Hazlitt Machinima tracked on TubeMogul
May 7, 2008 9:14 pmHiding and Seeking in Second Life, Cyborg Style
March 23, 2008 12:45 pmAustralian Locations on the Second Life Grid
January 20, 2008 4:54 pmIn the course of my work (educational, creative and commercial) it is often useful to know the proximity of islands to each other on the greater grid. A cool full grid map was recently uploaded onto Wikipedia by SignpostMarv Martin and although some of the far right part is cut-off affecting a few sims, I found and labelled the following Oz Islands - The Pond, ABC, Cog, AFTRS, USQ, Marni, Riverina, Monash, Victoria Univ, Murdoch, Deakin, QUT, Griffith, Terra Incognita, Jokaydia, La Trobe Univ, RMIT, Regor (Aussie Land), Australia and NMC (US edus). Also note this is only about half of the full grid - there is an equivalent area to the left of this map but as no Oz islands were there, crop, crop 
You obviously can’t read the labels on the map below, clicking will take you to the high rez version. Enjoy. Oh and if I have missed an Australian sim (or related to) please add in comments and I will update if I get at least 5!
Modified map is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Although the distance between, or proximity to fellow inhabitants doesn’t really affect you operationally in Second Life it is nice to be able to just call up the map and in one quick hop, double click a neighbour’s sim to ‘pop over’, feels all communal and friendly. I tp all over the grid and meet anyone and everyone but it is nice to be back in Marni on a Sunday morning and just pop over to AFTRS, The Pond, USQ and Cog with a simple double click And there are many other benefits too, especially when adjacent, joined at the hip so to speak - over to you!
Popularity: 32% [?]
DC Spensley’s SkyDancer’s “Second Spring” into Life
January 8, 2008 11:28 amAs official documenter/machinimatographer for the SkyDancers I was lucky to have been at the dress rehearsal and premier of this groundbreaking new show by DanCoyote’s troupe and created this trailer to help get those virtual bums on seats.
You can download a 15MB medium rez MP4 here. It was fantastic to experience this next generation performance and witness a new layer, a narrative across the three musical movements in addition to what has been visually more abstract in the past. Other exciting elements included the movement by the dancers around the volumous space triggering elements of the soundscape and the long prim cascades they are wearing integrating seamlessly with the more static set elements. A show well worth going to (if you can get tickets) and yes, I know, my little trailer and previous well received captures of the shows only gets half way there in terms of capturing the essence (see bottom of post)…but you who are not in this world are watching/reading this
75 still photos on flickr here. Here is the official blurb
New Media Consortium (NMC) proudly presents:
DanCoyote’s ZeroG SkyDancers Third Production:
“Second Spring”.Second Spring is a completely LIVE story performance. SkyDancers perform in-flight choreography without the benefit of animations or gestures of any kind following cues given in REAL TIME on a private IM channel. DanCoyote “calls” the show to keep time with the score written and performed by ZeroOne Paz.
DanCoyote and Technical Director ZenMondo Wormser have pulled out all the stops this time and created the most dynamic stage set ever. Set pieces will evolve, vanish and change position as the story plays out.
Production Designer Queue Marlowe has created an incredible array of SkyDancer costumes called “cascades” that are change many times over the hour long show.
Set pieces have been created by venerable Second Life artists Jopsy Pendragon and Nand Nerd. Expect the unexpected!
To be our guest at this performance please send a message to DanCoyote Antonelli. DanCoyote will invite you to join the tickets group. Seating is very limited so only members of the tickets group will be admitted to the performance space.
Please contribute generously to the donation kiosk. A production of this quality and depth takes many hundreds of hours to prepare as well as tens of thousands of Linden dollars to produce. Suggested donation is $3000 Lindens with a sliding scale from $1000 up.
Cheers!
DanCoyote Antonelli, Producer Director, ZeroG SkyDancers
=========Press Release=========
For Immediate ReleaseNew Media Consortium Presents
ZeroG SkyDancers III - Virtual Flight ChoreographyPioneering Performing Arts Soar in the Metaverse - Again - Under the Direction of DanCoyote Antonelli
January 1, 2008, (Second Life) - Avatar DanCoyote Antonelli is accustomed to breaking new ground. Even in virtual worlds he is considered avant guarde. The real man controlling that avatar, DC Spensley, has been wowing virtual audiences since 2006 with art installations that would not be possible in real life, but perhaps the most coveted ticket in all of Second Life is one to a performance by his ZeroG SkyDancers. On January 6, 2008, the premiere of the highly anticipated, third, completely redesigned production of ZeroG SkyDancers will debut.
Second Life’s history making, critically acclaimed world performance group, the ZeroG SkyDancers is a new form of ensemble performance that uses the airspace of this virtual world, resulting in a cross between water ballet and aerial acrobatics, in ways that would not be possible in the physical world. Wearing spectacular, flowing costumes called cascades - that are many times larger than their avatars - the SkyDancers move through space, and become part of the stage themselves. Altering and evolving, their flight triggers audio samples, which provide a unique layer to the original musical score commissioned for the production.††
The production, sponsored by the New Media Consortium (NMC), will introduce an all-new reactive-interactive stage set that is repeatedly and dramatically transformed over the hour long performance. The ZeroG SkyDancers III will formally debut at 9PM Pacific Standard Time, Sunday, January 6, 2008 in the virtual world of Second Life. Seating is limited, but the show will run every week during the first 90 days of 2008, to accommodate the most guests possible. Tickets will cost $10 US ($3000 Lindens) a piece. For ticket information, please contact Spensley directly at dc@spensley.com.
Those with tickets will need to complete a 5 minute registration process with Second Life, http://www.secondlife.com , in order to access the ZeroG SkyDancers III performance.† A basic account is absolutely free, includes unlimited access to Second Life’s tools, events and communities.†Spensley recommends that audience members spend a minimum of 15 minutes learning the basic skills of the Second Life world prior to attending the performance. “Familiarizing yourself with basic navigation of Second Life will add even more enjoyment to the show,” said Spensley.
Gary Hazlitt’s video’s of two previous ZeroG SkyDancers II performances are available at YouTube and have received nearly 15 thousand views. “It’s difficult to convey the dramatic and immersive effects of the Second Life virtual world in a 2-D web environment, however the videos do convey the overall concept of the performance,” said Spensley.
Popularity: 48% [?]
New World Expectations - Seventh Heaven ‘Windlight’ Machinima
December 26, 2007 12:18 pmI was in the middle of putting together an end of year compilation of some of my builds and sim developments and as I have regularly been using the Windlight viewer and I saw my creations in a whole new light, literally. So I got a good bio friend of mine, Gary Hayes to do a quick grand piano and classical guitar improvisation so I could put together a film that promises a bright new future for our Second Life world in 2008.
Some creation details for those who like that kind of stuff: I used the wonderful space navigator for nearly all the ‘tracking/pan/crane/dolly’ type shots combined with fraps PAL capture, then converted using Canopus Pro 3 to PAL Quicktime DVs for a final edit in Final Cut Pro. A final save out to DV at same resolution and converts down to MP4s for online distribution. The whole process, capture, processing, editing took just over six hours - I know, I am slacking! The builds and sim terraforms took significantly longer (!) but the music a quick 35 minutes in two single takes, so excuse a few ‘bum’ notes!
A Second Life ‘Windlight’ Machinima, Filmed and Edited by GARY HAZLITT
Higher rez 95MB MP4 640/480 download available here.
Steinway Grand Piano and Classical Guitar improvisations both performed, in one take, by GARY HAYES
All featured sim builds and terraforms created and designed by GARY HAZLITT (some unamed builds still in development)
Gary’s builds or sim creations featured include: Esperance, The Pond, ABC Island, Cog Island, Marni, Thursday’s Fictions, Melbourne Laneways and others.
A Just Virtual Video Production © Gary Hazlitt/Hayes 2007
Popularity: 43% [?]
Haunted Goth Dreams, a Halloween 2007 Second Life Machinima
October 16, 2007 9:51 pmStill playing catch-up on blog posts. Busy, busy as always creating big builds in this world for entertainment properties, real world companies, learning and some just for pleasure - but I still have time to make delightful machinima This one is of mine and a friends (Benjo Zabelin) build of a little ‘piece-of-a-place’ called Melbourne, Australia (still not sure where that is!).
Another Gary, a bio one ;-), managed to take over four hundred images plus hours and hours of sound so I could recreate what it is like to be out there, with you folk in one of your most popular cities. Umm very cramped I must say. Anyway as you can see below it generated lots of Second Life press interest and it was fun creating a few token, Second Life not possible in real life elements.
Here’s a SLURL too. and a load of links…
SL News - Australian city Melbourne Laneways comes alive in SL
Australia SL News Source SLOZ - Virtual Melbourne has arrived
Shhhhhhhh - melbourne laneways in second life. NOOOOOOOO
Second Life Insider - Melbourne Laneways comes to life at ABC Island
Victorian Government - Victoria - Would your Business benefit from a Second Life?
TheProjectFactory - Melbourne Laneways Come to Life for Multimedia Victoria
Boxxet Second Life - Melbourne Laneways comes to Life
Multimedia Victoria - Virtual Worlds (Melbourne Laneways Case Study)
GDay World - Melbourne Laneways in SL
Mal Burns Annex - Melbourne Laneways Comes to Life
Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inworld © 2007
Popularity: 64% [?]
“Man’s inhumanity to man…
9:02 pmSecond Life ‘Chances’ - Machinima “In Memory of Lost Love”
October 1, 2007 3:06 amThe virtual stars aligned and I was compelled to make this kind of sad, but moving machinima. The story grew from a combination of 1) a great song, 2) some private sims I am developing, with a new terraform, 3) a space navigator and most importantly 4) a couple of new places I visited. Less than 5 hours later a new machinima was born, you can see the results here.
Also available medium rez 70MB WMV download
The story grew rather organically. I was playing with one of my new Space Navigator joysticks, which gives me unlimited camera control and is great for flying across mountains - I had just terraformed three sims with some ‘placeholder’ vertical interest. So I got Kylie Wollongong to join me on a private sim to do some walking, talking, romantic shots.
About half way through we went shopping to get a new skin. Next to the sims only store was a rather bizarre ‘camping’ area - around 50 avies all sitting around. Not a normal one, it looked positively like a wake, no one chatted, they just sat rather miserably. Gong. Mountain walking plus wake, a story was born.
“A couple in love. It starts with her funeral then flashes back to their recent life, ‘climbing together’. At the funeral again he sits with their friends. Flashback to the decision to be together and then reaching ‘the top’. She walks off by herself and tragedy. Just before she ‘ascends’ they recall a happy moment in Venice, tinged with sadness at the end when she has a premonition of her own short future…”
So I shot some sequences of just me and the crowds quickly and then went back and added some extra elements to the mountain journey - which obviously extended the narrative. I also wanted a few flashbacks of earlier romantic times, so Kylie and I visited Venice for three simple shots.
When I added the music during the edit the whole piece took on extra power and poignency - the emotional quality forcibly reminded me of past lost loves. It became a metaphor for the spirits of love. As it says on my YouTube decription “The story of a couple very much in love whose upward journey ends in tragedy. Flashbacks from the wake and their favourite time in Venice”
Some production stills on flickr here.
Avatanimation, Machinimatography, Editing, Story Written, Directed and Produced by Gary Hazlitt - Copyright 2007
Posted by Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life ©2007
Popularity: 60% [?]
Experience the Drama of the ‘Human Mind’ in Second Life
September 2, 2007 12:41 pmor a quick case study of my role as SL designer, producer and builder in moving a film/book/stage ‘idea’, Thursday’s Fictions into the metaverse of Second Life. First, to give you a taste, a short video of my friend Kylie (who has gone a bit goth) walking through the environment. (note: An important thing missing on the video is Richard James Allen’s meditative texts that appear all around as you explore and of course visitations are usually at a much more relaxed pace.)
I have noticed that this blog is turning into mostly things I have created in Second Life or close friends, not a bad thing I suppose as long as those creations are worth singing about. I believe this one certainly is. I was lucky to work with Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman (of Physical TV) who are the drivers behind an ‘idea’ called Thursday’s Fictions. This idea has been manifest in film, book, theatre and my task was to be the designer, producer, builder etc: in Second Life. It was only a small project compared with many of the multi sim creations I have done and are currently working on, but it excelled in being a worthy, experimental, artistic and aesthetic statement. It fell strongly into something I call Story Environments - spaces that have narrative embedded in them at varying degrees, more on that later.
The basic premise of the story is a woman who lives for one day only is trying to take her most valued creative possession (her dancers in a trunk she carries with her) between various reincarnations. There is more to it than that of course and the themes of death, love, life, mind, body, spirit all intermingle to create a fascinating pot pourii of philosophy, psychology and self awareness.
My challenge was to find appropriateness in Second Life which is itself an allegory of the themes of the piece from the outset. In other words, as I mentioned in this panel interview on SLCN.tv, (yes I talk!), SL is a space that is already routed in parallel existance, new incarnation and so on. It was about trying to find something that was different enough from quite a few existing ’spiritual’ areas in SL but also providing links back to ‘real world’ perceptions of spiritual architecture.
I haven’t time in this blog post to go into vast detail but to say the build was done very rapidly and I worked iteratively with the writers (that included script consultant Rock Sonic - SL name) who are all relatively new to the true creative potential of this world. Some of the techniques used to deliver the narrative elements included invisible sensors that talked to you randomly, spirit ’spheres’ that whisper as they pass through you, moving and still texts of various forms on the walls, objects and nature that chats residual and direct thoughts, sound and embedded gate-keeper questions.
There are effectively two longer form experiences at the moment. Purgatory, a series of halls and alcoves exploring a range of ideas mostly routed in one word ‘choice’. What life to go to next, what to take, decide what happened in the previous one, choose a state of mind and so on. The second experience is one life you inhabit, the ‘fractured’ mind of one of the characters. For the latter I created something that was slightly unnerving and disorientating yet also welcoming and familiar. It was loosely based on the sets of the film but I injected some play and elements of confusion. Go see and you will understand. The first main area purgatory is populated by Richard’s a range of texts, my favourite being the ’self-destructive’ lines (in the floating spirits in the main hall) from his book Kamikaze Mind. I also wanted Purgatory to show how music, sound and visual effects, text, signs, places to explore and architecture create a new kind of experience in SL that becomes very cinematic. There were many compromises that had to be taken but happily they are all easily overcome in future experiences I will create in this and many other properties. I/we also wanted this experience to be as social as possible. In a full 3D social space anything that doesn’t allow a shared user journey through it is doomed so it has been great watching couples and small groups exploring.
There are many more elements planned for this ‘idea’ of Richards and these will include another 6 or 7 more life journeys that will attempt to cover a broader spectrum of the ‘human drama’. To go to this experience now here is a link to the starting grove - SLURL.
Posted by © Gary Hazlitt from inside Second Life
Popularity: 100% [?]
