded the footage using a DVX100. ''Deviation'' was entered as a candidate for shortlist and screening at the Tribeca Film Festival as part of the New York counterpart of Australia's Tropfest, Tropfest @ Tribeca programme, which celebrates the importance of short film in the filmmaking industry. Each entry had to include a signature theme; in 2006 this was the presence of a manhole cover.
TropFest shorts line-up announced for Tribeca, FilmThreat.com. April 21, 2006

''Deviation'' almost did not make it to the Tribeca Film Festival since, shortly before the film's premiere, the game manufacturer of ''Counter Strike'', the Valve Corporation, Valve, refused to give permission for the film to be distributed for commercial use. Valve maintained that as intellectual property owners of ''Counter Strike'', they had definitive rights over its distribution.
Meet the Machinimakers: The 2006 Machinima Festival Report, Panel: "Intellectual Properties Roundtable", Gamasutra.com, 2006 In response, Griggs informed Valve of his intention to release a "protest video" version of ''Deviation'' in which all of Valve's intellectual property was removed, leaving just the actor's voices, music and story, and replacing the visuals with simple words and pictures depicting Grigg's struggle with Valve, and a call to viewers to support him. Valve eventually backed down and the all-clear was given for the motion picture to be released on 28 April 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival
Film Vault > Deviation, TribecaFilm.com, 2006
Deviation, IMDB.com, June 13, 2006, in front of a live audience of over 4,000 people.
CS 1.6 movie shown at the Tribeca Film Festival, GamingOrb, May 13, 2006

The motion picture is accompanied by an original film score, score (composed and performed by Nicholas J. Sumner), original sound design by Neil Fazzari and actors’ voices to deliver the dialogue. The opening credits to the film announce that this is “a virtual film created online...with virtual actors performing across different U.S. States...who have never met each other in the “real” world”.
Deviation, Atom.com, 2006

Plot synopsis

MacIntyre is a videogame character who begins to question his repetitive life within the context of his duties as a virtual soldier in a four-man counter-terrorism, counter-terrorist squad.
VisionFest, Audience: Withoutabox, September 20, 2007 Tired of running through the same tunnels every day, ascending the same manhole and getting killed in battle each time, he tries to encourages his superior, “Sgt” and the rest of his team (“Lizard” and “Crow”) to rationalise their monotonous behaviour. "Doesn’t it strike you as strange," MacIntyre asks, "that we keep doing the same thing over and over and over?" MacIntyre raises questions about what the purpose of life as a virtual soldier is, why they have to follow orders and who exactly is it that gives them the orders that they dutifully follow to the death anyway?

MacIntyre almost manages to successfully persuade his 'young' team mate Crow that there could be “another way”, but indecisive Crow is coerced by Sgt and Lizard, who are fully indoctrinated into the call of duty, into filing rank and following orders.

Discussion

Whereas other machinima films tend to use the context of a video game to reflect real life scenarios, ''Deviation'' turns this idea on its head and instead uses ideas of human introspection to tell a computer generated story
Deviation, the best machinima yet, Filmstalker.co.uk, JUne 3, 2006 and satirises “the absurd repetition of first-person-shooter games”
Web Video to Kill the Movie Star? NYMag.com, October 25, 2006 through character MacIntyre’s existential crisis.
Machinima about a game-character's existential crisis, BoingBoing.net, May 12, 2006
Machinima, NPR.org, May 15, 2006 Whereas other machinima sequences have been distributed freely on the internet via sites such as YouTube and remain an inherent part of gamer culture, in ''Deviation'', Jon Griggs attempted to separate the genre from the video game world and establish it as a film in its own right. To this end, ''Deviation'' was only released in full form at the Tribeca Film Festival; before this, only a movie-style trailer was released and even after its premier, though made freely available, ''Deviation'' earns royalties and is subject to a licensing contract with independent film network, Atom Films.

It has been suggested that in the script of ''Deviation'', Griggs is asking a politically loaded question; “Who is leading whom?”,
Propping up some successes, Machinima.org, June 21, 2006 which invokes thoughts of the political outcry surrounding George W. Bush’s War on Terror in Iraq.

Cast and crew

* Macintyre: ''Virtual player'' - Rick Albee, ''Voice'' - Jeff Jackson
* SGT: ''Virtual player'' – Anthony Esposito, ''Voice'' – Vinny Nestler
* Lizard: ''Virtual player'' – Grant Kehrig, ''Voice'' – Curtis Brien
* Crow: ''Virtual player'' – Ben Armbrust, ''Voice'' – Glen Brackenridge
* Pilot: ''Voice'' – Ritchie Duncan
* Command: ''Voice'' – Aaron Simms
* Editor: Jon Griggs
* Music composer and performer: Nicholas J. Sumner
* Sound design: Neil Fazzari
* Sound supervisor and re-recording mixer: Tom Efinger
* Sound Mixer: John Moros
* Foley Artist: Leslie Bloom
* ADR Recordist: Nicholas J. Schenck
* Assistant sound editor: Michael Vondras
* Audio post facility: Dig It Audio Inc.
* Post production facility: Post Logic Studios NY
* Technical support: Joe Tackaberry
* Additional assistance Jonah Colbert
* Server provided by: David M. Baumler

Process

''Deviation'' was created by using the virtual environment of ''Counter Strike'' to block, rehearse, and shoot the scenes. Characters were controlled by players across the country and directed by Griggs through online voice chat. The scenes were framed using a virtual camera then shot with a Panasonic DVX100 videoing the computer screen. The coverage was edited traditionally using Final Cut Pro then sound design, voice acting and score were added to complete the film.

Awards and Festival Screenings

By being the first machinima piece to be officially selected and premiered in competition at a major film festival (that being the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City in 2006), ''Deviation'' is credited with being the first machinima short film to be classed as a film in its own right by the film community. Film Quarterly notes ''Deviation'' “as the first machinima film to premiere at a major festival, Deviation's theatrical screening at Tribeca marked the break-out of this Internet-fueled, gamer-geek mode of virtual filmmaking into mainstream cinema.” Shortly afterwards, in September 2006, ''Deviation'' was also selected for the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences Machinima Festival, where it picked up “Mackie” awards for Best Voice Acting Performance and Best Sound Design. The Mackies: the 2006 winners and nominees, Festival.machinima.org, 2006 At this festival, the film was simultaneously screened in a physical movie theatre and watched by real people, as well as being shown in a virtual online cinema, watched by gamers’ avatar in the virtual world of Second Life, or in a live simulcast shown by Destroy TV.

As well as its premiere at Tribeca, 2007 saw Deviation being selected for screening at several other notable film festivals.

* September 2006 - Official Selection - Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences Machinima Festival, New York, USA
* February 2007, Official Selection - Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, France
Deviation, Clermont-Ferrand archives, 2007
* May 2007 - Official Selection - Rochester International Film Festival, Rochester, USA
Past Films, Rochester International Film Festival archive, 2007
* June 2007 - Official Selection - Seattle International Film Festival, Seattle, USA
Films and Events > Deviation, SIFF Archive, 2007
* July 2007, Official Selection - Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, South Korea
11th Film, Deviation ????, PIFAN Archives 2007
* August 2007 - Anonimul International Independent Film Festival, Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania
Deviation/Deviatje, Anonimul 2007 programme
* September 2007 - Official Selection - Seoul International Film Festival, Seoul, Korea
Deviation, SeNeF Archives, 2007
* September 2007 - Official Selection - VisionFest, New York, USA
Deviation, VisionFest archives, 2007
Tribeca's "other" film festival, Indypendent.org, October 7, 2007
* October 2007 - Official Selection - Festival Nouveau Cinema, Montreal, Canada
Tout un menu pour le Festival du Nouveau Cinéma! Voir.ca, September 25, 2007

References

{{reflist

External links

Deviation Home

2006 short films