The series will run for six months from October 1st, 2011
All artists in SL will be able to apply to have a full sim on which to host an art show of their own for a period of 1 month through the series
Each artist will receive access to a sim on the 1st of the month
They will have full use of the sim in order to mount their
When their show actually launches, and how long it runs for within the month is up to the artist
The sim will be cleared on the last day of the month and passed to the next applicant on the 1st of the following month
Each artist will receive a blog write-up in the LEA Blog, UWA Blog and the Virtual Outworlding Blog (and others, if coverage confirmed)
The closing dates for applications is Saturday 10th September 2011
Artists wishing to participate should send a NC to both Jayjay Zifanwe and Bryn Oh describing what the sim artwork will be in no more than 100 words, and:
Provide the names of anyone who might be working with you in creating the sim / show
Give your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd preference for the month in which you’d like to present your show (October 2011 through March 2012).
The August Month of Machinima kicked-off on Wednesday 3rd August, but way too late for me to get to the LEA theatre – 7:00pm SLT, so here’s a belated look.
Eleven entries are on offer this month, with the theme being: “Design and Architecture”.
The entrants cover a broad range of topics within the over theme, encompassing an examination of an international project encompassing students in the USA and Egypt, The Kansas to Ciaro Project #2; through homages to some of SL’s most innovative, quirky and/or thought-provoking builders and artists, AM Radio, Alambra, Off the Wall, Two Ways of Looking at You, What isn’t Underneath, presented in various forms from musical tours, to history-within-a-tale to storytelling; through to questions on the nature of perception, The House that Self Built. Along the way we pass the more esoteric with Relevant Search and Democracia Virtual Ya, and encounter the story of a wandering robot, Copy Design.
After my slight disappointment last month, the August collection makes for interesting viewing, although I admit to being somewhat lost with Demoncracia is concerned; I’m probably a little too literal.
As per usual, the films are all available for viewing at the LEA Theatre (Surl), or can be seen on the Month of Machinima YouTube channel. I’m also including my personal favourites for the month below, each of which demonstrate, in different ways, the power of Second Life.
The theme for July’s Month of Machinima is “Games in SL”.
Or at least, that’s the theory; and tbh I’d been looking forward to seeing a set of films showcasing the magic of games and role play in Second Life, and perhaps even learning about elements of rp or other games in SL I’ve not previously encountered. As the very least, I was anticipating seeing glimpses of stories involving fantasy, science-fiction and the rest. Sadly, this was not to be.
Don’t get me wrong, the entries on show this month at the LEA Theatre are visually impressive, and demonstrate skill and artistry I probably couldn’t hope to master; it just that – well, almost none of the have anything to do with Games in SL.
In The Red Shoes we have a superb demonstration of Second Life as an outstanding medium for storytelling, as we do with Someone Called – but to my mind, storytelling isn’t really related to games in SL. Similarly, Travelling presents an excellent travelogue to Second Life – but travelling through SL, seeing the sights and the means of transport isn’t directly related to games in SL. I’m honestly not at all sure what to make of bRaiNwasHer, but it’s hard to frame it in the conext of games. The Wavey Sea is a great music video, but – well, you can guess where I’m going.
Dedication gets somewhat nearer the mark, insamuch as it tells a story that might be said to be framed in a role-play environment, and again, it is a fabulous piece of work in itself, but I still cannot help but feel something is missing…
To me, games in SL offers up an opportunity to highlight the deep, immersive richness of game playing within SL: role-play, steampunk, combat – dare I say, even Gorean. There are many other forms of games in SL – Tiny Empires and the like – which could, with a little imagination, form the foundations for revealing and entertaining films. Arcade Boy and When Warriors Gather go some way towards this, but there still seems to be something missing.
Again, I’m not blaming the film-makers for this lack of game-related depth: as I’ve stated, every film in this month’s entrants is skillfully executed and worth watching. I’m also not necessarily pointing the finger at the LEA judges; MoM is an excellent idea and worth pursuing; and truth be told, it’s hard to guarantee that what will work theme-wise. Even so, it’s a little disappointing that more did not rise to the challenge and present films more directly related to this month’s theme – I’ve certainly seen a fair few films on subjects such as combat games and RP in SL elsewhere, so it’s not for lack of potential content.
In the meantime, here’s Dedication, by CadenceDVE, which I really like as a story and which comes close to the ideal of the theme in a visually impressive manner. You can see all the entries above on the MOM YouTube channel.
Thanks to real life getting in the way, I didn’t make the June premiere of Month of Machinima, and have only just this weekend managed to sit down at the LEA with a small bunch of people and watch this month’s offerings on the theme of “Mixed Realities”.
Before getting to the films themselves, LL have added a further means to view movies; as well as the LEA theatre itself and the YouTube channel, you can now pick up an AviewTV pack scripted to play back the entries. For optimum viewing, however, I still recommend YouTube.
Now I have to say that “mixed realities” to me suggests films that combine mediums and ideas: machinima and real life; the “reality” and “fantasy” to create a visually compelling short film. A pity then, that of the month’s entries, there are two that come across as promotional videos – one for the sim in which it was filmed, the other for an in-world group of musicians. While undoubtedly skilfully executed, they seemed to fall wide of the mark when it comes to the month’s theme; as do a couple of other music videos which also seemed to fall wide of the mark, theme-wise.
In fairness, I have no idea how much support the event is getting – it could be that there were insufficient entrants that met this month’s criteria and the judges fell back on entries from May; however, with due respect to all concerned, I sat down to watch this month’s selection with a high degree of anticipation and came away somewhat disappointed.
RockseaTV offers a short film that is a lot – to me – closer to the mark, presenting and avatar’s daydream of falling into the real world. BaySweetwatertakes things a step further in Domo Arigato, Roboto-san, where we see footage of the Fukushima disaster, where robots were used in the aftermath, together with footage of a robot scooting around in Second Life – a celebration of both the use of automated machinery in the role of life-saving and the potential for Second Life to act as an immersive training environment for such tools and equipment.
My personal favourite for the month, however, is Magical Glorious Morn – a tale of an old man living in the bayou, who just might be plagued by unseen – and malicious – laughter. Is someone playing a prank? Are there in fact leprechauns tormenting him? Or is he simply going mad in his isolation?
This week sees the premiere of the next set of entrants in the Month of Machinima event. June’s theme is “Mixed Reality”, and the films will be shown at the LEA theatre prior to being available on the MoM YouTube account.
Full details:
Premiere: “Monday 1st June”, 10:00 PST (that’s from the official blog post, so look out for it on either Monday 30th MAY or WEDNESDAY June 1st!)
Also kicking-off on Monday are the LEA-sponsored “Avatar Games” – aka running an art-related obstacle course – on the LEA 3 sim. These games will take place at the somewhat inhospitable for non-US users time of 16:00 PST (a time when most of Europe will be either in bed or heading that way, while Australia & the Far East will be heading for work).
For those wishing to enter the event, you’ll have to submit an entry form and hope you get picked – the event is limited to 10 competitors a week. It’s unclear as to whether those not selected one week will be carried forward to the next, but I’m going to presume so.
Spectators are welcome at the games, although no actual Surl for the event was included in the official announcement, but if you wish to watch, the link given above for the LEA-3 sim should get you to the right place. There is also a wiki page on the event.
LEA Sandbox
Opened rather quietly on May 20th, the LEA Sandbox has been created to give (quote) “Residents space to build and play and experiment with the tools of Second Life as a medium for artistic expression”. If you want to find out more on the Sandbox:
There is a wiki page on the subject you should read
With the May entrants for the Month of Machinima now available, it’s time to look ahead to upcoming months.
May was pretty much free format in terms of theme, the major criteria (other than the obvious copyright and inevitable content rating considerations) being that not single entry should be longer than 3 minutes. For June – and probably beyond – this has been extended to 6 minutes, although longer film lengths can be submitted by prior arrangement.
The themes for the rest of the year have been announced, and film-makers are doubtless already looking at June and beyond:
June: Mixed Reality (SL machinima has to be part of the mix)
July: Games in SL
August: Design and Architecture
September: Seasons (the four seasons, season of your life, etc.)
October: Elements
November: SL Events
December: Endings, conclusions.
Full details on Month of Machinima can be found on the SL Wiki.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 