Day: November 2, 2020

A  year ago, we visited Somewhere Else BKLYN, a region designed by Littlesquaw and ToXxicShadow and intended primarily for Second Life photography (see Somewhere Else in Second Life).  Now Littlesquaw is back with a another take of a city setting with Midnight in Paris. Once again, it is a region offered as a photogenic setting that presents numerous opportunities for avatar photography – and for those who were in the BKLYN group, that same group is used for rezzing rights in this build.

As the name suggests, the region presents a view of Paris at night – a length of the Seine, in fact, with its familiar bankside roads on either side and steps descending to public walks just above the river’s waters.  A barge is chugging its way along the river, passing under one of the arched bridges, while town houses and business places stand to attention along the roads on either side.

The majority of the buildings at little more than façades, although a small bistro towards the middle of the north bank of the river offers an interior setting alongside a cobbled courtyard, beyond which lies a small park.

This may all sound simple – and in a sense, it is – but there is beauty (and care) in this apparent simplicity. The beauty is in the night-time setting, the use of lighting (you really should have the viewer’s Advanced lighting Model active  – Preferences → Graphics → Advanced Lighting Model).

The care comes from things like the inclusion of static NPCs that add a sense of human presence along the streets, the use of weather to offer a sense of change: rain is falling still on the south bank of the river, whilst on the north, some the the streets still have puddles from the recently-passed shower, whilst here and there cobblestone glisten in  the wake of its passage.

Further life is added by the presence of one or two little side streets of the kind that can so often be found when exploring a city like Paris; streets that carry you away from the familiar cosmopolitan bustle and into places where family businesses can still be found.

Quite where this scene might be in Paris isn’t important. While the Eiffel Tower forms a backdrop to the setting, whether or not Midnight in Paris is actually based on a part of the city simply isn’t important: the atmosphere created within the region is more than enough to carry you there – and have given those who have visited the inspiration to offer their own interpretations of Parisian life via the region’s Flickr group.

SLurl Details

• Midnight in Paris (Marion, rated General)