HELLO TO HOLLYWOOD: WAARHEID, SL's SECOND FULL-LENGTH MOVIE OPENS TO CRITICAL ACCLAIM – JOSH (THOMAS1 BELLIC), REPORTING.

SecondLife is a Virtual World, created entirely by its residents.  Some residents express their creativity by building lands and homes; others by creating clothing designs and fashions that rival anything found on the runways of Milan.  Still, others express their creativity through interpersonal relationships or images, or music.  

Every once in a long while, someone comes along who combines all those forms of creativity into a full-length motion picture that rivals many of the animated feature films to come out of Hollywood.

My guest today is SL-renowned author and filmmaker, Huckleberry Hax.  I caught up with Mr. Hax at his home, where he graciously agreed to share with our SL Enquirer audience a behind-the-scenes look into the making of his second full-length feature film, WAARHEID. 

Josh (Thomas1 Bellic) JB: What made you decide to make a movie in SL

Huckleberry Hax (HH):  WAARHEID is actually my second feature-length movie. I released my first - STÖMOL - in July 2020 and it went on to come second place in the SUPERNOVA digital animation film festival. There was a bit of a twist ending to that movie and quite a few people asked me for a sequel. I wasn't planning on creating one initially, but I quickly changed my mind. The broader answer to your question, though, is that I love creating stories. I've written a number of novels set in Second Life, so a movie that used it as a platform for animation seemed like a great idea to me. Also, I'd been playing around with virtual photography for a number of years and wanted to see if I could apply what I'd learned through that to a movie format.

JB: Without giving too much away, what is WAARHEID about?

HH:   WAARHEID's a science fiction movie set in a time when the climate has collapsed, and knowledge and information is tightly controlled by the ruling conglomerate government. One of the mechanisms for this control is through 'official history' - a fiction created by the Cong to obscure from people the reality of what has happened to the planet. In the previous movie, a guy called Epi Stömol snatched a couple of young coders who were able to access old media files rendered obsolete by the Cong's 'digital hygiene' policy. He also betrayed Erika Janssen AKA Waarheid - the 'Truth Hunter.' Now she wants her revenge.

JB:Interesting premise for a movie.  I can’t wait to read the novel. ☺  So tell us, how long did this project take?

HH:We started filming in August 2020 and the final touches were made to the film about a week before release in December 2022 - so, 28 months all in.

JB: Who were some of your chief collaborators in this project?

HH: I was assisted throughout by Caitlin Tobias, my assistant director. She also plays the main character of Waarheid. The movie co-stars AvaJean Westland, who played Totuus - a hacker for an underground history movement. My other actors included Strawberry Singh, Ylva, Boudicca Amat, Lydia Lindemann, and Mich Michabo. The movie also features original music from my long-term RL buddy, G J Hicks. My friend, Dizi, designed three of the avatars in the movie (Epi Stömol, Belletristik, and the 'Rachel' avatar she uses for her own brief role). Then there's a huge list of other people, including short parts, movie extras, and the sim/installation owners who made their spaces available to me to film in. And let's not forget all the content creators whose content was used in some way - that list would be endless!

JB: I guess that list would be pretty lengthy at that.  Making a Full-length Movie is quite an undertaking.   Have you, or any of your crew, had experience in the Film industry before this project?

HH: AvaJean is an actor in RL who's had many TV roles, but other than that no. The main thing I bring to this is my history of storytelling and, um, watching movies!

JB: Do you have another movie in mind?  A Sequel, perhaps?

HH:    There are no plans for a sequel to WAARHEID at the moment, no. I do have a new machinima project in mind that I hope to start work on later this year, though it will be a mini-series rather than a movie. I want to try out something different!

JB: What an amazingly complex project, requiring graphic artists, voice actors, multiple characters, scriptwriters, Recording artists, the whole bit.  How were you able to assemble such a diverse crew of specialists to help produce this Movie?

HH: Mostly these are friends of mine in my SL and RL. It's really just a question of getting to know people's strengths and talents, how they might be used (for example, what roles they might be suited to) and what comfort zones they might be nudged just a little outside of where needed. For the role of Totuus, we needed someone new so I put out a casting call on my blog back in May 2021 and we were delighted to audition AvaJean and then offer the role to her.

JB: Did you receive any support or assistance from Linden Labs on this project?

HH: Yes. Lindens were really happy with the movie when I showed them a preview copy back in October last year. They offered to host an inworld premiere at the Film Threat cinema, which was attended by over 100 people on 15 December - it was an amazing evening! They also did a lot of promotion of the film, including via their social media and an episode of LabGab where Cait, AvaJean, and I were interviewed by Strawberry.

JB: Interesting the parallels between Inversum, and SecondLife, especially when the protagonist was explaining why people would want to spend time there.  I like how you addressed what motivates people to visit Inversum…and as a parallel, SecondLife.

HH: And to some extent some of the things being said more broadly about the 'metaverse' in the present mainstream discourse. Though I was less trying to make any sort of specific statement about virtual worlds per se than I was using the Inversum as a metaphor for the narratives and mistruths we're sold by both government and big corporations (hence the 'government' of this world being a 'conglomerate' - it's a commercial organization taking on a governing role). An important tactic that one of the Cong characters in the movie uses to try to persuade Waarheid that his version of history is the more useful one is to claim that it will benefit the poor and the downtrodden - it's a common narrative element that gets wheeled out just before every election (and yet, somehow, after all these claims and promises, we still have people living in poverty...).

JB: You make an excellent point there.  So…What’s Next?  You mentioned a mini-series earlier. What future projects can we see coming from your team of creative minds?  

HH: My next project will be a five or six-part mini-series set in a hotel during the first UK lockdown - a murder mystery, in fact! SciFi will always be my first love (and SL is an amazing place to create SciFi machinima) but I want to try something different now that comes with its own set of new challenges.

Oh, and I also have a new novel coming out early this year - it's called 'Love is a Corrupted Data Stream' and this one *is* a SciFi story. It's set in a virtual world called Pink Dawn, where people upload their brain scans after they die in real life. I've been working on this novel on and off now for a little over two years, so I'm eager to get it finished and out there!

JB: Is there anything else you would like to share with our SL Enquirer readers?

HH: Certainly.   For more information on this, and other projects we are working on, be sure and check out the following links:

People can watch the movie from this web page: https://huckleberryhax.wordpress.com/2022/12/18/waarheid-full-feature-2022/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/huckleberryhax

Website: https://huckleberryhax.wordpress.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/HuckHax

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huckhax

So there ya have it folks. Huckleberry and company have really created something amazing here.  Do yourself a favor and check it out for yourself.  The movie is completely free to view. And stay tuned to the next amazing product to be coming soon to an SL Theater near you.

And tell ‘em Josh sent ya.

Be there.  Aloha!

JB

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Arrivals & Departures: A Tale of Two Journeys *Machinima*

ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES, released on 22 July 2018, is a new machinima from CEH Productions – Caledonia Skytower of the Seanchai Library, Elrik Merlin of Radio Riel and Designing Worlds, and Honey Heart of Elite Equestrian. The 15-minute film, shot in Second Life®, is based on a short story written by Caledonia and originally recorded for Fantasy Faire Radio as part of the 10th Fantasy Faire, the annual SL-based fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society.

ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES was released on 22 July, 2018 and is available on YouTube, Vimeo, SLArtist.com and AView.TV.

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Picture Perfect: Jackson Redstar Videographer - Seersha Heart Reporting...

 I spoke with Jackson Redstarof https://www.youtube.com/c/jackson-redstar.  He is a seasoned SL resident with a little bit of experience in almost everything.  He is now one of the hottest videographers in SL posting music videos with original choreography, SL Events [such as weddings] and some SL Advertising.  I will ask him about some of his work and his ideas in our interview.  I wonder how many of you had seen or heard of machinma and do not know what it is…we will be speaking about that today too.  Let’s welcome Jackson.

Seersha Heart: Jackson, thank you for agreeing to share your art with the readers of SL Enquirer.

Jackson:  Thank you for interviewing me

Seersha Heart:     I learned of your videography when a facebook friend shared your Comfortably Numb video.  I visited your youtube page and I was blown away by your diversity and the sheer volume of your work.  Of course, I subscribed to your page right away.  Let’s begin with something basic to help the readers get to know you.  How did you originally come to live in SL?  Any experience you wish to share?

Jackson: I came in SL in 2007, when it was featured on a CSI NY show had to go check it out and never left. I've done all sorts of things over the years from combat RP to western RP where I RP'd as a Native American, I spent over year here as a big ole fat bear, I tried building a bit built a few houses back in the day then got into photography when I finally had a strong enough laptop to handle the load

Seersha: When did you first begin filming in SL?  Do you film in other virtual worlds?

Jackson: I believe it was about 2 years ago or so I started getting into the filming, and at the time I used Windows Movie Maker, then I decided I wanted to shoot weddings as I was already photographing them, so I sat down and learned Adobe Premiere.

I did, I believe, (create)  the first ever music video in Sansar, Queensryche - Silent Lucidity. Not a big fan of Sansar, yet. While graphically amazing, it is just all set. The user can't change anything in the environment and the cam controls arrgh!

Seersha:  Sansar has so far been “the greatest thing that isn’t” to me.  All those promises.  Getting back to you, from what I was able to see on your youtube page, this is a business of yours in rl and sl.  Do you have an sl store or location people may visit?

Jackson: I used to in RL do Real Estate photography on the side though not any more. As far as a store here, no, all my work relies on word of mouth. My 'store' is youtube and flickr.

Seersha:  Tell me about the computer you use for filming.  It is my understanding to film as you do requires a durable computer. What kind of computer are you running on?  Will you share the software you use?

Jackson: I used to do my work on a pretty strong Dell laptop, but it really struggled shooting weddings and got very hot, so I decided I needed a desktop. Here I have to thank Strawberry Signh I have been a follower of her for a while and she wrote a piece on what her computer was with all the components, so I basically followed her list and built my desktop. In a nutshell, it is a core i7, 16 gigs of ram and a Nvidia GTX 970, and I use 2 monitors, a 27” inch ISP, and a standard 23” inch monitor.

For editing and color grading, I currently use Adobe Premiere Pro, and sometimes use After Effects. Used to use SpeedGrade for colorizing, but sadly Adobe jettisoned that and put it all inside of Premiere.

Seersha:  Years ago the programs used most for videography were Fraps and Bandicam.  What requirements does a software need to meet for you to use it?

Jackson: I uses fraps for screen record. I like software that is reliable and easy to use with a logical UI. I have been using Adobe since we installed photoshop with like 15 disks, so all of their software the UI is roughly the same so it is easy to learn a new Adobe product.

Seersha:  What does it mean to capture pictures in SL?  Will you explain the process of what you are recording?

Jackson: Well, in Fraps, you record the entire active screen, so you need to set your screen size to the appropriate ratio. for full 16:9 HD, that is 1920x1080, and that setting is found in the advanced menu. I also use what is known as a virtual flycam that works like a 3D mouse, but uses the keyboard to move the cam. It was a beta when I installed it, and it appears the guy who created it gave it up. But on that I can turn off the HUDS and UI for recording, otherwise, you need to use keyboard shortcuts to do that.

Optimally I want to get at least 12fps so I can move the camera smoothly - often at weddings that isn't possible. Movies are usually set at either 30 or 24 fps. Recording our screen of SL we are basically taking  x amount of snapshots per second so if a sim will give you 30fps, it is taking 30 snapshots per second and everything should be pretty smooth. If I want to do some slomo in post, it needs to get up to about 60 fps at least for smooth slomo in post. But lag is almost present, so I have to work with what I got. The more lag the slower I can move the cam without jitter. Sometimes just a still video then I can scale up a little in post to give the appearance of a slow zoom in.

Because I use the software flycam, often I need to set up the shot first, get the right angle zoom in turns, etc then record it, or in some cases I might be zooming through a scene and do the turns and adjust height etc on the fly. Not nearly as easy as using a 3D mouse to do that kind of camera work.

Then there is the whole issue of poses and animations and body parts going through things and other people, clothing breaking in some poses etc... so the angles have to be chosen carefully to hide that or at least minimize it if I can.  I use one HUD that can change the pose of an avi on a pose, works even on animated poses as long as the priority isn't too high. I also use the Lumi Pro Hud a lot, for either lites on an avi that can be worn or using the projector lamps which can be used to add color lights in a scene or spotlight an avi. They can be either rezzed or attached to the avi.

Seersha:  I can tell that your process is second nature to you now.  It sounds complicated to me.  I recently worked with a photographer on a full-blown shoot.  I had no idea all the items that had to be “just right” to take the pictures.  Makes my screen shots seem a bit lazy :)   On your YouTube page, are the types of things you will record and upload for viewing?

Jackson: Being on youtube, of course, cannot be anything adult. Even though I may have had the occasional accidental nip slip (woops). But I enjoy doing music videos, sometimes they are just fun, others I try to weave a story into it. And I really do like doing wedding videos for couples. I like to be able to capture their special virtual day for them and they can watch it and share it any time with people outside of the virtual world. Some of the comments I get, usually from brides, makes it all worthwhile.

Besides that, I also have been doing adverts for some vendors and events

Seersha:  How long does it take for you to edit a, say, wedding you film?

Jackson: That can all vary on the wedding but usually a few hours. The couple select the music track they want used and how many songs, then I edit to the music. But editing film from SL is 2 parts - the editing of the footage, then color grading. I like to get it about 95% what I want inworld, I create a new windlight for every wedding I do, then enhance it further in color grading. And until just recently, uploading has always been a nightmare. My broadband upload speed was painfully slow, like 85kbs, which is barely faster than 1990s dial up, so a 8 minute video could take at least 7 hours to upload. I've shot a couple hour long events for people that took almost 4 days to upload!

Seersha: GASPS

Jackson: Music videos that can be a whole different story. I always edit to the music, but some is simple editing and simple cuts, and some are really wild like with my Physcosocial by Slipnot video. I tend to do a lot more color grading in music videos as well to try to set a particular mood or feeling for that scene.

Seersha:  My favorites on your page is Comfortably Numb Pink Floyd Second Life and Blue Ain’t Your Color Second Life.  What drew me to Blue was the name and then I look and it is in black and white.  Clever!  I would consider Blue to be artistic, not really a music video.  Will you tell me a little about this video?  The inspiration?

Jackson: Well I was thinking what other genres of music I could do, I really am a metal head, so was searching country music and heard this song. When I listen to some songs I might get a story pop up in my mind and I start piecing it together mentally. Keith Urban shot that in BW and that sparked the idea, never having done a SL music video in BW before, which believe me, is much harder than you would think. After that it was recruiting an actress (I was the mean jerk BF in that video) and finding animations - which can be one of the most time-consuming parts to creating a music vid. I have a pretty big inventory of LMs so I already had some locations in mind. And often when shooting I'll listen to the music over and over. I'm not a storyboarder - everything is in my head.

Seersha:  Sounds like you have a full head **laughs**.  What viewer do you use?  Is Black Dragon(BD) your favorite?

Jackson: I used to use Black Dragon all the time, back even when it was Nirans. But I think a lot of the recent changes in SL made it a little more unstable, and for doing machinima Firestorm's phototool panel is first rate. I crashed a couple times at a wedding on BD so after that it was always Firestorm. I go back now and then and use BD and it seems it has been updated a lot, it is, in my opinion, still better graphics, the shadow system is better and DOF is better, and of course there is Tone Mapping which is fantastic when shooing really dark scenes. But my everyday viewer and Weddings is Firestorm. But again, knowing how to do color grading in post, I can enhance the look of any footage so the advantages BD may have graphically is more 'straight out of the camera'.

Seersha: How would you define machinma?  Videography in SL?  Just an example for a simple thinker like myself.

Jackson:                I personally dislike the word machinima. It sounds steam punkish. To me, this is videography. We might not have the actual camera, but we can change the camera lens zoom like in RL, we can add fill lighting, zoom, pan and  sweep the camera  - almost everything one would do in RL videography.. And of course one advantage here is that at weddings, we can sit in the back row, get great footage, and not be in anyone's way or annoy  the officiant!

Seersha: I take videos in world using Quicktime screen capture.  Would it be any value to edit and to process it?  It is probably the worst quality.

Jackson:  I tried camtasia early on I just didn't like the whole interface. For some it works perfectly. I just prefer Fraps as it is very light, easy to use, and captures standard .avi files, which is uncompressed video footage. But those would be the only 2 programs I tried for capture here.

Almost all footage needs to be edited in some fashion to make a final video. And yes to have the ability to do some minor color correction as brightness, contrast,  temperature would be nice too. I sometimes help someone who vlogs and uses Camtasia studio - and while 99% of the videos turn out great as she uses good windlight in world, on some rare occasions when color correction is needed that is not available in that software. There are some other editors i have looked at that do those basic functions at a fraction of the cost of using Adobe software.

Seersha:  I have one last question for you, at least for now.  Is there anything, advice, information, that you would like to pass along to our readers?

Jackson: I wish more people did video in SL. It seems vastly under appreciated. Everybody does photos and there are hundreds of awesomely talented photographers, but not very much in the way of video. And sadly, the most popular SL videos are the lame trolling videos. We are seeing more and more videos now as vlogging has started taking off which is great.

But keep in mind that what sometimes can take RL CGI people months to create a 'virtual world' or colorize a film in a unique way, a lot of that is at our fingertips in SL. We can create almost any avi we need, we can defy gravity, we can jump off of the tallest skyscraper and never break a leg. We can create the atmosphere and lighting to almost anything we can dream up. We may be limited with the ability to "act" and we have to find animations for everything, but Bento is now getting the acting up to speed. I'd like to see more people give video a shot makes it as big as photography is today in SL. And that right now can also be one of the frustrating parts of doing video in SL, is putting all the time and effort and even money into doing a vid, for it to get maybe 200-300 views. There is editing software out there that is really good and not nearly as expensive as Adobe software and tons of tutorials on youtube on all aspects of video editing and color grading as well.

And I wanted to add one more thing about Youtube and copyrighted music as there is so much misinformation about this. Youtube has an extensive database of almost every song one can think of and have a policy for usage rights that the copyright owner sets. Just search for the song then look at its usage rights. Most will be viewable worldwide. Some might restrict certain countries and oddly enough, on certain devices like mobile phones, and very few are not permitted to use at all. No need to say anything in the description, Youtube's Content Aware knows exactly what music that was uploaded and sets the policy for it. The link is https://www.youtube.com/music_policies. Of course, one can always use attribution music which there is a lot out there, just give the artist credit in the description.

Seersha:  Thank you for chatting with me today.  So you heard him readers; let’s check out some video taken in SL then give it a try ourselves.

Contact Info:

SL Profile

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jredstar/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackson.redstar

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/jackson-redstar

Twitter: @jacksonredstar

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Machinima: The Cinema of Metaverse – Camury Reporting...

Do you dream of being a great filmmaker in Second Life? Do you like Hitchcock thriller movies or do you prefer Spielberg-style action and adventure? Are you a fan of Tim Burton's imaginative creations? Welcome to the world of Machinima, where you can take all your cinematic projects out of the drawer!

Machinima is a term created from the English words "machine" and "animation", and refers to films created by computer graphics produced through home computers, as opposed to the complex productions made through professional 3D programs.

Usually, machinimas are series or short movies produced using tools and resources available in a game.

Second Life is an environment that is conducive to the creators of Machinima because it offers tools that allow players to create their own digital resources, scenarios, and characters to record the actions they want to include in their movies. All this, with low cost and considerably reduced production time of digital animation.

Also, in Second Life there are many options for what can be called movie locations. Inworld, creators can find different immersive and interactive installations, as well as thematic islands and different environments very favorable to the setting of films.

A Machinima works exactly like an animation or film and as such needs a story with a beginning, middle, and end, for the assembly of the scenes. As in the cinema, the production of a Machinima begins by the elaboration of a script that is of great importance for the programming of the capture of the images that are made in an established order, considering the technical complexity for the taking of each scene.

In the production of a Machinima, there is the creation and construction of the characters which are used.  Avatars can be modeled and characterized according to the theme and animated by means of animation mechanisms like HUDs and AOs (animation override).

In many cases, the film is scripted, dubbed and filmed by its creator, which is a perfect opportunity for people to make use of their creativity.

Join the Second Life Machinima Forum, where you can exchange ideas with Machinima creators and lovers, get business tips and see what the locals are producing.

URL: https://community.secondlife.com/forums/forum/298-machinima-forum/

The different types of viewer used for navigation in the Second Life virtual environment, such as Firestorm, Singularity, Imprudence or Second Life Viewer, provide a series of tools to adjust angles, lighting, focus etc. that allow for the capture of images similar to those of the cinematic camera. These viewers all offer different forms of planes and camera motion sequences.

These tools allow access to users of different capabilities and requirements, from the amateur or hobbyist to productions with a high degree of cinematic professionalism.

It offers the possibility of performing highly complex and sophisticated productions at a very low cost when compared to animated films.

While researching Machinima in Second Life, I was pleasantly surprised to find many creative artists who make their designs available for viewing.

Here are some examples of these wonderful creators of Machinima:

Songularity.org - by Romy Nayar  -  Sparkys (Second Life Machinima) / Billie Holiday - I'm a fool to love you
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXh1eaE62-A

Berlin 1920s (Second Life machinima) by Pepa Cometa
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T6F8um8Wyg

Mistell Production Film  - JURASSIC WORLD - Second Life Machinima
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6HOIb5aqpw

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Photohunt at LEA Theatre: Machinima Multimedia Interactive Shows: NE corner- Jan 23rd at 11:30am SLT

Do you enjoy taking SL photographs? Join an amiable group of fellow photogs at PhotoHunt. 

PhotoHunt is a game in which participants must shoot their best Second Life snapshot that embodies a theme or landmark provided by a moderator within a time limit of 60 minutes. 

No outside modifications of photos are allowed. 

Spectators are welcome. 

L$ prizes based on donations.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA3/0/0/2

* SLE Pick retreived from SL Events

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Interview with Rysan Fall: From Machinima to Reality- LilyaLuv Reporting...

Rysan Fall is a machinima expert in Second Life. He has been making machinima since February 2008 and has since won awards and accolades for his work. We speak with Rysan Fall about the challenges of creating machinima on Second Life, his continued success, and his proudest project.

Would you mind telling us a bit about yourself and your work with machinima?

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 spoken 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 National 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 Labs to me and finally approved by U2's Principle Management. That was really exciting for me.

(Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTMN_lmkJLM)

U2 in SL

I’ve been interviewed for the book, “Machinima: The Art and Practice of Virtual Filmmaking.”  

A few of my videos have been seen by a company called How2Connect.com (now called Acute Care Triage), which specializes in providing online therapy and EAP solutions for subscribers. They were in the process of creating their own virtual world at the time, 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 4 years I, now edit all of their “Real Life” department  videos.

Along with all of this, I do voiceover work, also. I have also done some radio. I used to have a weekly hip hop news segment on an underground hip hop show called “The Fireset” on 90.7 WTCC. I've done voiceover work for CPTV Sports (Connecticut Public Broadcasting).  I won an award for best male voice over in an animated film in 2011 at the Los Angeles Media Awards for my role as “Sebastian,” a supercomputer from the future in “Time Travelers Series” Produced by Pooky Amsterdamn and Dr. James Canton.

Like I said machinima has been very good to me...it got me into the Institute for Advanced Media in Hartford, Connecticut; a year long internship at CPTV; I also won an emmy award for one of my productions in 2013 and was nominated for one the year after. I’ve just started working in the creative services department for FOX News in Connecticut.

What inspired you to create machinima?

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 filmmaking dedicated to filming in a virtual environment. But at first I thought that I could pick up some good editing tips using machinima.

Which machinima project are you most proud of?

I guess the one machinima I’m most proud of would be the “Invisible City”. Its an older video, a contest entry that dealt with the topic of homelessness. The submissions were shown live during a simul broadcast in Australia. I am proud of it because it came first place in the machinima competition and second place in the real life film competition. It was a great surprise because I kinda had to put it together last minute and I felt the quality wasn't as good as it could've been. I don't usually enter contests but I wanted to be involved with this one because of seriousness of the topic.

(Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-shidH2FEE)

The Invisible City

What do you enjoy most about creating machinima in Second Life?

Creating films in Second Life is enjoyable because it gives the filmmaker the opportunity to make great special effects easily and inexpensively. I did mostly customer work in Second Life, so another enjoyable aspect of it for me was that I got to meet people from many different places around the world.

What has been the weirdest thing to happen to you while recording a machinima video?

Well, there's been so many strange instances during this amazing journey of second life machinima. But I guess the one of the weirdest times is when I got paid in advance for a video and the customer just disappeared when the time came to start filming. Still don't know what happened to them.

What is the most challenging aspect of creating machinima on SL?

In Second Life, the most challenging aspect is dealing with the limitation of the animations available. Its getting better. But when I when I stated, there wasn't a lot of good animations. People who have the money will pay to have custom animations.

What is your favorite type of machinima project that you like to work on?

I like working on projects that allow me to be creative as possible. There was a period of time where I did mostly wedding videos. Although I do appreciate my wedding customers very much, the weddings didn't allow me to really get creative due to the fact they all followed the same format.  The projects I like doing the most, are my own personal projects. Because I don't have any limits or have to answer to anyone when doing them.

What would you like to say to anybody who wants to create their own machinima movies?

I would tell the to take advantage of the great opportunity to able to do anything their minds come up with. The only thing that limits them is their imagination.

Checkout Rysan Fall’s videos on Youtube.

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Pursue the Impossible - Lacy Muircastle reporting ....

Nothing is impossible you say.  Exactly and you have seven days left to prove it. 

Do you have ambitions of creating the ultimate piece of machinima?  What are you waiting for?

Entries for The 6th UWA Grand Art Challenge & 8th UWA International Short Film Challenge (MachinimUWA VIII)  close at Midnight SLT, 31st October 2015. 

The theme is "PURSUE IMPOSSIBLE." Artists & filmmakers can interpret the theme as they see fit. What is your impossible? What is the impossible goal you have conquered, or that you have seen your loved ones or your heroes conquer? What are the things you once thought were impossible, but now are able to overcome? How do virtual worlds help you to visualize, create, and push the boundaries of possibility? What are the things which seem impossible now, which you think you will attempt to hunt down? What are the impossibilities of the mind? of the heart? of the soul? Is it the pursuit of the impossible that takes precedence? Or defeating it? You the artist... You the machinimatographer...You decide.

For all the rules and requirements got to –

http://uwainsl.blogspot.co.za/2015/08/pursue-impossible-launch-of-uwa-3d-art.html

Winners will be announced in December 2015.

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Spotlight on AviewTV’s LaPiscean Liberty Tea Couturier Reporting...

When you think about SL TV you automatically think of AviewTV. It has been an institution in our SL lives for a long time and is still going strong  with the demand  for Machinima and increase of SL residence wanting to know what is occurring in our SL world.

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LaPiscean Liberty is the founder of AviewTV and still continues to provide Machinima and media the residence of SL need and require. He was kind enough to meet me to talk about AviewTV and also learn a little about the man behind Machinima media.

Tea.  Could you please tell us a bit about yourself and how you came about joining SL?

LaPiscean: As I live some distance from my Daughter, Cherub Spectre in SL, I joined to spend time with her. She is Founder and CEO of PixelTrix in SL.

Tea. You’re the Founder/CEO of AviewTV, how did the Aviewtv begin?

LaPiscean: Around 2008, A friend of mine, Rysan Fall of Fall films and I were talking about how to promote the filmmakers in SL, as most never heard of most of us. I say us because I no longer make films. I realized I would never make films as well as other have, so I decided to promote those that do. My friend Rysan said, why don’t you create your own network, like others have done in SL but more of a commercial programing network. So I agreed and started to develop some resources that would best promote the filmmakers as a community. Hence we started "Community Driven Programming".

Tea. Do you feel that since starting the AviewTV SL has changed throughout the years and has this affected the media industry?

LaPiscean: I feel the changes that SL has made to its platform has only made the media resources in SL better. Such as media on a prim, or shared media. Machinima has become a very good marketing tool for LL as well. Bringing the filmmakers together as a community in SL has brought a wealth of information to the filmmakers, such as technique, style, as well as inspiration and comprehension.

Tea. You hold quite a few top position in SL such as "UWA Machinima / Virtual Media Advisor / Archivist" and Cutting Edge Concert Events / Partner LEA Board Member how did you get involved with these industries?

LaPiscean: Simple really, (short version) When I first came to SL, people were very friendly and forthcoming with help and advice. The community was small in 05, and Lindens were around commonly. In developing my own international Avatar, I spoke to each person as if they were a Linden, because they were around in resident identity as well, with the most helpful manner I could muster. You never knew and still don't know who your speaking with really. So in this spirit I always wanted to help others accomplish what they were trying to do. This led to these positions more than anything. But I love Art, and Rock & Roll to and I have been web casting since AOL. So combining my interests and experience this is what led me to be lucky enough to become involved with these organisations in SL.

Tea. Can you tell us a bit about Slartist and how it came about?

LaPiscean: Slartist started out as a domain only about the same time as Metanomics started out in SL, with Robert Bloomfield. I got the domain as part of a resource list I had made to develop a site for film community. The domain went unused or parked for years, until AviewTV had run its course with development, meaning outdated and new resources were required to meet the needs of community.

Tea. What do you like to do when you are not working in SL?

LaPiscean: When am I NOT working in SL? I DO love playing chess with friends and folks from around the globe. I also like cooking and working outdoors, weather permitting.

Tea. What is next for you for the rest of 2015?

LaPiscean: Basically finish up some development on some of the networks other sites such as https://aviewbox.com which is a file sharing site like dropbox or you send it., Also working on the next generation AviewTV at http://beta.aviewtv.com which you may log into now with existing AviewTV account name and password. In 2016 be we will be looking forward to producing/launching  http://aviewcart.com, which will be a 3D content, multivendor shopping site, where members will sell content. We want to build a network site for the opensim community as well with the domains http://hypergridtv.com and http://opensimtv.com Right now these domains point to Slartist.

Tea:  It looks as though we have a lot more too look forward too from AviewTV

Useful links:

http://aviewtv.com

http://aview.tv

http://lindenarts.blogspot.com/

http://www.slartist.com/pages/uwa-machin.html

http://machinimasl.blogspot.com/

http://slartist.com

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