Wednesday, November 24, 2010

MachinimaMondays feat. LAG !!! in Second Life.



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/

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Flush Portal - a machinima sitcom




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

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Skylight



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?

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Machinima Premiere StartMeUp

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………

Monday, September 27, 2010

48HFP machinima 2010 is done!

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!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Winners and Awards announced for 48HFP Machinima 2010

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

Monday, September 20, 2010

48 HFP Machinima: 19 teams.

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!