Mamachinima - Chantal Harvey's blog

The 48 Hour Film Project 2012 has breaking news!

2012-02-08T05:10:00.005+01:00

The 48 Hour Film Project's mission is to advance filmmaking and promote filmmakers. Through its festival/competition, the Project encourages filmmakers and would-be filmmakers to get out there and make movies. The tight deadline of 48 hours puts the focus squarely on the filmmakers—emphasizing creativity and teamwork skills. While the time limit places an unusual restriction on the filmmakers, it is also liberating by putting an emphasis on "doing" instead of "talking."

The contest started in 2001, worldwide, and engaged many filmmakers.
In 2007, it included virtual filmmaking "machinima" as one of their cities.

Machinima since has come a long way, and the 2012 48HFPmachinima contest has found sponsors that do the genre justice.

Project 48 Machinima.........

In 2012, machinima has it’s own website, and a big prize for the winner: 3,000 dollar. As producer for the 48HFPmachinima, I am proud to introduce Tom Papas as my co-producer. He is awesome!
Tom is the 48HFP producer for New South Wales (Australia), and the two of us joining forces will bring new opportunities for machinima.

For example, your films will be shown in Australia at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in Sydney - on the big screens, for a real life audience ánd in Second Life, online.

Did I mention the grande big prize of 3,000 dollars for the winning team? And head of jury will be Tony Dyson? Don’t wait and sign up now!

The dates for 48machinima 2012 are set: March 30 – April 1
Entrance fee is 48 dollars
All info is found here
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chatlog MachinimaMondays December 19, 2011

2011-12-20T00:17:00.005+01:00

Tpoic: making a wishlist for a machinima viewer/dropdown menu for excisting viewers.

MachinimaMondays whispers: Checking inventory items...
MachinimaMondays: Type a message you want to send to your subscribers on channel 95 (eg. /95 my message)
MachinimaMondays: Virtual Montmartre (154,169,31)
MachinimaMondays meeting at 1 pm - needs your input!! we are hosting machinima and trying to make wishes come true! Discussing a machinima menu in Second Life viewers; what would be your ultimate application or option? What would make your machinima life better? Come on over and discuss it with us!

NikoKito Aries: hello good night
Chantal Harvey: hello
NikoKito Aries: hi Chantal
Chantal Harvey: heyas!
Chantal Harvey: welcome
NikoKito Aries: welcome Bubblepop
Bubblepop Unplugged: hello!
Chantal Harvey: hi bubble!
Chantal Harvey: welcome
Bubblepop Unplugged: chantal im close to being able to broadcast and do audio video soundeffects anounce all at once, one take.
Chantal Harvey: ho
Bubblepop Unplugged: very close
Bubblepop Unplugged: hope to talk to you about that and other stuff someday
Chantal Harvey: ok, there is room for that today, plenty
NikoKito Aries: welcome Pixie
Pixie Rain: thank you
Bubblepop Unplugged: i do have a quick question though
Bubblepop Unplugged: you ever try or hear of controling audio with foot pedals?
Chantal Harvey: sure, shoot
Bubblepop Unplugged: the volume
Chantal Harvey: woo no i havent
Bubblepop Unplugged: if im controlling sound effects with one hand, cam with the other, wich i almost mastered....
Chantal Harvey: hi gabe, welcome
Bubblepop Unplugged: ... i was thinking maybe footpedals to control volume. 1 for each soundcard/player
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: Heeeeey!
핕리: omg gabe i didnt know u meant now
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: LAWLLLLLLL
Chantal Harvey: welcome, MinDBlinD, grab a seat

Chantal Harvey: I was wondering, can all hear voice?
Bubblepop Unplugged: i like both voice AND text, makes it more exciting
At this point, in voice, Chantal Harvey announces sponsorship for the 2012 contest 48 Hour Film Project Machinima; 4000 dollars prize money and a big chance of the winning film going to not only Filmapalooza, but also to Cannes.
Pixie Rain: That should excite Tutsy enough to enter! I'll tell him tomorrow!

Chantal and Michelle then talked about viewer 1 and viewer 2, and why it now really is time for machinima people to move to the new viewers. Soon the 1-viewers will not be supported anymore, so we best prepare ourselves and get on with it.

A huge advantage is the better framerate and the light settings, amongst many other improved things. - so apart from having to move over soon anyway, this should be a good reason to do it now. Machinima will improve, we need to move on.

After initially resenting viewer 2, I found that it took me 2 days to get used to the new viewer, and to my own surprise do not want to go back to my beloved old viewer 1. It is a learning curve, but well worth it. Now, who would not wish for better framerates...?
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
We then moved on to todays topic: a machinima wishlist.

Today, sadly, Kirstens viewer was abandoned - the crowdfunder halted at 28%, Lee starts a rl job, and our beloved machinima viewer is gone. :-(

Several coders/viewers have now come to me and talked about implementing a machinima menu, or even developing a new machinima viewer. And you know? MachinimaMondays is an excellent platform for collecting ideas. We agreed to collect these and make a wish list.

Mary Wickentower wish list: machinimatographewrs windlight bundle - expansive set of windlights and special effects including but not limited to Torly's windlights
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: yus
Pixie Rain: the new "Tex Refresh" option in FS 3 is fabulous
Ambrosia Lanley: one viewer for machinima
MinDBlinD Setsuko: a machinima dedicated viewer will be very useful
Ambrosia Lanley: stop all the applications that are not needed to reduce lag and smoother filming
Bubblepop Unplugged: saving every single setting so i jumop right back into filming after a crash
Ambrosia Lanley: derender is good
Pixie Rain: derender is essential for me
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: it's possible to make a viewer where all settings persist between logins
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: that's very easy
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: every setting has "persist" yes or no, we can just set 'em all to persist
Bubblepop Unplugged: well... would a higher quality voice audio possible? would save lots of time in some cases. Adjustible audio would be useful, even high tones, noise reduction, bass sliders?
Ambrosia Lanley: for filming we dont need an external browers cookies java scripts plugins web proxy
MinDBlinD Setsuko: i don't know how.. but could be nice have a function to record a camera movement track
LaPiscean Liberty: yes macro settings
Bubblepop Unplugged: a search engine that links me to props and animations with a slurl with 100% accuracy.
Mary Wickentower: as that controls/HUDS visable to us but not on film to the list chant - a coder migth be able to figure out a way
Fuschia Nightfire: yes , that would be very helpful
Chantal Harvey: having text and huds outside the window-option would be more than useful, it was suggested over a year ago by Toxic Menges. Or just a way to operate huds without them showing in the film.
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: two views? one with UI, one without UI
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: in theory it's possible, but i don't know if you would want to... it's the equivalent of running two viewers, you take a loss in framerateGᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: but there might be a creative way around it
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: how does fraps handle dual monitors?
LaPiscean Liberty: not possible to take outside the portal
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: that's possible yus
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: yeah, that's definitely possible
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: UI on one monitor, world view on the other
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: that would be pimp
Mary Wickentower: fraps records the ACTIVE window
Mary Wickentower: there is a clunky workaround for that
LaPiscean Liberty: if they did, it would be like Gabe said
LaPiscean Liberty: same as 2 viewers
Ambrosia Lanley: two avatars - two viewers
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: but if you have world view on one screen, UI on the other, that's good
LaPiscean Liberty: but perhaps you could log twice and have your avatar control the other avatars functions
Bubblepop Unplugged: i never tried it, its why i was asking if its been done
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: scripted camera tracking seems like the most obvious feature it would have
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: set your path and timing between points
Bubblepop Unplugged: i do a dual monitor, livestream/procaster, rhapsody to play music, VLC to play sound effects, recording/sound/voice all at once
LaPiscean Liberty: or perhaps a better text client like metabolt, that has more function for your avatar
Bubblepop Unplugged: im also using that cam hud that guy had here. i need to find out where to get more
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: it's possible - i can show you my scripted camera work
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: want to see a video i did using that
[13:28] Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: all motion is scripted
http://www.olpglobalkids.org/2011/12/lts_food_justice_show_full_vid.html
only the first 30 seconds -- the rest is not by me
Pixie Rain: very good
Mary Wickentower: workaround to using huds and settings in fraps that do not appear in film- Some huds and settings will still work, even tho they are not visable , so it you track where they are on the screen, before you click F1, you can click on those buttons, even thos they are not visable - they are still THERE
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: all the SL camera movement there is scripted
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: but if there was camera tracking interface in the viewer, that would be awesome
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: i have my own scripted gadget for doing that
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: but i'd love to see it part of the UI
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: Kinnect
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: it's Kinnect
Ambrosia Lanley: its open source so alot of hacks are being made for sl
Bubblepop Unplugged: where can i find that one hud someone had here? the StatiCam v1.1 PRO ?
Ambrosia Lanley: it will but limited only by the hacks made so far with body movement so far
Mary Wickentower: you can combine some expressions in the free adorkable HUD
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: i have something called BijoCam, it's pretty good, but still clunky
Bubblepop Unplugged: he had it here and was working on it, sold them for whatever we wanted. i think you got one didnt you chantal? Paramparam Papp!
Bubblepop Unplugged: i just have that one. and for this live broadcasing, im controling cam angles with left hand on keyboard.
Ambrosia Lanley: yea all pretty much the same
Mary Wickentower: you can also switch back and forth between hair bases to get eyebrow expressions
Ambrosia Lanley: smile frown ect. a drop down menu with basic emotions/animations would be good
Ambrosia Lanley: needs to be a smooth transition from one emotion to another
Mary Wickentower: I collect hair bases just so I can get different eyebrow raises frowns etc moving from one to the other
Ambrosia Lanley: crazy talk - it uses the mouse to make the face move
Arm Strom: dont look at me :-/
Ambrosia Lanley: called puppetiteir
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: also easy to do
Arm Strom: :-)
Ambrosia Lanley: crazy talk 6
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: but crazytalk can only be used on static images
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: i wish it could be used on captured footage
Mary Wickentower: what would the software DREAM package(s) be to have to machinima if money was no problem ?
Michelle Leckrone: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/aDORKable-Poses-Emoter-HUD/1081190
Mary Wickentower: exterior software
Mary Wickentower: for productions
Mary Wickentower: and fine tuning
Mary Wickentower: like premiere etc
Ambrosia Lanley: ctrl alt left mous ebutton will control the eyes
Mary Wickentower: we need a difinitive list of all this good info
Michelle Leckrone: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/AnyPose-Expression/2613652

darx Taurus: people talks before about Kinect, have you seen this experimental video: http://www.nsl.tuis.ac.jp/xoops/modules/x_movie/x_movie_view.php?cid=2&lid=33
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: framerate is way better in the 2 based viewers! framerate should be the number one priority for machinima artists
Mary Wickentower: grumbles about bloody "new" viewer
Mary Wickentower: Im miss dyslexic and monofixator eyes - new viewer makes me crazy

Michelle Leckrone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ujnzMPBoc&feature=channel_video_title

Chantal Harvey: I will copy paste this chat for references in my blog, tonight.
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: can i say the f word just to spice things up?
Fuschia Nightfire: lol
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: gotferdommen
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: i'm sure i spelled that wrong
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: LAWLLLLLLL
Mary Wickentower: rofl
Bubblepop Unplugged: awsom, please. how do i say 'you love donkeys" in dutch? - and i'll start using it in the usa
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: ijk how van donkeys
Chantal Harvey: ik hou van ezels
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: i was close
Mary Wickentower: there is a funny funny film where a prim & proper librian looking Dutch woman swears in dutch and translates it - it is funnay as
LaPiscean Liberty: As my Grandma would say, It;s all Dutch to me
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: As my grandma would say, "pass the dutchie on the left hand side"

Chantal Harvey: http://www.nsl.tuis.ac.jp/xoops/modules/x_movie/x_movie_view.php?cid=2&lid=33

Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: that video is amazing
Pixie Rain: very interesting, yes
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: a kinect costs about $150
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: but worth it
LaPiscean Liberty: Ive had GOM player for yrs, but didnt know they offered a encoder now
Chantal Harvey: def, if i knew i could use it
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: would Glyph Graves share the code?
darx Taurus: it's open source, but you can move avatar only in your screen, because there is no LL server support
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: well you could host the kinect support on your own server
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: use HTTP to transmit the data
LaPiscean Liberty: that would require some pretty good bandwith to http the movement to LL
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: you could bypass LL
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: the avatars have an attachment to send the data to your server, and the machinimatographer picks up the data through their viewer
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: that would take a long time to make tho
Mary Wickentower: does ENCODER work with SL?
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: aside from better facial animations, that is the most difficult thign that has been mentioned today
Bubblepop Unplugged: wich type of media streams into SL again? i forgot
LaPiscean Liberty: Mpeg, MP4, MOV, MP3, SDP
LaPiscean Liberty: VOB is low enough resolution
LaPiscean Liberty: MP2
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: synching cameras in the next FS viewer? View angle numbers
Mary Wickentower: is ther a definative list anywhere of what you should have externeral to SL (software) & internal to SL to produce kicking films (if money was no object) ?
Pixie Rain: I like the idea of "preferences profile settings" ....1) High lag sims 2) Ultra 2) Depth of Field etc
Pixie Rain: so I call up the profile, not have to re-do it each time
Pixie Rain: 10 options, create your own presets, and an option to save them, like windlight settings now
darx Taurus: i have looked that DOF flickering strange way..maybe its just my viewer fault..have somebody experience?
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: definitely can customize all menus
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: definitely
Pixie Rain: and it automatically sets preferences to pre-defined graphics
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: yeah you can create new presets
Pixie Rain: exactly
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: right now it's only minimal --> ultra
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: those four
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: but you could make new ones
Gᵃᵇᵉ 게이브루니: yus
Pixie Rain: yes....but I mean user defined.....different AA, for example...different Draw, or shadows etc etc
Pixie Rain: * at the mo, we have to reset all the time..I change 5 to 10 times a day
Pixie Rain: if I go to a club...I want Impostors ON.....but if I go to an art sim, I want it OFF
Mary Wickentower: very productive meeting
Pixie Rain: Bye all, thank you
Chantal Harvey: second meeting at 7 pm, and I will collect your ideas all week long.

Chatlog MachinimaMondays on Coded Movies with Ataro Asbrink

2011-12-01T01:52:00.015+01:00

On monday November 28, MachinimaMondays group in Second Life had a fieldtrip!
Ataro Asbrink had contacted me and invited the group to come over.

Before posting the chatlog, I want to pass on what Ataro told me: if people have questions, tell them to contact me inworld.

http://scissores.com/super-blog/machinima/coded-movies-at-machinimamondays-group/

Chat at MaMo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaORD-R8IY

Welcome to LEA4, everyone. This is the art exhibition InterACT!

Chantal Harvey: welcome everybody

Pamila Tiponi: ty laura

Ataro Asbrink: i dont have sound atm

Friday Siamendes: every so often i hear a voice briefly

L1Aura Loire: If you make machinima of any installation here, or set here, I'll put it on a cool machinima viewer as part of the exhibition.

Chantal Harvey: geo, can you record it while streaming?

Pamila Tiponi: tyy

Geo Meek: if we got voice working

Geo Meek: yes

Friday Siamendes: how do i shut off Rock 6? it keeps asking me for permission to control my camera

Friday Siamendes: ok thanks

Reseting script...

Ataro Asbrink: i think we should all have seen the movie samples

Geo Meek: stream is here http://www.livestream.com/SecondLifeNews

Ataro Asbrink: then we can talk

Ze Moo: great music here

Ambrosia Lanley: is there a link for teh samples

Ze Moo: is that part of the show?

Friday Siamendes: phone commercial playing now . . .

Ze Moo: Cool Geo: i will put that fulls screen on my second screen

Matthew Kidomen: I have a computer commercial playing

LEA InterAct! Coded Movie Examples: Reseting script...

Friday Siamendes: what should happen when i sit on the rock?

Matthew Kidomen: can more than one person sit on a rock?

Matthew Kidomen: pose ball? dancing?

Friday Siamendes: i got a menu, what should happen? I get a message from the rock every second, i have received probably 200 so far

Sculpted Rock 6: Reseting script...

Ataro Asbrink: has anyone seen the movies yet?

Friday Siamendes: someone else please sit on Rock 6, maybe it will leave me alone LOL

Friday Siamendes: maybe the rock likes you better Ambrosia

Jackie Lefko: no

Matthew Kidomen: I am watching us on LiveStream, watch each other, watch Live Stream

Ambrosia Lanley: gave me a menu and have no idea what to click chose overview

Ataro Asbrink: i think we should use this one rock in front of the cineama, after the other, i am sorry

Ataro Asbrink: this works here

Gridjumper: does someone need a rock?

Gridjumper: if someone wants a turn

Ataro Asbrink: leave the script with EXIT pls

Ataro Asbrink: not just standing up

Pamila Tiponi: is nice...

Matthew Kidomen: Hey!

Ataro Asbrink: why not chat?

Matthew Kidomen: haha, I watched my self wave to myself. haha

Ze Moo: what draw distance is needed?

Matthew Kidomen: slow mirror

Ataro Asbrink: draw distance 160 m

Ataro Asbrink: its in the menu

Ze Moo: ok

Ataro Asbrink: pls read it, lol

Ambrosia Lanley: ok I hit escape got a nice white secreen

Ataro Asbrink: i dont hear voices

Ataro Asbrink: are you all watching? lol

Jackie Lefko: yes

Ambrosia Lanley: do you have a link to see this maybe ill try that

Jnix Fallon: no menu for me

Matthew Kidomen: the pictures are in my mind.

Ze Moo: its great Ataro! Awesome!

Ambrosia Lanley: matt has crayons he could draw us a picture

Ataro Asbrink: thx moo!

Ze Moo Ze Moo impressed!

L1Aura Loire: It's very cool, and has so many possibilities.

Ataro Asbrink: we should have tried this before with some people, so much scripts at the same time seems to be a problem

Gridjumper: ok so how do you do it?

Matthew Kidomen: who is controling the LiveStream camera?

L1Aura Loire: which viewer are you on?

Ze Moo: Geo

Ze Moo: Matthew: Geo Meek = livestream

Ambrosia Lanley: someone try rock 6

Ambrosia Lanley: I got zip

Matthew Kidomen: did you say, "Zim, Zim, Zola, Bim?"

Matthew Kidomen: special magic code

Jackie Lefko: we hear you

Ze Moo: it is Simulatorsalabim

Ze Moo: ,0

L1Aura Loire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaORD-R8IY

Ze Moo: Macodema

Ataro Asbrink: lets make it in chat

L1Aura Loire: good

Ataro Asbrink: has anybody questions?

Chantal Harvey: yes, how do you do it

Chantal Harvey: is it with computer scripted language

Chantal Harvey: could we learn how to do that

Ataro Asbrink: yes with LSL

[Chantal Harvey: what is lsl

Pamila Tiponi: what scrips are use

Pamila Tiponi: for this

Ataro Asbrink: i can stop the running script, but i dont know who is watching, who needs help?

Pamila Tiponi: what language

Ze Moo: What is for you the main reasons you developed this Ataro? What does it gain for you from traditional video?

L1Aura Loire: Ataro has written these scripts himself.

Pamila Tiponi: what language javascript?

L1Aura Loire: LSL=Linden Scripting Language

Pamila Tiponi: ooh ok linden ones

Ataro Asbrink: I am just stopping the scripts in the rocks

L1Aura Loire: Ze's question is a good one--copying here so you can see it:

Ze Moo: What is for you the main reasons you developed this Ataro? What does it gain for you from traditional video?

Pamila Tiponi: smooth

Gridjumper: can you give an example of what the script looks like

Gridjumper: how many lines of code per minute of show?

Ataro Asbrink: just a moment...

L1Aura Loire: Here:

L1Aura Loire: It looks like this:

Cameraview(<70.915138, 76.942871, 20.937574>,<71.239334, 78.342018, 20.945393> ); //Regional coordinates

llSleep(6.0); //

L1Aura Loire: that is what I didn't want to read out loud!

Ze Moo: hey Pye! I cant see you but, please sit on a rock!

Ataro Asbrink: can you pls sit ion the stools, i delete thew rocks

Ze Moo: draw distance 160m

Gridjumper: ok so that line of code will give how mauch image and for how long?

Ze Moo: i am still in the Overview. how can i see myself?

Ataro Asbrink: yes

Ataro Asbrink: its really easy if you have understood it

L1Aura Loire: How about I return the rocks to you and you tell the people about your cool thing here?

Ataro Asbrink: just the coordinates of your camera and the direction

Ataro Asbrink: then you say llsleep etc in seconds and you see a scene

NicoleX Moonwall: that is a big IF for me

Geo Meek: seems i lost voice

Ataro Asbrink: first you have to have permission to use the camera, then you go

L1Aura Loire: no one is using voice right now--only text

Gridjumper: are there instructions for this posted someplace?

Ataro Asbrink: i leave only one rock with the script that will be better

Geo Meek: good thinking

Ataro Asbrink: instructions are in the menu after you sit on the rock

Friday Siamendes: this sounds really cool but after my traumatic experience with Rock 6 I have a Rock-sitting phobia

L1Aura Loire: I'll return the rest to you and you focus on the ideas behind what you're doing

Ataro Asbrink: haha

Geo Meek: i did post to

Geo Meek: http://www.livestream.com/secondlifenews

Ataro Asbrink: ok L1

L1Aura Loire: so if you're sitting on a rock, please rise

Ze Moo: And how is this different from the system Diabolus Carp uses for their live shows of The Wall and Metropolis?

Ze Moo: or would you call that coded movie' as well'

Geo Meek: i like it live but thats just me

Ataro Asbrink: the carp shows are performances, you can only see it at special times, this movies you can see everytime, when you want

Ze Moo: 'coded movie' hmm i wil try think of a better word maybe

Friday Siamendes: yes do NOT stand up

Geo Meek: may need to relog

Ze Moo: aha so Carp is 'coded theatre'? .)

Ataro Asbrink: now there is one rock left, problems are over i think

L1Aura Loire: It is a different way of thinking about "movie." Or camera-experience. It's exciting.

Ataro Asbrink: yes, carp is coded theatre

Ataro Asbrink: wonderful theatre

Ataro Asbrink: i like that

Ze Moo: yes i also like live performances a lot, because it has an interaction opening with the audience

Ataro Asbrink: but its not movie

Geo Meek: most of the AV's here are in this video http://www.livestream.com/secondlifenews

Ze Moo: what do you mean Ataro ? not movie??

Ataro Asbrink: movie is when you use the language of film used since griffith

Geo Meek: my work is just video capture

Ze Moo: weren't movies originally called moving pictures?

Ataro Asbrink: oh, thank you Geo, wonderful

Geo Meek: do visit me in Caleta there is a live link running on the ticker

Ze Moo: yes 'movie' is just abreviation of 'moving pictures' afaik

Ze Moo: the whole SL experience is kind of an individualized interactive 'movie' imho

L1Aura Loire: The menu gives choices, but they are limited, too, so for me it is a dance between what I can choose and what I cannot. And by taking out editing, making the experience of the movie -- yes--what Ze said--it takes that part of the SL and makes it more so, with a menu, specific camera views.

also i always said 'SL is the ultimate most real interactive live tele vision untill now'

Ze Moo: .)

L1Aura Loire: Maybe "virtual movie" is a better name than coded movie?

Ataro Asbrink: you can see the movies on the rock in front of the cinema

Ze Moo: no i dont like that Laura

Ze Moo: all movies are kind of 'virtual'

L1Aura Loire: then it is your turn to come up with a name!

Gridjumper: ok so the code works for a small set as you have here you move the camera within that set?

Pamila Tiponi: Code Directed movies

Ze Moo: yes i am thinkin

Ze Moo: good one Pam

Pamila Tiponi: ty

Ataro Asbrink: there are no frames anymore, you look right into sl-reality, thats virtual, dont you think zee?

Gridjumper: or can you have the camera move with the code to a very wide space?

Sorry late

Ataro Asbrink: somebody wrote that he could to the next sim with this

L1Aura Loire: could see into?

] Ataro Asbrink: but i think its not possible right now

Gridjumper: how long - how many lines of code per minute of movie?

Ze Moo:

Ataro: sure it is virtual, but 'virtual\ is so much more, not really defined

Ataro Asbrink: sections?

Ze Moo: Geo: your stream of us looks awesome!

Chantal Harvey: yes geo

Ataro Asbrink: yes it looks great

Chantal Harvey: http://www.livestream.com/SecondLifeNews

Ataro Asbrink: has someone NOT seen a movie on the rock, lol

L1Aura Loire: "Movie on the Rock"

Chantal Harvey: hehe

Ataro Asbrink: there is one rock left, you can watch there

Ataro Asbrink: maybe thats the name, haha

L1Aura Loire: yes :) although it will only make sense to us

Pamila Tiponi: are these codes also used in rl sercurity cams?

Ataro Asbrink: yes, hear you

pamila: could be, lol

Hypatia Pickens: I just lost her voice

Hypatia Pickens: completely

Pamila Tiponi: but then in other scripting languages

Hypatia Pickens: when I closed out the livestream on line

Chantal Harvey: the stream has her voice

Ataro Asbrink: yes, not in LSL

Ze Moo: Yes! i need this for my SL security cams! to see who has been rezzing graffiti on my skybox ! L1Aura Loire: it was me, Ze ;) I confess

The48HFPmachinima teams and their genres

2011-09-17T06:16:00.007+02:00

The 48 Hour Film Project Machinima 2011 had it s kick off earlier today, September 16 2011.

REQUIRED ELEMENTS

Character: Morris or Maureen Middleton, Model

Prop: hat

Line of Dialogue: "Can I keep you?"

The teams drew the following genres:

48 Avatars - Film de Femme

Anklebiters – Romance

Grey Matter Film – Anniversary/Birthday

Ideajuice - Period Piece

Jewell Theater – Sci-Fi

Machidream – Western/Musical

Machinimart – Thriller/Suspence

Machinimatrix – Comedy

Rediculous Sandwich Studios – Superhero

The Stormers - Detective/Cop

War Technica – Fantasy

WeirWiredProductions – Mockumentory

MoM September 2011 - here are the films

2011-09-08T05:27:00.014+02:00

8 films are part of Month Of Machinima September 2011 (theme was: Seasons).

The opening event was September 7, 2011 - and it was even more fun this month.
Many came to see the films, and for the first time we had L1aura Loire interviewing the filmers between the showing of the machinima's. That certainly added to the event, and many questions came from the audience. L1 and myself did a joined presentation, and the event was filmed - stay tuned for a small impression that will be hosted on MoM You Tube account asap.

A unique service that MoM provides to Second Life residents that visit the theater, is that watching the films is enabled in all viewers. This service is provided by AviewTV, thanks to Lapiscean Liberty.All films show on their website, too!

Theme for Oktober is: four elements. (be creative, think art...)
Somebody in the crowd mentioned 4 elephants --- well, we dare you!

Submit your films here (deadline is the 15th)

As LEA (Linden Endowment for the Arts) we are proud to announce that there now is a machinima sim available to the filmers that submit their films to MoM.
The Machinima sim (set to adult) is hosting 8 studio’s, and these will be randomly appointed amongst each months submissions, (we trow numbers in a hat and make a draw). Your film does not have to be chosen for showcasing in MoM to be part of this, all entries in MoM have an equal chance to get a monthly plot.
Plots are assigned for one month. The filmer that gets a plot is responsible for their plot, which beholds 1000 prims per studio, and for good neighbourly behavior. LEA/MoM members will have the right to end the use of a studio before the end of the assigned period.

These are the films showcasing in MoM September 2011:

Chaffrro Schoonmaker - Unknowable Isles
Ian Pahute – All You Need Is Now
Hunk Hausner - Curves
Bleu Oleander – A Pesto For All Seasons
Chic Aeon – Nature of Elements
Pooky Amsterdam – Why Now? Diversity Tolerance Footprint
Rafale Kamachi – Love me Tender
Iono Allen – Visualizing Theorem at UTSA

MoM has it s own YouTube account and playlist.
Soon after the openingsceremony the machinima’s will be included on the MoM YouTube playlist, on AviewTV.com.

Please visit our new blog

MoM September 2011 opening event

2011-09-07T16:38:00.010+02:00

You are invited to the event of the day! MoM – Month of Machinima welcomes the new films for September 2011.

When: September 7, 7 pm SL time
Where: LEA theater in Second Life – see SLurls below
Extra: This spectacular opening event will be filmed – so dress up! Be cool!
Extra Extra: Special announcement today!

You are welcome to bring your crew/friends/fans – and spread the news any way you can.

Lets fill the theater and celebrate this months films!

MoM has it s own YouTube account: http://www.youtube.com/user/MonthofMachinima
Soon after the openingsceremony the machinima’s will be included on the MoM YouTube playlist.

And, MoM's own promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoWgUeJH7K4&

All films are featured on AviewTV.com, and Lapiscean Liberty will run the films for us!

Landing points for the LEA MoM Theater:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA1/218/43/21
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA2/215/215/21
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA3/42/40/21
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA4/44/215/21

The MoM films for August are.....

2011-08-04T05:09:00.006+02:00

Here are the 11 films that are part of Month Of Machinima August 2011 (theme was architecture and design)

Theme for September is: Seasons. (be creative, think art...)
Submit your films here (deadline is the 10th)

Osprey Therian – Off the Wall
Hypatia Pickens – What Isn’t Underneath
JoseMaria Sunflower – Democratia Virtual Ya!
Draxtor Despres – The Kansas to Cairo Project Part#2
Penumbra Carter – Relevant Search
Bleu Oleander – The house That Self Built
Urban Steampunk – Copy Design
Hypatia Pickens – Two Ways of Looking at You
Natascha Randt – Alhambra – The last day of the Moorish rulership
Glasz DeCuir – Street Corner
Pyewacket Bellman – AM Radio

Thanks to Linden Lab for their support for machinima, and hosting Copy Design by Urban Steampunk on their website! YAY! (congrats, Urban!)

MoM has it s own YouTube account and playlist.
Soon after the openingsceremony the machinima’s will be included on the MoM YouTube playlist, on AviewTV.com, - and the opening event was filmed and will be posted there too.

Watch all MoM films on aViewTV

MoM - Month of Machinima August 2011

2011-08-03T22:40:00.003+02:00

You are invited to the machinima event of the day! MoM – Month of Machinima welcomes 11 films for August, right now.

When: August 3, 2011 at 7 pm SL time
Where: LEA theater in Second Life – see SLurls below

Soon after the openingsceremony the machinima’s will be included on the MoM YouTube playlist, also on AviewTV.com, --- and the opening event will be filmed and posted there too.

Breaking news!!!!! From now on, one MoM machinima will be promoted by SecondLife.com - and this will happen every month to one of the selected films. Curious? you should be... come on over and join us at 7 pm.

Watch the MoM promo.

You are welcome to bring your crew/friends – and spread the news any way you can.
Lets fill the theater and celebrate this months films!

Landing points for the LEA MoM Theater:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA1/218/43/21
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA2/215/215/21
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA3/42/40/21
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA4/44/215/21

The 48 Hour Film Project Machinima 2011 registration is now open.

2011-07-27T01:13:00.015+02:00

The 48 Hour Film Project

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/48_Hour_Film_Project

The 48HFP Machinima

The 48 Hour Film Project is a contest in which teams of filmmakers are assigned a genre, a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue, and have 48 hours to create a short film containing those elements.

The 48 Hour Film Project's mission is to advance filmmaking and promote filmmakers.
Through its festival/competition, the Project encourages filmmakers and would-be filmmakers to get out there and make movies. The tight deadline of 48 hours puts the focus squarely on the filmmakers — emphasizing creativity and teamwork skills. While the time limit places an unusual restriction on the filmmakers, it is also liberating by putting an emphasis on "doing" instead of "talking."

In 2011, the 48 Hour Film Project will go to 103 cities, spread over 6 continents.
One of these cities is different. It is called “machinima”.
It is, unlike the 102 other cities, not on one continent but worldwide – so the good news is that if you do not live in (or close to) one of the cities, you can still participate in the 48 HFP, by subscribing to the 48 Hour Film Project Machinima.

The 48HFP Machinima has the same goal as the the regular contest, except that your film has to be made in real time using a virtual world or game. For example: the 2010 winnning machinima was made in WoW, the 2009 and 2008 winners both made in Moviestorm, and the very first winner in 2007 came from Second Life.

The 48HFP Machinima is set to the weekend of 16 – 18 September 2011.

Machinima as a new genre is very much setting a tradition of engaging serious leaders in the film industry, and I am happy and proud to announce that:
The 2011 head of jury is Tony Dyson. (Star Wars R2-D2, and major films like Superman II, Dragon Slayer, James Bond)
And, last years judge Phaylen Fairchild is back in 2011.
Dr. Tracy Harwood has agreed to be judge too.She was the founder of the very first European machinima festival, and is a Senior Research Fellow / National Teacher Fellow at the
Institute of Creative Technologies - De Montfort University UK.
On September 5, mr. Marcus Parker Rhodes joined the jury too. He is a former Bafta jury, and was in the Monty Pythons Flying Cirucs team, a groundbreaking animator and machinima fan.

Enter today! Space is limited.
This year, teams will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. Once the initial registration is complete, we will accept teams for the waiting List.
If a registered team must drop out, we will go to the waiting List. If there is enough interest, and we can secure additional theater time, we may be able to add more teams from the list.

Here are the 48HFP Machinima rules: http://www.48hourfilm.com/vr/filmmakers/rules.php
Here are the 48HFP Machinima Faq: http://www.48hourfilm.com/vr/filmmakers/faq.php

Email me at: machinima@48hourfilm.com

Chantal Harvey
Producer 48 Hour Film Project Machinima

The MoM films featuring in July 2011

2011-07-08T03:14:00.007+02:00

MoM playlist on You Tube is here

The films featuring for the month of July (2011) are:

Pep Lemmon with Traveling
Dacob Paine with Dedication
Pia Klaar with The Red Shoes: A Second Life Fairy Tale
Osprey Therian with When Warriors Gather
Larkworthy Antfarm with bRaiNwasHer
Urban Steampunk with Arcade Boy
Dacob Paine with Someone Called
Aaron Ishelwood with Wavey Sea
Yani Jowisz with Second Life Moderator (en breve) Machinima

We as LEA want to congratulate the filmers, and call upon all SL machinimatographers to keep submitting your work.

MoM event on July 6, 2011

2011-07-06T17:00:00.002+02:00

You are invited to the event of the day! MoM – Month of Machinima welcomes the new films for July, today.

When: July 6, 2011 at 10 am SL time
Where: LEA theater in Second Life – see SLurls below

MoM has it s own YouTube account: http://www.youtube.com/user/MonthofMachinima
Soon after the openingsceremony the machinima’s will be included on the MoM YouTube playlist.

And, MoM's own promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoWgUeJH7K4&

You are welcome to bring your crew/friends – and spread the news any way you can.

Lets fill the theater and celebrate this months films!

Landing points for the LEA MoM Theater:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA1/218/43/21

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA2/215/215/21

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA3/42/40/21

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA4/44/215/21

Themes for MoM - why?

2011-07-02T12:00:00.007+02:00

Month of Machinima ---- MoM is set up to encourage and foster machinima-making by the Second Life community by providing a forum to screen excellent machinimas made - especially around the themes ---- new, fresh, short, art-focused machinima.

It aims to encourage filmmakers to make more machinima films, to try out new things, to experiment and play.
There are themes to give consistency to each month's group of machinima, so they are loosely grouped around something in common. Difference and diversity within themes is a must.
The idea of it being monthly was that it is ongoing; if this month's theme doesn't appeal, there will be another one next month.

Themes for 2011 are set, and we as LEA are working on creative themes for 2012 right now. If you see me inworld, send suggestions :-)

Theme for May 2011: None
Theme for June 2011: Mixed Reality (SL machinima has to be part of the mix)
Theme for July 2011: Games (games in SL, games people play, psychological games, etc.)
Theme for August 2011: Design and Architecture
Theme for September 2011: Seasons (in your life, the four seasons--get creative)
Theme for October 2011: Four elements
Theme for November 2011: SL Events
Theme for December 2011: Endings, conclusions

SL Art is your guideline in all submitted machinima. Be sure to http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifbe creative and take care of copyrights.

Deadline for submitting is the 10th of the month

Every first Wednesday of the month at 10 am PST/SL time: opening event in Secondlife, in the MoM theater.

* Submit here

MoM July 2011

2011-07-01T18:47:00.006+02:00

Month of Machinima, that is MoM !!

On July 6, 10 am PST/SL time, new films will show. 6 Films were chosen from this months submissions, 3 come from earlier submissions.
Keep submitting your work, and be a part of the most lively showcase for machinima inworld!

You are all invited to come and celebrate machinima in the MoM theater, where the films will show all of July.
Opening event on wednesday July 6, 10 am PST/SL time.

These are the filmers:
Pep Lemmon, Dacob Paine (2 films!), Pia Klaar, Osprey Therian, Larkworthy Antfarm, Urban Steampunk, Aaron Ishelwood, Yani Jowisz.

The previous entries can be seen at the special MoM You Tube account and on this blog:
June 2011
May 2011

The following links will bring you to the venue in Secondlife.com:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA1/218/43/21

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA2/215/215/21

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA3/42/40/21

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA4/44/215/21

So, mark your calendar and come on over.

MachinimaMondays Camera system paramparamm Papp

2011-06-28T17:33:00.018+02:00

MachinimaMondays had a special guest on Monday 27th of June (2011) - paramparamm Papp presented his new Camera System during the 7 pm session.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/RastaOpen4/77/64/41

Special offer included at the end of the hour!

Chantal Harvey: welcome everybody, param is presenting his new camera system

Mary Wickentower: dusty box
Mary Wickentower: sneezes
Penumbra Carter: you need a blanket to sit on Mary:)
Spiral the Curiously Odd (spiral.silverstar): hi all
Penumbra Carter: WHIMP!
Friday Siamendes: good evening or morning or whatever it is where you are
Heineken Beer: Have a cold Heineken, Mary Wickentower! Cheers! Proost!
miles.eleventhauer: we're on crates tonight?..where are the couches??
Friday Siamendes: my butt already hurts
Heineken : Gotta love that Dutch beer, Mary Wickentower!
Jjccc ™ (jjccc.coronet): sold the furniture to pay off chantels vodka habbit
miles.eleventhauer: at least let me sit under the hair dryer...
Almo Schumann: My crate broke.
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): hurro!
Penumbra Carter: thinks it is the robot:) - formally known as chantal
Spiral the Curiously Odd (spiral.silverstar): omg
Bubblepop Unplugged: lol
Penumbra Carter: av pileup!
Mary Wickentower: pffffffft

Chantal Harvey: i suggest we let param explain the camera system, and then ask questions?
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): hello everybody! :)

paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): so.. i will start with...
o my I dont even know where to start... Lorin Tone (you guys must have heard of him) was working on a project..
its a machinimatization of Eric Whitaker's Godzilla Eats Las Vegas
At the time he was hoping for a live performance
and he needed to make sure ppl would be looking at the spots where the action is happening..
and not where the actors and stage crew are building the next scene..
the original idea was to make a rotating auditorium that would face the action.
But then i told him if the audience was already sitting, we can control their cameras.
some of you probably know this already.
and worked with gadgets that use this feature
my gadget was specially designed for the live performance..
so it can hold more presets than the average camera huds
all just a click away
i'll rez a model

Jjccc ™ (jjccc.coronet): how long have you worked on this
miles.eleventhauer: ...are these crates loaded?
Matthew Kidomen: are each number a preset?
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): you move around your camera, save camera positions and then you can recall those positions
or just sit on these rigged boxes and hit ESC
thats how the hud looks like
if you hit esc on the boxes, you can experience the second main feature of this hud
you will see the angles i am showing you
for those not sitting...
i will now rez a attachment type receiver vendor thingy
just click that thing and you'll get the attachment..
it goes to hud too, the on/off button shows whether its on or off (duh) and the antenna button below it shows if it received data or not
Hypatia Pickens: Looks like a green activated hud attachment
Hypatia Pickens: Do you wear it or rez it?
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): wear
so basically this is it.
on the big hud
Bubblepop Unplugged: so far, all i can figure out, is theres this HUD that has something to do with machinima.
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): red buttons are unassigned, if you click one, it remembers your actual camera position and becomes green
if you click another one it goes yellow (to show it has stored data)
Penumbra Carter: ohh excellent!
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): the connection between the hud and machinima is..
that you can switch camera angles in real time
Graycon Sonata: wow
Friday Siamendes: so i assume an angle and click a ball thingie and it becomes the button for that angle?
you dont need to shoot a scene again and again from different angles
but you can of course.
Penumbra Carter: this just saves time, set up time
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): and can return to the same angles with a click, dont need to move your camera manually
Graycon Sonata: it really is a time saver
Ecsedi Deluxe: oh wow
Hypatia Pickens: Do I assume it with the cam controls? with my space navigator? with walking around?
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): as i heard it doesnt work well together with a navigator. i myself cant confirm that because i don't have one
Friday Siamendes: ok let me disable my nav
Chantal Harvey: the navigator takes over the settings, so dont use that
Matthew Kidomen: I am using a nav and it is working fine
Matthew Kidomen: this would be great for filming a conversation between two people
Chantal Harvey: yes, and for a play
Chantal Harvey: or...movie
Matthew Kidomen: concert, especially known fixed locations
Matthew Kidomen: oh yes
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): so i do not know what will happen if you are camming with a navigator and try to save camera positions then. or recall them.
Penumbra Carter: is it ike you set up the angles and when your filming you type in what # angle you wnat to use while filming?
Mary Wickentower: so red dots means unassigned , green dots means assigned and what are yellow dots?
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): but if you just focus and zoom in the way mortals do (alt-click)
you can set your camera angles easily
Bubblepop Unplugged: wait, wouldnt a hud cover the screen? can it be used while filming?

paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): you can hide your hud objects
alt-shift-H?
Hypatia Pickens: but then you need to find them to change them
Bubblepop Unplugged: but if its "hidden', how would i use it?
Spiral the Curiously Odd (spiral.silverstar): if it is hidden, how do you change views?
Almo Schumann: So one person films and one person switches.
Matthew Kidomen: one person control the angles as the other film

paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): oh i forgot to mention.. i added a few sample gestures..
you can extend them to any buttons you'd like
in some viewers, thats more than just the function keys
Matthew Kidomen: so you could set up facial expressions
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): AND...
if you do wanna keep SOME hud elements
Spiral the Curiously Odd (spiral.silverstar): so, you can set up your Own "Hot Keys?"
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): like... i know there are some frames and stuff out there
Penumbra Carter: you have to hit escape when its green?
Penumbra Carter: to get the different camera angles going on
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): then you can just edit the hud out of your screen and use the gestures
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): hitting escape returns your camera to its default position... i mean.. unfocused state..
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): ... and thats when a script can take over control.
Hypatia Pickens: full instructions in writing would be good.
Evie Fairchild: In English. :)
Hypatia Pickens: He's speaking English... (smiles)
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): i included a manual with the system and after this presentation you will all have the chance to get it
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): and even experiment with it.. as much as lag allows.. because...
these boxes youre sitting on are set to accept camera data from anyone
Penumbra Carter: ahhh

Friday Siamendes: so how do i put cam data in a box so to speak?
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): if you want to use the system in a live performance tho, you would want to make it more secure..
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): and you can.
Ecsedi Deluxe: looks down at box, and taps
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): you can change the channel it listens for the data from the hud, and can set up a list of allowed controllers (avatar names) or set it to owner only
Chantal Harvey: there is a pro and a light version, right?
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): for now, i will set a vendor just for you guys and you can pay as much or as less as you think its worth to you....
Penumbra Carter: wow , that is generous Para!
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): at the moment i am still unsure about how to set the price on the market..
Chantal Harvey: paramm is doing us a big favor, lets not pay him less than 100 ld please
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): i dont want it to be too expensive, you know
Friday Siamendes: now we'll all look at each other and go "how much are you . . ."
Spiral the Curiously Odd (spiral.silverstar): rofl
Ecsedi Deluxe: bites lip
Hypatia Pickens: LOL
Hypatia Pickens: it looks like you put a lot of work into this
Penumbra Carter: I have worked, experimented with a few less sophistacated, this looks great
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): so if you think you would like to play and experiment with it, just pay it something :)
you can attach and edit and drag contents to your inventory
Chantal Harvey: this is a great offer, param
Chantal Harvey: is there a manual with it, param?
Friday Siamendes: seriously a very basic manual for the slow
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): i will try to use your paid amounts to set my price, you guys must know more precisely whats this worth.
Penumbra Carter: I do have a sense for how well this is going to work, with some experimenting
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): Chantal, yes, there is a manual.. i am still waiting for th e japanese translation that i want to include and couldnt finish my packaging for the item so the one you get it in is not final.
(my default packaging for my stuff looks like these boxes here)
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): yes english manual is in there
Chantal Harvey: i d suggest that if you like the system, tell ppl about it
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): it doesnt have an update feature, and i really hope i cleared it from bugs..
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): i had to do all the testing myself
but if you find something that doesnt seem to work right just tell me and i'll bring an update
Chantal Harvey: hey param, how about setting it for sale on my sim here
Chantal Harvey: i have 2 vendors already in the corner
Chantal Harvey: that way ppl can find it
paramparamm (paramparamm.papp): sure. as soon as i have the full package we can set it up here. that would be lovely!

Friday Siamendes: *stares uncomprehendingly at exotic new possession*
Graceful Aeon Schumann (graceful.aeon) waves bye all around

If you are interested in this system, please contact paramparamm.papp inworld.
My suggestion: Join the MachinimaMondays group and ask param if he wants to sell you a system.
It will be for sale soon! – I will let param set up a vendor at my sim, as I am grateful that the cam was presented first at our group!

Filmers that submitted their work for MMIF 2011

2011-06-10T20:50:00.004+02:00

MMIF 2011 - 75 filmmakers submitted.

Together they made 69 machinima's. I am now revealing the names of the filmers, who's work is being reviewed by the MMIF screening committee right now - and will reveal more on monday June 13.

Next week all entrants will receive an email, with information about times when their films are screened, which playlist they will go on, and more.

I will reveal new information every day, on this blog and on MMIG.org

Al Perez, Anankhai Sodwind, Akanjee Yongho, Ambrosia Langly, Anima Technica, Bay Sweetwater, Draxtor Despres, Bryn Oh, Cecil Hirvi, Kate Zeminoba, Sergio Querilo, Cisko Vandeverre, Luca van Grinsven, Graham Fitzgerald, Rohan Fermi, Waresh Londen, Scout Kestrel, Dulci, Eddie Duggan, Eric Boccara, Liz Solo, Evie Fairchild, Almo Schumann, Rose Borchovsky, Faires Rivers, Fuschsia Nightfire, Miles Eleventhauer, Gypsy Quixote, NefariousGuy Mainline, Hypatia Pickens, Ice Axe, Ian Pahute, Iono Allen, Jakechief, Chaffro Schoonmaker, jjccc Art, Judy Lee, Kolor Fall, Lainy Voom, Larkworthy Antfarm, Lasopantomik Yao, Laurina Hawks, Lorris Rizzo, L1Aura Loire, Pia Klaar, Marx Catteneo, MSCybertar, Marianne McCahn, Arm Strom, Mary Wickentower, NicoleX Moonwall, Nitwacket, Oscar Wagenmans, Osprey Therian, Paradise Quixote, Kibishipaul, Phaylen Fairchild, Pooky Amsterdam, Russel Boyd, James Canton, Pyewacket Kazyanenko, rgr Ampan, Pine Martinek, Saveme oh, Arahan Claveau, Spiral Silverstar, Helen Fermate, Suzy Yue, Tikaf Viper, Tom Jantol, Toxic Menges, Tutsy Navarathna, Verissimus Seetan, Zachary Kaye, Chantal Harvey.

MMIF in TimeOut Magazine June 2011

2011-06-08T13:31:00.007+02:00

With MaMachinima Int. Festival date approaching, I was interviewed by Marie-Charlotte Pezé, for Time Out Magazine Amsterdam.
MMIF producer Ze Moo made this happen, and I expect the venue - Club Karlsson - to be packed with people that wonder about machinima.

I am delighted to have our work in the limelights, one of my goals is to bring machinima to the world around us, to show this art to people and give it the platform it deserves.

******
MMIF RECTIFICATION: There are some errors in this article from TimeOut magazine. Peter Greenway is mistakenly mentioned as the director of 'Big Bang'. Saskia Boddeke (aka Rose Borchovski in SL) actually is the real director of 'Big Bang' and submitted this film to MMIF. Peter Greenaway apparently only did some contributions to this production. We apologize for any confusion and we sincerely regret this film being pulled out of the festival by Saskia Boddeke because of this TimeOut publication. *****

Club Karlsson Friday 17 & Saturday 18, 2011

If you’re tired of the same overpaid Botox victims trotting out all-too-familiar plot Lines, then prolific ‘machinimatographer’ Chantal Harvey may be your cinematic salvation.

The Dutch director’s third Ma Machinima International Film Festival promises 60 original, fun, touching, sometimes plain weird and, occasionally, mindblowing short films that defy the usual rules of storytelling.
Machinima, you see, is the art of making movies using 3D online virtual worlds and video games (such as Second Life, World of Warcraft or even Google Earth) where, unhampered by such pesky factors as reality, the laws of physics or an actor’s range, filmmakers can unleash their creativity with no bounds other than their own imaginations.

Harvey (after whose nickname in the community, ‘mama-chinima’, the festival is named) claims she refuses to limit herself to one genre of machinima ‘because the medium offers so much freedom to filmmakers’.

Clearly, most of them got the memo – including Lainy Voom, whose bird-headed characters drink coffee with a spoonfull of eyeballs, and Tom Jantol, whose rendering of Pinocchio as a disolated doll with lipstick and nipples curiously takes nothing away from the film’s grace and sensitivity.
Because it’s inherently inexpensive to produce but rich in possibilities, machinimatography appeals to experimental and emerging filmmakers in particular.

(I added a screenshot of above mentioned machinima's - Chantal Harvey):

That said, some open-minded old-timers have also jumped on the machinima bandwagon, such as Peter Greenaway (‘The Pillow Book’) who is presenting his ‘Big Bang’at the Festival. A poetic ode to all existence, parts of his film eschews human beings in favor of computer-generated avatars, some of whom boast such realistic facial expressions that Pixar’s best illustrators might want to watch their backs.

The event, which will happen in ‘real life’ at Club Karlsson, a private club and self-avowed ‘counter cultural’ space in the Western Canal Belt, will also be streamed live online and in Second Life, where hundreds more visitors and their avatars are expected at the lavish virtual theater ‘built’ especially for the occasion. Club Karlsson guests are welcome to bring their laptops to follow the online part of the event – WI FI and the requisite cables will be provided.

Both real life and virtual virtual parties reflect the important social aspect of Machinima: ‘The festival is not a competition; there are no awards, no contests; it’s just about sharing’, says Harvey.

In this spirit, newbies can try their hands at the ‘Machinima for Dummies’ workshop at Club Carlsson on June 17, creating a short film that will be screened at the opening of the festival.

With twice as many filmmakers and twice as many real life guests as last year, the trend is clearly growing. ‘We ‘ll have drinks, food, a lot of socialising and maybe even sex,’ says producer Ze Moo. No wonder machinima is gaining speed.

17 & 18 June, 20.00 – 01.00 at Club Karlsson (Keizersgracht 264).
FREE and online all night. See mmif.org for more information.
Marie-Charlotte Pezé, for Time Out Magazine Amsterdam.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Revealing my own entry for the MMIF 2011 festival

Playlist MMIF 2009
Playlist MMIF 2010

MoM June 2011 machinima's

2011-06-01T21:23:00.002+02:00

The Month of Machinima for June 2011 kick off went well, thanks to all that came to watch the films.
For those that want to go and see the films inworld, the theater is here:

There is a MoM YouTube account that shows all machinima's that were in the MoM theater, from every month.

These are the 14 machinima's that were included in MoM June:

Laslopnatomik Yao :Bibdui Babenco 31-08-09 Poetic DJ

Rocksea Renegade : Virtual & Reality

Pesto Portland : Beyond Insilico

Muk Dumpling : Muks Home Movies Reel 1

Termin Planer : Worst Trip to Second Life

Rick Garnburg : Hit The Beat

Bay Sweetwater : Domo arigato, Roboto-san (Thank-you, Mr. Robot)

Sierra Larsen : Somewhere Else

Phaylen Fairchild : Harbinger, the trailer

BobE Schism : Love is Sometimes Colder Than Ice

Mimesis Monday Rise and Dust

Sophia Yates : Magical Glorious Morn

Toxic Menges : Петро́вский флюс (a Petrovsky flux)

MoM - Month of Machinima June 2011

2011-06-01T16:09:00.003+02:00

Invite to MoM June event

MoM June 2011
Today, June 1st, 2011...................

LEA - Linden Endowment for the Arts presents to you:
MoM – Month of Machinima for June.

Today, at 10 AM SL time, we celebrate Second Life machinima.
14 films made it to the MoM of June, each of them different and wonderful in its own way.

MoM is set up to encourage and foster machinima-making by the Second Life community by providing a forum to screen excellent machinimas made especially around the themes--new, fresh, short, art-focused machinima. We encourage machinimatographers to submit their best work, excisting or/and new work.

Come and celebrate the films with us, and meet the filmmakers!

These SLurls will bring your avatar to the virtual MoM theater in Second Life:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA3/14/10/21
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA1/250/16/21
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA2/246/243/21
http://slurl.com/secondlife/LEA4/7/241/21

Submissions can be done till the 10th of each month: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Month_of_Machinima

After the opening event, the machinima’s will be included on the MonthofMachinima youtube account:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MonthofMachinima

Hope to see you there!

MoM Promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoWgUeJH7K4

MoM Opening in May 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VykFq1SmT4

MoM - May 4, 2011, the LEA kick off event

2011-05-05T04:24:00.005+02:00

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Inworld/The-Month-of-Machinima-Event-Starts-Today/ba-p/852221

Thirteen 3-minute shorts were selected for this first Month of Machinima, which is a monthly screening of the best of Second Life machinima, as a showcase for machinima in the LEA Theater.

For the kickoff, there was no set theme – but from now on there will be a theme every new month.

The machinima’s are included on a playlist on the Monthofmachinima You Tube account.
MoM has its own promo too.

The names of the 13 filmers and their work:

Crap Mariner: Oscar Goldberg Speaks Out
Toxic Menges: Without Words
Steff Ling: Coloured Pencils
Daveypup Nirpaw: Karma Kong
Ok Tigerpaw: Toxing
Draxtor Despres: Oh boy, what a MESH
Rocksea Renegade: Dreamer’s Journey
Frankie Rockett: Nighthawks
NasosPsarris Portal: Paradox 34
Ole Etzel: The Disease: Outbreak in Here
Osprey Therian: Attack of the Robots
Penumbra Carter: The Unkempt Hair of the Dead
Hypatia Pickens: To Inhabit a House of Uneasy Chairs

My work for the Second Life machinima community, and MoM (Month of Machinima).

2011-04-27T21:43:00.016+02:00

When I rezzed in Second Life, on January 8 2007, I had no idea.
I explored, met many people, and ended up working as a host in TJice danceclub, where i made 100 lindendollars an hour for chatting to people. My favorite way of spending time in SL and it paid too!

In rl I worked for a Dutch TV station, a stressful job with lots of ego’s around me. I produced, filmed and edited pretty much around the clock, and spending time in a virtual world was very relaxing.
No filming for me there – but that didnt last for very long. On 06-28-2007 TJice was sold and we were told to pack our virtual bags and leave before midnight.
At that time there was a camera embedded in the SL viewer menu, I experimented with it and made my very first machinima that day, never having heard of that word or genre. All I wanted was to preserve that club, where so many fun hours were spend.
I left that first machinima “thingy” online, its makes me cringe to watch it now, but it is how I started.

I never stopped filming since.
I did leave my tv job behind, and now focus on machinima.

Having made over 200 productions, in every possible genre, I realise how much Second Life has done for me. And, me for them.

I found the perfect way of overcoming the lonelyness that machinima people encounter.
I reached out and started organising community events, emphasysing on film, fun and growth.
I created the MaMachinima Int. Festival, providing filmers from all 3D games and virtual worlds with a cross-media platform to show their best work. (http://MMIF.org)
I started working as the machinima producer for the 48 Hour Film Project. (http://48hourfilm.com/machinima)
Together with Toxic Menges and Phaylen Fairchild I started the MachinimaMondays Group in SecondLife, with weekly meetings it is now called the most active machinima group in SL, connecting people and welcoming all. Filmers, writers, artists, poets, musicians, we work together.

Many projects followed, and I discovered that the more I gave, the more I got back.
The machinima community is a growing, open minded, sharing group of people with different cultures and backgrounds, and often a strong vision (and enough sillyness to be fun too). We learn from each other and show support.
I am proud to be a part of that!

Recently I helped organise a new initiative for the LEA.(http://alturl.com/io5zr)
Remembering the showcase for machinima on Secondlife.com - which is greatly missed by machinimatographers ever since it was abandoned, and we came up with the idea of an inworld showcase on the LEA sims.
So, we launched the Month of Machinima festival.(http://alturl.com/m96x6) Yay!

Every month, we will set a different theme, and a new maximum lenght for the machinima’s.
Deadline for submitting is the 10th, and the films change every first wednesday of the month.
The showcased machinima’s go on a playlist on youtube, so once a film is shown at MoM, it will be part of its history.

Werner Kurosawa built the LEA theater, of which I will give you a glimps now (the real thing is much better!):

LEA kicks off on May 4th 2011 - at 10 am SL time, with the grand opening of MoM.
For the opening event, 12 3-minute machinima's have been selected out of many submissions. If yours is not chosen for the May showcase, I want you to know that we appreciate every film, we hope you will submit again and will keep your film on hand for future events.

MoM overview

* MoM applications can be submitted through the 10th of each month for consideration in the following month.
* MoM screenings take place in world every first Wednesday of each month.
* You will be notified if your film is chosen.
* Films that are not chosen for one month may be selected to be screened in the future.
* Length of your film is 3 minutes max (unless when stated otherwise)
* Find all of the information and link to the application to submit your machinima information here:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Month_of_Machinima

MoM Themes for 2011:

* June: Mixed Reality (SL machinima has to be part of your mix) --- 6 minutes max runtime
* July: Games in SL
* August: Design and Architecture
* September: Seasons (in your life, the 4 seasons, or ?)
* October: The 4 Elements
* November: SL Events
* December: Endings, conclusion

Your guideline is SL Art, and about the themes ... be creative, and do take care of copyrights.

The LEA committee members:
Bryn Oh
Chantal Harvey
Dancoyote Antonelli
Dekka Raymaker
Dizzy Banjo
Jayjay Zifanwe
L1Aura Loire
Rez Menoptra
Sasun Steinbeck
Werner Kurosawa
Courtney Linden

Linden Lab is recognising the importance of machinima, and is giving back to the community.
They are supporting and recognising our machinima efforts, and there is more to come.

Machinima is ART and ready to conquer the World!

MMIF update - http://MMIF.org

2011-04-02T16:18:00.005+02:00

MaMachinima International Festival is an annual social mixed media event, that intends to provide a platform for the very best machinima of our era. The MMIF is a festival for the art of machinima. Not a contest, no awards, but an excellent way of sharing your machinima with a global community.

Machinimatographers of all virtual world platforms, games and engines are invited to submit their best work. Instructions for participating by submmiting your machinima here: http://SUBMIT.MMIF.org

Deadline for machinima submissions is: MAY 1st, 2011.

The MMIF was initiated in 2009 by Dutch machinimatographer Chantal Harvey, aiming to create a community of machinimatographers around the world.
The festival is screened simultanuously in Amsterdam, The Neterlands), virtual world Second Life® and live on the web.

Machinimatographers are invited to come to Amsterdam and/or to Second Life®, and will be provided with the opportunity to answer questions, to talk about their work, with a worldwide audience.

http://MMIF.org

MachinimaMondays - March 21, 2011 - Codebastard Redgrave

2011-04-02T13:11:00.011+02:00

On March 21 2011, I invited Codebasterd Redgrave to come over and talk about the new update on her MachinimaCam. Thanks Codie, for doing this, on such short notice!

CodeBastard Redgrave: MachinimaCam is the only machinima oriented scripted camera that can be 100% operated without any visible interface. It is a kind of spinoff of regular scripted cameras, in the sense that it makes 2 types of effects; follow cams or mathematical or motion cams I upgraded it recently and it offers around 15 different effects, i believe. it is entirely operated through some gestures that acts as hotkeys.
The camera gets commands this way and executes the effects, after letting you browsing them https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/MachinimaCam-HUD/255166
I got it into a bundle with FilterCam too, which i will explain subsequently.
Anyways. MachinimaCam is just a normal HUD, which automatically hides in order to be clear from your shots. You click it once, the menu pops for effect selection, then it hides like a good boy. We got 2 pages of effects now, almost. I recently added 3 laggy camera effects, LagCam, DecayCam and SlowCam, plus a few more.

CodeBastard Redgrave: i also fixed a "chat spam" issue, which chatted the commands in openchat. now it's all on a secure channel.
Arthur Ashland: may I ask, are the triggers modifiable?
CodeBastard Redgrave: of course, when installing the gestures, make sure they don't conflict
Graycon Sonata: so it won't record the local and ims?
CodeBastard Redgrave: Arthur: of course you can, bind them to anything you want. Graycon Sonata: can turn them off more easily?
Arthur Ashland: thank you
CodeBastard Redgrave: Graycon: it still requires your interface hidden, but it will at least you give you one step less to do (hide the HUDs for example)

Takoda Toxx: Mac and PC friendly? I'm a Mac.
CodeBastard Redgrave: of course, it's a HUD and runs on any SL™ version/platform
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): i use it on a mac.. but haven't figured the hotkeys out with it
CodeBastard Redgrave: it's using the sim's computational power
CodeBastard Redgrave: Miles: the mappings could be different on a mac, but you can re-assign them to something more convenient for you Graycon Sonata: still having issues getting the command to turn the chat off
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): it's ok..i dont need the hotkeys
Arthur Ashland: that's why I asked, because the MAC F keys perform different functions, I am MAC also CodeBastard Redgrave: Graycon: not sure if you got the latest version, which is silent by default, we can update you up
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): upgrade me baby
Graycon Sonata: I don't think I have
CodeBastard Redgrave: Arthur: that's entirely possible. you could for example bind ALT+function keys instead of regular function keys Arthur Ashland: ok, thanks CodeBastard Redgrave: i'll check it out with everyone of you, no worries.

CodeBastard Redgrave: let's start by a video, it's worth 1000 words

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/MachinimaCam-HUD/255166

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll4Vkj5nRJ0

CodeBastard Redgrave: that's for MachinimaCam, not filtercam
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): oh..where's that then...?
CodeBastard Redgrave: http://vimeo.com/3401209

2 different gadgets, but indeed, that's the old old MachinimaCam video.. a new one is on the way.
I want to show you about FilterCam, MachinimaCam's little brother FilterCam is a full screen camera overlay HUD made for SecondLife http://vimeo.com/3401209 that's the FilterCam video

Georgianna Blackburn: so filtercam is sold separately, correct?
Takoda Toxx: wow very nice
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): hmm i could use that...
CodeBastard Redgrave: Georgianna: you can buy it separately, or in a bundle https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/ML-Camera-Bundle-BOXED/1718388
Georgianna Blackburn: kk
CodeBastard Redgrave: this is the bundle, but check below in Related items for individual versions

So, i'm quite proud of FilterCam as a creative tool

Georgianna Blackburn: offer ends 2001 LOL
CodeBastard Redgrave: it's got 4 layers with individual controls
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): cool think about machinima hud for me is..it's transferable CodeBastard Redgrave: oops, yeah that was a typo hahaha
Takoda Toxx: u should be
Takoda Toxx: it is nice

CodeBastard Redgrave: there's 85 premade effects using 45 different alpha layers you can make your own of course, and extend the device it is even made so you can make your own texture+preset cards and sell expansions for it, if you'd like If you can do an alpha in photoshop, you can do them. also tons of awesome tutorials have been made, search Ryker's tutorials for it she practically made all of the filter masks contained within

CodeBastard Redgrave: next step i wanna do is animate textures when wanted, but it's a bit harder than i expected
Georgianna Blackburn: sweet
CodeBastard Redgrave: a short click on the HUD does minimize or maximize so you can take your shot, cam, etc..
CodeBastard Redgrave: and a long click gives you the preset menu, working in banks like we made like 7 or 8 default banks of presets, classified by type frames, masks, holidays, blah
Graycon Sonata: it comes with a manual for it right?

FilterCam 1, only had 1 single level with all presets. now it's in banks.
Arthur Ashland: those filters can be used for still photography also I'm assuming CodeBastard Redgrave: Arthur: absolutely, all of our documentations are on http://mechanizedlife.com/
check in Documentations, its up to date and in as many languages as we could afford to translate them.
You: even in dutch?
CodeBastard Redgrave: no, sorry Chantal only German for filtercam, i think but if you wanna indulge in a translation?
You: i think i speak english.

Arthur Ashland: too bad I missed the 2 for 1 deal, lol
CodeBastard Redgrave: yeah but deals comes and go.. now if i can invent something new okay, as for updates...
CodeBastard Redgrave: what i suggest is that you just IM me right now and give me your current MachinimaCam version number. i will know if you are updated or not, and send you an update if not. how does that sound?
Arthur Ashland: if we haven't purchased yet, the newest version is on Marketplace? CodeBastard Redgrave: oh, PS, upgrades are free for as long as i will upgrade those scripts.
CodeBastard Redgrave: Arthur: absolutely, it's all fresh versions on Marketplace Arthur Ashland: thank you
CodeBastard Redgrave: or inworld at my store for that matter, if anyone needs the landmark, just let me know in IM so i can drop it on you easy

CodeBastard Redgrave: feel free to use my sim as a filming location anytime
You: ;o)

CodeBastard Redgrave: I wish i could just give it all away but then i couldn't keep Rouge running
And tbh, i worked so hard on them.. and more to come i can tell you that, MachinimaCam 2 will be... insane
You: that s fine, it helps us improve our films, so i am pretty grateful you invented this
Georgianna Blackburn: hey we all do enough for free Code... I bought the package off marketplace, can't wait to try it out
CodeBastard Redgrave: just doing my best =) awesome Georgianna, thank you so much.. i really hope it will be super useful to you
Georgianna Blackburn: I'm sure it will be

CodeBastard Redgrave: tbh, i only got awesome feedbacks especially on FilterCam, im sad i took so long to upgrade MachinimaCam but it's finally done, now i can really concentrate on the new generation
Georgianna Blackburn: cool
CodeBastard Redgrave: the biggest complain about MachinimaCam was the chat spam.. and it's sorted
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): cant wait to check out the new features

CodeBastard Redgrave: obviously if anyone knows a friend complaining about it, you can suggest they contact me for a free upgrade, would be my pleasure to get the earth rid of the old version.

CodeBastard Redgrave: Lagcam and Slowcam especially, you will like
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): yea..was gonna ask..what are they?
You: yes pls explain
CodeBastard Redgrave: they are 3 effects based solely on 3 LSL camera properties called focus lag, behindess lag, and position lag so, they are slow paced, slowly moving, followcams did you ever use a HUD made by Chouchou? a kind of cinematic HUD? it's playing with the same kind of camera lag effect, one with more focus lag, one with more behindness, and so on
CodeBastard Redgrave: the camera follows you very slowly, hence the term "lag"
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): i think i understand
CodeBastard Redgrave: i can't wait to put the new video online, i could have shown you but it's really what was missing to MachinimaCam, followcams which used those slow effects more extensively

Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): i'd like some of the effects in the cam to be slower..like the spiral effect
CodeBastard Redgrave: that can be ajusted with F11-F12 Mιℒєﻜιιнσця miles.eleventhauer): ahh..the mac thing then...
CodeBastard Redgrave: which is in fact the stepping factor, not really the speed with the old version, you could say "camspeedup" and "camspeeddown" in open chat Now you can still do that with commands like /12345camspeedup (12345) is fictuous, i can't remember what new channel i put it on, honestly
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): i need that

Graycon Sonata: I want to hear more about all of this and i am fasinated
CodeBastard Redgrave: well hopefully the new gestures should work better for you, and if not, bind them to another set of Fkeys like ALT-F2...ALT-F3..
Graycon Sonata: I look forward to the transcipt of this and will probably have a million questions
Georgianna Blackburn: yes, I need to get back to work here, glad I stopped by :)
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): i ll look into that

CodeBastard Redgrave: oh, i give casual lectures for free
Georgianna Blackburn: cool
CodeBastard Redgrave: like FilterCam advanced and basic, MachinimaCam operation, etc... There is a huuuuuge Tumblr full of class transcripts http://codie.tumblr.com/ i believe

CodeBastard Redgrave: All of the presets are stored in the same format So you can set anything you want on the 4 different layers, and use a dump command that allows you to create new presets Each layer allows some settings, like color, transparency, glow (obsolete) + masks, which are usually transparent textures
The dump command spits out a long string that you can copy/paste in any of the Preset files contained within the HUD, and make a new Preset out of it

You: hi ken
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): hey ken
Ken Alphaville: hi Ken Alphaville: whats up miles
Arthur Ashland: hey ken
You: ken, Codie has been presenting his machinimacam for the past hour
CodeBastard Redgrave: welcome!
You: you will have to catch up on the blog, later
Ken Alphaville: oh yeah
Ken Alphaville: what did i miss
CodeBastard Redgrave: hahahaha
You: lol
Arthur Ashland: lol
CodeBastard Redgrave: Chantal will tell you everything
You: codie, can u start again
Ken Alphaville: ahhh ok
You: rofl You: hahahaha
CodeBastard Redgrave: loool
You: pinches codie
CodeBastard Redgrave: *chuckles

CodeBastard Redgrave: ok so, that's typically what the content of FilterCam's inventory looking like, apart things evolved since 1.04.. now we got multiple Presets notecards, and still a huge bunch of textures

CodeBastard Redgrave: but basically, same principle. filters are read from notecards within the inventory. makes it very versatile for creating presets. And that's also my plan for MachinimaCam 2.0, to use the same exact principle i used to build FilterCam 2.0., so you guys will be able to make your very own camera presets
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): now that's cool
Arthur Ashland: yeah that's awesome
You: yes agree, very cool and handy

CodeBastard Redgrave: it will be plugin based as for traditional followcams, motion/scripted cams, etc...
You: but can this be used anywhere? or only in places where scripts are allowed, right?
CodeBastard Redgrave: only where scripts are allowed, unfortunately
CodeBastard Redgrave: it was a colossus task, and i visibly missed lots of people during the upgrade. lesson learned.

CodeBastard Redgrave: i sold over 1500 and i had records for about 600 people
Mιℒєﻜιιнσця (miles.eleventhauer): well..add that to your marketplace listing..maybe the other 900 will see it
CodeBastard Redgrave: Miles: not a bad idea.

MMIF festival 2011 is coming!

2011-03-29T18:18:00.002+02:00

MaMachinima International Festival is an annual mixed media event, that intends to provide a platform for the very best machinima of our time.

The MMIF is a festival for the art of machinima.

Not a contest, no awards, but an excellent way of sharing your machinima with an international community.
Machinimatographers of all platforms and engines are invited to submit their best work.
The MMIF was initiated in 2009 by Dutch machinimatographer Chantal Harvey, aiming to create a community of machinimatographers around the world.
The festival is simultanuously held in Amsterdam (NL), Second Life®, and streamed on the internet.

Machinimatographers are invited to come to Amsterdam and/or to Second Life®, and will be provided with the opportunity to answer questions, to talk about their work with a global audience.

Http://MMIF.org 2011 happens on June 17 and 18.
This year, MMIF is working with http://Metameets.com

Feb 14, 2011: MachinimaMondays special guest speaker: Goat Firethorn

2011-02-22T02:15:00.009+01:00

I am happy to post the Q & A session with Goat Firethorn, on MachinimaMondays.

http://slurl.com/secondlife//81/84/41

Ever wondered about PC hardware? Which graphic card, processor, soundcard, memory, harddrives, ram ..... should you get to run SL smoothly?
How to spend your money wisely?
Please take note that Goat is not a machinimatographer, but his excellent knowledge about hardware has made quite an impression.

Here is the chat:

Chantal Harvey: this MachinimaMonday meeting will be in chat, not in voice
Kayden Oconnell: ok, thought it was pretty quiet.
Graycon Sonata: It feels so clinical...
Almo Schumann: We're just shy.
Chantal Harvey: i want to let you all know that this meeting is in chat, as it will be logged for the ones that cannot come today - so pls ask many questions, this entire session will be done as Q & A.

Goat Firethorn, the lovely fox avatar here, has agreed to share some of his excellent knowledge.

Goat: LOL everyone thinks it's a fox!
Ironically, it's a husky, but I get called a fox all the time.

Anyways - where should we start?
Chantal Harvey: could you introduce yourself?
Goat: I'm Goat, I've been working with computers for about 13 years, but I got into hardware around 4 years ago.
Actually I learned most from my father, who has been working with computers since the age of punchcards doing hardware work.

Graycon Sonata: so you actually assemble computers?
Goat: yes, I do - I have ... quite a few and some parts laying around

Kayden Oconnell: was hoping for some information on what to look for when buying a new system, processor, memory, graphics.
Goat: I'm going to have to say that I can't come up with PC's right now, and here's my explanation:
Right now, the motherboard and CPU industry is at a standstill, due to the release cycle, and Intel having a recall on the P67 chipsets, which essentially makes buying ANY new motherboard a rip-off.
In april, the new chipsets come in, then P67 comes, but until then, all you can do is buy things that are soon to be outdated.

Graycon Sonata: so just to open the field up to you was wondering if you which hd would you recommend for storage as an external?

Starshine (ormand.lionheart): why does SLI not work anymore?

Graycon Sonata: and are you a fan of a single taro or duel taro?

Goat: actually, if you don't mind I'll answer the second first
SLI does work, but it requires code to be written for it in the application. SL, had SLI support at the start, but it got phased out as the code progressed , it's actually still on the Nvidia webpage as SLI compatable

Goat: I like the HD question lol
Actually, I myself don't own any SSD's, and their quite pricy, so what I did buy was an awesome hdd that I reccomend 100%
Graycon Sonata: which one?
Goat: It was actually really really cheap, $ 40.00, and it outpaces some of the $ 130+ Velociraptors, as well as ALL of the Caviar blacks. It's a Samsung F4 320GB, note that the F4 2TB is NOT near as fast, and is actually extemely slow.
Graycon Sonata: I have 320 GB and find with recording I am filling it up fast due to files size,
and existing fies so therefore I was wondering about externals and your views on single vs duel gig storage.
Goat: yes, I'd say for recording in HD, I'd go with a drive assigned to just that.
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): well u definitely need 7200 rpm to capture .
Goat: yes, but actually RPM on an HDD has a lot less impact than you think. For example, the velociraptor is 10,000 RPM, yet it gets beat by my drive @ 7200.

Goat: that's a link to a comparison I ran across drives.
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): yes but I cant capture with a gren drive, wont keep up
LaPiscean Liberty: bus speed probley plays into that
Goat: yes, of course, they're all factors, I'd reccomend probably a Samsung F3 1TB, or a caviar Black 1TB if you like Western Digital, they both do extremely well - around 115 mb/s read
Ken Alphaville: i agree
Talia Sunsong (taliasunsong): Do people find the 1 TB break faster?
Jewle Rae: every single terrabyte drive I have purchased for video has failed. I personally won't recommend them to anyone for that reason. Also fragmentation comes faster when using terrabyte drives.
Chantal Harvey: i have 4 drives, 2 terrabit each, and they work fab
LaPiscean Liberty: an array of smaller drives seems like it would save more data if a drive went down
Graycon Sonata: then you prefer half taro to full on and piny them?
Goat: I personally haven't had any issues with them, but since you are doing heavy video editing, I'd probably go western digital, if anything happens, you have a 5 year waranty to back you up.
Ken Alphaville: same happened to me till i stuck with western D.
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): SEAGET had issues last year
Graycon Sonata: nice ans we have that here.
Jewle Rae: So happy for you Chantal. Believe me if I had any luck with them I would have stuck with them. OTOH copying takes so much longer.
Petlove Petshop: i just returned a seagate - wasn't working properly
Ken Alphaville: oh man seagate ...
Ken Alphaville: runnnnn ....
Jewle Rae: II've had both Seagate and WD.
Goat: I personally haven't used seagate in awhile, I stick with Samsung and WD usually

Chantal Harvey: could there be a difference between European and American hardware?
Goat: usually no, european is about the same
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): Seagate 7200.11's - over 30% failure apparently.
Inquisitive Loon: Ive got an OLD Pentium 4, works fabulously with all my editing/filming software.
Inquisitive Loon: CPU cost 10.00 keyboar 1.00, mouse fift cents and the 20 inch monitor was free.
Inquisitive Loon: Id rather have Spielberg hired to work on my Pentium 4 than someone less talented with a 5,000,000 computer.

LaPiscean Liberty: large resolutions like full HD are very hard on graphic cards

Goat: Actually, let me recommend a really awesome company, and the only reason I reccomend them is because their support is something it sounds like you need.
I actually just recently purchased my first EVGA product, and it was amazing.
The reason I recommend this brand is really the quality of support
I've NEVER waited more than two minutes on a phone, and they are open 24/7
Chantal Harvey: evga, yes!!! i agree
Goat: so if you kill video cards like you say, and you plan going NVidia, that'd be an awesome company to go with, not to mention they support overvolting and overclocking. Best company I've ever seen.
That and NZXT, who also has great support program.

Starshine (ormand.lionheart): the problem is that is Mac only? - and from what I have heard Macs do not run Sl very well compared to PC
Goat: actually, on the contrary, Macs actually do a bit better
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): whose PC are you comparing too?
Jewle Rae: Macs handle SL better goat?
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): there is such an issue with tweaking it's hard to compare
Goat: ): nono - I wouldn't make that bold of a statement
Mac is generally not going to have as good quality parts, as with any prebuilt system, but yes, the OS itself handles OpenGL better
The reason is, Windows uses DirectX as it's main 3D API, Linux and Mac actually have a cleaner and more complete OpenGL API
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): also a musicion with Protools not happen with his Mac since the changeover to Intel chips - Protools Hardware now basically obsolete

Goat: If you've ever run SL on Linux, you KNOW you get a nice FPS boost
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): so the issue with Mac is not hardware but the viewer?
Goat: not really, It's the Operating system itself
Anything OpenGL based usually runs as good on OSX and Linux, if not better, than on windows
al Peretz: do you think linux is a good OS for machinima in SL?
Goat: Actually, it depends
linux is very complex when you get into it, but if you know linux, then yes, it'd be ideal since it has very low hardware requirements, and better threading
LaPiscean Liberty: I wish Windows had broadcaster like MAC does
LaPiscean Liberty: for live feed
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): so if I run a linux partition you suggest I will get hifgher fps?
al Peretz: I will try linux
al Peretz: whch version you recommend?
al Peretz: suse is good for that?
Goat: eh, yes, depending on the viewer, usually (You would need to install your proprietary drivers)
Like I said, linux isn't as easy as it sounds, but it's gotten much more friendly in recent years
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): is there a Linux "for Dummies"?
Goat: actually, there are several distributions made for converts from windows, but again, you have to see what your needs are
For example, Linux will not support as many programs, so that's something to look into
al Peretz: I used linux some years...Its easy to do a partition and hace 2 OS in one computer
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): well just a partition for filming and that 's it
Goat: Just be careful!
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): would be a nice option if there is a performance boost
al Peretz: I think film in linux and edit in windows
Petlove Petshop: can you do that al?
Goat yes you can, and actually that probably would work best, but like I said, things aren't so ideal as of right now
I run Mint Debian Linux, and there are a few things you have to do to get good FPS, etc

Jewle Rae: What about RAM and chip speed? what's your recommendation goat?
Goat: yeah, let's steer away from software, I don't want you to convert unless you wish to, I really beleive all OS's have their place
Jewle Rae: Anybody else finding their system running hotter after this last round of viewer updateas?
Goat: actually that would be an odd thing, but a good thing.

Actually, I'll try and stick to hardware here, but one last note on software is that it can affect performance a lot, especially drivers. As for the question on clock speeds, that's one thing that is very misleading, as are all numbers with computers. What I find is that a lot of people tend to compare numbers with computers readily, and in actuality, it isn't so easy. For example, really cool fact:
Ever wondered why your harddrive shows less space than it says on the box?
Petlove Petshop: isn't because of its own operating system needs?
Goat: it's actually because manufacturers round using MiB, instead of real MB, MiB = Mebibytes, MB = Megabytes
Matthew Kidomen: Isn't part used in formating as well.
Goat: yes, part is formatting, but a small part.
Matthew Kidomen: how much effect does the hard drive have on video capture
Goat: basically, what happened is that the hardware industry decided to go on 1000 = increment
Goat: and software says 1024
for example 1024kb = 1Mb
hardware makers rounded, saying 1000 instead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mebibyte
Goat: that's why a drive shows quite a bit less
Chantal Harvey: i liked matthews question a lot
( how much effect does the hard drive have on video capture )
Goat: actually a lot
from what I understand video capture records to the harddrive, so having a good write speed is important
Jewle Rae: Hard drive speed and fragmentation have major impact on video capture.

Matthew Kidomen: I think some one was talking about SSD drives not long ago?
Chantal Harvey: ssd is a good idea?
Goat: I would think any fast 7200 would do good, and actually SSD migt not be so good
Chantal Harvey: oh why not?
Goat: the reason I say it may not is size, and issues with writing. SSD's are expensive for their size, and from what i understand, video eats size.
Matthew Kidomen: but ususally I record in short burst, no extended video
Goat: as well, SSD's use a LOT more maintenence than you think, and they have limits
LaPiscean Liberty: and pricey
Matthew Kidomen: so could I get a smaller SSD and shoot then transfer it to my sata drive
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): an SSD apparently more apppriate for program nstalls and OS
Goat: actually one of the very important things a lot of people don't get about SSD's is they require things that harddrives do not first off
SSD's require you to turn off indexing, Paging, and anything that reads and writes a ton
The reason is that SSD's wear faster
They actually wear, just like RAM. They are made of RAM chips, by wear I mean, they begin giving errors
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): you can only write to a specic place a number of times and then it's done
Goat: yup, which is why it isn't good for a lot of reads and writes
Matthew Kidomen: the paper runs thin
LaPiscean Liberty: more like flashing a bios chip seems like
Goat: eh, not really - Flashing a BIOS is just dangerous
RAM actually is essentially what an SSD is made of Flash chips, NAND that is lined in rows
LaPiscean Liberty: yes but arnt you burning to chip rather then optic ewriting
Matthew Kidomen: yes, but are we talking months or years of use?
Goat: years - definitely.
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): not if u start capturing to it
Goat: but where a harddrive keeps spinning for awhile, an SSD will die eventually
Matthew Kidomen: well 3 years on an SSD would be enough. Tech changes so fast
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): since an OS loads in RAm it's not using the SSd much
Goat: and yes, the reason they tell you to turn off Paging on it
If you paged to an SSD, you'd eat it alive, paging is basically where you use part of a harddrive as slow RAM
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): Q anyone else using a Ramdisk?
Goat: for example if you use a lot of system RAM, you begin paging things to your hdd, which in the case of an SSD would literally mean tons of reads and writes per second, which eats it alive
LaPiscean Liberty: Q how much cache on a drive is good and should it be used
Goat: cache, as in the cache on a drive does have an impact on drive speed, but it really depends, and it's always used, you can't turn it off
But on high performance drives it can be different
It's also relative to size, it's basically like a buffer - when you go to write to the hdd, it sends it to the HDD, and a stack builds in cache
LaPiscean Liberty: so that it may read and write at same time
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): Q- hardware to optimise particle performance re" fps
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): a 580 GTX and overclocked cpu?
That's a bit overkill, I do fine with my 460
Matthew Kidomen: haha, never too much power. Give me power, power, POWER!!!

Chantal Harvey: yea but if you were to buy, today, wouldnt you buy a nvidia 580?
Goat: if I had the money, No. - the reason is kinda complex
Basically when they make a GPU, they make it using silicon on three layers
What they do to make it, is take a sliver of silicon, with SiO2, an insulator, on top of it, and use a laser to write the actual transistors to it
The reason things keep getting smaller is that they keep shortening the wavelength of the light
Currently, the 500 and 400 series are at 40nm = 40 nanometers
But later this year, a new GPU comes out from Nvidia at 28nm, with a new design
which is what I'd save up for - Kepler = 28nm, quarter 4 of 2011
Chantal Harvey: ahhhh - omg ty for that
Chantal Harvey: on the new nvidia: HERE

Matthew Kidomen: what about video ram
Matthew Kidomen: any suggestions for how much is over kill
Matthew Kidomen: or is it the more the better?
LaPiscean Liberty: water cooled fuel injected
Goat: SL actually can't use more than 512, but really it'd use...around 700 with everything in the background, etc. Yes, usually the more the better, but again it's not as important as you'd think
SL can only access 512mb of VRAM, at the most
Matthew Kidomen: (taking notes)
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): Nividia not ATi from what I have seen in forums
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): apparently ATI sues system memory n OpenGL games
Starshine (ormand.lionheart): at least it did
Goat: I actually prefer Nvidia in SL, simply because ATI has issues with OpenGL coding in the drivers, but they are getting better
Heh, I'm actually using 608mb VRAM right now
Matthew Kidomen: some folks love them which is ok, but I have had big battles with them.

Goat: really, I want to hit on something someone said earlier - and I almost missed it:
If you ever build a computer
Something I REALLY REALLY say to look at is Power supply
Matthew Kidomen: does it effect video capture speed and "smoothness" if you run two monitors?
Chantal Harvey: how much power supply?
Goat: well i depends on what you're doing
Jewle Rae: Now you're talking -- power supply is critical
Goat: and actually like I said, you can't really rely on the numbers they post
For example, yes, you can get cheap 1000w power supplies
Yet I've seen one shoot 3" flames which wasn't good
Brand is REALLY something to pay attention to with power supplies, as well as model.

There's actually a good list on several places, a forum I use regularly, go to this link

Really great thread, tells you a lot about power supplies.
Matthew Kidomen: video cards can draw a lot of juice
Goat: yes, and with a bad power supply, you can fry things.
You have got to keep in mind, power supply gives everything voltage.
So if you go cheap, anything else you buy can be fried instantly!

I actually got mine on sale, it's a corsair TX850, which really has been awesome.

Seasonic, Corsair, Silverstone, they all make great power supplies.
Matthew Kidomen: don't power supplies list the number of watts per rail at a certain voltage?
Goat: yes, as tested by them, which means they may have tested at 20C, and reported those, which is very misleading.
Matthew Kidomen: they wouldn't lie woult they?
Goat: no, but they sure are good at getting around it
Matthew Kidomen: hummm
Goat: that list really, anything tier 3 or above is fine, anything above would be for overclockers...
Which need a REALLY stable voltage

Anyways sorry I didn't get to answer everyone's questions
You guys are an awesome group

Chantal Harvey: we will have to have you back here, Goat

And he will be back in April, hopefully to talk about Kepler and other new developments in PC hardware.

Mr Firethorn, you rock!

MachinimaMondays Feb. 7, 2011

2011-02-14T16:07:00.019+01:00

Our weekly machinima meetings are always different, it often depends on the people that come and the subjects they bring with them.

There are 2 meetings every monday: 2 pm and 7 pm. (SL-time, pacific time)

Often we show each other our new work, and sometimes even ask for feedback. We had guest speakers, machinima classes, a Q & A about lag, nifty discussions about copyright issues, we talked about branding and where to post films, we talked about edit, music and voice over talent, acting, animations, foley - and it seems like every week there are more and new subjects to discuss.

I think it is time to create some MM-blogs, as people are forever asking what we discussed at last weeks meeting.

Both MM meetings had one subject in common; the "wish-list" for a machinima viewer.

A few days before the meeting, Toxic Menges and myself had a meeting with Kim and Rhett Linden. Amongst many things we discussed the difference between the current Lindenlab and 3rd Party viewers.

We use different viewers now for different purposes, forever switching between viewers - (I use 7 viewers!!!) cluttering our precious desktop space with icons, and wishing that all features a machinimatographer needs would be available in just one viewer.

I now use Kirstens viewer for depth of field, Firestorm for shadows, Dale's for anaglyph, Phoenix for windlights, V2 for media on a prim, the meshviewer for ...uhh mesh, Imprudence cos I just like it.

Our suggestion for a machinima-viewer was welcomed as a good idea, but not likely to happen. Rhett Linden asked us what our thoughts were on features we would need, and we agreed to do a survey amongst the MM members.

Here are suggestions that ppl came up with:

* Good shadows

* Good dof (*Depth of Field) - concurs with this point: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/CTS-437?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels%3Acomment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=234791#comment-234791

* Auto screen size - in the pull down menu in Preferences>Graphics, the sizes are not really useful to machinima makers - 1280x720 would be a good option, as would 1080 x 1920, so we can film in HD easily. Full Screen was a great option in v1.23, but that has been removed in v2.xx and now you have to manually resize in order to be able to film at 1080

* Easy controls to hide things such as avas/clouds instead of being hidden in a massive hierarchy.

* Graphics properties button = accessible from the front pane of the viewer - without having to drill down into the menus

* Working AA when using shadows

* Easy windlight access

* Ability to derender all avas except your own/ones you specify

* Record camera moves to perform multiple passes of same scene - this is an experimental option in the viewer at the moment, or at least it was, and can be very useful for filming from multiple POV.

* Machinima tab - Kirsten viewer has a machinima tab http://www.kirstensviewer.com/Blog/134.html this is an xml tab that includes commonly used features. We did speak at the Machinima Mondays meeting about the ability to include things like zoomtime form the debug menu on that drop down - but it appears that that would involve delving under the hood of the viewer a bit more. Zoomtime is a GREAT tool for filmers and it's hidden deep in debug menu.

* More than one parcel media stream, not reliant on the shared media tech (I did point out that sub dividing media was a possibility here, and also that's more of a server point that viewer)

* Default animation improvements/different speeds - There was a call from Linden Lab to hire one of the inworld animation developers to get them to make a new default walk, any idea what happened with that? It would be great if we could control walking speed of not only our own but other avatars.

* Slow motion avatars for all not just your own - there is an option in the advanced menu that allows slow motion animation, but this only works for the avatar being controlled - it would be good if all avatars could be viewed in slow motion when that option was activated.

* Animation Editor in world similar to Unity 3D's Unity calls their editor a cutscene editor. Think of it like scripting out the scene and pressing play to run through it - I am not familiar with this myself, but it sounds not unlike the puppeteering system that was being looked at by the Lab a few years ago.

* It used to be a feature of the viewer that you could record vid directly from the client. I was on a Mac for my first two years in SL, and this feature never worked on mac clients, but some did use it successfully. Would be GREAT to have this back.

* What about having functions based on genre (like have option for film noir)?

* Making use of more than 3 meg bandwidth

* Bespoke viewer which would use cloud computers - negating lag (hopeful!)

* Sound aspect in the viewer that gave us more control? Broader range of Equalization as well as volume?

* Ability to change infinity view to sand or other terrain so that things dont always look like you are on an island.

* Proper asset sharing for windlight

* Full moon and phases of the moon - the Lab used to replace the moon texture for special occasions - this would be a huge crowd pleaser aside form machinima!

* Nimble for Windlight - would love to see Nimble implemented to give depth and extra weather effects to windlight.

In addition to the above which are more viewer specific, these also came up:

** An infohub for machinima

** Case studies for machinima in commercial projects - in the Enterprise/Commercial info part of the sl.com website.

** Inventory accessible to alts

The suggestions/wishes on the above list are a good showcase of what our machinima community is about. Toxic and I welcome Rhett - who joined MachinimaMondays group - to take ideas from that list and implement them in LL viewer 2. Lets make this world a better place for machinima....

Next meeting - February 14, 2011 - will have a guest speaker at the 7 pm session: Goat Firethorn will do a session on computer hardware.

Ever wondered what to buy for your money? Which graphic card, processor, how much ram, is there a difference in harddrives, - ---- please come to SL and join the MachinimaMondays group, or contact Toxic Menges, Phaylen Fairchild or Chantal Harvey for an invite.

Women in machinima

2010-12-08T17:50:00.010+01:00

I think the best way to talk about the evolvement of women in machinima, is to tell you a little bit about how I started myself. And, about where I am today.

Machinima is shooting film in a realtime 3D virtual environment or game, using what I lovingly call PPP; Pro/Pre- and Post production.

Originally machinima started from game-reporting; battles were recorded and then shared amongst the users of these games, without any editing at all.
I believe the first machinima came from a game called Doom, and the first storytelling machinima was made in the demo function of Quake – but I am not a historian, far from that. I am a self made machinimatographer.
To this day, I created close to 200 productions, in every possible genre.

I started machinima in 2007, in Second Life, the virtual 3D World in which I create most of my work.
Second Life/SL, like most online platforms, provides many things for many people. You can make it your own - and just like with anything you encounter – you can grab the opportunities that cross your path.
Unlike videogames, SL does not provide you with a purpose .. just like life itself –and it is you that makes it work.

My background lays in artschool and television (I am a goldsmith, a painter, an editor, a camera-woman).
This, has certainly provided the basics for what I do today.
In the Netherlands we quote this famous national football legend (Johan Cruijff) who once said: “ ieder nadeel heb z’n voordeel “ – meaning: any and all disadvantage has its own advantage.
Not knowing the history and the rules of machinima production, it certainly did not hold me back. Learning things the hard way, step by step, made me to what I am today. And I had fun while i took those steps.

A visual production benefits from traditional rules for film and edit.
I will never forget the first sentence in filmschool, my teacher sat us down and after a profound silence announced: film is a close medium.

Machinima is a close medium.

Now, machinima is a new medium, and it needs a new language.
Like Piet Mondriaan, who did traditional paintings before he developed his famous abstract style, I think it is important to master basics, while experimenting too. And when you are learning, you are trying new things too, and so will develop your own style.

I have seen machinima advance in a mayor way, it has grown from gaming reports to art and storytelling. What strikes me is the fun that machinimatographers have when creating their work, and the important role that women have taken.
The fact that women directors are invisuable in the film industry (oh they are there, but not seen), is overcome in virtual reality.
In virtual worlds, opportunities are truely equal – it does not matter where you come from, what color, gender, looks or age, we choose an avatar that represents us and thus overcome many prejudices.
We are our mind, our actions, our art.

I have a strong hunch that this is why women do so well in machinima. Most of us focus on the emotion rather then on the carchases and gunfights.
Also, the gaming world for a long time has been a boys thing, even though girls are catching up fast.
I find that my 14 year old daughter will play Sims3 and Mario Games, opposed to boys her age who's favorite game is Call of Duty.

Machinima is a unique storytelling platform, and I certainly know some men that do very well – but amongst the true talents I find the larger part is female.
Estetics, beauty, emotional EQ, overview – the urge to tell a personal story involving these characteristics, it is a traditional female thing.
Of course, men can do this, and yes – women do create exciting action machinima too.
It is a dangerous path to take, deviding male and female as if they were categories.
Are there dominant themes in female machinima? I see women taking a stand in digital media.
My opinion is based on what i see around me. Not on science.
I run several well attended machinima groups, i founded and produce the Mamachinima International Festival, and produce the 48 Hour Film Project for machinima.
I teach (workshops machinima) at highschools, I speak at congresses. I meet many people that are involved passionately in machinima.

Some of the work that springs to my mind, by female leading machinimatographers:

Phaylen Fairchild: Harbinger

This mixed reality machinima has it all! Phaylen mixed not only reality, but found a perfect balance between storytelling and art, and deep personal emotions (fear) and fast action.

Rose Borchovski: Lost in counting, Susa Bubble

A striking visual machinima, deeply sensitive and mysterious, it sets of your imagination in a way that most conventional films can not… Rose writes art machinima. Check out the Big Bang....

Lainy Voom: Push

An experimental machinima, presenting how humans are tied to the mechanics of time. A moving, close to perfection, open for your imagination – a dream.

Toxic Menges: Little Red Riding Hood

The not-so-classic re telling of a fairy tale. Funny and a perfect example of a womans point of view.
She deals with the woolf herself… “well done, Red, I knew you had it in ya”…

What I consider to be my best machinima so far: A Woman's Trial

Based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott, called Happy Woman. A story of a strong woman, caught in her own little World, walking the chosen path right till the end.

There are many - many more…. to mention only a few is insane – and not doing justice to the talented machinimatographers I meet.

My journey is one of passion and vision, and I made it my motto: I want to bring machinima to the world, show what it is and can do. Passion is the source of our finest moments. Without passion, all would be grim and grey.
What women in machinima have in common, is this passion, it is a fire that burns, and not one great machinima has been created without that passion. A film has never been great because of its tecnical aspects, but because of the way it made you feel.

I would like to finish with a quote by Laura Ziskin, a female producer whom I admire deeply.
Laura Ziskin talks about movies, the same way as i see machinima - as the medium of the future…

“Men have built the cities, made and defined the culture, interpreted the world. At no time in recorded history have women been culture-makers.
“Movies are arguably the most influential, important medium in the world. Because women are now making movies, then women’s ideas, philosophy, point of view will seep into that culture. And that’s never happened in history. We can’t even see the impact of that yet.”

MachinimaMondays about LAG - 29 Nov. 2010, with Miro Collas

2010-12-03T00:16:00.015+01:00

MachinimaMondays on November 29 (2010) - sim full, eye-opening meeting !!!

Recently I invited Miro Collas to share his knowledge about lag - and the myths and facts around it.

Rather then listen to a presentation or speech about something that affects our machinima's so profoundly, Miro and I had decided to do a Q and A for everybody present.

I cleaned up the chat a bit, to keep it read-able, and here it goes:

Miro Collas: There are 2 blogs about lag
Miro Collas: one in particular is VERY well written and is in fact cited by LL in their wiki.

http://analutetia.com/2009/06/22/anatomy-of-lag/

http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2008/02/16/lag-myths-dispelled/

This transcript is sent to MachinimaMondays group in Second Life too, if you want to attend our weekly meetings, join the group - or contact Toxic Menges, Phaylen Fairchild or Chantal Harvey inworld.

MachinimaMondays meeting, November 29, 2010:

Chantal Harvey: what is lag?
Miro Collas: ooohhh.... you start with a huge question.
Penumbra Carter: slows down and makes the camera jerk
Miro Collas: lag is not one thing, but 3 things, that are partly connected
first is client side, then network lag, and lastly, server lag.
Easiest to explain maybe is the second, network lag. That is essentially a measure of how good/bad your network connection is.
If you have a slow or poor network connection, you will lag.
Client-side lag involves ... well, things being drawn (rendered) on your computer screen.

Kit Guardian: can location have something to with that on any given day? Or hou much is being used around you?
Miro Collas: location matters yes. For client side, if there is a lot around you, then there is a lot to render, so more work for your computer to do
Kit Guardian: No I mean in RL
Miro Collas: Ah... it might, perhaps. Not so much distance as quality of connection, and speed of connection

Chantal Harvey: The distance to the Linden Lab servers, does that matter at all?
Miro Collas: there's a way to check your connection: visit http://speedtest.net/ and measure your bandwidth. Ideally, check it against Dallas
Georgianna Blackburn: why Dallas?
Miro Collas: Because a good part of LL's servers are now in Dallas
Georgianna Blackburn: ah, why?
Miro Collas: why there? That I don't know for sure, but it appears to be home to large datacenters
Dacob Paine: It's a co-location for redundancy and it is probably cheaper for their server farms.
Miro Collas: I'm afraid I don't have specifics on what is where, re: servers. But it is a good place to check against - better than a near-by city anyway
Chantal Harvey: Q even if u are in europe, as i am?
Miro Collas: yes. SL has no servers outside the US
Anyway, once you have checked your bandwidth, then you can determine an ideal bandwidth to set in your viewer
Chantal Harvey: ah i always wondered what my ideal bandwidht setting is

Inquisitive Loon: Dallas is not an option for the speed test?
Miro Collas: there is a star there for dallas, tho it is a tad hard to locate.
NicoleX Moonwall: i use a hughes net satlite so it floats
Miro Collas: Chantal: ideal is about 80% of the value that speedtest gives you
Miro Collas: 80%
Emmo Wei: Q is that 80% of the up or down?
Miro Collas: download
Miro Collas: upload is almost always far less
Dacob Paine: Q why is that?
Miro Collas: because generally, we download MUCH more than we upload, and 'net companies know this and allocate the bandwidth accordingly

Chantal Harvey: the burning question for machinima: what can we do to improve our framerate....?
Miro Collas: ok frame rate... that depends on many factors and so isn't easy to answer.
Most importantly, it depends on your hardware.
If you have a quad core PC with a high end vid card, you will get MUCH better frames rates than with say a dual core and a mid-range vid card.
(all else being equal of course) - a quad core will give better results than a dual core. And a faster processor better than a slow one
why is quad-core preferable?
Miro Collas: because then the work can be shared among the cores - which are essentially processors
If you enable it, it splits rendering off into another thread

Kit Guardian: Does our choice of software to film also effect the lag factor?
Miro Collas: it can yes. That's an external program which has to run at the same time as the viewer; it will use processor power.

is SL a multi-threaded app?
Miro Collas: multi-threading is enabled certianly in sl 1.23, snowglobe viewers; I cannot speak for Viewer 2
Miro Collas: or rather, *can* be enabled
Chantal Harvey: oh pls explain?

Apollo Manga: How many cores can SL multithreading use?
Penumbra Carter: Q what is multi threading :)
Miro Collas: multi-threading means that a single program can run several tasks at the same time (kinda); it boosts performance

Kit Guardian: which viewer is the best then?
Miro Collas: I have heard that Kirsten's is geared to machinima. Some I know use it for that specifically, and then revert to... whatever else for normal use.
Chantal Harvey: The LL 2.3 has a preset in graphics for 1920x1080, KirstenLee has shadows... each viewer has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Kayden Oconnell: -- Yes, would like a guideline for a new system, if we're looking to replace what we have -- not top of the line, but affordable?
Miro Collas: as for an ideal system: the more money you can throw at one, the better. It is that simple and brutal
Dacob Paine: lol so true
Chantal Harvey: think of it like this: a hollywood studio will cost a million, a perfect pc for machinima will cost 10,000 dollars
Miro Collas: it you want priorities for a system, then in order: CPU, video card, RAM, hard drive

Chantal Harvey: what will setting your bandwidth-slider too high do? does it influence?
Miro Collas: Chantal, yes it will - set it too low and you' you're throttling data
basicaly, slowing yourself down
Chantal Harvey: and setting it too high?
Kit Guardian: Crash perhaps
Miro Collas: that seems to also have negative effects, tho I confess to not fully understanding that part of it
Empirically, it has been worked out that 80% f your true bandwith is ideal for SL

Dacob Paine: can you give us an idea of the minimum computer someone needs for machinima?
Miro Collas: I lack the experience in that I'm afraid, it isn't something I have done. But let me give you an example....
I have a 3.2GHz quad core PC, 8GB RAM, and a GT240 vid card with 1GB RAM.
With that, I can have all my settings at ultra and a draw distance of 256m and not have issues
(well not usually)

Chantal Harvey: i have invited Ricky Grove to come and talk about computers, for machinima
Chantal Harvey: stay tuned... for that one, as he has agreed to do that for MachinimaMondays.

Apollo Manga: with a 64-bit system, is there a maximum RAM that can effectively be utilized? uhm... 32GB perhaps... not sure now.
Dacob Paine: That depends on the flavor of windows Apollo, it's up to 192 gigs at the most.
Dacob Paine: Some flavors are limited to 16 though
Miro Collas: btw, I'm on linux myself
Apollo Manga: Q but is there a limit on what can effectively be used? I'm building a 12gb system now but wondering whether to expand to 24gb
Miro Collas: that depends on the viewer you're using. All windows viewers (that I know of) are compiled in 32-bits
Note: go to: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ram-memory-upgrade,review-32053.html

Apollo Manga: Windows 7 Resource Monitor says I'm not using the 8gb I have now
Miro Collas: some of those include versions that can make use of extra RAM ... those are the LAA versions
Otherwise, a 32-bit app will use 2GB, no more
Apollo Manga: LAA?
Miro Collas: Large Address Aware

Chantal Harvey: i am on windows 7, 64 bits, do you know if sl will be compatible soon?
Miro Collas: Chantal: no clue on LL's plans for a 64-bit viewer

Kayden Oconnell: -- There seems to be disagreement about ARC -- Does that affect our computer? Or the sim where you're filming?
Miro Collas: Anyway, ARC... it stands for Avatar Rendering Cost. The "rendering" tells you it is about client-side effects, the number is a measure of hwo much work your computer has to do to draw an avatar
Miro Collas: ARC has NO effect on a region
Miro Collas: so.. if someone says, "you have high ARC and are lagging the SIM", they are misinformed
Chantal Harvey: wow listen to that, folks
Kayden Oconnell: Yep, the ARC police will tell you otherwise
Chantal Harvey: avatar rendering costs, are not causing lag
Graycon Sonata: omg
Miro Collas: similarly, if someone says that you're wearing too many prims and are lagging the sim, they are misinformed
Chantal Harvey: are u sure about that, Miro, and what arguments can we use
Miro Collas: I am quite sure
Miro Collas: however...
Miro Collas: if you are wearing too many scripts, then yes, you are lagging the sim
Miro Collas: people often wear a ton of scripts without realizing it - and those DO lag a region
Miles Eleventhauer: i've shot video moving next to a heavly scripted av and you can see the frame rate going down in the video
Kayden Oconnell: Q So, if you're at a region with terrible lag, and many avs -- the main lag is on YOUR computer? trying to rez everything?
Miro Collas: but here it is important to distinguish between client-side and server-side lag
Nave Fall: Q: How do we measure how many scripts we have on us?
Miro Collas: Kayden: it is both...
Ok, let me explain in brief what a SIM does... (and this will therefore be incomplete)...
Miro Collas: among other things, a SIM keeps track of where everyone is... as well as running scripts that are on the SIM, delivering textures to you, and so on.
These things are prioritized. Keeping track of avatars has highest priority
So when a SIM is full of people, the SIM is going to spend most if the time, tracking people
When it has done that, it will then deal with scripts and then it will deliver textures
Miro Collas: so... if you go to hair fair for example.... ;-) you'll be familiar with it being gray for a LONG time... because the SIM is too busy dealing with all the people
Chantal Harvey: Q is there a way to improve this.... at all
Miro Collas: but of course you can cut back some by removing as many worn scripts as possible before you go
If you are holding the event, then keep scripts to a minimum
Miro Collas: also, a neat trick: provide seating
Chantal Harvey: oh?
Miles Eleventhauer: people sitting relieves a laggy sim?
Kayden Oconnell: one script for all the seats?
Graycon Sonata: who knew
Miro Collas: backing up... if you're sitting, from the point of view of the server, you become linked to the object you're sitting on - therefore, the SIM no longer needs to track your movements
Kayden Oconnell: ohhh, ok
Miro Collas: you also become phantom.
Bryn Oh: thats interesting
Miro Collas: meaning you can go through walls
Miles Eleventhauer: do that would include dance pose balls at a club
Miro Collas: yes
Nave Fall sits right down.........

Chantal Harvey: how can you see these scripts?
Miro Collas: some viewers, like Phoenix, have a built-in way of counting scripts on avatars
Miro Collas: right-click your avatar, and select S.Count from the menu
Counting scripts. Please wait.
Counted scripts from 13 attachments on Chantal Harvey: 42
Miro Collas: that show how many scripts you're wearing - except for HUDs
Miro Collas: 42 is a very good script count - nice and low
Ideally, you want to keep your script count under 100

Kayden Oconnell: aos?
Miro Collas: Aos no.
Kayden Oconnell: thanks, Miro -- never had it explained like that before

Bryn Oh: so miro i have just begun to get jerky filming where i didnt before. If i wanted to get it smooth again for my spacenav what are some things to do... for example lowering screen resolution etc?
Miro Collas: let me address another myth.
Miro Collas: Bryn: first I'd shut down any other apps that you do not need, like browers, etc
Miro Collas: that way your computer has less to do
Chantal Harvey: yea i find skype and youtube lower my performance
Apollo Manga: Firefox with multple windows can really slow down performance too
Bryn Oh: ok
Bryn Oh: i get a spike every 5 seconds or so and not sure what it is
Miro Collas: then I think much will depend on where you are in SL. If a place is graphics-intense, your frame rate will be lower
Miro Collas: also, just the sky takes a lot of effort to be drawn
Bryn Oh: oh but i love the sky
Miro Collas: basically: adapt to the location and situation
Bryn Oh: sigh
Chantal Harvey: but switch off the clouds in (advanced) rendering helps
Bryn Oh: ok
Miro Collas: example: do you need water reflerctions? If not, turn them off
Bryn Oh: and minimal draw distance?

Kit Guardian: So sky boxes are not necessarily less laggy?
Miro Collas: No Kit not necessarily. Again, it depends on what you can see
Penumbra Carter: sky boxes, if open to the air will get sky flicker, I found
Miro Collas: the more you have on your screen, the more work yoru computer is doing... ergo, the more client lag
Miro Collas: and a specific case of course is particles
Penumbra Carter: especially if they are above 300 m
Miro Collas: particles are like ARC: they are totally client side, and do NOT lag a region

Chantal Harvey: what is post process quality, there is a slider for that?
Miro Collas: Chantal: I think that's "empty" - meaning there's a slider but no code behind it. ;-)

Miro Collas: what questions did I miss?
Kayden Oconnell: the lottery numbers for the next drawing?
Miro Collas: LOL!

Penumbra Carter: do you then lower your fraps to match the area?
Does changing the fraps to match the region help, sometimes it does, but then I was told not to match it to close to go up? does that make sense?
Miro Collas: you're presuming i know what frpas is. :-
Bryn Oh: how do you change fraps to do that pen?
Penumbra Carter: I change the fraps in my frap settings to match the fraps I see being shown on the sim Bryn let me tell you specifically, one sec
Bryn Oh: ok thanks.. i have not tried that
Chantal Harvey: yea bryn that is hugely important
Bryn Oh: oh good
Penumbra Carter: in the movie tab of fraps:)
Chantal Harvey: set it to reality (the actual framerate of your location), or fraps will double frames to match what you have told it to do...and thus create jerkly images.
If you set your fraps FPS at 30, while your actual framerate is only 15 when recording, makes fraps double all the images you shoot till it is 30fps….and that, is jerky film.
Penumbra Carter: but the sim can be jumpy, so do you go up from what you think is the highest fraps of the sim?
Chantal Harvey: I would suggest go as close as you can, and try to stay a bit under.

NicoleX Moonwall: how best to shoot in dark place with out a flash light?
Miro Collas: play with the sky settings to increase ambient light
Miro Collas: in there, go to Lighting and you'll see Ambient - you can raise the intensity to make the scene brighter
Miro Collas: assuming you're on a V1.x viewer, go to World -> Environment -> Sky settings.
Chantal Harvey: Q is there a setting that creates lag??? or less lag???
Miro Collas: you get a window where you can select preset skies
Chantal Harvey: are the presets less laggy?
Miro Collas: sky presets? not especially more or less... no. Ones with more clouds might be a tiny bit more laggy
Chantal Harvey: so resume... what is your ultimate tip to reduce lag....
Miro Collas: When it comes to lag, overall, it is important to understand the difference between the various forms. From there, you can understand how to deal with them.
Miro Collas: If you're at a public place, busy, then reduce draw distance, or de-render stuff and people. ;-)

NicoleX Moonwall: is it true the higher you go up the less lag?
Miro Collas: Nicole: not that I know of - except that there tends to be less stuff high up, so less to draw

Chantal Harvey: lots of movement will cause lag too? animations?
Miro Collas: scripts run on the server - which affects the entire region, regardless of height
Penumbra Carter: scripts = animation?
Miro Collas: movement will cause server lag *if* the avatars are not sitting
Miro Collas: animations, interesting, are played client side

Penumbra Carter: we will have alot of seated machinimas:)

Chantal Harvey: kk - so, scripts are the worst regarding lag monsters?
Miro Collas: naturally if you need movement then you must have it. You can try to compensate elsewhere, like by cutting back on scripts

Kit Guardian: Does it matter what the Machinima person is wearing? or just the actors?
Miro Collas: Kit: script-wise it matters yes
Kit Guardian: like shouldmwe not wear any AOS or Huds when filming?
Chantal Harvey: avatar rendering doesnt matter, but scripts running does, i think
Miro Collas: AOs are not so bad actually. The worst offenders are resize scripts in hair and Shoes
Penumbra Carter: scripts = animation?
Miro Collas: movement will cause server lag *if* the avatars are not sitting
Animations, interesting, are played client side

Kit Guardian: Does it matter what the Michinima person is wearing? or just the actors?
Miro Collas: Kit: script-wise it matters yes
Kit Guardian: like shouldmwe not wear any AOS or Huds when filming?
Chantal Harvey: avatar rendering doesnt matter, but scripts running does, i think
Miro Collas: AOs are not so bad actually. The worst offenders are resize scripts in hair and Shoes
Chantal Harvey: Miro, this is an eye opener, thank you very much.

Picture made by Kit Guardian

SECOND LIFE “NATIONAL ANTHEM” CONTEST

2010-12-01T05:41:00.003+01:00

GRAMMY-AWARD WINNING SONGWRITERS SPONSOR SECOND LIFE “NATIONAL ANTHEM” CONTEST

http://slanthem.com/

DECEMBER 1, 2010 - After hearing Philip Rosedale declare that, with Second Life, “I’m not building a game; I’m building a country,” Grammy Award-winning songwriter Richard Gilbert [Second Life name: Griffith Parx ]was inspired to create a contest to compose a “national anthem” for the popular virtual platform. To help make the project a reality Gilbert enlisted the aid of his songwriting partner, and fellow Grammy Award-winner, Doug Cotler [Second Life name: Gambe Citron].

Cotler and Gilbert comprised the songwriting team that composed “Manhunt,” which was featured in the movie “Flashdance,” earning the duo a Grammy in 1984. Cotler, who wrote “The Golem” which was performed by the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, performs more than 100 concerts a year. He tours and performs in a full range of music venues, and has appeared with such recognizable artists such as John Denver, Jerry Jeff Walker and Mason Williams.

Gilbert, who co-wrote “Manhunt” with Cotler while on sabbatical from his career in academia, is a professor of psychology and head of the P.R.O.S.E. Project (Psychological Research on Synthetic Environments) at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Bringing his work at the university into Second Life in 2008, Gilbert has been published for his works on personality, identity, and relationships developed in virtual platforms.

Over the last several years, Gilbert has been instrumental in bringing other LMU departments into Second Life. Four university departments now form what is known as LMVU, or Loyola Marymount Virtual University, within Second Life. Utilizing resources at their personal disposal, Gilbert and Cotler will award prizes for the contest that include Linden “cash” ranging from L$50,000 to L$10,000. More importantly, the Grand Prize winning song will be recorded at a studio in Los Angeles and posted on iTunes. The winning song will also be performed at a live Second Life event on July 4, 2011, with a full HD machinima production being created and posted on YouTube.com.

The only rule for the contest is that entries for consideration must use the fully copyrighted lyrics created by Gilbert, which are posted on the contest website. A panel of judges will select 10 finalists and public voting through the contest website will determine the Grand Prize, Second and Third Place winners.

Gilbert and Cotler are the primary sponsors of the contest. Co-sponsors are Pulse Point Marketing, LLC, Mamachinima, Pixel Labs and Perpetual Studios, while all companies and venues that conduct business within Second Life and participate are also considered co-sponsors through their efforts. Linden Lab was fully informed about the contest before it began and offered its consent and encouragement to initiate the project. While Linden Lab opted not to officially participate in the contest at the time of inception, Gilbert is hopeful that attention to the project will garner formal interest over time.

Questions may be directed to Griffith Parx in-world or via e-mail at griffithparx@gmail.com

And, of course, the performance machinima of the winner will be made by me.

MachinimaMondays feat. LAG !!! in Second Life.

2010-11-24T11:26:00.010+01:00

We jokingly tell each other that lag = love, but any serious machinimatographer knows that lag is a killer. We all have seen the jerky machinima's, and most of us have encountered this low framerate while filming. It ruines any chance on producing a good machinima.

Next week, the 7pm (PAC/SL time) MachinimaMondays meeting will be about lag, how it is caused, what we can do to beat it and get a reasonable framerate to improve our filming. I, for one, wont film if I cannot at least get a minimum of 25 frames per second.
But what to do when you are asked to film a busy event in Second Life, is there a way to improve your fps? Of course we all know about changing our settings, bringing down your draw distance, particle count, for example. Resizing your window helps too - but what if you still want to use that full monitorsize and work in HD...? Relog and reboot?
Miro Collas has agreed to come and share his knowledge with us on this subject - so grab your chance and come over to next weeks meeting.
The meeting will be in text. For those that cannot attend, there will be a follow up blog with transscript of this meeting.

To attend in Second Life, use this SLurl.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/RastaOpen4/79/87/41
To get notices for our weekly machinima meetings, join the inworld group called: MachinimaMondays.

Two blogs by Gwyneth Llewelyn that are recommended if you want to learn about lag:

http://analutetia.com/2009/06/22/anatomy-of-lag/
http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2008/02/16/lag-myths-dispelled/

The Flush Portal - a machinima sitcom

2010-11-18T05:29:00.005+01:00

Tonight we had the first official meeting, and the kickoff of the Flush Portal.

The Flush Portal is a brand new machinima sitcom, created for mainstream television in the USA. Director is Pamala Clift, and I will be doing the filming and editing - and as the teammembers are signed up, I will be telling you about them on this blog. Maybe you recognise some on these pics?

The format is written, a script is being created, a website has been started, and a teaser has been made. Composer and sound designers are working, and the actors are getting very excited.

Shooting will start in January 2011!

Once upon a time in a pixelated existence...
observable thru the connectivity of the internet, the Roadside Philosopher was sitting...contemplating the universe in her underwater Think Tank....when a cat came in.

Through out all of space time... universes have spun into existence...and popped out.
With the creation of the internet, the beginnings of a new universe has become observable.
The weaving of the fingers of the black hole of this new dimension is pulling from other universes on a quark level the components for the next... (coughing fit, sputters and then gasps)... ah hell.. Just FLUSH IT!

Welcome to The FLUSH Portal
The infant dimension of virtual reality

Skylight

2010-11-17T02:42:00.010+01:00

Today I tested Skylight at http://interest.secondlife.com/beta

I found it fast, fun and easy - just like the announcement Philip Rosedale made during SLCC.

When I met Mr. Mark Kingdon earlier this year in Amsterdam, he announced Second Life on a webbrowser ánd the introduction of mesh in 2010, and both Linden Lab's CEO's have kept their promise.

So.......I went in, and after entering my emailadres, I landed in Second Life as a noob avatar with the name of...guest 057987.

Apparantly at a concert, to my shame i must admit I didnt pay too much attention, as i got busy exploring this new way of entering SL, and scanning through the custom made avatars from which to choose.
I then looked for a destination, and came across PAL - Pop Art Lab, which is ran by my good friend Claus Uriza.

I met Olive Dorben there, and she agreed to be photographed with me.

Now I must say, there is nothing to learn, this way of exploring Second Life is fast and easy, and as an addition to the regular viewer the residents are used to, it is a great add.And let me tell you; if I find it easy to use, it is.

To test the lag I went to Dance Island, and didnt find the lag I usually encounter...

And they were trying to create überlag.... see for yourself:

Ending up on Hobo sim, as my 60 minutes of testing went real fast - chatting to other testers in London and Berlin, I took a last picture standing next to a SL celeb.

I will most definate recommend this to my friends, as most of them are even less tech as I am, they now will have the option to explore Second Life in a light and friendly new way.
I missed being able to tp to my own sim, and some favorite destinations, and tried to run fraps and couldnt... but realise this is a beta test - so I look forward to the final version! Imagine using my space navigator there...too.

Till then, I am trying to run this from my mobile - can my new android HTC do this?

Machinima Premiere StartMeUp

2010-11-06T14:52:00.009+01:00

Since the University of Western Australia (UWA) has made me the offer I couldnt refuse - I am the manager of their wonderful UWA-Bosl Theater, I have been brooding on how to give this venue the best possible purpose.

The idea is this: contact me if you have a machinima you want to premiere, and we will talk about date/time/pr and ideas on how to present your work. I am looking for new ways to present, but of course a voice presentation by you and your team, or music to support it, or a contest to go with it, are welcome.

And it is with pride that I announce the first in a series of machinima premieres in Second Life.
Tonight, at 5 pm Pacific time/SL time, I am giving the floor to miss Phaylen Fairchild, who will be presenting her new film Harbinger.

Premiere: HARBINGER, a machinima by Phaylen Fairchild
When: November 6, 2010 – (is there a better way to spend your Saturday night?)
Time: 5 pm SL/Pacific time
Where: UWA-BOSL theater in Second Life
What: Watch the trailer here

☠ are your nerves strong enough to watch this movie ?? ☠

Contest: Scariest avatar in the audience wins a role in a future Phaylen Fairchild Production!
Eternal fame could be yours………

48HFP machinima 2010 is done!

2010-09-27T15:43:00.014+02:00

It is done, the 48HFP Machinima 2010 has been a exciting and unforgettable experience for all that were involved.

Teams produced under tremendous stress, and came up with machinima's of 4 to 8 minutes long, made from scratch within the 48 hours of the contest.
19 films made with the same character: Jack/Jackie - a Journalist, prop: water, and the line: “There is one thing I can do that you can’t" .... all done in a different genre, and all different. Amazing!

Lapiscean Liberty - who runs AviewTV, worked like mad to get the films online on time for the jury to watch them. He had his own 48 hour project....and did all the video streaming during the events. All films can be seen at his website.

Jayjay Zifanwe, and Taralyn Gravois - UWA, provided the venue and made the 48HFP feel very welcome.Do you know that you can go and see all the films, at the venue inworld? BOSL-UWA Theater

Moviestorm provided a prize for each and every person that entered the 48HFP Machinima, all got a voucher code that gives them a free month of Moviestorm, something that was cheered and greeted with great enthousiasme. Matt Kelland came to the screening event in Second Life and handed out the audience awards!

iClone provided the following prizes for the winner and runner ups:
iClone
3DXchange 4

Persia Bravin, UncleSlappy Wylie and Labella Farella - BOSL Radio, streamed all voice using skype, for the hosts, jury and teamleaders, during the screening events.

Hosts who helped us were Judi Newall and Taralyn Gravois, security people were Dawny Daviau, Kev Sweetwater and Doctor Gascoine.

A special word of thanks to the 48HFP Machinama jury of 2010.
Their task was not an easy one.
I am proud to say that they provided the teams with feedback and well deserved acknowledgement, recognising their hard work and efforts, and providing them with food for thought.
The opportunity to get feedback from Peter Greenaway was a huge one for machinimatographers, and welcomed.

Peter Greenaway's opening speech was a thought-provoking, passionate plea for machinima.
Phaylen Fairchild interviewed the teamleaders, passed on jury-feedback and helped me present the screening events. Thank you, Phaylen - I know this wasnt the easiest thing to do, and you did it so well!
Tom Jantol came to talk to the teams too, but a disasterous flooding in his home country made him go offline - Tom, we hope your damage is not as devastating as this picture suggests....

Tracy Harwood had lost her internetconnection for the whole of the weekend, and we all know how disastrous these things can be. She managed to send her jury notes to me, using her phone - and I am grateful she did.

Phil (Overman) Rice has offered the winner and runner ups to be screened at the 2010 Machinima Expo, a huge honour and opportunity.

Inworldz is building a venue, and will host all 21 machinima's. I had a peek while they were building, and it looks great!!! Their 48HFP Machinima plot looks like a drive in cinema - plenty of popcorn available (of course).

Twinity has offered to host the 21 machinima's too, and I will let all teams know when they run the films.

A special word of thanks, for the 48 Hour Film Project, for including machinima as one of their cities, and providing this wonderful opportunity for machinima.
And, thanks, Ben Guaraldi (Director of Outreach), for being there for me and the teams, answering many questions and supporting, endlessly.

The winning film was made by Stone Falcon Productions, and is called: "The Lake"

The Lake will represent the 48HFP Machinima at Filmapalooza, during the Miami Internation Film Festival 2011.

It was an honour to be the 48HFP Machinima Producer, and I hope to have contributed my best, for machinima. A contest always has only one winner, but by entering this - in my opinion best-film-contest-available - project, everybody is a winner. We learned a lot, worked hard, and will continue to grow.

Thanks to sponsors and volunteers, jury, organisation and audience, the 48 Hour Film Project Machinima 2010 was awesome!

Winners and Awards announced for 48HFP Machinima 2010

2010-09-24T06:55:00.003+02:00

Best graphics: Make me Wet, Rediculous Sandwich Studios

Best special effects: SB1070, team War Technica

Best Cinematography: Anemone, team M4AS22

Best sound design: The Real Thing, team Dream Machine

Best acting: The Lake, Stone Falcon Productions

Best directing: the Lake, Stone Falcon Productions

Best editing: SB1070, team War Technica

Best use of prop: The lake, Stone Falcon Productions

Best use of line of dialogue: draw: The Nihilist, Grey Matter Films - The Lake, Stone Falcon Productions

Best concept: Make me Wet, Rediculous Sandwich Studios

Best musical score: The Real Thing, team Dream Machine

Best costumes: draw: Rough Romance, Metaverse Television and Changes, Nicole X Group

Most unique character: It was a Difficult Question, team Tough Question

Best choreography: You Dont Know Jack Schmidt, Fluent Media Productions

Audience awards go to: Running Lady Productions, Cruise Control – IdeaJuice Studios, WET – Metaverse Television, Rough Romance.

2nd runner up: The Shadows, Machinimatrix

Runner up: Nihilist, Grey Matter Films

Winner: The Lake, Stone Falcon Productions

48 HFP Machinima: 19 teams.

2010-09-20T23:27:00.006+02:00

Here are the 19 teams that made it to the 48HFP Machinima contest 2010:

Jewell Theatre - 48HourFilm (roadmovie)
M4SK22 - Anemone (doppelganger/time travel movie)
Machinimatrix - The Shadows (horror)
Metaverse Television - Rough Romance (romance)
Sound'r - The Other Door (buddy)
WarTechnica - SB1070 (sci-fi)
Fluent Media Productions - You Dont Know Jack Schmidt (silent movie)
Tough Question - It was a Difficult Question (western-musical)
NicolleX Group - Changes (fantasy)
Grey Matter Films - Nihilist (film noire)
IdeaJuice Studios - Wet (buddy)
In Limbo - Within you, Without you (sci-fi)
Insomaniacs - Beyond Sundown (drama)
Machinimart - Doublewalker (doppelganger/time travel movie)
Rediculous Sandwich Studios - Make me Wet (mockumentary)
Stone Falcon Productions - The Lake (horror)
Dream Machine - TheRealThing (musical - western)
Moondust Films - Unforeseen (film de femme)
Ninja Bandits - Quantum Warrior (romance)

2 More teams made it just outside the deadline,and will be included in the screenings (not the contest) in Second Life, Twinity, Inworldz, and at AviewTV.

At this very moment the jury is watching the films.

Thursday the 23rd of September, winners and awards will be announced by our jury. After this, all the films will be available for 2 weeks in the UWA-BOSL theater - so grab your chance and watch some of the finest 48HFP entries available. Bring your friends!

Genres, prop, line and character are........

2010-09-18T06:02:00.004+02:00

MACHINIMA 2010 REQUIRED ELEMENTS

Character

Jackie or Jack Schmidt
Journalist

Prop

Water

Line of Dialogue

“There is one thing I can do that you can’t.”

The teams and the genres they drew:

 Horror - Machinimatrix
 Film noir - Grey Matter Films
 Road movie - Jewell Theatre
 Sci fi - WarTechnica
 Buddy film - IdeaJuice Studios
 Silent film - Fluent Media Productions
 Romance - Metaverse Television
 Fantasy - NicolleX Group
 Musical or western - Tough Question
 Film de femme - Running Ladies Productions
 Romance - Ninja Bandits
 Buddy film - Sound’r
 Film de femme - Moondust Films
 Sci fi - In Limbo
 Mockumentary - Rediculous Sandwich Studios
 Musical or western - Dream Machine
 Drama - Insomaniacs
 Horror - Stone Falcon Productions
 Dark Comedy - Kamachina Productions
 Time Travel or Doppelganger - M4SK22
 Time Travel or Doppelganger - Machinimart

Machinima Filmmakers Take to the Streets

2010-09-17T13:44:00.012+02:00

This weekend, 300 filmmakers from Machinima are making films in the 48 Hour Film Project! These films will screen at the UWA-Bosl Theater in Second Life.

Here are some important notes for the machinimatographers:

There are still a few slots available in the Machinima 48HFP. Sign up your team here:

Register for Machinima now!

The KICKOFF is: September 17, at 6 pm Pacific time.

22 Teams, 300 people from many countries all over the world, will engage in a wild, sleepless weekend, during which they will make a movie ---- write, shoot, edit and score it. From scratch. In 48 hours.

After the weekend, while the teams catch up on sleep and food .... the 48HFP Machinima Jury goes to work. Our jury is:

* Peter Greenaway
* Dr. Tracy Harwood
* Phaylen Fairchild
* Tom Jantol

So, stay tuned, follow the teams and come to the screening event on the 23rd of September - at 1pm and 7pm Pacific time, in Second Life - see the films, meet the teams, and listen to the jury.

Our sponsors are:

Meet & Greet 48HFPmachinima on September 14, 2010

2010-09-16T19:52:00.013+02:00

Some Q & A from the meet & greet:

*Winner last year was?
2009: Ring of False God http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGl8t2fUnBk
By Matthew Hahn and Jorge Campos

Interview with Maththew Hahn, last years winner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at1lwb4RfM0

*How do I join the 48HFP Second Life group?
Send me a message when you see me online (or email) and i will invite you in.

*Do people have to sign their rl names on the paperwork?
Yes. I offer people a direct line to me, if they dont want their teamleader to see their rl details, email to me but the responsibility lies with the teamleader always.

*Are all events in this theater/location?
Yes

* theres a nose coming out of my ear please get a pic quick!
OK. (AnimaTechnica Umbarundu: hi flimsey, seeing as either i am sitting on you or you are sitting on me, might as well be friends.)

*To view films here, what do i do?
Get the latest quicktime, and go into your preferences and stop automatic streaming music and film. Enable voice. Ask Chantal Harvey for help, later.
Click the player icon on your taskbar to start a film. Do NOT click the screen itself.

*How are the films shown?
We work with AviewTV, which is Lapiscean Liberty's wonderful magic for the 48HFPmachinima 2010.

*How do i get rid of the nametags above the avatars?
In windows: control, alt and F1 --->will toggle them off and back on again
On a Mac: command, alt and F1

*should i film in 1280x720?
That is a wise thing to do. 720p is the standard format. Upload a test....

*what if my testfile takes a long time to upload, what can I do?
Encode it - it has to be encoded with H264 or sorenson for MOV , cinepak or DivX for AVI
test test test....
(create a one minute test film.. look at the file size after.. if it's bigger than 20 or 30 MB you aren't encoding it)

*Will there be more then 1 runner up?
No.

*Starting the upload at 7.30pm is not enough, it has to be IN at 7.30pm?
YES

*When we ask for a wildcard, must we use that or can we go back to the original drawn genre?
No. And, wildcards are handed out after the teams get their stuff, so you will have to wait till last.

*How is the draw done?
I make numbered envelopes, and teamleader (or assistent) calls a number.....If all teamleaders are there, I could hand out notecards.

*Can I make more then one film?
No.

*Can there be swear words or smoking?
Hmmm. Use your judgement, (or beeps), no sex, jury might or might not like it. Be careful.

*Can you clarify which form an actor needs to sign, which one a musical scorer needs to sign or does everybody sign all?
Waiver and release. All to be found on website and in my information email.

*What if I compose the music myself, do I sign myself?
Yes.

*How about creative commons for music?
It depends on the license. The 48HFP license is incompatible with the CC lisence, as submitting an entry to the 48HFPcontest restricts where it can be shown (at least the first year) so it is incompatible with CC. You cannot use:use and share alike. On the other hand, you can use CC lisence that allows for commercial use.

Mewsic Bing: I really suggest you do read through all the information on the 48 hour film project website, it may be dry but it does answer all your questions and more importantly you won't get any surprises when it's too late, you will not have the time to read up on this stuff once the project has started, (and if you do you're not trying hard enough ;) )

Thank you, Mewsic Bing :-D

People offer their music to the teams at this point.

***LANCE Rembrandt: http://www.blogger.com/LANCE@LANCEsongs.com i have tons of orginal scores and music and full songs
***I also have a music archive that anyone can take from lizsolo Mathilde: :): http://www.lizsolo.com/secret.html - still fixing my code, but lots there
*** Slim Warrior also offers music for the 48HFPmachinima, contact her.

*Do I still own my film after entering it?
Of course. You are giving rights to the 48HFP for a limited period. Please check the rules on the website. Because the 48HFP is constantly working on distribution outlets for the films, especially in the first year, our Team Leader's Agreement does restrict what you can do and when you can do it. http://www.48hourfilm.com/filmmakers/afterthe48.php

Do NOT put your film anywhere online before the screening on September 23, 2010.

*Rehab afterwards?
How about a great big afterparty at this location?

*Is there a list of what the genres might be?
http://48hourfilm.com/filmmakers/genres.php

*What is buddy film?
All the genres can be googled...please do, I stongly recommend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_film

*Is there a grace period if you don't make the dead-line due to weather?
no..
Films have to be on our server at 7.30 pm, pacific time, September 19th. Films that are uploaded late, will still be screened, but won't enter the contest.

20 teams in 48HFPmachinima 2010

2010-09-13T05:27:00.003+02:00

Registered Teams:

Dream Machine, Liz Solo
fluent media productions, Flimsey Freenote
Grey Matter Films, Penumbra Carter
Ideajuice Studios, Peter Patterson
In Limbo, Rollo Girando
Insomaniacs, MATTHEW HAHN
Jewell Theatre, Fake Jewell
Kamachinima Production, Ariane Dupleich
M4SK 22, David Moss
Machinimart, Gabe Salgado
Machinimatrix, Hussayn Dabbous
Metaverse Television, Dousa Dragonash
Moondust Films, Levio Serenity
NicoleX Group, NicoleX Moonwall
Pookymedia, Pooky Amsterdam
Rediculous Sandwich Studios, John Navilliat
Running Lady Productions and Suzy's..., K. DaVette See
Sound'r, Andre Engelhardt
Stone Falcon Productions, Jun Falkenstein
War Technica, Gabe Achanzar

6 days left to subscribe now

2010-09-11T17:19:00.005+02:00

The jury of this years machinima contest has welcomed mr. Peter Greenaway to be head of jury.

Peter Greenaway has recognised machinima as a new and innovative way of filmmaking, and has been known to proclaim that the future of film lies in computergenerated filming.
To have him not only be part of our jury, but willing to hand out the awards and announce the winners, is a huge opportunity for machinimatographers. Real life feedback is a recognition for machinima and a serious sign of the brand entering the stage of international filmmaking.

To sign up for the 48HFPmachinima, which takes place coming weekend, 17 – 19 September 2010, go to http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima
24 Teams can enter, and now only 6 slots left.

Our Judges
We are proud to announce our judges for the 2010 Machinima 48HFP. They are:
•Peter Greenaway, Filmmaker (8½ Women; The Pillow Book; The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover)
•Dr. Tracy Harwood, Professor, The Institute of Creative Technologies, De Montfort University, Leicester, England
•Tom Jantol, Machinima Artist
•Phaylen Fairchild, Machinimatographer, blogger, and writer

The winning machinima will screen with the 48HFP City Winners at the next Filmapalooza at the Miami International Film Festival. Also, there are cash prizes for the winning films!
The 10 best films at Filmapalooza go to……....(drumroll)...Cannes.

Furthermore, we have found sponsors handing out software prizes to the teams, please go to our website for information: http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima

So grab your chance to be a part of this years 48HFP machinima, lets write history and show the World what machinima can be.

For any information, please do not hesitate and contact me, I will be glad to help.

Lets make movies!

Chantal Harvey
Producer 48 Hour Film Project machinima
http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima
email: machinima@48hourfilm.com
https://twitter.com/48hfpmachinima
http://mamachinima.blogspot.com/

7 days left till the 48 Hour Film Project machinima kickoff.

2010-09-10T16:55:00.003+02:00

7 days left till the 48 Hour Film Project machinima kickoff.

If you were thinking about entering, do not wait any longer and go to http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima and be part of the 48HFPmachinima 2010.

Yesterday, the outreach director of the 48HFP, mr. Ben Guaraldi aka Zaddik Zerbino – came to Second Life to inspect the 48HFP theater.
Soon after that, the instruction emails have been send out to the 17 teams that entered this years contest.
The teamleaders are now invited to do the paperwork, and to do a testupload to our servers. Let the buzz begin!!!

Teams are: (24 can enter, 7 slots available)

Grey Matter Films, Penumbra Carter
Ideajuice Studios, Peter Patterson
In Limbo, Rollo Girando
Insomaniacs, MATTHEW HAHN
Jewell Theatre, Fake Jewell
Kamachinima Production, Ariane Dupleich
M4SK 22, David Moss
Machinimart, Gabe Salgado
Machinimatrix, Hussayn Dabbous
Metaverse Television, Dousa Dragonash
Pookymedia, Pooky Amsterdam
Rediculous Sandwich Studios, John Navilliat
Running Lady Productions and Suzy's..., K. DaVette See
Sound'r, Andre Engelhardt
Stone Falcon Productions, Jun Falkenstein
team machine, Liz Solo
War Technica, Gabe Achanzar

Jury of the 48HFP machinima 2010 is:

Peter Greenaway - Filmmaker
Phaylen Fairchild – Machinimatographer, blogger, writer
Dr. Tracy Harwood- academic, 1st European Machinima Festival
Tom Jamtol – Film Director, author of Anymation

The screening of the films, after which the winners and awards are announced, will be September 23, 2010, at 1 pm and at 7 pm Pacific Time.
This spectacular event will be in SecondLife, in the UWA-Bosl Theater.
Press and guests are welcome to join the teams there, this link will bring you there.

Mr. Peter Greenaway, as head of jury, will speak to the teams and provide feedback, jury will be present at the event.

For information and for entering the contest go here.

Chantal Harvey
Machinima Producer 48 Hour Film Project
http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima
machinima@48hourfilm.com

https://twitter.com/48hfpmachinima
http://mamachinima.blogspot.com/

Peter Greenaway in the 48HFP jury

2010-08-27T18:42:00.005+02:00

I was pointed to a 2009 blog by Matt Kelland, about Peter Greenaway speaking at a conference about the future of cinema (clicks or Mortar, Newcastle).

quote: (for full blog, click HERE

"Cinema is brain-dead."

Those were his opening words, and from that moment on, I (-Matt Kelland) was hooked. He then proceeded to tell us why film wasn't the ultimate art form, and why cinemas were stupid. "You sit in the dark, and you're expected to remain completely still for two hours. You can't even do that when you're asleep... Film is a poor narrative medium - that's why it always goes to the bookshop for inspiration... We are still using the cinematic language developed in the 20th century to tell stories in the 21st century..." And so on.

He talked a lot about the four cinematic tyrannies:

The tyranny of text: most cinema is still basically text. It's not a visual medium. It's a way of carrying the written word by other means.

The tyranny of the frame: seeing everything on a frame is completely artificial. Film should be more experiential.
The tyranny of actors: "an actor is just someone who is trained to pretend they're not being watched".

The tyranny of the camera: you're not seeing something real, you're seeing something captured by a machine.

Okay, hold it right there, Peter. No text I can give you (Koyaanisqatsi springs to mind), and no actors I can get my head around, but how the hell do you have a film with no frame and no camera?

Well, machinima people, brace yourselves...

"The future of film is in Second Life."

Yup, he really said that. What Greenaway envisages, in part, is an art form where non-linear film happens in a shared virtual space, in real time, with a blurring between creators and participants. The film is created and viewed simultaneously. The cinema is also the stage, the editing room, the sound stage. The frame is where we choose to put it.

Breaking news for 48HFP machinima

2010-08-27T01:33:00.003+02:00

I am happy and proud to announce that mr Peter Greenaway has just joined the jury for the 48 Hour Film Project machinima.

Moviestorm joins forces with 48HFP machinima!

2010-08-26T18:55:00.009+02:00

I am proud to announce that Moviestorm has joined the 48HFP machinima project as a sponsor, and is offering prizes for éverybody entering the contest, and a bonus prize for éach member of the winning team.

The prizes that Moviestorm offers are:

# For the winner of the machinima section: one year subscription to Moviestorm, plus a license to all Moviestorm content packs (excludes the audio packs) for each member of the team.
# A coupon for a free month sub to Moviestorm to everyone who enters the contest.

Moviestorm is the virtual movie studio for everybody. No matter what genre you will draw during the 48 Hour Film Project machinima, Moviestorm makes it fast and easy to make your films, your way.

Both winners from 2008 ánd 2009 used Moviestorm to create their machinima:

Medieval Dating - The Adventures of Luke and Joe
Ring of False God - Jorge Campos & Matthew Hahn

Press-release 48 Hour Film Project for machinima: update

2010-08-24T18:30:00.005+02:00

Breaking news!!!

As from today, it is official.
Reallusion is sponsoring the 48HFP machinima, and provides prices for the winning machinima teams.

iClone Pro:

3DXchange 4:

The 48 Hour Film Project, the oldest and biggest time filmmaking competition, is looking for machinima! In a wild, sleepless weekend, you and a team will make a movie ---- write, shoot, edit and score it. From scratch. In 48 hours. On Friday, September 17, you'll get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in your movie. By Sunday, September 19, the movie must be complete and uploaded to our server in California.
Each completed film is guaranteed a screening in Twinity, Inworldz and Second Life.
Winner ánd runner up will be screened at MachinimaExpo 2010.

Meet other machinimatographers, spend 48 hours in intense movie making, have your film screened in several virtual worlds, and compete to represent machinima against the other 90 48HFP cities! Come on out and make a movie!
To be part of the 48HFP, register online at: http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima
Registration costs $48 per team. Space is limited, so register today!
The events in 2010 are held in Second Life, which is a free download at: http://secondlife.com/support/downloads/
Teamleaders are expected to be present at kickoff and screening event, if you need any help at all in entering Second Life; please contact Chantal Harvey, and you will be coached step by step. It is also possible to come to the events in a ready made account. (talk about it being easy.)
Communication can be through using skype @ chantal.harvey, and by email: machinima@48hourfilm.com

I am happy to announce our jury:
Tracy Harwood – Phaylen Fairchild – Tom Jantol

This SLurl will take your avatar to the 48HFP (UWA-Bosl)theater :

Some dates to remember: (all times are sl/pacific times)

September 14: Meet and greet the 48HFP teams - 3 pm
September 17: Kickoff event at 5 pm, genres/prop/line/character handout and start of contest September 19: Dropoff event at 5 pm, end of contest is 6.30 pm
September 23: Screening of the films, awards and winners announced
We are pleased to tell you that Filmapalooza 2011 will be part of the...

Miami International Film Festival!!!!!

The MIFF takes place March 4-13, 2011 and Filmapalooza will be 3 days
within that timeframe.

48HFP winners will go to Cannes!!

Chantal Harvey
Machinima Producer 48 Hour Film Project
http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima
machinima@48hourfilm.com

info@mamachinima.eu

Filmapalooza Festival breaking news!

2010-08-19T00:40:00.001+02:00

I am very-very pleased to tell you that Filmapalooza 2011 will be part of the...

Miami International Film Festival!!!!!

The MIFF takes place March 4-13, 2011 and Filmapalooza will be 3 days
within that timeframe -- around either the first or second weekend.

We still have lots of great details to work out with the MIFF, but we
hope you will keep Filmapalooza in Miami in mind as you make your
travel plans for 2011!

Press release on 48 Hour Film Project for machinima

2010-08-16T21:13:00.004+02:00

Press release on the 48 Hour Film Project for machinima, 2010.
CALLING ALL Machinimatographers!

The 48 Hour Film Project, the oldest and biggest time filmmaking competition, is looking for machinima! In a wild, sleepless weekend, you and a team will make a movie ---- write, shoot, edit and score it. From scratch. In 48 hours. On Friday, September 17, you'll get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in your movie. By Sunday, September 19, the movie must be complete and uploaded to our server in California.
Each completed film is guaranteed a screening in Twinity, Inworldz and Second Life.
Winner ánd runner up will be screened at MachinimaExpo 2010.

Meet other machinimatographers, spend 48 hours in intense movie making, have your film screened in several virtual worlds, and compete to represent machinima against the other 90 48HFP cities! Come on out and make a movie!
To be part of the 48HFP, register online at: http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima
Registration costs $48 per team. Space is limited, so register today!
The events in 2010 are held in Second Life, which is a free download at: http://secondlife.com/support/downloads/
Teamleaders are expected to be present at kickoff and screening event, if you need any help at all in entering Second Life; please contact Chantal Harvey, and you will be coached step by step. It is also possible to come to the events in a ready made account. (talk about it being easy.)
Communication can be through using skype @ chantal.harvey, and by email: machinima@48hourfilm.com

The UWA_BOSL Theater in Second Life

This SLurl will take your avatar to the 48HFP theatre : http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA/6/248/1638
Some dates to remember: (all times are sl/pacific times)

September 14: Meet and greet the 48HFP teams - 3 pm
September 17: Kickoff event at 5 pm, genres/prop/line/character handout and start of contest September 19: Dropoff event at 5 pm, end of contest is 6.30 pm
September 23: Screening of the films, awards and winners announced

Dont miss the change to bring your machinima to the World, the winner will be screened at our Filmapalooza Festival, and winners there will go to Cannes!!

Chantal Harvey
Machinima Producer 48 Hour Film Project
http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima
machinima@48hourfilm.com

info@mamachinima.eu

14 Teams today!!!!!

2010-08-16T21:06:00.002+02:00

August 16: Only 10 slots open now for the 48 Hour Film Project machinima 2010.

The teams so far are:

Grey Matter Films, Penumbra Carter
Ideajuice Studios, Peter Patterson
Insomaniacs, MATTHEW HAHN
Jewell Theatre, Fake Jewell
Kamachinima Production, Ariane Dupleich
Machinimart, Gabe Salgado
Machinimatrix, Hussayn Dabbous
Metaverse Television, Dousa Dragonash
Pookymedia, Pooky Amsterdam
Running Lady Productions and Suzy's..., K. DaVette See
SiGer Team, Sigrid Sudi
SL 2 real, RL a game, Miriam Amelia Munoz
Sound'r, Andre Engelhardt
War Technica, Gabe Achanzar

Teams signing up fast now for the 48HFP machinima 2010

2010-08-02T00:00:00.003+02:00

Update on the 48 Hour Film Project for machinima 2010.

The 48 Hour Film Project, the oldest and biggest time filmmaking competition, is looking for machinima! In a wild, sleepless weekend, you and a team will make a movie--write, shoot, edit and score it. From scratch. In 48 hours. On Friday, September 17, you'll get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in your movie. By Sunday, September 19, the movie must be complete. Each completed film is guaranteed a screening in Twinity, Inworldz and Second Life.
Winner and runner up will be screened at MachinimaExpo.

As for the jury, I am happy to announce that the wonderful Tracy Harwood has agreed to join. (Senior Research Fellow Institute of Creative Technologies, and Machinima Festival Europe 2007, and head of jury 48HFP 2009).
2 further judges will be announced soon.

Teams are signing up fast now, and I am happy to announce that we will take 24 teams this year!

Grey Matter Films, Penumbra Carter
Ideajuice Studios, Peter Patterson
Insomaniacs, MATTHEW HAHN
Jewell Theatre, Karen Wheatley
Kamachinima Production, Ariane Dupleich
Machinimart, Gabe Salgado
Machinimatrix, Hussayn Dabbous
Running Lady Productions and Suzy's..., K. DaVette See
SL 2 real, RL a game, Miriam Amelia Munoz
Sound'r, Andre Engelhardt

For details and information, go to:

And any questions, mail to
machinima@48hourfilm.com

So dont wait to long, join and be part of the most exciting contest of 2010 - with a chance to have your machinima screened amongst 90 short films (6 continents this year!).

Chantal Harvey
48HFP machinima producer

MachinimaMondays - 7 pm

2010-07-25T05:24:00.002+02:00

*** Machinimamondays - 7 pm - starting on Monday 26th of July 2010. ***

3 Ladies in machinima have decided to start weekly machinima meetings, an open house gathering to which you are all invited.
It will involve presentations, classes, feedback sessions, discussions, chats, sharing & brainpicking.

So, you are more then welcome to come over and join us,

Phaylen Fairchild
Toxic Menges
Chantal Harvey— Chantal Harvey, Today 1:54

Sims Directors and Film Makers joins forces with 48HFP

2010-07-19T14:36:00.004+02:00

I am delighted to announce that Sims Directors and Film Makers has offered to promote the 48HFP for machinima.

I got a kind email from Garth Elliott, founder of the group, and I invite you all to take a look at this friendly community website. http://grou.ps/simiators/signin/warn/home

Lets connect our platforms and virtual worlds, and rock the 48HFP for machinima!

Breaking news on screening the 48HFP entries

2010-07-18T14:06:00.003+02:00

Yes, the official 48HFP theater is in Second Life, but............

I am happy and proud to inform you that the following VW/organisations have offered support:

All machinima’s will be screened in
http://twinity.com
http://secondlife.com
http://inworldz.com/

winner ánd runner up will be screened at
http://www.machinima-expo.com/

Kickoff, dropoff and announcing winners after screening:
UWA-BOSL Theatre in Second Life: http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA/6/248/1638

Please browse the 48HFP website: http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima
Chantal Harvey’s blog: http://mamachinima.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/48hfpmachinima
http://twitter.com/Mamachinima

The 48HFP filmmakers rules, as found on the website.

2010-07-15T19:20:00.001+02:00

48HFP Official Filmmaking Rules
The following rules apply to each participating group/production team:

A. Times:

•The 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP) will occur in cities around the world on different weekends throughout the year.
•The 48 Hour Film Project will occur between a Friday 7pm local time and the following Sunday 7pm local time. This is the "Official 48 Hour Time Period". (Days of competition may vary in some countries.)
•The participating group/team must complete its film/video work in time to deliver it to a location to be announced, on Sunday by 7:30pm.
•Only works that meet the deadline will be officially part of the competition. All films received on Sunday (on-time and late) will be screened.
B. All creativity must take place during the "Official 48 Hour Time Period". Any creativity work in advance of the competition weekend is prohibited. Creative work includes, but is not limited to:

•Writing the script
•Rehearsing
•Costume/Set Design
•Shooting
•Editing
•Sound Design
•Rendering
•Outputting to tape or other media

C. The only work to begin prior to the "Official 48 Hour Time Period" is:

•Organizing Crew
•Organizing Cast
•Securing Equipment
•Scouting/Securing Locations
(See also Rule D and Rule J.)

D. All footage must be shot within the 48 hour time period of the project.

•No stock footage or footage shot or created at another time may be used.
•Animation and special effects are permitted, but must be created during the 48 hour time period. (Note: Stock footage as part of a special effect in a third party special effects program is permissible.)
•Still photographs are permitted, provided that the team has the rights to them. The photos do not need to be created during the 48 hour time period; however, stills created outside of the official 48 hour time period may not be used in sequence to create the illusion of motion.
E. Each participating group must have a representative at the official Kickoff Event of the 48 Hour Film Project.

•At the event, each group must submit a complete Team Leader's Agreement, signed by its team leader. (This form can be found on the 48 Hour Film Project website.) A team may not participate without submitting this agreement.
•Each group will choose the genre of its film in a random drawing.
•Teams will be given the option of relinquishing the genre selected in the drawing for a Wild Card genre. If opting for the Wild Card, teams may not go back to their original genre.
F. Each participating group will be assigned required elements that must appear in its film, such as a genre, a character, a prop and/or a line of dialogue.

•The required Character and Prop must be seen on-screen.
•The required Line of Dialogue must be used verbatim. It may be spoken, sung and/or written. It may be in any language, though if it is unclear that it is the required Line, there must be a translation.
•To qualify as an "Official 48 Hour Film," each group's film must be in the genre it selects and must contain all required elements within the official time limit and prior to the credits.
G. All cast and crew must be volunteers.

H. Any type of video or film camera may be used, however, a maximum of only three cameras may be used to shoot footage for use in your film. Sound recorders are allowed in addition to this three camera limit. Cameras used for a purpose other than recording video footage (for example, as props, editing decks, sound recorders, or to record solely behind-the-scenes footage) are allowed in addition to this three camera limit.

I. First Time Cities only: Each film must include a landmark (building, monument, etc.) or identifying characteristic (e.g., bus, city office) of the competition city. (Note: The landmark or characteristic must exist inside city limits.) This rule applies only the first time the 48HFP visits a city.

J. Participating groups are encouraged to work with a local composer and/or musicians to write and record music for the films. It is permissible for a participating group to use pre-recorded music; however the participating group must have the rights to any music used in its film and must provide releases for all music used. As with music, pre-recorded sound effects are allowed, but you must have rights to use them. Note: Song parodies (i.e., use of identifiable pre-existing compositions with new or altered lyrics or music) may not be included in the film without a signed release from the composition’s rights holder. This rule applies without regard to whether the song parody arguably constitutes "fair use" under US or international copyright law.

K. The finished film must be a minimum of 4 minutes in duration, and a maximum of 7 minutes in duration—not including credits. See Rule L.

L. Credits at the end of each film are limited to a maximum of 60 seconds. The 60 seconds is considered additional to the length of the film, as stated in Rule K. (That is, a film may be 7 minutes long, with an additional 60 seconds of credits, for a total running time of 8 minutes.)

M. For the United States, Canada, Peru, and South Korea, the finished film/video must be in NTSC. For all other countries, it must be in PAL.

Unless otherwise instructed on your city page of the 48 Hour Film Project website, your film must be submitted on one of the following media:

•(preferred) a self-contained, SD, Quicktime file with no proprietary codecs on either:
- a data DVD, or
- a USB flash drive
•miniDV
•DVD
We recommend that each team submit two copies of the final film. If the Entry cannot be viewed on 48HFP equipment, it may be disqualified.

N. All films received on the evening of the deadline (on-time and late) will be screened, presuming they are eligible according to Rule R. To ensure the best screening of your film, please follow the instructions below, unless instructed differently by your City Producer:

•HD films must be down-converted to SD.
•Sound levels should be relatively even throughout the film. (If your film has uneven sound or sound that peaks, it may be modified to protect the playback equipment.)
•Note: Projection specs vary from theater to theater and are beyond the control of the 48HFP. If your film is very dark, it may be difficult to see in your theater.
O. Before the finished film begins, the tape should have:

•5 seconds of bars and tone
(you may use your own bars and tone or download bars and tone here)

•5 seconds of black
•A title card with: team name, date, city, title, and genre
•A title card with:
"This film made for the 48 Hour Film Project 2010."
•2 seconds of black
•Your film
P. Each team must secure releases for talent, crew, music and locations (and any other applicable releases), which must be turned in to the project organizers with the finished film/video. (The release forms can be found on the 48 Hour Film Project website.) The film/video will not be screened before the 48 Hour Film Project Organizers receive the signed releases.

Q. The Entrant must submit a Certification Statement with his/her completed Entry, certifying adherence to all Official Rules.

R. To be eligible for the Project, Entries must be the original work of the Entrant; must not infringe third-party's rights; must be suitable for publication (i.e., may not be obscene or indecent); must not contain obscene or pornographic material; may not contain defamatory statements about any person, company, organization or entity; may not invade privacy or other rights of any person, company or entity; may not in any other way violate applicable laws and regulations; and may not contain any copyrighted elements (other than as owned by the Entrant and/or 48HFP). Entries containing prohibited or inappropriate content as determined by the 48HFP, in its sole discretion, to be inappropriate will be disqualified. 48HFP reserves the right to make the final determination as to which Entries are eligible.

S. To be certified as an "Official 48 Hour Film," each participating group's film/video production must follow all rules herein. The 48 Hour Film Project Organizers reserve the right to screen only certified "Official 48 Hour Films."

T. No Entries (media or documents) will be returned.

U. 48HFP and Project Parties may, in their sole discretion, disqualify Entries deemed to be inappropriate or otherwise non-compliant.

V. All certified "Official 48 Hour Films" are eligible to compete for the title of Best 48 Hour Film in its city.

W. All "Best of City" films are eligible to compete for title of Best 48 Hour Film 2010. Panels of independent judges will determine the winners.

X. The 48 Hour Film Project Organizers may add to or amend these rules at any time prior to the beginning of the 48 Hour time period.

Every second counts, when you have 48 hours to make a film!

Banner 48HFP machinima

2010-07-15T16:34:00.005+02:00

The 2010 banner for the 48 Hour Film Project for machinima, also downloadable at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25337853@N04/4796537982/

updates on the 48HFP for machinima 2010

2010-07-14T15:02:00.005+02:00

Today, Twinity ~ http://www.twinity.com/ ~has joined forces with the 48 Hour Film project for machinima.
All 48HFP machinima entries will be screened in Twinity too, after the contest - so many more people will be connected and see your work.We are hoping for many Twinity machinimatographers to join the contest!
Welcome Twinity!

Please join the 48 Hour Film Project group in Second Life, to get all updates and extra information.
To join Second Life (it is free) you go to: http://secondlife.com/
After creating an account and downloading the client, take a little time to explore, and please contact Chantal Harvey inworld, I will be happy to give a little tour and show you the theatre where the contest is hosted.(see images above).

The actual events are all held in Second life : http://slurl.com/secondlife/UWA/6/248/1638
Some dates to remember: (all times are sl/pacific times.

September 14: Meet and greet the 48HFP teams - 3 pm
September 17: Kickoff event at 5 pm, genres/prop/line/character handout and start of contest
September 19: Dropoff event at 5 pm, end of contest is 6.30 pm
September 23: Screening of the films and winners announced

And, keep an eye on this blog, follow us on twitter:

Chantal Harvey
Machinima Producer 48 Hour Film Project
http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima
machinima@48hourfilm.com

48 hour film project for machinima is back!!!!!

2010-07-13T22:28:00.001+02:00

CALLING ALL FILMMAKERS!

The 48 Hour Film Project, the oldest and biggest time filmmaking competition, is looking for machinima! In a wild, sleepless weekend, you and a team will make a movie--write, shoot, edit and score it. From scratch. In 48 hours. On Friday, September 17, you'll get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in your movie. By Sunday, September 19, the movie must be complete. Each completed film is guaranteed a screening at UWA-BOSL theater in Second Life in the following week.

To be part of the 48HFP, register online at:

http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima

Registration costs $48 per team. Space is limited, so register today!

For more information, contact Chantal Harvey, machinima Producer of the 48 Hour Film Project at:

machinima@48hourfilm.com

Meet other machinimatographers, spend 48 hours in intense movie making, have your film screened at the UWA-BOSL theater, and compete to represent machinima against the other 80 48HFP cities! Come on out and make a movie!

Chantal Harvey
Machinima Producer 48 Hour Film Project
http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima

machinima@48hourfilm.com

48 Hour Film Project Machinima 2010 - breaking news

2010-05-27T16:20:00.002+02:00

border="0" alt="48 Hour Filmmaker: Machinima 2010">

The date is set, during the weekend of 3 - 5 September 2010 the 4th 48HFP for machinima will take place.

Please email me for details/submission at:

machinima@48hourfilm.com

Machinima at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai

2010-05-22T20:30:00.005+02:00

http://alturl.com/z8ut

WORLD EXPO 2010 MADRID AIR TREE EXHIBITION

***** for the first time ever, machinima is being shown at the World Expo. *****
(I am só proud, can you tell?)

The program of OPEN THIS END in the World Expo 2010, consists in three exhibitions that expose the videos created by international artists, showing, for the first time in the history of a Universal event, a World Expo, “machinimas” and the three stages of the artistic virtual immersion.

* curator: Cristina García-Lasuén aka Aino Baer (Second Life avatar name)

ARTISTS AND WORKS:

1º Exhibition, May-June 2010

ALEX ROMAN aka JORGE SEVA (R-V)
The Third & The Seventh, T&S Teaser2, Kahn s Exeter Short Film

ALFONSO KOHN aka AL PERETZ (V-V)
The Rumba Bacana II

BINARY QUANDRY (V-V)
Autumn

BRYN OH (V-V)
The Daughter of Gears Vessel s Dream, Willow

CHANTAL HARVEY aka CHANTAL GERADS (V-V)
Virtual Kerkrade, Orientation, AOM, Kolor Fall, I wish for you

JOAQUIN BALDWIN (V-R)
Sebastian s Voodoo, Papiroflexia

LAINY BOOM aka TRACE SANDERSON (V-V)
Stolen child by Yeats, Push, The dumb man

MAKOTO YABUKI (V-R)
Ace One, Scope, Manakai

MESCALINE TAMMAS and FOUR YIP (V-V)
Fushion

PETER GREENAWAY (R-V)
Nursery Tales

POID MAHOVLICH (V-V)
Ephemeral

POOKY AMSTERDAM and BERNHARD DRAX (V-V)
Date Your Avatar

RODRIGO BLAAS (R-V)
Alma

SASKIA BODDEKE aka ROSE BORCHOVSKI (R-R), (R-V), (V-V)
Lost on Counting by Susa Bubble, The Blue Planet, Trailer photo s, The Survivor of Warsaw

SPYVSPY AEON (V-V)
The oldest airborne City, Multiple Worlds

TOM JANTOL (R-V)
The Remake, The fish incident, The Bridge, Brief to encounter

VICENTE SAHUC and SARA FERNANDEZ (R-R)
Almeria, New York, Tokyo

10 Little Aliens

2010-05-01T16:39:00.007+02:00

10 Little Aliens came jumping for fun....

In March 2010 we entered a competition organised by Aniboom.com, who were looking for the next characters for Sesamestreet.

Our team thought Second Life machinima would be the perfect platform to create Sesamestreet characters, so we got together and crossed ideas and made a plan.

Judi Newall started with script and rhyme, Madcow Cosmos went to create avatars and props, Lorin Tone signed up for music, I cleared my sim to make room for the set, and can you believe it? - I spent 3 days shopping for the right grass textures, before giving up and searching the SL Library to come up with standard green green grass of home).
Lauren Weyland agreed to do narration, and I lured Annabelle Fleury, L1Aura Loire, Ze Moo and robwag Soothsayer into acting. How could they refuse, with the avatar as pay? (....).
Yes, like most of our machinima productions, it was only talent spent, no money involved.

We set a day and time to film, and after a tough edit (dont be fooled, it looks easy but this one was perhaps one of the hardest edits yet, for me) - the machinima was send to Lorin Tone for audio. I was so pleased to hear real drums - Lorin, you did it again, wonderful stuff.
Lauren Weyland started narrating, I received their creative work and went back to the editmachine to finish the machinima and do the credits.

The team agreed, this was the proper Sesamestreet feel, and we were proud to submit our work.

Surprise came the next day, after the upload to Aniboom.com. They turned us down. As they stated in their email:
"Unfortunately, “10 Little Aliens” is not eligible for this competition.
Machinima animations is forbidden due to right sakes, video games design materials are shown in this video."

Several thoughts went through my mind.
* there is no mention of machinima not being allowed in their contest, I entered their fox contest last year on Anibooms invitation, and there are more SL machinima's already in the contest.
* Second Life allows machinima, no restrictions, as long as their TOS is followed, and it was. We created and own all shown in the film.
* I was delighted with the compliment they gave us, really - stating our creations are game design material is making me realise how good we are!

I did send them a reply, including the TOS and rules that Second Life gives, and explained that SL is a platform where all can create their own characters and moviesets.
I also thanked them for their comliment. ;o)

After this, I was totally pleased when i recieved an email telling me that they had put the machinima back into the competition, stating:

"We are checking the issue with the rights that are been giving from "second life", we also returned your movie to the competition.
If there is a copyright issue with it we will be forced to removed it.
Sorry about the inconvenience and thanks for the understanding".

That all sounds very reasonable, and again, I think the decision to refuse it on grounds of copyright issues and game design material was an unfair one, and I am glad we are back in.

Word spread in the Second Life community, and people started contacting me and asking if they could help. Basicly, I really like Aniboom.com and I am part of their community - so I recommended people to go there and check out the Sesamestreet competition. And yes, rate both machinima's that are shown amongst 351 entries, mostly animations and stop motion films.

When it comes to WOW (World of Warcraft) machinima, the community stands behind their creative users, Second Life community is more distant in these things. I really believe in Second Life as the perfect platform for machinima.

So I urge people; please go to these direct links and rate the machinima's:

http://bit.ly/9JAwtx (10 Little Aliens by Chantal Harvey)

http://bit.ly/9oKQ45 (The letter Q by Pooky Media)

Metanomics did a community forum on the above, to create awareness and to support us.
Madcow Cosmos agreed to put the Little Aliens up for sale, and the lindendollars earned go directly into a funds for machinima - so many good projects will come from this.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/RastaOpen4/131/62/41 will take you there directly, and they are 55 ld a piece only.... so get them now, while they are cheap!

Pop Art Lab - machinima contest

2010-04-09T17:24:00.004+02:00

After Claus Uriza's wonderful help at MMIF2010 - his team did build the MMIF-venue on the 4 sims - he came to me and asked if I would be a member of jury for the special themed machinima contest he started up.
How could I say no to Claus, and his effort to preserve the Pop Art builds - that so resemble the MMIF builds....

Well today is the last day of this Second Life contest, and the films keep pooring in as he ensures me.
It will be a hard task, thankfully I am not the only member of jury. (Jeska Linden, Claus Uriza and Lisbeth Frolunde, Chantal Harvey).

Submitted films so far:
http://www.popartlab.com/category/news/

There is only one price....100,000 lindendollars.

Machinima event in Leicester UK

2010-03-16T17:01:00.000+01:00

FREE TIPS ON DIY COMPUTER GAME FILM MAKING: THE ART OF MACHINIMA

Machinima experts are to give a free public talk about this ever-growing art of DIY film making using computer game images, in Leicester this week.

The Machinima event, at Phoenix Square on Thursday evening, will also include a world premier of Croatian film-maker Tom Jantol's ‘The REMAKE’ which is already being hailed as a groundbreaking piece of machinima.

Speakers Dr Tracy Harwood, of De Montfort University’s Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT), and machinima artist and Dutch independent film-maker, Chantal Harvey (also known as Mamachinima), will introduce the art and give key tips on how to make your own machinima film.

There will also be a screening of a selection of award winning machinima shorts at the event which will be held in Screen 2, Phoenix Square digital film and media centre, Midland Street, Leicester, at 6pm on Thursday.

Machinima (machine + animation + cinema) is the making of original films from real-time play of 3D computer games engines.

Dr Harwood, Senior Research Fellow for the IOCT, who is organising the event and has an international reputation for her machinima expertise, said: “As a contemporary art movement and an online alternative to broadcast media, machinima has seen a phenomenal growth in both creation and viewership of content over the last few years. The films we are showing will give an overview of different approaches to creating films – a taster of Hollywood style, digital art and fan fiction.”

Please contact the box office to reserve a place on 0116 242 2800 or: www.phoenix.org.uk

ENDS

For interviews with Dr Harwood or Chantal Harvey, or for an interview in Second Life, please contact DMU’s Press Office on 0116 257 7021 or news@dmu.ac.uk .

De Montfort University’s Press Office is now on Twitter. Follow us at www.twitter.com/dmupressoffice . If you would like to be notified whenever a new story about the University is published, sign up to the RSS feed on our Twitter home page.

DMU Cube enables visitors to experience leading-edge research from DMU's Institute Of Creative Technologies (IOCT), free-of-charge and all-year-round, at Phoenix Square, a partnership project between Blueprint, Phoenix, and Leicester City Council in collaboration with DMU.

Some pictures of MMIF2010

2010-02-23T00:25:00.001+01:00

Chase Marellan installing chatbridge at MMIF venue.

Playlist of MMIF2010 machinima's

2010-02-23T00:24:00.000+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChantalHarvey#grid/user/8314C63C0870A0B5

Enjoy!

2010-02-21T18:14:00.000+01:00

Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to the mamachinima international festival 2010.

After a succesful start in 2009, we can now state that the MMIF is here to stay!

Looking back with fond feelings on the MMIF 2009, starting on one sim that was filled with 98 avatars for over 6 hours - trying to watch 43 films, people arriving 5 hours early ánd a group of griefers that sat down and watched the films with us - what can I say, those that managed to attend will agree with me: we were there and wrote history! You can tell your children and grandchildren: I WAS THERE !

My one and only goal with the MMIF is to create a serious platform for machinima, a festival in which we can show our best work and share it with the world. I believe in machinima, and I believe that the MMIF brought us machinimatograpers closer together, and created a community. Machinima is conquering the world rapidly, the regular festivals are embracing machinima, discovering us - and for what we are, we are...pioneers. The MMIF is claiming its place amongst the festivals of the world! MMIF2010 slots were filled within a week, and the day set for the MMIF2011 is: February 19, 2011 - so write that date down and keep an eye on MMIF.org - the website that keeps us all up to date. Thank you, Ze Moo, for all your work. I want to welcome Amsterdam !! This is - of course - a mixed reality event, and apart from Second Life and Amsterdam Planetart joining forces, this festival is streamed on the internet. I special word of thanks for Malburns Writer and AviewTV's LaPiscean Liberty! Many people volunteered their time and best skills, and Lindenlab sponsored these 4 wonderful sims, and the build you see is done by Emily Hifeng and Claus Uriza - the Pop Art Lab people that organised the afterparty too! Please go to MMIF.org for details about the stream and live images of Amsterdam venue. A special word of thanks to security and operators, and V-Max for the wonderful video-caleidoscope above the sims. Warm thanks to Judi Newall, TributeTim Kwak, Jessica Lyon, Sophia Yates, without you guys I could not have done this.
Before we start with the first film, I want to explain how we will run this festival. Each hour is hosted and operated by different machinima people, each giving their own touch to this event. Your hosts of the evening are: Blue Linden, Toxic Menges, Pooky Amsterdam, Rysan Fall, Draxtor Despres, Poid Mahovlich, Paisley Beebe, Evie Fairchild, CodeWarrior Carling, Lauren Weyland, Phaylen Fairchild. The hosts will use voice, and invite the filmers on stage when their film starts. Feel free to use chat (thank you Chase Marellan for installing chatbridge) - please do not use voice or noisy gestures. Contact the concierges for questions. Download quicktime if you cannot see the films, for this to work you have to log out of SL first - so hurry hurry and come back. Toggle your video player before you contact the concierges for help. Concierges are: Diana Renoir, Ronon Carver and Menolly Riederer.
After the festival, all films and introductions will go on a MMIF2010 playlist on: http://www.youtube.com/user/ChantalHarvey
- and will be shown inworld at several locations, which i will showcase in my picks in profile, and in my blog.
A warm word of thanks to all the people that made this festival into what it is:
the machinima festival that brings us all together!
So without any further to do: I give the microphone to Blue Linden and Toxic Menges, who will now start the MMIF2010!!!

2010-02-21T18:01:00.002+01:00

Judi Newall and Chantal Harvey at MMIF2010

- picture by Delphina Splash.

How to thank everybody that was involved, I cannot find the words.

Will post the opening speech on this blog asap.

MMIF2010 ---- opening Sims now.

2010-02-18T23:57:00.005+01:00

We just openened 2 MMIF audience sims in Second Life. Still testing media, audio, light, props, - so come on over and get the festival feel!

The SLurls you see underneath this picture will take you directly to the entrance of the public seating areas.

See you there!!!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/MMIF3/222/222/33

and

http://slurl.com/secondlife/MMIF4/22/233/33