Part II: Women Machinimists

A Gender Perspective

I was recently invited to write an article that focused on women machnimists in virtual worlds, particularly Second Life. This is an attempt to condense my lengthy academic discussion into a blog series on whether whether there is a a feminist perspective - or let's just say a woman's perspective - in machinima and how might it be utilized to understand the role of women in virtual worlds. This is part 2 of five commentaries that will be posted over the next month or so.

Numerous women have already contributed leadership among various gaming platforms, particularly Sims, World of Warcraft, and Second Life. In 2009, Hugh Hancock and Jonnie Ingram ("Women") organized a list of prominent women involved in machinima production. Some of the women who have made their mark include India Drummond, who maintains Sims99, one of the largest machinima sites on the Web, and Katherine Anna Kang, founding board member of the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences, among other machinima makers, namely Sally Brewer, Decorgal, JayDee, Jun Falkenstein, Kate Fosk, Ingrid Mood, Michelle Petit-Mee, Sasha Rudie (Moo Money, a recent and brilliant machinima associate of mine), Trace Sanderson (Lainy Voom), Kerria Seabrooke, Selserene, and Jackie Turnure. That is list is not complete, and is growing every several months.

Another not listed is Phaylen Fairchild, who has remained a longtime member of the Second Life community since 2002. She is known particularly well for her role as producer of DiVAS, a machinima sitcom, that made its debut on December 2007. She was involved in every aspect of the series, and she has added episodes over the past three years. She began Season Two set within the online game World of Warcraft (WOW). She entered WOW in her SL avatar form, where she engaged into a conversation with a virtual warrior and mused over the conventions of his guild. The dialogue is witty and plays off the gamer stereotypes of both platforms.

The action is well scripted. The production quality is excellent and professional. This episode alone provides an excellent starting point for a discussion on gender roles in the gaming world. Fairchild is an active voice among women machinima makers, and has earned respect among educators and machinimatographers for her work in elevating the quality of storytelling through machinima.

A talented young machinima artist, ColeMarie Soleil, has created numerous experimental videos, using music to tell her story.

An example of her work is a machinima that plays off of a song from Absolute Entity, Stay with Me Tonight. In the video introduction, she states that she tells the "story of a sad robot longing for a heart and wishing to be real." The female vocalist provides depth and resonance as an earthy drone keynotes the entire piece. The imagery is stunning in its employment of a wind-up doll as symbolic of emptiness (to me at least). The filmmaker, as puppeteer, juxtaposes the need for human emotion within an environment that is controlled and captive, as well as captivating in the sense that the viewer is intrigued by the imagery. The message is open for interpretation, but it is clear that the machinimist has demonstrated the power of machinima as an art form.


Another example is from machinimist Larkworthy Antfarm. Her work ranges from classic storytelling of Asian fables to social activism to her involvement in comedic works. Two works, in particular, are important to this discussion. The first work, Blessed are the Greedy is created to mock through machinima Wall Street corruption. She strategically places statistics on corporate wealth and homelessness at key points during the film. The second work specifically focuses on the plight of a homeless woman. Like Soleil, Antfarm creates her message through a music video, and in this case using Spare Change, a song from Automatic Quandry. The main character has been created to look like a destitute middle-aged woman. She wears a mix of worn odd clothing items, and spends her day and night on the city streets. In the day, she begs for spare change, and at night she sleeps near a building entrance.

Reflecting back nearly two years ago, in November 2008, the Women in Machinima panel at the Machinima Expo brought together some female machinimists to screen their work. One of the questions asked, Does gender matter in machinima?, had mixed reaction among the panelists. Might there be a woman's perspective that surfaces in some work, albeit sometimes even unintentionally? To create a credible film demands an investment of time and energy from the producer. It is only natural that one's gendered perspective might influence the storyline. The idea that many women machinimatographers are interested in meeting other women in the field is implicit of a need for continued efforts to improve communication and mentorship among them.

References
Antfarm, Larkworthy. "Blessed are the Greedy." YouTube. Web. Feb 1, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iIf4tzeVRM
Antfarm, Larkworthy. "Spare Change." YouTube. Web. April 23, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXJuzL8Dw6I
Dulci's Perspective. Women in Machinima. Web. November 25, 2009, from http://dulcicinema.blogspot.com/2009/11/women-in-machinima.html
Fairchild, Phaylen. DiVAS: Season 2 Episode 2 - Phaylen and the World of Warcraft Group. YouTube. Web. August 29, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/user/phaylen#p/a/u/2/x96UCFYInI0
Hancock, Hugh & Ingram, Jonnie. "Women Who Have Changed Machinma." Machinima for Dummies. Web. March 24, 2010, from http://machinimafordummies.com/
Phaylen Fairchild. http://phaylen.com/ Web. August 1, 2010.
Soleil, ColeMarie. Stay with Me Tonight. YouTube. Web. January 19, 2010, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNIUU9VK794

Focus next blog, Chantal Harvey and Lainy Voom

Til then, Soni signing off :)

Forthcoming, Machinima: The Art & Practice (McFarland, 2011) by Sonicity Fitzroy and Lowe Runo. The Professional Machinima Artist Guild graciously provides syndication of Sonicity’s blog Magnum: The Machinima Review to Aview.TV/Sonicity/

Machinima Encounters of the Women Kind: Part I

Media in Second Life is alive and well. Pop Art Lab Publicist Persia Bravin (above) is extremely supportive of the media community, from live music performances, video and machinima streaming, installations, and so much more. Art Breakers is one such event that is currently underway at PAL. She is definitely a media queen in many aspects, especially in regards to her conceiving and organizing major media events.


But let's narrow down the media field to women machinimists - the virtual female filmmakers who give us a glimpse into their cinematic encounter with Second Life and other platforms through their personal lens. My blog title for this series might be a bit misleading and perhaps borderline exotic. But there is something extraordinary about women tapping into the medium of machinima as an expressive and communicative tool. I would like to think that I planted a seed when I decided the best way to gather various perspectives for an upcoming book on machinima was to simply bring people together in a series of roundtable discussions. The meetings were quite successful for gleaning information about SL machinima and other platforms. They were held at Lowe Runo Productions (Island of Fame) during early summer, and Lowe Runo, my co-author, happily moderated the discussions along with me. The good news is that MaMachinima Founder Chantal Harvey has subsequently continued similar topical discussions on machinima Monday nights in Second Life.


She is joined by machinimists Toxic Menges and Phaylen Fairchild, who moderate the discussions. They are three strong women who take their machinima production seriously, even when they do comedy. They and other women virtual filmmakers are making their mark on the machinima field.

The spark for a blog series on women machinimists was triggered when I was invited recently to write an article on the topic, particularly focusing on Second Life. I have decided to condense my lengthy academic discourse into a blog series on whether there is a feminist perspective - or let's just say a woman's perspective - in machinima and how might it be utilized to understand the role of women in virtual worlds. I will break down this discussion into five parts over the next month or so.

Let's begin by stating the obvious. More than a dozen women in Second Life appear to be taking a strong role in producing machinima. You have to wonder if machinima's accessibility serves as a way to encourage women to become media makers in virtual worlds, as well as allows us an inside look into how women play or are played in various massive online multi-player roleplaying games. Reports of glaring disparities pertaining to the advancement of women in mainstream media might be one reason to take a peek into cybermedia opportunities in virtual worlds.

Alas, women media makers have become a significant force in Second Life, in number and influence. They are involved in every stage of the process, regarding the creation, production, and distribution of news and entertainment content. There is a growing artistic and professional practice emerging around machinima, particularly around women. The history of machinima is less important in this discussion than its current practice among women producers, and especially among women producing within Second Life.

Any examination of women's machinima roles is not merely an attempt to document the accomplishments of virtual filmmakers, for that alone would be a worthwhile venture. Rather, it is through these women filmmakers that one begins to understand how identity can be examined in virtual worlds through these media artifacts. One program that has particularly appealed to the business, media and academic community is The 1st Question, an extremely popular quiz show written, produced and hosted by Pooky Amsterdam of Pooky Media. It is taped in front of a live audience, and rebroadcast for virtual television and the Web. Beyond her popular quiz show, she has produced corporate machinima and comedy features.

Women filmmakers increasingly are creating feature-length programs and series that can be viewed independently of virtual television. These projects are typically screened at machinima festivals within Second Life, and more so in film festivals across the world. Machinima is competing internationally at what was once solely traditional film festivals. One of the more prominent festivals inside Second Life is the MaMachinima International Festival (MMIF) founded by Chantal Harvey. The group name alone has created interest among women producers and those wanting to get involved in the process. In 2010, the festival was held concurrently in Second life and in RL Amsterdam. Among the many women's works featured at the festival was the machinima of Larkworthy Antfarm, Phaylen Fairchild, Chantal Harvey, ColeMarie Soleil, and Lainy Voom (alphabetical order). The machinima of these five women offer us a glimpse into how women are portrayed in virtual worlds by themselves. Over the next month, I will take a long at the work of these women, as well as offer some related observations.


Until next time!

:) Soni

Forthcoming, Machinima: The Art & Practice (McFarland, 2011) by Sonicity Fitzroy and Lowe Runo. The Professional Machinima Artist Guild graciously provides syndication of Sonicity’s blog Magnum: The Machinima Review to Aview.TV/Sonicity/

Hollywood, SLollywood, So Why All The Fuss

Part II: Storytelling - and the CG Convergence

***This blog is the second installment of a two part series that explores the undeniable give and take between machinima and cinematic filmmaking, amidst the larger game and special effects technologies.***

---"There's also the viewpoint from the laypeople or just the general populous that doesn't necessarily come into virtual worlds. There's sort of an iconography of virtual worlds that they recognize when they see it on television that shows like South Park and Robot Chicken that are made from avatars. People sort of recognize that and it's part of popular culture, but they don't really care about HOW it's made. I mean it could be full CGI animation, like the movie Avatar. The general public doesn't care that that avatar wasn't rendered in real time. To me, the whole term machinima - when we look back a hundred years - is going to have a period where it really had some meaning and then - it will become meaningless." --- (CodeWarrior Carling, Machinima Roundtable, 2010)

Soni says, Time Out. Yes, it is important to consider what draws machinima and cinema together and perhaps apart. In the long run, it is a futile mind exercise.

For the time being, however, we wrestle with its meaning and place in the film and television industries - and as we do, we begin to understand how film, computer generated technologies, and machinima as an art and tool are interrelated. Yet even through this convergence, there is uniqueness and purpose depending on the producer's goals. This blog picks up where Part I left off, an exploration of the interdependence and intercreativity of virtual filmmaking and gaming, as well as machinima's latter contribution to the evolution of the film and television industry.

For his first Star Wars film, George Lucas "cut together World War II footage of fighter planes dogfighting, as a moving storyboard for the attack on the Death Star. That approach evolved into using miniatures of the snow speeders, as well as hand-drawn animations, for The Empire Strikes Back" (Harz, 2006). By 1994, Lucas employed visual effects artist David Dozoretz and a team that "used 3D animation toolsets to create rough film shots, similar to animatics, that could be used both to guide the production teams on location and the post-production teams adding virtual creatures and scene elements." Moreover, for Episode III Revenge of the Sith, Lucas would come to experiment with scenes continually, pre-shooting scenes repeatedly (Harz, 2006). Industrial Light and Magic relied on Unreal’s 3D engine as a preproduction tool to create animatics for that motion picture. Lucas made more than 20 revisions to the first minute of the film, and this technique he speculated to have saved him $10 million (Harz, 2006). In fact, Cliff Plumer, Chief Technology Officer at LucasFilm, noted:

“It’s almost like a game. The director can plan how to shoot a live-action or block a CG scene...But, we can also record the camera moves, create basic animations and block in camera angles."

He elaborates, by saying, "And instead of handing rendered animatics to the CG pipeline, we have actual files – camera files, scene layout files, actual assets that can feed into the pipeline. It gives the crew input into what the director is thinking.” (Harz, 2006)

Lucas was aware that "ordinary storyboard techniques were insufficient to get his ideas across to his pre-production team — or to help keep the hundreds of creatures, characters and environments organized and moving down a timely pipeline" (Harz, 2006). The gaming world deals with this scenario on a continual basis.

Second Life allows filmmakers to use existing virtual cities or landscapes as interactive sets. As animations become increasingly sophisticated inworld and can be supplemented via CGI post production techniques, the practice of machinima becomes more concerned about how one can use such virtual platforms to tell stories in interactive environments. The movie industry has not shied away from the inclusion of computer generated technologies, and it would seem equally practical for its use in the evolution of machinima.

Machinima is unique as a starting point for the launch of a project idea, but it might be considered both a tool and an art form. Computer generated software and technologies merely expand the graphic opportunities for filmmakers and machinimatophers. This is all to say, over the past decade, legendary filmmakers like Peter Jackson have considered machinima as a storytelling medium, as well as means to experiment with story ideas in unique ways.

Leo Berkeley, in his article "Situating Machinima in the New Mediascape," helps to clarify the two distant views of filmmaking among those of Machinima communities: "The first is its status as a new form resulting from a convergence of animation, filmmaking and 3D computer games. The second is the opportunity it offers filmmakers with limited resources to enter the previously inaccessible, big budget world of 3D computer animation" (2006, p. 67).

Berkeley (2006), in his study of machinima, states, we exist in an era "where the narrative possibilities of interactive, hypertextual and virtual environments are opening up but have only been tentatively explored." In this environment, machinima "most commonly makes use of the increasingly sophisticated interactive features of recent 3D computer games to produce texts that are predominantly traditional linear narratives. It is a strangely hybrid form, looking both forwards and backwards, cutting edge and conservative at the same time" (p. 67).

The gaming industry has been particularly responsible for providing an interactive experience for its consumer. According to Deuze (2005, p. 8), the computer game industry is a rich part of "participatory media culture," apart from professional storytellers such as journalists and advertising creators, in that it invites relationship building in media creation and usage. Jonathan Sterne (2003) offers a conflicted machinima community on a continuum of rebellious independence and Hollywood idealism: " These contradictions reflect both an attempt to increase the symbolic capital of the movement....but also reveal a disposition towards the large-scale production of the dominant Hollywood producers that is currently being denied them" (In, Berkeley, 2006, p. 68).

Berkeley adds, "It is clear that machinima is an example of how digital technology has shifted power structures in the media towards the increased accessibility of production and distribution technology."

What is not so clear is why it is important to draw boundaries around the various technologies when the point should be on the message. But then again, I guess I wouldn't being writing about machinima if we were at that point. Let's just make sure that we never get too caught up in how we do something that we forget what we say is far more important.

Part I is available here.


:) Soni


Part II: References
Berkeley, Leo. (2006). Situating machinima in the new mediascape. Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, 4 (2), 65-80. Accessed at:
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/hosting/ijets/journal/V4N2/pdf/V4N2-1-Berkeley.pdf

BrophBlog (2007). Acccessed at: http://brophinator.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/why-machinima-is-good-for-hollywood/

Deuze, M. (2005). Towards professional participatory storytelling in journalism and advertising. Paper presented at the Media in Transition (MiT4) Conference, Boston, MA, May 7, 2005.

Harz, C. (2006, January). The Holy Grail of Previs: Gaming Technology. Retrieved November 14, 2007, from http://vfxworld.com/?sa=adv&code=911ac78c&atype=articles&id=2773

Industrial Light and Magic. (2010). http://www.ilm.com/

Sterne, J. (2003). Bourdieu, technique and technology. Cultural Studies, 17 (3/4), pp. 367-389.


This blog is based on a draft version of the forthcoming book, authored by Lowe Runo and Sonicity Fitzroy, Machinima: The Art & Practice (McFarland, 2011). The Professional Machinima Artist Guild graciously provides syndication of Sonicity’s blog Magnum: The Machinima Review to Aview.TV/Sonicity/

Hollywood, SLollywood, So Why All The Fuss

Part I: Machinima in Context

Welcome to the many lives of Sonicity! That is something Second Life allows us to do, quite easily - you know, change the context of our life with the click of a mouse, as we teleport off to our next adventure.

"It's interesting that we control the content of what we do. We are not being told what to do by other people. And we're an amazingly creative group. And that creativity spreads across EVERY genre, EVERY form of art. It is really something that we should all be proud of. And I think we're pioneers in what we're doing here."(Larkworthy Antfarm, Machinima Roundtable, 2010)

***This blog is the first installment of a two part series that explores the undeniable give and take between machinima and cinematic filmmaking. The recipe for both - well - requires a bit of spice at times. So does that mean a film or a machinima is impure with a dash of CG - it's like making meatloaf. In the end, It's the taste that matters! Your mom might use a bit more or less condiments than Aunt Sadie down the street. ***

When Hollywood producers began to explore the potential of filmmaking through virtual technologies, storytelling techniques employed in traditional cinematic production began to incorporate computer-generated technologies that would save money but would extend the possibilities of what is achievable in real world settings. How do you make a film of the future, when you only have reality as your base of operation? It is possible, if you consider the Fritz Lang's Metropolis. However, to dazzle an increasingly sophisticated audience, the stakes become higher and more competitive among film studios. This attitude of course would also influence the nature of machinima making. The connection between Hollywood and machinima is an evolving relationship, most significantly intercepting in recent years.

Yet the story goes back much further, beyond video games. Consider George Lucas' revolutionary experimentation in 3D computer generated interactive graphics (CGI) and animation, and the subsequent release of Star Wars in 1977. Even before that, King Kong in 1933 was enhanced with stop motion and animatronics in its most crude form. and is recognized "as one of the pioneering films in the field" (Brophblog. 2007). In 1975, Steven Spielberg's Jaws was another landmark film notable for its special effects. These landmark technologies helped to shape the video game industry as well. Machinima, too, has evolved from such advances, and the larger cinematic world (Brophblog. 2007) concurrently became transformed by these new applications and programs. What we continue to see in the film and animation industry is a convergence of ideas and tools, and the purpose being varied depending on the goals of the producer. What machinima has done, similar to digital technologies in general, is open the playing the field to the consumer and amateur professional, as well as the indie producer hoping to find an inexpensive and creative way to tell a story or communicate a message.

Much of the machinima community, at large, is connected to the YouTube generation. Many producers post their works hoping to catch the viral waves of the Internet. It is difficult to navigate through this sea of videos about anything and everything. Other services such as AVIEW TV, Blip TV, and Daily Motion have attempted to organize machinima content, as well as other media, and serve to stream videos continuously on demand. These content providers provide clues to the increasing popularity of machinima, and other indie film projects. The convergence of media is not unique to the film industry, for these trends have propelled the launch of thousands and thousands of indie record labels and musicians to break free from traditional corporate business models.

On the other hand, Hollywood's growing awareness of machinima's potential among the gamers is nearly a decade old, gaining the attention of "mainstream, non-technical movie talent, who are attracted to the games-meet-Hollywood aesthetic exemplified by movies like The Matrix" (Kahney, 2007). In the 1990s, Kahney (2007) explains, "Gamers realized that instead of generating monsters to be blown away, game animation engines could be employed to conjure up imaginative sets, casts of thousands and spectacular special effects." Enter machinima as a mini Hollywood and accessible alternative to major production animation budget movies.

As early as 2001, machinima began a way for Steven Spielberg to storyboard his film projects, beginning with his Artificial Intelligence: AI. Other producers began to look toward machinima as way to present rough cuts of major motion pictures. Harz (2006) called attention to the significance of machnima in 2006, stating that "the holy grail of previs (previsualization) lies in the use of videogame production technology, especially that of the game engine." He continues, this is "the core of a game that allows the movement and manipulation of modeled people and creatures within 3D sets, together with lighting and camera moves — a process essentially the same as what previs supervisors do before a major movie starts production."

So maybe it is the "other" that we need to consider - computer generated technologies are becoming part of one's tool set in telling the story, whether we do so by traditional cinematic means or through machinima. The gaming world has evolved out of the CG world so how do you really separate all these converging forces.

Stay tuned, Part II next time, as I consider
Storytelling - and the CG Convergence.

:) Soni


Related News
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sony-pictures-imageworks-and-industrial-light--magic-join-forces-on-alembic-99337884.html


Part I: References

BrophBlog (2007). Acccessed at: http://brophinator.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/why-machinima-is-good-for-hollywood/

Harz, C. (2006, January). The Holy Grail of Previs: Gaming Technology. Retrieved November 14, 2007, from http://vfxworld.com/?sa=adv&code=911ac78c&atype=articles&id=2773

Industrial Light and Magic. (2010). http://www.ilm.com/

Kahney, L. (2007, September). Games Invade Hollywood’s Turf. Wired. Retrieved October 14, 2007, from http://www.wired.com/print/science/discoveries/news/2003/07/59566

This blog is based on a draft version of the forthcoming book, authored by Lowe Runo and Sonicity Fitzroy, Machinima: The Art & Practice (McFarland, 2011). The Professional Machinima Artist Guild graciously provides syndication of Sonicity’s blog Magnum: The Machinima Review to Aview.TV/Sonicity/

The Machinima Roundtables

So many of us are busy making films that we rarely have time to chat about the process, or even our dreams and aspirations for machinima as a profession and art. Of course there are those times when we gather for award shows hosted by the Machinima Artist Guild or more recently those sponsored by the University of Western Australia.

Of course, it is always a wonderful experience to rub shoulders with our colleagues at the MaMachinima International Festival.

But when do we just get to talk - to chat, converse, get down and dirty about machinima - the good, bad and evil (evil machinima, is there such a thing?! LOL), you can hear the pain and passion of being a pioneer on sometimes a lonely path. These roundtables allow producers to connect again to why they love machinima.

Over the past month, Lowe Runo Productions, Inc. has been the site for roundtables on various machinima themes. All have been well attended, productive and fun. Themes discussed have included -

ROUND ONE concentrated on MACHINIMA BASICS. Main questions included: What is machinima to you?, What are its genres?, What is the role of story in machinima?, Is storyline essential to machinima?, What makes a good story?, What makes a good machinima?, and other questions that pop up.

ROUND TWO focused on MACHINIMA PIONEERS - GOING ALONE OR TOGETHER. Discussions included what advances have been made through machinima - people, practices and technology, speculations about the future, machinima's role in advancing art and in advancing technology for commercialization (what are the opportunities now and ahead). Another related theme explores COLLABORATIONS (advantages/disadvantages on building a machinima crew; defining the various roles in machinima; considering how certain platforms encourage collaborations; looking toward partnerships with community groups or businesses).Then, finally, attendees were asked, Can machinima be an intimate experience for the producer and viewer and how so?

These sessions run about 60-90 minutes, with many people lingering to continue the discussions after the meetings. If nothing else, the roundtables have shown there is an interest in such gatherings - and although there are differing opinions, those involved have been respectful of each other's perspectives.

The Roundtable forums are open to the public, and all are invited to attend. Please join the SL Machinima Artist Guild inside the grid to receive notifications or contact me, Soni! Also, I am always open to future topics. Discussions are recorded and intended for public record, with some comments being published in a new book on machinima (Runo & Fitzroy) and some footage likely ending up for broadcast as well.

Next time, come to share your thoughts or just listen. It is through such discussions we come closer to understanding what machinima is to us as producers and viewers, and how to best create works that achieve some sort of intimacy and/or rapport with the viewer. Collaboration might come in the form of a production crew for a specific project or competition - or it might be coming together to explore new possibilities in machinima as a genre and tool.

:) Soni!

The Science of Collaboration

Science Fiction is always a great machinima theme. For this blog, we are dealing with the reality of SCIENCE as a topic. Hmmm, I hear Thomas Dolby's 80s ditty She Blinded Me With Science in my head now. In this blog, we do a bit of space travel, and I conclude with a note on some serious wave action from an installation called Ripple.

Second Life is the perfect place for exploration and for collaboration among scientists, musicians, machinimatophers and educators. SL7B's theme was all about unexpected collaborations. Although well-attended, the National Space Society-University of Western Australia machinima event did not get the full attention that it deserved - until now, LOL. I have touched upon in my previous blogs, and in other blogs, but let's review.

IMAGINATION = EXPLORATION

I must commend the National Space Society's decision to sponsor a "space" themed machinima competition to bring awareness to its mission. One of the key presenters, NASA's Archivist Llewellyn, explained, "The imagination, curiosity, and desire to explore the universe underlies the heart of the National Space Society’s mission." She continued, "With today’s technology, and a virtual world environment like Second Life, average people can bring their vision for the future of space travel to life on the big screen, just as they can imagine and build them in Second Life." The machinimatophers filmed at the National Space Society Island and other SL locations to fulfill the theme. She invited attendees to learn more about machinima at her lecture at the United States Air Force’s “Lunch and Learn” on August 6th at Huffman Prairie. I think it would be wonderful for professional machinimatophers to continue such partnerships, showing support in whatever ways possible.

The June screening was held at the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre - which is now open for many such events. The University of Western Australia partnered with the NSS for this contest and event. Aview TV founder LaPiscean Liberty was on hand to help with the screenings, and Sophie Yates video taped the event.

IMAGINATION = COLLABORATION

As part of the contest, CraigLyons Writer permitted his music to be used in the videos. His work has been featured nationally and internationally, including TV programs such as "The Real World" and "So You Think You Can Dance." CraigLyons noted, "Machinima is the future, and I'm so excited about this contest...As far as I'm concerned, everyone is already a winner - The attention on low-impact filming, space exploration, and music is amazing!!!"

He added, "I'm here meeting in RL with Rysan Fall, the director/producer of my 'Across The Universe' video!!" Rysan popped into the screening to say a few words after the audience viewed a video that he produced for U2's Glastonbury's Concert in RL England. He is becoming quite the celeb machinimatopher.

Producer Ian Pahute kicked off the event with the first machinima, by saying a few words about his work: "And in that moment - in a space between the formal structures of mission communication - to stand back and be with yourself and contemplate the enormity of just where you are... and to take a moment to reflect on the history that has helped you / us get there...Ladies and gentlemen, I present 'A Reflection." One by one, the machinimatophers came up to the stage to present their work.

THE JOURNEY TOWARD THE FUTURE

Some highlights included Cisko Vandeverre's appearance with his alien alt. He was one of the many professional contestants. The productions were varied in style and content presentation. Other machinimatophers were Aiden Witrial, al Peretz, Chenin Anabuki, Earth Primbee, Flurry Fargis, Ian Pahute, Iono Allen, and Rocksea Renegade.

The winner was the beautiful and exotic Rocksea Renegade, who impressed the audience with two videos. The winning video was...“Dreamer's Journey.”

She concluded the ceremonies, saying: "I am deeply fascinated with the idea of space exploration, I champion people's efforts to further our knowledge as well as attempts to expand our presence in the Universe. I truly believe we are not alone in the Universe, with such a massive expanse of space it is impossible to believe we are the only intelligent beings around. I hope that, one day, our dreams of being amongst the stars will become a reality. So here's to the future!"

Watch her video, along with the others here: nss.org

SCIENCE + ART = IMAGINATION

As I close out this blog, I will drop in a plug for PRO-MAG Reviewer Doug Story's installation work - "Ripple." It implicitly speaks to how science and art can be expressed collaboratively and creatively within virtual environments.

Ripple at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ars%20Simulacra/152/58/1029

More on that @ AVIEW.

That's it for now, spacing out until next time.

-Soni :)

Cheesy and Cheesecake Machinima

July 4, 1996: I remember when Independence Day hit the American theaters. My family traded in the usual fireworks celebrations to be one of the first to view the patriotic thriller, filled with aliens, explosions and human drama. The plot was overall cheesy, but it filled the need for good times. Summer is a great time for action movies, sci fi and beach bingo. Out of wack heat indexes send many of us into the shelter of the theater. Some head out to the beach to party, and others head to the theater to get their thrills on screen. We live vicariously on the screen through the characters we see. Have you ever noticed the difference in ratings between Yahoo movie goers and film critics; sometimes, viewers admittedly like to be shallow, superficial and escape. Not always wonderful goals, but the cinema has room for that too. Cheesy movies have always had their place in popular cinema - so why not in machinima. Yes there are some, but I am specifically looking for those future summer machinima classics. I have to laugh at the 2006 Beach Party 2 filmed in World of Warcraft.

I spent the morning on web browers searching for fun summertime machinima - from bikinis, beaches, romance and even cheesy monsters movies and turned up nada. Lady Gaga's Bad Romance was always first on the list of any type of video. What about some good romance - those dreamy romantic classics set in the summertime or just a fun spring break type of movie. I plan to pursue my search, but for now I think I can say - where's the cheesecake? Does everything have to be so dang serious all the time? It is okay to lighten it up sometimes...It is summer and for me as an American, July 4th is about family, fireworks and beach fun. So pardon me if I digress this week from serious topics.

Here's a list of some classic summer movies to inspire some cheesecake machinima! LOL.

On a personal level, I recently made a fun video in less than a half day, Soni Rocks America. It is intended for friends, and now the cat is out of the bag so I will use it as example of just having fun with film. I think we can learn from those fun moments, and we are more likely to experiment when we are in a play mode , and when the stakes are not so high. So here's my American Tribute: Cheesecake Machinima! There, I define cheesecake and illustrate it through my less than profound latest video. In advance, I will apologize if I offend you with my SL booty. Yes - dancing bikini clad women on the beach! I will have to turn in my feminist card.

In closing, I will blame Lowe Runo for inspiring me and a few friends recently with his late night brainstorm to recreate YMCA in the SL streets of NYC. So - the point of all this is - don't forget to have fun this summer, along the way toward that MAGNUM machinima masterpiece.

:) Soni

This column is now syndicated to AVIEW TV, courtesy of Lowe Runo Productions, Inc. and the Professional Machinima Artist Guild.

The Final Frontiers: Space and Steam Punk as Machinima

(pictured above Sonicity, and Lowe Runo, Kara Trapdoor)

I was invited on a late night tour of machinimatopher Asil Ares's NeoVictoria sim. The official grand opening will be sometime this summer. It is a perfect example of building community through machinima and role play, underscored with a funky steam punk theme I so love! So I slipped into one of my steam punk outfits (minus the hat). It was a great way to close out the night, especially when I was searching for inspiration for my bi-weekly blog.

I have been on this content creation kick lately in Second Life. I have been a builder, fashion designer, sound artist and when I have time I dabble in machinima. I have about 100 or more machinima works to my credit, but only a few I have invested serious time into creating. I am foremost a writer and researcher these days. My machinima skills are typically applied to my educational projects. In the past year, I have taken a step back from all my media work to examine the role of machinima in virtual communities such as Second Life. I have dedicated nearly a whole chapter to the subject in my recently released book, Second Life, Machinima, and the Other Society (amazon.com)

Let's examine how machinima fulfills the role of community in a virtual society. You don't have to be a professor to accept this challenge. LOL. First of all, you do believe your machinima work has value beyond self-gratification. I know that, as artists, each of us offers a piece of ourselves through our creations. I have been continually impressed with how many Machinima Artist Guild (MAG) members have competed in educational machinima contests, the most recent being that sponsored by the National Space Society and the University of Western Australia.

Kudos to all those who entered; for all were winners in my estimate. I reported on the story for The Best of SL Magazine, and it will be published in the July issue. Here's a few photos. Those from the outside looking inward at the work of the machinimatophers represented there, as well as the collegiality among the filmmakers, would be impressed with the professionalism and the spirit of community exhibited at the event.

Second Life, like no other forum, allows machinimatophers to share similar experiences and interact with one another. We all know the best locations to film (well most of them), and during special contests like the recent NSS one, we run into each other at times. Machinimatophers, whether apart of MAG or not, represent an important SL community. I had an opportunity to get to know machinimatopher Asil last night.

What an amazing person is my first observation. Asil is someone who has spent a considerable amount of time creating a machinima community focusing on steam punk - more specifically it is a neoVictorian sim that is set up for role play and machinima filming.

Asil even dedicated a parcel to MAG last night (note our illustrious founder pictured above). The NING site is sported on a big screen. I won't bother to go into the details, but Asil understands that an immersive experience can help to create MAGNUM machinima. Even if you do not care for role play sims, you might consider how SL allows us to move outside of ourselves and experiment with our dreams, fantasies and to reenact or recreate history - or even toy with our notions of future. Machinima can do the same, and role play allows us to experiment with various scenarios. It goes beyond acting, to investing some time into learning how you might respond in a particular situation. The NeoVictorian community represents only one of many communities in SL. There are similar communities, but not quite like this one that is designed for machinimatophers. Machinima allows one to archive role play (sort of like the filming of action game runs of the past, but far more meaningful). Machinima helps storytellers to act through various plots with a cast of characters that come to life as the story unfolds interactively among community members. Participants interact and respond, not merely act out lines.

Magnum machinima is part of a remix culture that embraces the future by understanding how it is shaped by the past - its technologies and its practices. I always like to remind readers that author Mark Twain was good friends with inventor Nikola Tesla, as was Charles Babbage and Charles Dickens. Magnum machinima is born from a spirit of community that taps into human creativity. Asil is offering a highly creative space for machinimatophers and a chance for the SL community to participate in the filmmaking process. At the very least, it is an opportunity for all to have good fun. I smell a contest in the near future.

NeoVictoria Residences and CCS Maze in Machinima

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Machinima/228/139/703

NeoVictoria SkyMall and CCS Arena in Machinima http://slurl.com/secondlife/Machinima/16/128/703

For more info:

http://www.houseofasils.com/neovictoria.html

http://neovictoria.ning.com/

So whether we are talking about capturing the spirit of space exploration (as articulated by the NSS) in a traditional sense, or unleashing our imagination to create spaces that allow us to remix history with the future, machinimatophers are leading the way in breaking down the barriers between the filmmaker and the communities of which they are part.

Asil is contributing toward a community that links viewers with makers. This is something that rarely happens in RL media, or other non-residential game platforms.

And the winner of the MAGNUM Community Award, if there were one (LOL) is Asil! That makes ASIL a professional in my book! Indeed, I will definitely add to Asil to the list of machinimatophers that MAG Founder Lowe Runo and I will interview for our book, Machinima: The Art and Practice (2011).

Finally, I recommend that you keep an eye on Jayjay Zifanwe, owner of the University of Western Australia sim, who supports the link between machinima and community in some very significant ways. Indeed, the UWA-BOSL Amphitheatre is a venue that is open to machinimatophers who are working on non-profit projects and need a large scale venue for screenings.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/University%20of%20WA/72/72/1646

- Soni :)