The following editorial contains views that are the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of Allakhazam.com

Machinima, considered a hobby by some and a profession by others, is an art form that combines two of my favorite pastimes, movies and video games. MMORPGs in particular have been given a chance to shine in this medium as producers utilize the settings of these virtual worlds to tell their own tales. Machinima is certainly not a new endeavor; gamers have been creating story-driven videos since the days of “Quake” in 1996. But I feel the best is yet to come for the genre as creative minds keep pushing the envelope to make these films rival, and often surpass, Hollywood blockbusters. If you haven't gotten into this hobby yet, hopefully this article acts as a primer to get you in the machinima mood, especially for ones that are filmed in World of Warcraft.

Of course, not all machinima focuses on MMOs. All you have to do is visit Machinima.com to browse fan-created videos of numerous games, including The Sims, Halo, Half-Life and Grand Theft Auto. And you’ve all seen the famous “Red vs. Blue ” Halo series, right? While all games can offer great material for a movie, depending on the creativity of the producer, there’s something about MMO machinima that just stands out to me.

I recently got the chance to talk to Myndflame's Clint Hackleman about machinima, composing music and switching between a Druid, Priest and Death Knight in World of Warcraft. While Clint kept quiet on Myndflame's future projects, he was very open with his thoughts on the machinima genre and even supplied some advice for aspiring artists. To get in the mood, I suggest you go watch "Defias Mightiest," a Myndflame production featuring Clint's original song from VanCleef's perspective in World of Warcraft. Then you can read on to find out what truly makes Clint's creativity tick (hint: it involves alpha gorillas and feces).

Togikagi: Before we get into the questions, could you supply our readers with your background in Machinima and a list of the movies you've worked on? Also, could you give us some background on the Myndflame team?

Clint: There are two of us that work on productions at Myndflame ; myself (Clint Hackleman), and my brother D.W. Hackleman. Using the power of our jewel shards, we've created many Machinima videos, but we're most well known for "Illegal Danish: Super Snacks " and our short videos like "Epic Flight Form " and "Learn 2 Play ". Some of our more recent work includes "A Hallow's End Special ", "Fruit of Elune – Underpants for Night Elves ", and the "Slim Jim WoW Machinima ". D.W. leads the visuals (video director, editing, special effects), and I do sound and music as well as many of the voice acting roles. Prominent local voice actors are Kris Haughey, Kevin Haughey, and Amanda Baker.