Metal Gear Solid 4 Cinematic

What is Machinima? It is using the in-game computer graphics instead of the pre-rendered ones for cut scenes and cinematics within the game. Machinima is different to pre-rendering in the fact that it is less time consuming as there are fewer details to the characters and environment, limited facial expression and movement. It is also cheap to produce Machinima than to hire an animation team to contribute towards the game.

The game that I have chosen that uses an excellent example of Machinima is Metal Gear Solid 4. The entire series of its games use this advantage to their games. Below is the opening scene to illustrate

As soon as the cut scene is over the only way you are able to tell you're in game mode is by the little menus on the screen and third person view. 
On the cut scene, the music is done with cinema in mind and is very moody and atmospheric. As are the camera shots, specifically the camera angle which is mainly the POV, which included realistic features such as camera shake to convey the character's environment which is a truck on the bumpy road. The animators also used various angles very indicative of the cinema style, with high and low angles. This all combined creates a visually captivating Machinima cut scene.

In my opinion, I think that Machinima has many advantages that are useful in the games industry. I personally prefer a fully rendered cut scene considering that we have high end game consoles which can handle beautiful graphics, that should be used to it's full potential too.