November is Machinima Month!

In recent news, Lowe Runo Productions contributed to the wonderful tribute show "Gladys Knight & The Pips," featuring William Guest, an original pip, who came into Second Life with a customized avatar to speak to event attendees on November 9th!   Pictured, William Guest, Lady Dhyana Ziegler, Lowe Runo, Belinda Barnes & Sonicity Fitzroy.   Full article and pics featured in December's Best of SL Magazine, http://magazine.thebestofsl.com/

It was great to get our Machinima Artist Guild Founder Lowe Runo out on the virtual town this month.   And what a perfect month to drop into Second Life.   The buzz of machinima was in the air.

Here's a quick review of Machinima, as we wind down 2013.    

The Machinima Expo had another successful run this year.   Machinima was screened throughout the day, live, from www.machinima-expo.com and its Facebook page this past Sunday, November 17, 2013 in the one day virtual film festival.   It is the ideal place for professionals and amateurs to share advice and swap techniques.  So once again, the machinima community comes together to enjoy a new year of films.   If you missed the festival, the expo runs 24/7 until November 24th, at http://machinima-expo.com/v3/.      

The winners are listed here, http://machinima-expo.com/v3/winners-of-the-machinima-expo-6-jury-awards-announced/.   Congrats to Executive Producers Ricky Grove and Ingrid Moon and their team for 6 successful years.   Hope you got a chance to attend the post festival party in Second Life.

On November 16th, the day before, another long running competition is the Machinima 48 Hour Film Project, and this year it introduced us to a new year of winners.   View the films here, http://www.48hourfilm.com/en/machinima/

"Here we go!.... MY FIRST BLOG EVER!"

That headline was posted five years ago by Machinima Artist Guild Founder Lowe Runo!   This Thursday is a special day in MAG history.   On November 21, 2008, Lowe Runo posted his first blog on the Second Life Machinima Artist Guild, http://slmachinimaarts.ning.com.   He started off, admittedly nervous about this new venture:  "Am I nervous? Yes I am, but I'm also excited. I hope everyone who enters here learns something new concerning the creative process."

He continued, "I am a NOOB at making machinima. My first barbaric machinima was made in August of this year (2008). My formal training is as a professional still photographer [but I] suffered some 'creative burn-out.'  Now, I find the challenge of making motion pictures in a virtual world intriguing and enjoyable."

Lowe has moved behind the scenes, but has always supported the guild financially.   All he has ever asked of his membership is to be respectful to one another's works and ideas. 

He closed that first blog with, "... I believe we will have a successful and creative network here." Five years later, MAG continues strong, due also to the long-staying dedication of its moderators, who provide a comfortable atmosphere for critique and experimentation.   

 

I found what I believe to be his first full-length video - a "barbaric" machinima as he calls it.   "Second Life Kung Fu Fighting" will bring a smile to your face, if you can remember your first machinima.  So be gentle, and remember all those projects helped to develop his skills that he uses professionally today. 

Here's a few others from those early days just before MAG was born:  The Far Away - August 25, 2008,  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmmCvEJzgoA  and Second Life Swing - August 29, 2008, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTuOOUIi69k

Oh then there's this one, posted in September 2008, titled A Hobo Second Life -  ah, those early days!   How did things get so busy and complicated in Second Life?!  Now it seems one project after another consumes his time in real life and in the virtual.

You can visit his Lowe Runo channel, which has not been updated on YouTube for awhile due to real life work & project contractual reasons.  But it is always fun to see the early works of the first Second Life machinima producers.  There are quite a few out there, and they are always watching for new talents on the horizon, and pleased when they see machinima is much alive and evolving.  November has been a great month for machinima!   Lowe promises good things to come for MAG.  

 Happy 5th to Founder Lowe Runo and to the Machinima Artist Guild.   

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And congrats to all of November's winners!  

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 The Professional Machinima Artist Guild and Lowe Runo Productions graciously host Magnum:  The Machinima Review.  Sonicity Fitzroy, author of Second Life, Media and the Other Society (Peter Lang, 2010) and Machinima:  The Art and Practice of Virtual Filmmaking (with Lowe Runo, McFarland, 2012).   http://www.amazon.com/Phylis-Johnson/e/B001HOW4U2/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1354606175&sr=1-2-ent

The Blackened Mirror: An Interview with Saffia Widdershins

 

The mystery lady is back on the scene.    I had the pleasure of attending day one of the filming of Season Two of The Blackened Mirror, a machinima series that began in August 2012.   The October 2013 issue of Best of SL Magazine features the sassy Saffia Widdershins.

 

Saffia is the owner/editor of Prim Perfect Magazine and producer of Tweet TV's Designing Worlds.  This former media teacher and filmmaker leads this new machinima series with style and grace.  The several person crew that day was professional, and the animation technology was top of the line. 

The series is written by Da5id Abbot and centers on the odd adventures of the main character, a private eye, Harland Quinn. See how it all began at http://www.theblackenedmirror.com/

The Blackened Mirror, according to Saffia, "is what we call a proof of concept piece;  we are pioneering and building a portfolio demonstrating SL as a medium for sophisticated filmmaking." 

Read the complete story in October's BOSL, beginning p. 138, http://magazine.thebestofsl.com/october-2013/

Review the past series, http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBlackenedMirror



Photos courtesy of Belinda Barnes.

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The Professional Machinima Artist Guild and Lowe Runo Productions graciously host Magnum:  The Machinima Review.  Sonicity Fitzroy, author of Second Life, Media and the Other Society (Peter Lang, 2010) and Machinima:  The Art and Practice of Virtual Filmmaking (with Lowe Runo, McFarland, 2012).   http://www.amazon.com/Phylis-Johnson/e/B001HOW4U2/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1354606175&sr=1-2-ent

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Persia Bravin, BOSL's Editor, invited a few of the staff writers to recall our most "memorable" stories.   Mine was a cover story on Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran.   It was a RL/SL peek behind the scenes.  For the 6th anniversary of BOSL, our editorial team reran the story with my update on SL's Duran Duran Universe.   That feature article was also included in this month's BOSL.   It originally ran in August 2011 [http://magazine.thebestofsl.com/october-2013/] (p. 156 -  ), and my photographer was none other than Lowe Runo.  Great memories.   The DDU has been a fantastic site for machinima, especially all those wild and crazy themed parties with original costumes and avatars. 

News Machinima Man: Draxtor on the Virtual Beat

Draxtor....and media for all!

The August BOSL (Best of SL Magazine) featured journalist extraordinaire Draxtor Despres.   I am not sure whether Second Life residents understand the critical nature of his work - not only significant for expanding the boundaries of machinima, but for redefining the role of journalism.    

Okay, first let's explore the idea of journalistic machinima.    Old roles of machinima deal more with capturing game footage.   A player wants to share his action footage, a great move or play within a game, and viola machinima is the means to do so.    Machinima can still do that, but it also evolved as a canvas for artistic work and storytelling.  One of the most wonderful forms of storytelling, of course, is journalism.   That's because it focuses on real people.    As in the real world, Second Life is filled with inspiring stories from everyday people, who break out of their ordinary situations to accomplish something extraordinary or to be recognized for some amazing effort.    

Well you get the idea.     Machinima brings us the message.   We wrap it up in virtual footage, and share it with our friends and their friends, and so forth.    

Draxtor has produced more than 200 machinima that give us a glimpse, not only into his mind, but into the virtual world.   He is not merely telling the stories of SL residents, but he wants to evangelize the authentic (REAL) creativity possible within virtual worlds.    Besides documenting these efforts, he has also challenged us politically and socially via his comedic series, Flufee on a Meshion.     

Draxtor is a filmmaker, storyteller, musician, and journalist - and you might say - educator.    We learn about Second Life, and the creativity unleashed within people like you and me.   We are inspired to try - or to at least appreciate the value of participating in the making of media. 

And - we are encouraged by a media maker - Draxtor!   A real guy, living in both worlds.   He's got a kid and everything.  The guy is real!  He is a real journalist.  Not someone role playing as a journalist or documentary producer.   At times, he has POV (point of view);  other times, he shares that of the people he interviews. 

 

Let's now focus on journalism.    If you consider that everything you do in a virtual world is really happening - and that it takes your very real time to do it, then you begin to understand that it has relevance to your life - either because of the time spent or the efforts realized.     The Drax Files: World Makers captures  Second Life - the game and the game players - at its best.  The topics are as diverse as those he interviews;  

for example, his latest two episodes feature MadPea Games and  Elie Spot.    

His segments converge RL and SL, mixing video footage from each, to tell stories about people - whether they choose to present themselves through their avatars, or their human persona, or both - they are people.    

Fairly simple concept.   Powerful though.   Draxtor is all about people.    We begin to see maybe the boundaries between real and the virtual are fairly invisible for the dreamers, the inventors, and audiences that choose to see life as a continuum of creativity.    Draxtor has done that for us.   

Read his interview in the August BOSL edition, authored by yours truly.    What's great about this interview - is that I get to report on the reporter who reports on the wonderful world(s) we live in. Draxtor loves Second Life, but he just loves life in general!  You can tell when you watch the outcome of his labor, which is becoming a burgeoning archive of virtual testimony on creativity unleashed and captured on machinima.  Go Drax Go!   

I love a great story!    So let's put on our panda pjs and snuggle up to a good Drax story.    Drax, be sure to feature who ever created this rocket ride! 

http://magazine.thebestofsl.com/issues/August-2013 (p. 166-187)

Resources

Draxtor...and media for all!, see, http://draxtor.com/

Despres, Draxtor, see, http://www.youtube.com/user/draxtordespres

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The Professional Machinima Artist Guild and Lowe Runo Productions graciously host Magnum:  The Machinima Review.  Sonicity Fitzroy, author of Second Life, Media and the Other Society (Peter Lang, 2010) and Machinima:  The Art and Practice of Virtual Filmmaking (with Lowe Runo, McFarland, 2012).   http://www.amazon.com/Phylis-Johnson/e/B001HOW4U2/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1354606175&sr=1-2-ent