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.

History
The term "machinima" was create by Hugh Hancock in 1997. With that said, machinima didn't gain it's popularity until after Rooster Teeth launched their famous Red vs. Blue series. After it's release and world-wide hits, and after Halo 2's release, machinimas were being created at phenomonal rates everywhere.

Later on, Bungie, creator of the Halo franchise, released a feature known as "theater" in Halo 3, allowing the player to go out of first person view to achieve any angle they could possibly imagine.