Archive for the 'Virtual Worlds' category
Run SilkCharm Run in Alpha City Berlin, Twinity
August 31, 2008 7:02 pmI am continually beta testing up coming virtual worlds and one that is showing early promise is Twinity. Although lacking many of the ‘detailed’ features of Second Life it has its own specialities that I will cover in a longer post. One thing that is very impressive off the block is the scale of the world built, unlike Second Life, at scale and gives a real sense of distance in comparison with the real world (which Twinity is focusing on).
So for this next Gary Hazlitt machinima I fiddled with SilkCharm’s avatar (or is that SilkCharm herself?) uploading some portrait faces to map onto the face & body and equipped her with suitable running attire fore this ‘Run Lola Run‘ lookalike (and big soundalike thanks to Twyker’s music). The film features Franka Potente running around the backstreets of Berlin trying to get some money for her criminal boyfriend (and goes back in time twice). SilkCharm though was just getting some exercise…or as she suggested in the comments on the video ‘in desperate search of chocolate’ ! Enjoy…oh before that one interesting effect in here. At one point in the recording I fell off the world and started hurtling south/down or just out of the sim - the running SilkCharm began to ‘break up’ slowly. As I still had the record on you can see the effect at the start and end of the movie which is quite an attractive ‘inworld’ effect 
A Machinima by GARY HAZLITT starring SILKCHARM
‘Run SilkCharm Run’ Filmed in the Beta Virtual World TWINITY (Alpha City Berlin) - more info on the Twinity site
MUSIC “Believe” by Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil Feat: Voice of Franka Potente from the film ‘Run Lola Run’
Filmed & Edited (in 3 hours) by GARY HAZLITT
Shot in the ‘massive’ Berlin simulator in Twinity featuring areas around Brandenburg Gate and Alexanderplatz
Many thanks to SilkCharm & A ‘New World’ Twinity
© JustVirtual Productions 2008
http://www.justvirtual.com
Love Makes the Worlds Go Round - The Soul of Icarus Video
August 21, 2008 2:47 pm
A two world machinima I did this week exploring the themes of a cross-world quest for love, mixed-reality and online game relationships. The song ‘The Soul of Icarus” was composed and sung by Gary Hayes © Cubrisound 2004 and a special thanks to my co-star, SilkCharm for her patience and WoW’ness. There are some nice Flickr film stills here too! and I am really spoiling you now a selection of video sites with the film on here - YouTube, Metacafe, Google and Blip.tv
“Come to the edge. We can’t. We’re afraid. Come to the edge. We can’t. We will fall! Come to the edge. And they came. And he pushed them. And they flew”. - Guillaume Appollinaire
Credits:
- Filmed in World of Warcraft and Second Life sims:
- CityScape from NBC and Marni created by Gary Hazlitt.
- Medium rez download (85MB MP4) available here.
- Machinimatography and editing by Gary Hazlitt © JustVirtual 2008
“And once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you long to return…” - Leonardo Da Vinci
So I will be wearing my worksite hardhat next week and taking apart our ‘creation’ pixel brick by pixel brick. It will make way for a fresh start though, a brave new world, a small patch on ‘Furry’ ABC Island…
and a reminder of what it was like in its opening glory
Now I have had some time back in Second Life nice to visit a very special build, hat tip to Bettina over at NPIRL. As well as being inspired to pop over to this wonderfully rich sim designed and built by Baron Grayson I joined in the challenge of photographing it in stills (flickr set here) and video. Some of these are below and of course the video is a quicky mostly single long shot using the space navigator - of course, what else
So video, then description followed by some more nice stills
A Space Navigator Machinima by GARY HAZLITT. Second Life Island Creation by BARON GRAYSON. Steinway Grand Piano and Martin Backpacker Guitar One Take Improvisation by GARY HAYES © 2008. Medium quality (69.5MB mp4 available here
“filmed in one take, then re-edited, vignette and desaturate filters added in places. Most of the playback made twice speed to improve smoothness as sim had quite low frame rates during capture. Enjoy” The wonderful Second Life 3rd generation sim, Templum ex Obscurum by Baron Grayson, machinima by Gary Hazlitt in one three hour session.
Google Lively - Gazlitt’s Angel’s Nest
July 10, 2008 10:05 amDC 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.
My Mini Machinima of My Build of a Slice of Melbourne
October 16, 2007 9:38 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
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
The Virtual Wedding, The Plan, The Charity and The SLUV
August 6, 2007 2:17 amAs a belated follow on from the previous article you may recall Polly and Steve about to get married. Well a couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of committing the event to video and subsequently editing it and adding some of my music. The YouTube embed I think captures the key moments of the three hour event as two people give their vows of love and commitment in front of friends and family. I copy below some textual elements from the video (which deliberately scrolls past or is on screen for too short a time - you are encouraged to hit pause on the first three busy text screens). This opening statement is from Annie Barnard who ran the proceedings
Greetings to all of you that have gathered here today to acknowledge and celebrate the love and joining of the hearts of Scubasteve and Pollyanneke. They have invited all of you, friends and family, to witness their declaration of love and commitment. They have asked me to pass you a message today … They would like you to know that their friends are a big part of second life. They know that you are all here for them and helped keeping them together in the hard times. Second Life is never easy for relationships but with good friends like you they know they will make it. I am sure that you, dear family and friends know far better than I do just how strong their love for one other is.
Often people feel that when they meet it is by chance. However, I do not feel this way and for Scubasteve and Pollyanneke meeting was not by chance. They met each other in a pond building area in April 2007. together they like to laugh, explore second life, find places to ride their horses and making a nice home at Vero Beach. Alone Scuba likes to come up with surprises for Polly and Polly like to find cozy spots for them to come back together to visit. Polly likes to call scuba ghost and subca like to call Polly Muse. Their persistence and determination to not be over come the forces from within and outside SL that would otherwise stop them from seeing each other had made the relationship resilient and magical in every sense of the word. One day they will even find the answer to the ultimate question in every avies mind can sluv conquer lag? Only time will tell.
This text is the actual statements and vows during the actual ceremony, again captured in the video, but may be too fast for some to read as it crawls across the screen in the romantic middle section.
Steve: Pol.. from the moment we met my sluv for u has grown and grown and together we have overcome so many hurdles together and now that we have a beautiful son together, my life is truly fulfilled, u are and always will be my sl babe we are synergy and u are truly wat sluv is all about. Everytime i see u it takes my breath away and leaving u each day is so so hard ur my angel, my ladyhawke and i’ll be ur Navarre together forever… eternally aprt. I so sluv u Pol
Polly: Oh Scuba i so sluv and adore you. You are so patient and kind especially when i am trying to build
Annie: Scubastive and Pollyanneke, as you slip on your rings, notice that they are a never-ending circle, as your love is for each other. The rings have no beginning and no end. They come together as a symbol of your love for each other. Polly, please repeat after me…
Polly: I, Polly. take you Scuba, to be my husband. I promise to love and support you, to honour and respect you, to make you laugh, and to explore with you not only the beauty of this world around us but the beauty that lies within your heart as well
Steve: I, Scuba, take you, Polly, to be my wife. I promise to love you and support you, to honor and respect you, to make you laugh, and to explore with you not only the beauty of this world around us, but also the beauty that lies within your heart as well.
and the final decree from Annie telling the SL world that these two are now a couple…
Annie: Scubasteve and Pollyanneke, you have declared your love and commitment in front of your friends and family today. If you agree with this union of your hearts please respond by saying I do.
Polly: I do
Steve: i do babe
Polly:
Annie: Scubastive and Pollyanneke, as you have declared your love and promises today, and by the powers vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. Fill each day with love, laughter and light. Dear friends and family, I am honored and pleased to introduce for the first time as Husband and Wife, Scubastive and Pollyanneke.
It was a great celebratory event for all concerned and since then Steve and Polly have been contacting me with more information on their plans to use Second Life as a force for change in many worlds. The text below is from both of them detailing how one area, namely SL couples adopting Real Life children will work and some scripting help they will need. Good luck to them and this initiative.
As a couple in SL, Pollyanneke Pera and Scubasteve Canning decided to have an SL baby.
what we deicided to do though was to make a real life difference in the third world
by sponsoring a child through World Vision. In this was, we share the joy of having
a virtual baby together, but also are making a real life difference to a boy in India.We want to share that experience with other couples in SL who are thinking about having
a SL baby together. That way, thousands of needy children will benefit as a direct
result of couples in SL. Here’s what we are proposing; Couples in SL who want to have a baby (and there are thousands of them) currently can do so through a couple of options….
- they can get a scripted object that comes with an hud to interact with the mother the object will whisper phrases such as need changing or feeding etc.
- they can ‘adopt’ a child which is an adult who role plays as a child for a couple which a monthly fee is paid to the ‘adopted child’.
The concept of an SL child is a means for a couple to share their ’sluv’ for each other
on a higher level. However, our thoughts are that this could be better served by
making a difference in the real world. Hence we felt that a donation to a children’s charity
would go that step further in making a difference. In that same vain we wanted to give
something back to the couple in return for their donation. The best way is a symbolic
gesture such as a scripted object not unlike the scripted SL babies that currently exist.Specifically, it would work like this.
- Couple goes to a SL ‘maternity hospital’ and chooses a baby. the amount would be the equivalant of $40 US. when the couple touches the object to pay, the money is transferred to the charity via a URL link. The charity can then convert the Lindons into US currency or if possible the money is automatically converted via a Lindon exchange and the US dollars deposited directly to the charity. The URL for the donation is http://www.christianchildrensfund.org/donate/donate.aspx more specifically, we have chosen the Child Alert Emergency Fund from Christian Childrens Fund.
- When the donation is made, the couple recieve a scripted baby object as a symbol of their genoristy and sluv.
- The couple can choose to go back to the ‘hospital’ in a few months for a ‘check up’ this would give the couple more options for their child such as being a bit older, the ability to walk etc. this would require another donation to the charity to occur.
Therefore, we need some scripting help with this project. firstly to provide a scripted baby object, then the URL link to convert the payment into US dollars which would automatically go direct to the Christian Childrens fund. Finally to provide additional scripts for the growth and walking etc.
This is the organisation that we would like the money to go to.
- Christian Childrens Fund. More about this charity at http://www.christianchildrensfund.org/content.aspx?id=104 The specific fund within the organisation would be;
- Child Alert Emergency Fund. Wars and natural disasters create emergency situations that put already vulnerable children in grave danger. The ChildAlert Emergency Fund helps CCF act quickly to provide for the immediate needs and long-term recovery of children in emergency situations, whether natural or manmade. Recently, our Child Alert Emergency Fund has provided resources to help thousands of children affected by the Asian tsunami, the India earthquake, Sudanese refugees living in Chad, and other emergencies in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Afghanistan.
This is purely non-profit but a way in which thousand of children can be saved through scripting in SL. IM Pollyanneke Pera or Scubasteve Canning if u can help us to help thousands of needy children.
Posted by Gary Hazlitt inside Second Life © 2007
