Super Bowl Exposure

" Chevy Presents a Great Opportunity to U.S. College Students Chevy asks college students to come up with ideas for a Super Bowl commercial promoting the company's new line-up of cars. The ideas must conform to a creative brief provided by the company. Yawn. [Hat tip: Nellie Lide] (tags: Advertising) "

It would be sweet to see a machinima Chevy commercial make it on air for the Super Bowl. Just need some good builders to put the vehicles in 2L for the movie makers.

Nature Walk

Forest Appears overnight in Second Nature
Posted Sep 25th 2006 8:40AM by Caliandris Pendragon

In a manner redolent of the fairy stories of childhood, a dark forest has sprung up on the Second Nature sim. The trees are actually the incomparable Baron Grayson's, but they were planted by Dameon DeFarge, in their hundreds.

Among the dark forest are a couple of builds...a shed which may yet house Goldilock's Grandma with her big teeth and ears, and a dingy and spooky house which is part of the way to being furnished.

It is really astonishing what can be done in so short a time given click-drag and the will. And interesting to see the effect of so many trees in so small an area. It is dark in the forest, very dark, and so I had high hopes that the gallows type stands and buckets either side of the paths might contain lights, but no such luck. Maybe those are coming.

I've only been away a couple of weeks, but so many changes, so much stuff to blog. And blog it I will....

Machinima Showing in 2L

Skoopf Machinima
Posted Sep 25th 2006 1:45PM by Caliandris Pendragon

My friend Moopf Murray produced an exceptional build for the Emerce conference which took place in Rotterdam about ten days ago. It is a shame that more people haven't made the trip over to the corner of Emerce Twee to see his build, which I think is very Moopf, and very well put together.

On a screen to one side of the build is a video screen which plays Moopf's Skoopf Skate Machinima, made by Nylon Pinkney. I love it, and, I think it would make a fantastic promotional machinima for SL itself. It encapsulates the essence of SL for me. If you'd like to see it, the link is an SLurl that will take you to Emerce Een, and then follow the red column to find the video player, and Moopf's build.

College in 2L

Intellagirl Tully is taking a huge step forward in changing the way education is taught in our colleges: she's teaching her class half on campus and half in SL! From Intellagirl:

"I teach at Ball State University in Muncie, IN where I am a PhD candidate in Rhetoric and Composition. My project was funded by the Ball State Center for Media Design. The course is a second semester core writing course (so it's a class that all students have to pass to get any degree on campus). There are 35 sections of the course being offered this semester on campus but mine is the only one with a SL component. There are 18 students in the class ranging from sophomores to seniors. The course goals are to introduce students to advanced academic writing, rhetorical concepts, and research methods."

I was able to interview her and her class last week, and it was a fun Q&A for everyone. The editing on this one is a little loose, to capture the back-and-forth of the students involved. We were cut a little short by the sudden crashing of the sim, but I saved everything we'd said up to that point. Enjoy!

Read the full transcript here.

What Type of Lifer Are You?

Read the great article explaioning two types of 2L participants.

Don't Panic!

A review of Don't Panic, a new store in 2L with low cost options.

New Machinima Films 9/26

Check out the new machinima films for 9/26/2006 and let me know what you think.

Four-Eyed Monster in 2L

Original post by machinimoo.

There’s a movement sweeping your Second Life and I think you should know about it! Since September an independant film, titled Four Eyed Monsters, has been playing in various cities throughout the United States.

You might say to yourself, “but Second Life isn’t a city!” That’s the beauty of it! If they receive 150 requests on their website for a screening, they’ll stream it in-world for us! How are we doing so far? In just a couple of weeks, we’re almost halfway there. How can you help? Request it! They even added a dropdown choice for Second Life in their locations.

Here is a description of the film:

A girl and a guy make a rule to meet up and not speak to each other. They have sex while still never having spoken! Instead they use notes, pics, music and videos get to know each other and slowly start to meld into one beast that has 2 mouths, 4 eyes and 8 limbs and takes up 2 seats on the subway!!! How long can their relationship survive as an art project??? And by the way, all of this really happened…

To stay informed, there’s also a Four Eyed Monsters group in Second Life! It’s open enrollment, so join now and show your support!

Contest Coming Soon

Machinima Competition
Sep 20, 2006 - Show original item

Machinima Competition
Make a Machinima in 7 days!

Holland Animation Film Festival, Mediamatic, Virma
29 September � 6 October (24.00 hrs)

Machinima is film made in the real-time 3D environment of a computer game.

Can you make a snappy machinima in one week?
Can you do this without having any information about the subject until the contest starts?
Do you feel confident enough to show your freshly made machinima to a professional jury?
If you think you can do this, read on, get the instructions and inspire us, the jury and yourself!

Participants to this competition make a short machinima movie in the seven days between September 29th and October 6th 2006 and upload it to a special page at GoogleVideo:
http://video.google.nl/machinima before 24:00 hrs October 6th (Dutch time, i.e. GMT + 1 hr).
The jury criteria for this machinima competition will be sent by e-mail on September 29th to everybody who want to join the competition.
21 Films will be nominated by the jury and presented at the Holland Animation Film Festival preceding the award ceremony. The award ceremony is on November 2nd 2006 at the Holland Animation Film Festival in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Prizes!
� A main prize of Euro 4,000 for the winner of the competition.
� GoogleVideo offers an Artist Page to the filmmaker whose film has the highest audience rating on http://video.google.nl/machinima.
� An encouragement prize of free participation to a Mediamatic machinima workshop and an allowance for travel costs for the most promising filmmaker.

If you want to participate in this competition, and get the final content criteria then:
Please subscribe to our mailing by sending an e-mail to
Machinimacompetition@gmail.com

To ensure that the machinima films are made between these dates, the CONTENT criteria will be published on September 29th (evening) on the sites ot the participating organizations.
Beside looking at technical aspects the jury searches for good ideas in combination with smart ways of making machinema films.


Organizations:
www.haff.nl
www.mediamatic.net
www.virma.nl

Online communication:
www.machinima.com
www.machinima.org
www.machinimag.com

Tips & Tricks:
www.mediamatic.net/article-10526-en.html
www.answers.com/topic/machinima
www.mprem.com
www.strangecompany.org/HK-2005

The machinima competition has been made possible by the Mondriaan Foundation and GoolgeVideo.

Machinimoo

Machinimoo is a great blog highlighting machinima. Definately worth a look.

The Movies

I came across another program that seems to lend itself to machinima. It's called "The Movies." Let me know what you think about it. Maybe you've used it or know someone who has. Thanks.

A Great Fish Tale

This one was done by Angry Beth Shortbread. Very talented.

Mp3 History

Hanging in 2L

This is my own attempt at a machinima film in 2L. I know that I need a ton more shots and neet to tighten up the editing, but not bad for two hours.

2L Trailer Winner 2006

This is a little information about the machinima trailer that won the SL contest for 2006.

http://silverandgoldie.com/

Dizzy? Try Izzy

This site has a tutorial, example, and advice for machinima production, especially in virtual worlds like SL. No excuses now. Time to start capturing.

http://www.izzyvideo.com/2006/07/08/izzy-video-37-machinima/

Alt-Zoom Studios

This is a site features machinima created in SL and advice on how to make your own. They make it seem real easy.

http://www.alt-zoom.com/

SL and YouTube

The following link is the YouTube group for machinima films based on Second Life:

http://www.youtube.com/group/secondlife

"Famous Last Lines" in Second Life

I plan to use Second Life to storyboard my script (snapshot tool) and create a short trailer in machinima fashion.

Second Life allows the following:

Customization of character features
Customization of costumes
Prefabricated sets for all occasions
Blocking on a set that is all scale
Movements that can be made and sold

Film idea

Here is the premise for my script:

Samuel Copper, a novelis who achieved acclaim with his first book, has failed to generate a buzz from his latest two texts. Needing a popular piece to validate his own self-worth, Copper accepts a deal requiring that he disappear from the public spotlight, write a spectacular suicide note for the publicist's promotion, and assume another identity (William Kersyn).

He relocates to Tatum, Texas, but this nosy town gets the idea that the author is literally going to end his life. Void of much substantial excitement in the town, the people offer suggestions about how to make the death more dramatic. These solicitations are made through Azle Everly, an aging former Sweet Potato Princess, who ends up being a muse for Copper/Kersyn.

The transplanted author enjoys aspects of his newfound celebrity status but still must write the letter and the residents of Tatum expect a death soon. Copper/Kersyn's relationship with Everly further complicates the situation.

...a more detailed 3-6-3 summary will be posted in the next day or two.