The origins of Red vs. Blue – pt.1
Created by the Machinima pioneers Rooster Teeth, Red vs. Blue is an internet phenomenon. Building up an unprecedented and loyal following across the world, Red vs. Blue is an 3D animated sitcom like no other, irreverent, biting and hysterical; the series has grown from small beginnings and has gone on to become a modern classic.
Rooster Teeth are the one of the fathers of the latest cutting-edge animation style: Machinima. Machinima blends animation and video games, allowing artists the freedom to create very detailed worlds efficiently and quickly with established franchises.
Red vs. Blue is Rooster Teeth’s most popular and well known Machinima series. It uses the Halo games to create a humourous parody of the world’s most popular Xbox game and modern pop culture itself. Red vs. Blue takes the best elements of popular shows such as Family Guy and takes the humour to the next level.
Red vs. Blue is “filmed” using different maps from the Halo world. Probably the most common being the “Blood Gulch” map from Halo 1 and “Coagulation” from Halo 2. To anyone who first witnesses a Machinima product it might seem simple, but in reality the production is anything but.
The closest comparison to a Machinima production is the use of puppets in film production; something which requires a great deal of patience and planning to achieve. Even so, with the limitations of video game graphics and movement, some things can be difficult to express.
To get around this Rooster Teeth use some post-production and editing techniques that produces Red vs. Blue into its final form. They add in extras such as sound effects, titles, a score, transition and visual effects that cannot be produced in the game. The DVD versions differ slightly from the downloadable versions with the episodes stringed together in a more fluidly way, and, of course, the DVD’s feature an enormous amount of special material.
Leave a Reply