Category: The Drax Files

The fifth segment of The Drax Files moves somewhat away from the central theme of the series to date, that of content creators and their work in Second Life and shines a light on the live music scene within SL. In doing so, it again demonstrates the rich diversity of opportunity which is available within the digital world.

Engrama is a partnership of musicians in both in the real world and in SL in the form of Argentine-born Pupito Helstein and his Spanish girlfriend Lakua Arriaga. Like many musicians who have embraced Second Life, they’ve found that the platform has provided them with a unique world-wide reach that provides an added dimension to their real-world lives.

“We have no backing tracks, it’s all live,” Pipito says of their in-world performances, “We prefer to play original songs; In fact we improvise in Second Life, we sometimes create even original songs.”

“It totally depends on the mood of the crowd,” Lakua adds.

Operating from their mountain village home, Engrama have developed not only a distinctive voice, focusing on post-rock era music (which includes covers of Sigur Ros, Radiohead and others as well as their own original pieces), but also a distinctive presence. They’ve taken to building their own stage sets and instruments to better reflect their music and style. More recently, this has led the couple into wider fields of content creation, making prefab homes, furniture and clothing. Pupito has even attempted to encourage his musician friends to embrace Second life, spending time creating unique avatars for them.

“There is one magic thing in Second Life,” Lakua says as the couple distinguish between their real world and Second Life experiences, “[That’s] when people send us messages like, ‘Hey guys, I heard Engrama music at the Colorado [Grand] Canyon on a trip!'”

“People record our Second Life shows,” Pupito adds, “And then they listen to them on their iPods.”

“They share with us how our music makes them feel,” Lakua finishes.

This is not boasting in any way; the statements are made in a tone of delight and wonder which demonstrates both Lakua and Pupito are themselves awed by the impact their music can have on an audience they might otherwise never reach. “This  is real interaction,” Lakua states as the video closes, “Second Life is a parallel life, they [it and real life] can go together, and sometimes they can cross.”

And that is again the magical power contained within Second Life – not only that we can come into the digital world and free ourselves from the constraints of everyday life and business and create and play and have a lot of fun or share time with others – but that we have within this digital domain the ability to reach far beyond ourselves, to touch others and be touched by them, to share, uplift and help others, and be a part of lives, and make them a part of our own in ways which simply cannot be achieved in the physical world.

Continue reading “The Drax Files 5: Engrama make SL rock” →

The third in Draxtor’s Despres series looking inside Second Life, The Drax Files, premiered on Friday April 5th. In it, he talks with artist and creator Eshi Otawara, a six-year veteran of Second Life.

Perhaps best known for her clothing designs in SL, Eshi is also an artist in her real life, and also  lends support to other SL projects as well. In what only can be serendipity, prior to watching this segment ahead of the release, I blogged on Chakryn Forest a region in which  Eshi has had a hand in helping to design.

As someone who has been involved in SL for a good while, and who invests a considerable amount of time and talent in the platform, Eshi offers a considered and insightful view of Second Life, and which perfectly frames both the immersive and augmentive opportunities presented by the platform.

“At the beginning,” Eshi candidly tells us early on in the piece, “I created my avatar to be everything that I was not. She was super, super tall, super, super skinny, [and] had super long hair. When I realised that my personality and my spirit continued to experience life no matter what kind of packaging I put myself into; nowadays I’ve just kind-of become a complete shape-shifter….”

There are times when those of us involved in SL perhaps define it a little too sharply, picturing it as either augmentive or immersionist, with a distinct division between the two – a division which may well have been broadened of late by the Lab’s focus on enhancing the more immersive elements of the platform possibly at the expense of the more augmentive. This may even be a reason why some feel that SL has “failed” and so lost its appeal; because they do place themselves on one side or the other of the divide.

Eshi’s words, however, serve as a reminder that SL doesn’t have to be one or the other. It always has been, and remains, a blend of the two – and that really, so much of how we perceive and interact with the platform is really down to our own nature. Her attitude to her avatar, to me at least, is very much a reflection of this: she can both immerse herself in the world through her shape-shifting use of her avatar while simultaneously augmenting her natural talent and love of art and design in ways she notes aren’t always possible in real life and which allow much of her spirit and personality shine through her avatar. In doing so, she has a perception of Second Life which can all too easily be lost after several years of engagement with the platform, but which she has clearly managed to keep very much alive.

Her views on the creative power inherent in Second Life clearly speak to the appeal of the platform. “It’s not a non-existent universe,” she tells us later in the video, “It’s there. It exists. If you just release yourself of that prejudice towards what’s virtual; that’s it’s not real, it will make you happy.”

This is another outstanding piece examining Second Life which again, as with the first two segments (though hardly touched upon in my reports to date) speaks as much to those of us involved in SL as to those new to the virtual world. They help to remind us as to why we’re here and (possibly) reinvigorating our love of the platform.

For me, out of the segments Drax has published to date, it is the one which resonates the most – for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. Perhaps it is because Eshi touches on the immersive / augmentist elements of SL (which I’ve been thinking about a lot lately) or that her enthusiasm for the platform as a means of extending her both her creativity and her ability to interact with other is so infectious; maybe it is simply that having experienced something of a pendulum attitude towards Second Life over the course of the last year, her insights into the platform as a whole resonate more strongly with me.

Whatever the reason, this another pitch-perfect exploration of Second Life and the many ways it can appeal to us and offer us something magical. Congrats to Drax on again striking precisely the right editorial balance and to Eshi for painting such a vibrant picture of Second Life and her involvement with it.

Related Links

• The Drax Files episode 3 on YouTube
• Eshi’s website – RL art
• Eshi’s in-world store (SLurl)
• Eshi on SL Marketplace
• Draxtor Despres on YouTube
• Draxtor’s website
• The Drax Files World Makers in this blog

Coming out a little ahead of schedule, Draxtor Despres launched the second segment of The Drax Files on Friday March 22nd. As with the premiere show, the format uses mixed reality, cutting between Second Life and real life to look at another aspect of the former and those from the latter who have made it possible.

The second show in the series focuses on the 1920s Berlin Project and the driving force behind it, Jo Yardley, from Amsterdam.

Jo has worked on the 1920s Berlin project almost since her arrival in Second Life, and in doing so, demonstrates one of the major abilities of the platform: the creation of an immersive environment which not so much stands as a static reproduction of a place and era, but which actually brings it to life, allowing those involved in the project as residents and those coming to it as visitors to experience life as it was in Berlin during the inter-war years of the twentieth century.

As with the first segment, Drax takes a backseat in things, rather than opting for an interviewer-lead reportage-type approach to the subject. This allows Yo to present both her involvement in Second Life, and how it naturally overlaps with her real life in Amsterdam in an entirely natural style which draws you, almost intimately, into her life and passion for history.

There are times when Second Life is seen by those in the world at large as being for those lacking a “first life”, people without interests, hobbies or friends which and with whom to engage. By allowing us to see into her real life, as well as exploring her Second Life work with her, Yo presents the real, human heart and soul of Second Life – the ability to use it to extend hobbies and interests, the opportunity to provide immersive environments which both engage and inform and in doing so, meet with people from all over the world and form bonds and communities which perhaps run both broader and deeper than  those we might forge purely through the likes of Facebook and other two-dimensional social media.

What emerges is a warm, informative picture of Second Life and why people do care so much about it, how it can offer-up unique opportunities for those wishing to explore it and which further demonstrates how mixed reality is an ideal format for promoting Second Life. Witness, for example, the way in which we see an audience at the 1920s movie theatre in Second Life are in turn able to see into Yo’s real life activities as they are projected up onto the silver screen.

It is this care with the editing and composition of the show which, to me, does much to set The Drax Files as a beacon to those looking to positively promote SL to a larger audience through the use of machinima and mixed-media. Drax demonstrates an intuitive skill, doubtless spurred by his own passion for Second Life, to produce shows which are beautifully balanced from editing through the soundtrack selection to the final cut, to produce a unique and insightful window into the platform and its users.

Kudos, once again!

Related Links

• The Drax Files episode 2 on YouTube
• The 1920s Berlin Project SLurl (Rated: Moderate)
• The 1920s Berlin Project website
• The 1920s Berlin Project blog
• Draxtor Despres on YouTube
• Draxtor’s website
• The Drax Files World Makers in this blog

Friday March 1st marks the launch of a new monthly series on YouTube, created, edited and produced by musician and machinima-maker Draxtor Despres.

Perhaps currently best known for his collaboration with Pooky Amsterdam and others in the high-successful (if now sadly defunct) Flufee shows, Draxtor has turned his not inconsiderable skills to looking behind Second Life and talking to the people who make it the vibrant, immersive world it is – its users. To quote from the press release accompanying the launch:

The Drax Files: World Makers, will be a monthly show on YouTube examining the creative people behind the avatars who continue to move the virtual world of Second Life forward with their passion and persistence.

The show utilises a mix of real-life footage, Skype interviews and machinima shot from within Second Life, to present a series of short, insightful visual vignettes of what SL means to content creators across the grid, from self-taught hobbyists to dedicated professionals from all walks of life, from all over the world, cutting across gender, ethnic and generational divides.

In the first episode, Drax interviews Kriss Lehmann, owner / operator of Botanical, a leading supplier of trees, plants, textures and landscaping items for Second Life users. In the 5-minute piece, Kris describes his work, his avatar and what Second Life has both brought him and means to him.

The mark of the piece is that it allows Kriss to present himself and Second Life with no overt editorial slant or prompting from Drax. This allows the potentials of SL to be explored as Kriss sees them, giving the entire video an entirely natural feel – a conversation, if you like, rather than a set-piece interview. Real-world video and machinima are interwoven beautifully, the latter almost completely devoid of the set-piece (and artificial) animations and gestures which are all too often the hallmark of LL’s own promotional efforts, allowing scenes to blend together seamlessly. Even where the machinima is staged, in the recounting of Kriss’ meeting and wooing of his SL partner (and now rl wife), Shai Delacroix, it is done so without unnecessary schmaltz, and simply adds a picture to Kriss’ own words.

That Kriss is given the freedom to express both his own work and what Second Life represents to him as someone who uses it to interact with others, offers an insight into Second Life which is so rarely seen in more traditional promotional videos. As such, and assuming the style and presentation of this first segment of the series is how the remaining five episodes will be handled, The Drax Files stand to offer a richer, more engaging promotion of Second Life than can currently be found in any of Linden Lab’s own attempts as seen either on their YouTube channel or on the SL WhatIs webpage.

So Rod, if you’re reading this, here’s a prime example of what I mean when talking about LL collaborating with users in the promotion of SL. The Drax Files – even one our two segments – could be a very positive addition to the WhatIs page.

But don’t just take my word for it – take five minutes and watch the show yourself.

Kudos to Draxtor for developing this series.

Loki’s Commemorative Hoodie

To mark the launch of The Drax Files. Loki Eliot has produced a special limited-edition hoodie in his glowing clothes range. The mesh hoodie is limited to a run of just 100, and is offered at L$250.

Related Links

• The Drax Files episode 1 on YouTube
• Draxtor Despres on YouTube
• Draxtor’s website
• Botanical / Straylight SLurl (Rated: General)
• Loki’s mesh Drax Files hoodie
• The Drax Files World Makers in this blog