Machinima, an emerging art form based on creating animated short films using videogame graphics engines (including characters, backs drops, camera angle options in user-staged scenes), is gaining acceptance in entertainment circles. Die-hard Halo-heads are no doubt familiar with Rooster Teeth Productions' Red vs. Blue: Blood Gulch Chronicles, a comical take on Halo, the Xbox game. Though fans have been downloading RvB episodes since 2003 (online at www.roosterteeth.com) and its ever-swelling cult following has led to more people experimenting with the technique using different games -- and Activision's The Movies is pretty much dedicated to the idea in elaborate entirety --, it's just recently broken into more the more "refined" circles of film festivilization.

Gus Savola and Jason Soldana, two of the creators of Red vs. Blue, will be on hand at the 49th San Francisco International Film Festival, which starts tomorrow, April 20, where they have been asked to showcase their "greatest hits" and participate in a Q&A session.

With a nod to the importance of it all, the guys are encouraging fans to "show up and watch us be drunk idiots." On the off chance the Film Festival set doesn't know what they're getting themselves into, they will shortly. Or not. Crap-for-soul, yeah, that'll fly.