Clear Skies is a machinima

Machinima

Machinima is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation...

 series created by Ian Chisholm, that is based on the fictional universe of the game Eve Online

EVE Online

Eve Online is a video game by CCP Games. It is a player-driven, persistent-world MMORPG set in a science fiction space setting. Characters pilot customizable ships through a galaxy of over 7,500 star systems. Most star systems are connected to one or more other star systems by means of stargates...

. The first film was released on May 29, 2008, followed by two sequels in 2009 and 2011.

Plot

The plot follows the crew of the Minmatar Tempest class battleship Clear Skies as they try to make a living in New Eden. The story begins with the ship's captain, John Rourke, negotiating the price of repairs for the ship at a space station, presumably following a pirate attack. The repairs leave them out of cash and looking for a new contract. Rourke finds a contract to transport Mr Smith - "an idiot in a shiny suit" - a short distance through the fringes of normally safe Empire space, with an unusually high payout. The crew grudgingly accepts what they are convinced is a death trap ...

Characters

• John Rourke voiced by Ian Chisholm
• Solomon Burke voiced by Richie Powles
• Charlie Fodder voiced by John Guthrie
• Tarquin Smith voiced by Dan Ellis
• Sascha Culhane voiced by Shazia Mirza
• Falcon Hausmann voiced by Ricky Grove
• Guy "Ghost" Stone voiced by Francis Capra
  Francis Capra
  Francis Capra is an American actor. Some of his best known roles are a young Calogero Anello in A Bronx Tale, Max Connor in Kazaam, and Eli "Weevil" Navarro in the TV series Veronica Mars.-Personal life:...
  
  

Production

The first two films were created using Editstudio 5, CoolEdit 96, FRAPs, the Source SDK and PaintShop Pro.
For the production of the third film Chisholm used Sony Vegas Pro 9, Adobe Aftereffects, Paintshop Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Cooledit 96, FRAPs, IPISoft Markerless Motion capture, Softimage XSI and the Source SDK.

Reception

The reception to the films, while mostly confined to forums of Eve Online, has been overwhelmingly favourable.
Notably, CCP have featured Clear Skies on the player news page and on the ingame news section.

One the main distribution platform, EVE Files, Clear Skies has been downloaded via BitTorrent over 13000 times and Clear Skies 2 notes over 23000 torrent downloads.
Within the first 24 hours since release Clear Skies 3 has been downloaded over 5000 times via BitTorrent.

Massively.com's James Egan calls Clear Skies a "machinima masterpiece".

In the year of the release, the first film won the Mackie Award in the category Best Long Format Film at the New York Machinima FilmFest 2008 and the Grand Prize Jury Award of the Machinima Expo .
Clear Skies 2 won the Jury Award of the Machinima Expo in 2009 and the public choice award at the Atopic Festival de films Machinima 2010.