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224 Mizuko Ito and Matteo Bittantiintensely consumed within some circuits that rely on specialized forms ofproduction knowledge that are outside the kind of gaming expertise centeredon game play itself. Even within the technical communities of videomaking, machinima makers are a highly specialized lot. Not only does themaking of the videos require intimate knowledge of game mechanics andvideo editing but also the content of the videos often references highlyesoteric details. One of Dan Perkel’s interviewees (MySpace Profile Production),Aaron, a fourteen-year-old white Armenian male, was involvedin the production of machinima for Battlefield. He is part of a communitythat specializes in filming stunts in the game. Each video generally involvesabout twenty people. Although it used to be easier to get into the group,he says that now new applicants have to have “a talent” such as videoediting or using Photoshop. Playing Battlefield and participating in hismachinima got him interested in digital production and other artistichobbies he is involved in.Box 5.4 Machinima: From Learners to ProducersMatteo BittantiTom is a twenty-year-old machinima maker who lives in the San FranciscoBay Area. His family is originally from Boston, and both his parents areeducators. “I have always been fascinated by visual media,” Tom said,“and machinima offered me the perfect opportunity to combine my twogreatest passions, cinema and video games.” He elaborated: “When I was akid, I was blown away by Star Wars. It was, for me, a true epiphany. Afterwatching it, I decided I would become a filmmaker. . . . Then I discoveredvideo games, which I consider cinema’s natural progression.” “Machinima”is a term used to describe animated films created using game engines andgame play footage. In 2006, Tom spent approximately eight months (“frombeginning to the end”) working on an ambitious film that re-created one ofJulius Caesar’s most famous battles. “It was much harder than I thought,”confessed Tom, “also because it was my freshman year in college and I wastaking many classes.”He worked an average of two hours per day, seven days a week. “I couldnot devote more time to ‘the cause’ because I was studying at the same timeand I did not want to compromise my grades.” School has never been aproblem for Tom. “I love studying but also doing side projects that are tangentiallyrelated to the things I like.” What he likes most about these “sideprojects” is that they allow him to be “in complete control”: “I also felt that