Escape

Here's another UWA III entry, this time by Veruca Vandyke entitled 'Escape



Chaffro says: Again, another great example of where less is more. I like the simplicity of the room that the female character is in, yet despite its relative simplicity, I love how stylish it is - lots of subtle detail in there, and the purple frame is a great focal point. The sound effects in the film are perfectly done and really lend themselves to the feel of the whole thing. It's very well lit too; for a film that spends much of its time in tunnels, the lighting is nicely balanced and again adds to the atmosphere. My only criticism would be the pacing - I think some of the shots where there isn't much going on could be trimmed by a few seconds here and there, but at the same time, that could be turned into a positive; it does add to the 'unsettling' feel of those underground sequences.

All in all, a nice little movie! Two paws up!

Pyewacket says: Escape is an engaging machinima - from the clever opening shot, to the use of sound to confuse time and place - Escape is a delightful expression of pure imagination.

Veruca Vandyke's talent is obvious. What she needs is better camera options. So, here's a hopefully helpful machinima tip. Grab hold of a USB game controller and head over to the Second Life Flycam Wiki. Expect to spend quite a few hours setting up the parameters to fit your comfort zone, but it will make all the difference in your camera options.

Two Paws WAY up!

Where The LEA Month Of Machinima Goes Wrong : Phaylen Fairchild Productions

Phaylen Fairchild has an interesting take of her own on the new LEA Month of Machinima event. Well worth checking out.

Where The LEA Month Of Machinima Goes Wrong : Phaylen Fairchild Productions

Second Life Month of Machinima - LEA

Machinima making is a lonely process. We either have the UI off and can't hear what anyone is typing - or we're offline editing. It's not unusual for many of us to be more familiar with a persons You Tube ID than their avatar's name.

During the few years machinima has been around in Second Life, attempts have been made amongst ourselves to open common lines of communication - both to help promote our work and to have others to talk shop with. Unfortunately, and probably because machinima is so time intensive, this never got very far. So, when the inaugural Month Of Machinima, sponsored by The Linden Endowment for the Arts was announced last month, the announcement was greeted with cautious optimism. We're dealing with SL - ya know?

The story so far: sometime during the last week of April, 13 avatars received a notecard announcing that they had been selected for MoM - and their films would be screened inworld on May 4. On the morning of May 4 there was a hurried notice on the Linden blog to "c'mon down" to the show.

As usual, the event was packed with all the machinima makers that didn't get selected. We might want to scratch your eyes out - but we're all in this boat together. And that was it! Not even a blurb from Hamlet Au (sorry Hamlet - but these days you're the go to place for this stuff by default). Seems there's no Endowment in the LEA - but maybe calling it Linden Arts would have been a bridge too far.

Lab Promotion? Some of us received our monthly Linden Sandbox thing, which featured a new machinima by Chantal Harvey - one of the LEA Judges; a "Look of the Month" featuring Toxic Menges - one of the inaugural machinima artists; and a link to a separate You Tube channel for the rest of the inaugural artists. I've been acquainted with Chantal and Toxic for a long time and their work is some of the best Second Life has to offer. They didn't deserve being the butt of The Lab's appalling social tone deafness.

So, since somebody has to make a fuss over all the sweat, tears and sore bums suffered from crouching over this art form called Second Life Machinima - here's our Four Paws Up tribute to the Inaugural Machinima Artists of the LEA.

- Pyewacket

To Inhabit A House Of Uneasy Chairs' by Hypatia Pickens.



'The Unkempt Hair Of The Dead' by Penumbra Carter.



'Attack Of The Robots' by Osprey Therian.



'The Disease: Outbreak In Here' by Ole Etzel.



'Paradox 34' by Nasos Psarris.



'Karma Kong' by Daveypup Nirpaw.



'Nighthawks' by Frankie Rockett.



'Dreamer's Journey' by Rocksea Renegade.



'Oh boy, what a MESH' by Draxtor Despres.



'Toxing' by D'Lish.



'Coloured Pencils' by Steff Ling.



'Without Words' by Toxic Menges.



'Oscar Goldberg Speaks Out' by Crap Mariner