Machinima

Machinima is a technique where a recording is made using the game's built-in recording tools, characters and maps to produce a video which has a film like experience rather than a standard frag movie.

The Meet the Team videos produced by Valve are good but non-typical examples of machinima. They are animated using the game engine but have specially written animation sequences and high quality settings which cannot be accessed in-game (without the use of console commands), along with the original voice actors.

Machinima videos don't always necessarily follow the plot line of a game, if any, or go along with character personalities. Machinima may also include characters, items, or effects inaccessible through normal play by modifying or adding items, using movie-making programs, or even using traditional movie-maker tricks.

Creating TF2 machinima

Machinima videos are normally created using the standard demo recording techniques and commands. They may also be created using tools in Garry's Mod. A list of commands and instructions can be found in the recording demos article.