"June" is a perfect example of what works in machinima and what does not. While the film is a step forward for machinima filmmaking, it also shows what still needs to be done for machinima to become a more complete artform. Shot in Half Life 2 and Gary's Mod, "June" is the story of love and loss in war. There is no dialogue, but the film manages to be expressive and revealing in spite of this, mostly through the use of face-poser software provided in the Valve SDK for Half Life 2. Many moments in the film are very effective, unfortunately there are also moments when the characters are not expressive and the viewer becomes aware of the flatness and awkwardness of the models comes through. When machinima moves from the exaggerated and the comic to a more realistic style, these details will have to be worked out more carefully. I suspect the problem doesn't rest with the filmmaker so much as with the software and the animations. I think future iterations of face-poser will probably reduce the woodeness of the characters a great deal. Even so, this story is very well presented technically. The music is excellent (if minimal) and the film has the advantage of getting better as it goes along. By the end of the film, I was moved by the main character's situation. This is not an easy task considering how difficult it is to film/animate inside a game engine. I'm impressed with this film and it proves machinima is getting better and better. I invite the filmmakers to come to machinima.com and discuss their film and work methods. Machinima is getting better and better 4 gToon 2006-01-22 11:19:07 2006-01-22 11:19:07 amazing work -- it conveys tragedy of war as well as complexities of relationships. all with no words and this unconventional medium. extremely impressive tracey pooh 2008-12-06 08:53:37 2008-12-06 08:53:37 4 This would have been better with words, so since it isnt it sucks Sucks elbigger1 2008-12-29 03:10:11 2008-12-29 03:10:11 1 3 3.00