GA-GO and The Machinima Expo

On November 16-18, The Machinima Expo will feature a number of talented machinima artists, and one of those videos were produced by Takuma ”Gago Gigamon.” G-Project 2012 “End of The War” was among the films nominated in the 2012 Machinima Expo. For this project, Takuma tapped filmmaker SL MAG’s umekobutya Beck, an extremely talented Japanese machinimatographer. Takuma edited the film, and did the sound design.

You can watch the video here:  [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl1mimqvn_c]. 

A Word About The Expo

The Machinima Expo was founded by RICKY GROVE, an amazing man himself.   He’s proudly an ex-Hollywood actor after a long successful “film/TV” career, and today he is on the most wanted list for machinima voice talent.   Ricky likes the independence that machinima provides the producer.  Now, a big part of Ricky’s life has been producing Machinima Expo, in its fifth year.   The 2012 expo producers were Ricky Grove, Pooky Amsterdam, and Kate Fosk.  The screening team was Sean “Armanus” Heimbuch, Damien Valentine (Darth Angelus), Ricky Grove, thebiz, Eddie Dugan, and Kate Fosk.   I was honored to be part of the juried panel, and in very good company (Joseph Farbrook, Frank Dellario, Susan Johnston, Phil Rice).    

See the Machinima Expo site for info on the upcoming festival, and who’s who and what’s what.   When you are there, check out Hypatia Picken’s commissioned trailer promoting the festival.   I also had the wonderful honor of interviewing Ricky for the November issue of Best of SL Magazine in the on-going series, Masters of Machinima.   Read the complete BOSL feature story online or in-world.   Pickens was featured in an earlier BOSL edition.

The thing about The Machinima Expo, especially for SL filmmakers, we get to see what others are doing in other platforms – and they get to see what we are doing inside Second Life.   There is a long tradition of live music in Second Life, and with talents like The Follow, Mankind Tracer, and many others – machinima seems to be a creative tool that has helped in the promotion of these bands.    In another sense, a good story told through music, with some good visuals, offers great potential for bringing together audio and visual elements in unique presentation.

Going GA-GO for Machinima

Music and Machinima go together like birds and feathers, hot dogs and baseball, apple pie and Mom, and so forth.    Sometimes you happen upon an event that sparks your interest.   This time, the spark for this column came from my interview with Ricky Grove, and began to evolve from there.   All the pieces – machinima and music and the Expo fell in place last Friday when I was teleported into an amazing event by Belinda, a.k.a. producer of Gangnam Furry Style SL machinima.  She makes no apologies for her love of music and machinima, and a heavy dose of post-production.   So, of course, she would bring me to the GA-GO concert.   It was part of a larger live music event that day, but what got our attention was - its founder Takuma “Gago Gigamon” calls his band – a machinima band.  He literally put on an explosive show, lots of lights and even GA-GO dancers! Pounding beats, lots of enthusiasm and a Westernized rock-n-roll high fashion sense were other ingredients.

One can trace the art of dance to the visual arts historically, and more recently contemporary media has illustrated the relationship between music and film through the birth of MTV (which is so far from its original mission, but that is a different story).    I could further point to the link between animation and music, and that too has had a long path.   Think Beatles.   Think Pink Floyd’s The Wall.   Full Metal Jacket – does that ring a bell?  That’s only a few examples.    Some producers have enhanced silence films with soundscapes and music-scapes transforming the meaning of the visuals.   I consider music machinima as an important aspect of our media culture, popular and alternative.    I wrote in depth about that in my book, Machinima (with L. Runo, McFarland, March 2012), and I credit much to R. Murray Schafer (Tuning of the World, 1977) and Paul Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky, MIT Press) for opening my ears to a whole new sonic world more than a decade ago.  

Add to that, I had an opportunity to study the influence of Japanese sound culture and music on Western culture; I found that an extraordinary learning experience.   Henry David Thoreau’s was inspired by Eastern philosophers and their ways of turning into the environment.   For Thoreau, he tapped also into the burgeoning industrial soundscape of modernity (a phrase coined by sound historian Emily Thompson).    Japan is both a visual and listening culture.   There is a respect for silence in public places, along with a continual appreciation of natural environments and their sonic persona.    It is a sense of knowing time and place, understanding the need for silence on one hand, but totally getting the need to push the envelope at times.  There is a time to totally let loose and let technology have its say.   The surge of creativity can be heard and seen through anime and other visual art forms.    Music is shared via those experiences.

Japan’s Visual Aesthetic 
In the book Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime (by Mark W. Macwilliams, 2008, M.E. Sharpe), there is a quote by Jean Marie Bouissou that makes note of the Japanese “aesthetic of excess, conflict, imbalance, and overt sensuality.” Some of that visual aesthetic is captured in GA-GO’s machinima, filmed by SL MAG’s umekobutya Beck. There is definitely a Western sensibility in the machinima, and plenty of James Bond-like action. Takuma is a RL rock singer, and he puts on a high intensity rock show in SL. That kind of feeling is captured in the well-produced machinima.

The band members, aside from lead singer Takuma, include Keyboardist Setsuna Infinity, Guitarist Ark Foden, and GA-GO Dancers Pyson Camel and Sizuku3.Vella. The band’s manager is the lovely Yumi Yumichan Allen.

Takuma told me, “the ‘possibility of new music’ can be pursued in the virtual world. ‘GA-GO SL Ver’ is a Japanese machinima rock band.”   The band is a virtual take of the RL band, and it’s based on the “hot 80's rock music scene, with a very heavy, loud sound and experience in entertainment,” and when you can hear Takuma “shout out and the audience responds in Second Life,” he says, “It's insane!”    He enjoys the diversity among his listeners/viewers, and hopes his music “resounds in the souls of young and old who find this an exciting dream in a chaotic age.”

The band members in SL differ from RL members.  The SL members are builders and creators, and help with the lighting, dance and overall production of the show.  Setsuna is a builder who has been involved in the creation of the Miss Virtual World stage and the sim build for the Ashraya Project.

Takuma feels fortunate to hear his songs in SL, for it has made possible what he thought to be an impossible expression.   To him “the place of expression is Second Life,” a virtual world that allows for new music and new ideas.

In RL, the band is simply known as "GA-GO" and they are very active in Kansai, Japan.

Special thanks to Sakurako Watanbe, owner of the Kumashon Shopping Mall, for hosting the SL event shown in some of the above photos (taken by S.F.).

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Official GA-GO Web Site (translated)

http://gagotakuma.slmame.com/e1264221.html

Machinima Expo

http://www.machinima-expo.com/

BEST OF SL Magazine

http://magazine.thebestofsl.com/

Bel and I will see you at the MACHINIMA EXPO.

The Professional Machinima Artist Guild and Lowe Runo Productions graciously host Magnum:  The Machinima Review. 

Bump in the Night

Things that go bump in the night! 

I'm back from a month hiatus to take on the Season of The Witch (2011), not the motion picture starring Nicholas Cage.  I was one that enjoyed it, but the critics and viewers were mixed in their reaction. A much larger issue is at hand, as the bewitching hour draws closer to us.  What is it about horror movies that give us tingles up our spine?  Good and bad scary movies have an effect, with some more subtle than others.  Whether we love them or hide from them, during the Halloween season, they surround us from movie trailers to costumes to fake spider webs.  The reality is - the images and storylines don't have to be that "real" to frighten us.  Think about all those "Jason" and Freddy" movies - and what about "The Candy Man" or today's generation's reincarnation of the ancient "Slender Man" - we suspend disbelief to believe in the dark side.  Even in the virtual world, the Wicked Witch of Second Life might get you, my pretties. 

The plots seem trite. The victims are paralyzed with fear, and we think we would do something differently;  we would run faster (and not trip on that tree branch) but then we think, would we, could we?  Horror movies tap into our wildest fears, even worse than any nightmares conceived within our mind - alas, it comes from the human mind, that writer who knows those little twists and turns to get us on edge.   The ghastly figure peering into our window, the doll under our bed that comes to life when we sleep, or even the creature that looms within the depths of the lake - all bring to mind familiar movie scenes.   If one believes in good, then surely there is evil.  If one believes in evil, then there must be some goodness in the world.   One or two characters escape from this horrid wrath, only to be faced with those demons again and again in sequels.

We laugh about some of these movies, and how silly they are, but we watch them - and jump at the appropriate times.  Our primal fears are aroused by sound and light, and some instinctual sense rooted deeply into our being.   Do you ever think - could I ever do such dastardly deeds, if pushed beyond my limits?  What are those human limits?  Do you ever know?   In comic books and films, there are supernatural transformations into superheroes  - and then there are those humans that become supernaturally evil and powerful, driven by revenge and psychosis.  Maybe there was something evil in them from conception.  Freud spoke of our id, the darkness closeted deep within our mind.  Is it that part of us that enjoys these movies?

Earlier this year, Time Out London published a list of the top 100 horror films, and the top ten are worthy of reflection this Halloween -  The Exorcist (1973), The Shining (1980), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Psycho (1960), Alien (1979), The Thing (1982), Rosemary's Baby (1968), Halloween (1978), Suspiria (1976), and Dawn of the Dead (1978).

Check out the whole list here: http://www.timeout.com/london/feature/2494/best-horror-films.

"Bad people don't come with warning labels." 

I heard that line today, as I wrote this column, watching a Lifetime movie!  That is a network full of movies that by its design asks us to put our critical sensors on hold!  LOL.  I have come to learn many men watch this network too, as well as its target audience of women of many ages.  Only those brave men admit to it!

What is it about horror movies that captivate our attention and scare us out of our mind.  EXACTLY.  A horror movie is a step into madness, a point were human weakness and strengths are exploited.  It is the pounding of the heart in Edgar Allen Poe's Tell Tale Heart.  [Here's a The Sims 2 adaption - a pantomime]  It is our humanity that allows us to fall prey to the supernatural.  It is more than the eerie music, whispers in the dark, the blood and writhing, flickering lights and shadows, or even the infamous Wilhelm scream.  In the world of horror, we can trust no one - not our lovers, children, or parents.  We are alone - and not alone.  We are sane - and perhaps insane.  We cannot even trust ourselves.  Vampires did not make the top 10, but Dawn of the Dead did.  Perhaps it is because what scares us most is ourselves, those of our own species. Vampires live eternally, and zombies are mindless, drooling creatures.  We hold life precious, fully rich with emotions and intelligence.  Those emotions include fear, and the absence of fear is to be a zombie. A vampire fears its second death.

Now let’s look at some horror machinima from the past few years.  The range of skills and content are quite diverse.   

Above, World of Warcraft's This is Halloween - a musical ditty that you will recognize.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlZ2wSHw7YI

Above, A Sims 2 Horror Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ivkpVzgyRQ&feature=related
The windows scenes are worth the view.  Why did they leave the door open?

How about a couple of H.P. Lovecraft adaptations?  We start of course with the work of the wonderfully talented Lainy Voom, in particular her version of Dagon.  It is an artistically crafted voyage into the mind.  Or what about the award-winning series The Shadow of Innsmouth and its prequels screened at the Machinima Expo over multiple years.

And then one of my students, Patrick, this past summer experimented with a bit with horror, first using Minecraft to produce a music video (Skillet's Monster) and then Second Life to create a sci-fi mini thriller.   Realize that these were his first machinima projects.

Minecraft – Skillet's Monster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3069ceRNuMg&feature=plcp

Second Life - Horror on the Bridge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvfEo9C-F-o&list=PL00535DE7B042CF43&feature=plcp

Note the cameo by my co-instructor Lowe Runo in "Horror on the Bridge."  Lowe himself produced a machinima years ago called Bedtime, playing off our childhood fears. We all have at least one scary story in us - what is your story?   

We find reasons why to celebrate Halloween all year-round.   This November 30th, Black Friday, the biggest shopping day after Thanksgiving, The Collection will be debut in movie theaters.   And its logo is..."the real Black Friday."   

What can we learn from horror movies?  - techniques of foreshadowing, building suspense, tapping into fears, unique characterization, and how to take us on the emotional roller coaster ride of our lifetime.  That does not necessarily mean lots of action in the physical sense.  It means an exploration into the primeval nature that connects us all.   As we face our greatest fears, there is hope that the human race can rise above them all, to start again - until Part  II.

Be sure to attend Machinima Expo inside Second Life - November 16-18th, and visit the Web site at http://www.machinima-expo.com/

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 Thanks to Belinda Barnes-Fitzroy for posing in some of the photos.   By the way, here's a playlist of my students' projects from the summer, with most of them dabbling for the first time in machinima -  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL00535DE7B042CF43&feature=plcp.  

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The Professional Machinima Artist Guild and Lowe Runo Productions graciously host Magnum:  The Machinima Review. 

The Many Masters of Machinima - continues

Summer is nearly to a close. The year is swiftly passing by.   I thought I might do a mid year check on the pulse of machinima.  I enjoyed the University of Western Australia's machinima competition once again - MachinimUWA V: Seek Wisdom exhibited more than 50 works.  Major applause to SL UWA Founder Jayjay Zifanwe for all his time and resources for creating a strong community of virtual artists and filmmakers.  One of the things I am personally proud of, is Best of SL Magazine's addition of a feature spotlight called, Masters of Machinima.   I don't always select the person who will be featured, but I have been pleased with the nominations and selections.  They represent a diverse group of seasoned, up-and-coming, and new talent.  It would be impossible to feature everyone, but I hope the series will continue for a long time. Just the idea of promoting the concept of machinima is refreshing, and it continues to be a goal of mine to promote the art and practice of this medium and its potential.  

The August BOSL featured the abstract music machinima of JJccc Coronet.  His love and talent for abstract art is projected in his moving images.  His work is also featured on Duran Duran's latest DVD Diamond in the Mind, as well as at its RL concerts.    JJccc, you might easily say, is the official machinimatographer for Duran Duran.   You can find him filming at nearly every Duran Duran Universe (DDU) event in Second Life.  The photos below are mine from Nick Rhodes' 50th Birthday Bash.  Rhodes is a key founder of the band Duran Duran.  JJ is the big red guy!  As you can see, these events get a bit wild.  Head to his channel here. 

In fact, DDU Community Manager Chrissy Welinder told me, “Nick is crazy for his videos and after every event the first thing he asks me is, 'Has JJccc made a video?'"   By the way, Nick Rhodes is the founding band member and responsible for bringing Duran Duran band members into Second Life and for the creation of the DDU, along with Chrissy.    

In July, the BOSL focus was on Star Wars' fame Tony Dyson and MaMachinima's Chantal Harvey, and I blogged about their new adventures with the BobbeKins (see prior blog).  

June brought us a focus on MAG Founder/Filmmaker Lowe Runo, co-author of Machinima: The Art & Practice of Virtual Filmmaking (McFarland, 2012).   Ricky Grove and Kate Fosk interviewed us recently for their Machinima ExpoCast (podcast) series on SoundCloud and posted on their Web site. The duo are extremely well versed in the going-ons of machinima so definitely make plans for Machinima Expo 2012.  It's the fifth anniversary, and this year events will be still held in SL, but also streamed live across the Web.   Submission of machinima continues through September 30th, midnight.   And the expo is scheduled typically in November.  Check their Web site for details.  Psst. Ricky Grove's voice was featured in last year's grand prize machinima - BiggsTrek's The Haunter of the Dark, and an exceptionally well done nearly 30 minute story based on Lovecraft's work.

And you gotta love the Expo's 2012 promo - The Moon - by machinimatographer Tom Jantol.  He has been a big part of the events in the past.

Then in May, we had Emanuelle (Ema) Courtois (above), an amazing young woman filmmaker who brings new perspective to machinima.   Her fashion machinima has brought her real life opportunities and kudos.

She has had a long relationship with music and imagery, and machinima allows her new creativity. 

April focused on Hypatia Pickens, known for her stunning machinimatography, rich storylines, and intriguing voice.  She crafts her machinima well, and it is her attention to the details that underscores her talent.

March, of course, started the series with Rysan Fall, one of the first and active members of MAG.   He rarely has time to surface for public events.   He is very engaged in his machinima craft and business.  He is definitely a professional machinima maker, and has worked years perfecting his talent - and as he would say, learning from others in the machinima community.

Coming in September, BOSL's Masters in Machinima features Tutsy Navarathna.  He is a three time winner in the University of Western Australia's series of machinima challenges.  His winning work was The Last Syllable of Recorded Time in the MachinimUWA: V Seek Wisdom competition, and this coming issue will explore his philosophy of machinima and vision for virtual worlds in general.   

 Think of him as the Jim Morrison of machinima - more in the full-length feature.

There are so many more talented machinima makers, and machinima creativity can be defined and conceptualized in so many ways.   The future remains open with potential, and no matter the platform, be it a virtual world or not, machinima will continue to evolve.   

The SL Coming to Steam
With the Linden Lab's move to add Second Life to Steam, and with anticipated requirements for computers to handle higher resolution graphics, there may be some challenges as well as opportunities in the near future.   But the point remains, machinima will evolve regardless of a particular platform.   There are some opportunities for freedom and creativity that would be lost if the nature of Second Life moved away from the virtual world as we know it - and the Lindens considered Second Life merely another game platform.

Alas, much thanks should go to the Lindens for allowing machinima to flourish in this immersive environment.   It has given us a glimpse of things to come or at least possible.   Let's hope that the Lindens truly understand that Second Life is both a social and artistic world that brings us together internationally, in a way that machinima.com and Steam in and of itself cannot do.   The Lindens are truly ahead of their time, and in the coming years, Second Life will be appreciated as the first successful experiment in virtual worlds.

SL is nearly a decade old.   That is quite an accomplishment:  let the experiment continue to flourish so that many can be involved. Every medium needs an audience. Let's not merely be another machinima.com that targets a specific demographic, although they are an important part of the machinima population and marketing equation.  As Ricky Grove would tell us (see the SL Enquirer interview with Ricky, Kate Fosk and Pooky Amsterdam) there is much more out there for creative artists and filmmakers who use machinima for storytelling and communicating to a larger audience outside the gaming community.   Perhaps machinima might go for that television audience who has found its way to the Web.  There will always be programmnig that appeals to certain demographics, but let's make content that reaches beyond the members of our platform, whatever it is, especially at a time when viewers are drawn to quality animated features.

I would have to say, when I was growing up, I never really thought about existing - working and playing - in a virtual world.  But here I am.   I have written two books related to media usage in Second Life, and I feel that history has been made here.  I teach students here;  I interview wonderful musicians and media makers in avatar form as well as connect with their audiences.   I think one of the key moments for me in Second Life was CBS' CSI: NY, for broadcast television had extended its programming reach into an immersive environment, where viewers could not only watch the program but participate in it.   Now maybe it did not revolutionize broadcasting.  But once again, we were offered a glimpse of the future.  Tracing back the history of broadcast media, it takes quite awhile for adoption of new technologies for both economic and political reasons.

There is so much more ahead for us, and understanding that our own particular virtual sky is not the limit is a good start.   Saying that, Second Life is where many have us have put our time and energy - including me.  The caution is, technology always evolves.  I hope the Lindens realize what a jewel they have, and the gems include those creative people who have invested much time and resources so far.   It is a wonderful machinima playground that brings Tony Dyson, Nick Rhodes, and Ricky Grove - and so many other professionals and amateurs - to such an environment. Nevertheless, you can bet on technological and creative evolution; there's more to come....

The Professional Machinima Artist Guild and Lowe Runo Productions graciously host Magnum:  The Machinima Review.

The Fantasy World of Star Wars' Tony Dyson

I had the pleasure of interviewing special effects guru Tony Dyson of Star Wars' R2-D2 fame and so many Hollywood blockbusters for the July issue of Best of SL Magazine.


Tony Dyson is definitely a master of machinima,  and now that he is teamed up with Chantal Harvey, MMIF founder and professional filmmaker, they have become the dynamic duo.

So what's their latest adventure - the BobbeKins, a wonderful journey into the fantasy world of children. You have to understand that both Tony and Chantal have a love for fantasy, positive storytelling, and inspiring and educating audiences through imagery.I think we often overlook the younger viewers when we think of machinima ideas.  When you really think of it, machinima is a form of animation, and animation has been enriching the lives of children for generations, from cartoons to Disney Classics to our newly emerging online characters in kids games.  Machinima has the potential to reach the young and old, and everyone in between.  Parents used to watch those Saturday morning cartoons with their children (on a television in the living room together - and enjoy them), if for nothing else the double meaning hidden in the dialogue and images.   Some of that still exits, but the movie industry has accelerated childhood to a great extent.   Few General Audience movies exist today.   Fantasy creatures and lands abound, yet few are inviting for children.

Machinima can reach out to some of those forgotten demographics and serve for not only educational uses, but just for fun!  If you are looking for inspiration, check out the top 50 cartoon characters of all time (now this excludes the great PBS children's programming that I grew up with, but it is an interesting browse back on what has captured our attention.)  I came across another site, called Common Sense, namely for traditional family values, and mind you I am not pushing any agenda.  But there's some good kids' shows in the mix.  Take what you want out - there's something for nearly everyone.   Pooky Amsterdam's crew has produced a wonderful teen series via machinima called Time Travelers.  She's get it.   But that is only one of the many genres that her company produces with machinima.  

So what's the point of this column.  Take some time out - and just think about all this.  Before you leap to your next project, take a moment and look at what some of your colleagues are producing - and what they are not producing!  Consider all genres for machinima, as you would any type of animated program and really any type of program, given that it seems appropriate to your audience.  All of us have grown up with animation, from cartoons, to music videos, educational programming, drama and so forth.

The thing is - there are no rules for machinima.   You have to be willing to put yourself out there, and see what works.   But that is the case of any filmmaker.   It helps to have passion on whatever your producing - passion about the story/theme and reaching your audience.  If you have that, and have the time and resources, then try it.  If you don't have time or resources, find someone who believes in your idea!  Just keep trying - isn't that something we would tell our children!    I guess that is our lesson today.   Keep moving ahead and know the future is bright, especially if you know the appropriate windlight setting.   Wink.   LOL.

What about machinima for girls!  Girls in the Sky was clever, and I would like to see more of that.  Then again, I was a Powerpuff Girl fan, and I love silly adventure starring girls.   Machinima is not limited by ages, and not limited to Second Life audiences.   Tony and Chantal have it right to go for a new generation of viewers, and their hearts are pure with good intentions in using Second Life, seeing a potential beyond what most of us consider.   Second Life is a meeting place for media makers, a social networks, but mostly a creative platform for bringing fantastic images and stories to the general public, given you understand the platform's weaknesses and strengths.

The Scissores Film Production Company is definitely playing to the strengths of machinima and Second Life.  The mix of fantastic sets, strong characters, and a large dose of fantasy works well here.  Much success to them!

Here are a couple of teasers from Scissores.  Enjoy!  and be on the look out more from this creative team!
It's Great to Be Alive
BobbeKin Chit Chat

The Professional Machinima Artist Guild and Lowe Runo Productions graciously host Magnum: The Machinima Review. All Rights Reserved.

Music to our Eyes: Learning on The Fly

Machinima in Pop Media Culture

This summer I am taking 10 students under my wings, along with my “Machinima” co-author Lowe Runo.  He (and other staff) will offer guidance & critique sessions during the course.   I have taught machinina as a segment of my long-standing Virtual Worlds course, but this is the first time that I am teaching an undergraduate course to students with majors across my university - Cinema & Photography, Radio & Television, Information Sciences Technology, and Art & Design – with the possibility of Education students in the near future.  The course is called Machinima – Real Time Animation (for Virtual Filmmakers). 

I know other instructors have preceded me, like Hypatia Pickens who teaches machinima as well but rather through her English Department.   Hypatia has a unique blending of poetry and literature in her personal works.  I can’t help but think how that influences her students, and challenges them to visualize the classics.  There is definitely something extremely fascinating with “accessible” and “relatable” filmmaking – and its role in bringing cinematic interpretation of cultural and iconic works. Whereas machinima’s direct influence can be easily attributed to the burgeoning game culture, let’s not forget we have all grown up with some form of animation, from Disney blockbusters, tons of cartoons, and even music videos.  My students appear to be heavily influenced by this powerful cultural connection uniting the entertainment world.  Some favorite classic tunes from Disney’s Beauty and The Beast and The Little Mermaid were uniquely expressed on the Big Screen - a connection between animation and music and literature came alive for parents and children.

On another level, the music industry is no stranger to animation.   Pink Floyd’s full length music video/movie The Wall has some amazing animated scenes.  Full Metal Jacket is another animated classic for a post teen generation. Time warp to A-ha’s Take On Me in the 1980s, as comic characters pop onto the screen. 

I have heard more than one reference to Kayne West as an inspiration from many of my students (while others note Daft Punk).  Here’s an animated feature made by a UCLA student in his sophomore year based on Kayne's Power.  Kayne's Heard ‘Em Say  music video, animated by Bill Plympton (2005), is an example.  Then in 2009, he used animation again for Heartless.  And I love the unofficial animated video on his song, Street Lights.  

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"Fav" Animated Music Videos

Michael Saba (2010) presents 10 animated music videos for your consideration, http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2010/07/the-ten-best-animated-music-videos.html.  Among those Top Ten, he listed Kayne’s Heartless and that A-ha classic.  Check out the whole list.  (JJ-5Cs of SLMAG has done an exceptional job with his machinima on Duran Duran's fan parties in Second Life. DD's Roger Moore in animated form has deejayed often for a full house at the Duran Duran Universe, below.)

Another great award-winning animated video music series, with a debut nearly five years ago, was based on the alternative Israeli band EatLiz, noted by MTV.  If one gets past purist sensibilities, we begin to see that animation has touched us all in some form or another.  What is different now is the simplicity empowered by modern day machinima.

Adding Class to Machinma

It is to this world I introduce a new group of students to elements of art and practice, some of whom have made a few machinima of their own with an interest to learn more, and some who have seen machinima and would like to try it out, and then others who are heavily vested in animation and considering how to infuse Maya and other programs into virtual worlds to create unique sets and scenarios for filmmaking.   I had one student experiment with importing his Maya objects into Second Life with much success.   

He made a beginning tutorial for his classmates, and I can share that in the near future.   He is a fascinating student (dressed as the Ninja among some of his classmates, pictured above) and I would like to feature his animation in an upcoming blog.  It is certainly worth a full column, as you will see.  His film elements have been created, however, through Maya.  His goal is to connect Second Life with his present style of work and platform.

I think it is important to ask the next generation what they are thinking about animation generally, and machinima specifically whenever possible.  Better than ask, I invite you to do a search of what is out there across the Internet.   In the end, it is all about translating images and sounds in relatable forms, be that of the gaming generations (especially today) or those of us who grew up watching our favorite animations in cartoon and movie genres.   That includes just about all of us now – and the rise of the 24/7 cartoon generation has significantly impacted media producers in recent times. As Pooky implies, we all want to be cartoon stars, don't we?

In my class, students will choose their machinima capture platform, and that may or may not include Second Life, depending on their interests.   Second Life will definitely be introduced to all of them, and also be shown as providing a viable forum for communication and conferencing among machinima makers.   We have seen so many wonderful exhibitions, discussions, and expositions within Second Life, from the MaMachinima International Festival, 48 Hours Film Project – Machinmia, The Machinima Expo, Pop Art Lab, and so much more. 

We Are All Educators!

It begins by simply watching and talking about machinima.  Sharing will always remain a part of the machinima community, whether or not you collaborate on projects with other media makers.   We all certainly are members of the animation audience, as consumers and critics, in a very real way, virtually.  Really.   And remember someone is always watching us as individual producers and the larger machinima community.   I get that, immediately, as an educator.   We are all educators!

I hope to include those willing to visit with my students this summer!  My good friend Belinda Barnes (above) has helped my students tremendously in the immediate past, and Lowe Runo has done the same consistently for a few years now. 

Textbook: Johnson, Phylis & Donald Pettit. (2012).  Machinima: Art and Practice in Virtual Filmmaking. NC: McFarland. Book available online, electronic or paperback.  Amazon.com

The Professional Machinima Artist Guild and Lowe Runo Productions graciously hostMagnum: The Machinima Review. All Rights Reserved.