Spotlight Feature On Renowned Machinima Artist, RYSAN FALL Pandora Drezelan Reporting... ~ The SL Enquirer

Rysan Fall is an amazing, charismatic machinima artist in Second
Life™. He has been a part of this virtual world for over four years.
This is an insight to his journey.

Regarding his very unique Second Life name and his inspiration to come
to Second Life:

‘At first, I was trying to be clever with the preset list of legacy
names that were being offered at the time. I saw the last name “Fall”
and I figured it would be easy to come up with something clever. But,
I also wanted my name to mean something. I came up with the name
“Rysan” and it seemed to fit well with the last name, kind of like a
play on the phrase “Rise and Fall”. In a way it explains the futility
of man. No matter what you accomplish, achieve or gain in life, you
still could lose it all. And that reminds me to be humble, and
grateful for any goodness in my life’.

‘I joined Second Life in December of 2007, after I heard of an
unfortunate news story on CNN™. The story exposed how some people were
using a Second Life sim for illicit activities and had to be shut
down.

Slappy Doobie (L) and Ellie Criss with Rysan Fall (M)

The story also went on to explain what Second Life was and how
people interact with each other in this online community. So after
that, I decided to check it out. I didn’t like it at first, thinking
to myself “maybe this isn’t my thing, I’m not going to mess with this
for too long.” How wrong was I? After a while, I figured out that
Second Life isn’t just a game, but in fact it is it’s own culture
with arts, customs, and habits that characterizes itself as a
particular society or nation. A brilliant social experiment with many
applications and uses, an opportunity to know and interact with
people, I normally wouldn’t be able to meet. I have learned a lot
about myself and others since joining Second Life, and I wouldn’t
trade some of the memories and friendships I’ve made for anything in
the world. I had a chance to learn a lot about film-making and that’s
invaluable’.

Machinima is very popular in Second Life, it involves a lot of
dedication and hard work, the results are stunning and not to be taken
lightly in regards to the people behind Second Life’s beautiful
avatars. Rysan says that he started his career within months of being
in Second Life and talks about the beginning of his career:

‘

It was very shortly after I came to Second Life. I joined in December
and made my first video by February the following year. I got the idea
to do it because I am novice video editor in real life and I thought
Second Life would be a great place to practice shooting some scenes
then applying those practices to the real world’.

‘I was never intending to choose this as a career. This initially was
intended to be practice for real life film making. When I started I
had no idea there was a whole genre of film making dedicated to
filming in a virtual environment. My videos became popular in the
machinima community, which really was a surprise to me. My desire to
make more detailed machinima films grew, and real life film making
kind of took a back seat. But machinima has been very good to me, and
I am very grateful for everything it’s given me. I’ve been interviewed
countless times, I’ve spoke at many lectures, events and universities.
I’ve had the opportunity to work for Tufts University, University of
Florida, and the University of Central Missouri. I’ve even been
honored with filming the first Virtual College Graduation ceremony for
Bryant Stratton College in Second Life featured on FOX News™. One
thing I was really excited about, I was contacted by U2's Principle
Management to inform me that my U2inSL video was selected to be played
on the big screen at the Glastonbury Festival in the U.K. as the REAL
U2 perform their song, "Even Better Than the Real Thing". My visuals
went through the approval processes from Linden Lab to me and finally
approved by U2's Principle Management. That was really exciting for
me. I’ve been Interviewed for The Book “Machinima: The Art and
Practice of Virtual Filmmaking, in the section titled “Music
Machinima: In Tune with the Universe Interview with Rysan Fall (USA)”
by Phylis Johnson, Donald Pettit.’

Rysan profile shot

Rysan talks about life before FallFilms™ and his Second Life hobbies:

‘I was a greeter for a little club called the “Gonja Mooka Tiki Dance
Club” And I also did their graphic design work for club posters and
flyers. I also do voice over work for many businesses in Second Life.
And I’ve also lent my voice to other video projects such as the “Time
Traveler”™ Series Produced by Pooky Amsterdam and Dr. James Canton. I
play Sebastian a super computer from the future. It’s been getting
great reviews’.

When talking about themes and the future for FallFilms Rysan really
has great ideas and set goals:

‘I really enjoy making music videos. I like being able to take a song
and visualizing my own interpretation of it. But I like working on any
project that challenges me. I like a project where I get to use
effects to make the virtual a little more real. Also, I really would
like to produce a series of some sort in the future’.

‘Recently, I’ve been working with some very good friends of mine,
Slappy Doobie and Ellie Criss who run the “Viva La Glam” Sim. They
have these elaborate burlesque shows in three separate venues, four
nights a week and I have to say they are the best stage performances
I’ve seen in Second Life. Their acts are unique and original. This
isn’t just another strip club, this is very high scale and classy
operation. I believe what they have could also carry into real world
media and be successful. Their work is very inspiring and allows me to
get really creative with my editing, I love it. Since working with
them, we’ve created some really great videos all of which can be seen
at www.virtualburlesque.com. Do yourself a favor and check out the
page to get more info on how you can see one of their shows. So, You
can plan to see a lot more Burlesque videos from me. I have also taken
over production for “The Second Life Enquirer News Show”™ for Lanai
Jarrico. The show is being revamped, and with the help of Slappy,
Ellie and our new host Madison Pinnelli… we plan to make the new
“SLEn”™ the premier entertainment news program in Second Life’.

Machinima takes good timing and creativity to say the least. Rysan
talks about just how long it takes to make a video and the themes he
uses:

‘It depends on the project. There is no real set amount of time, due
to the fact that every project is different. Some videos can be
created in a day, where others can take up to months to complete’.
Since a lot of my work is commercial, usually my theme is chosen for
me. I produce commercials, Short Films, Music Videos and Personal
Keepsake Videos for Weddings, and More for clients across the Grid.
The demand keeps me really busy, so I don’t get many chances to do my
own ideas. But I plan to do more of that in the future. But when I do
get to something for myself, the inspiration can come from anything. I
have to thank the builders and the scripters of Second Life, because
the usually create the things I see that inspire me to enhance or
showcase whatever they’ve created’.

Rysan’s do’s and don’ts regarding his Second Life are very clear:

‘I really have a pet peeve against people who come into Second Life
just to exhibit the worst behavior possible. There’s really no need to
disrupt the enjoyment others are trying to have. Some people believe
that when they log into Second Life that they can come in here and be
a different person, that they can do whatever they want (grieving,
stalking..etc) and not be held accountable for their actions.
Unfortunately, in many ways that’s true. But you are still you, and
whatever person you create in Second Life consists of some of the
person you are in real life. You have to remember there are real
people with real feelings and emotions behind the avatar’.

Second Life and real life is a separate issue for Rysan, as it is for
most of us, these are his views:

‘Due to an unfortunate experience in regards to information about my
real life, I will choose not to divulge too much about my real life.
But I will mention how machinima has enhanced my real life. A few
years back I made a video for recording artist Craig Lyons of his
cover of the Beatles song “Across The Universe”. The video was very
popular and was seen by a company called How2Connect.com™, they
specialize in providing online therapy for subscribers. They are in
the process of creating their own virtual world, and wanted someone to
make their machinima for them. They flew me to California for a week
and asked me to become a part of their team, and I accepted. After 2
years I am now director of their virtual life department.’

http://how2connect.com/our-team/

I found Rysan to be very easy going and down to earth for such a
popular person who is very much in demand in Second Life. It was a
great experience for me to have met the man behind such an
inspirational and entertaining business.

Ty for reading,
Journalist, Pandora Drezelan reporting for SLEnquirer and Press Pass'
OI Magazine Blog ( http://oimagazine.blogspot.com/ )