On July 1, 2009, 15 New York City public high school students will premiere their film Discovered –a digital "machinima" film produced in Second Life that explores the powerful issue of child sex trafficking through the fictional story of one Mexican teenager. Discovered is the final product of a year-long, intensive digital filmmaking program called…
Tag: machinima
Interview with Lynette Wallworth, Aussie multimedia installation artist
Here's a cool Second Life interview with Lynette Wallworth, a truly innovative Australian artist who creates emotionally powerful video installations that break the wall between the viewer and the video. I love Lynette's work, which transforms physical space and draws you into the video in a way that a computer screen or even an IMAX…
Mind blowing machinima by Lainy Voom: “The Stolen Child”
This machinima "The Stolen Child" by Lainy Voom just completely blows me away. I find it unbelievable that this was done in Second Life. Those water and light effects are just amazing. The first in a series of machinima inspired by poetry, I can not wait for the next one!
Final stages of “Discovered” — serious machinima film on child sex trafficking
We are in the final stages of post-production for "Discovered," the serious issue machinima created by the youth filmmakers in our "Virtual Video Project" at Global Kids. The difficult subject our youth have chosen is child sex trafficking, and they did an amazing job crafting a short film from the issue. I'm really impressed with…
Draxtor interviews Chelo Alvarez-Stehle about “SOS-Slaves” game on sex trafficking
This is the second in a series of interviews conducted by citizen journalist / machinimatographer Draxtor Despres with participants in the BAVC Producers Institute. In this interview, Draxtor talks with Chelo Alvarez-Stehle about her project on sex-trafficking, called "Sands Of Silence." I was one of the mentors on this project at the Producers Institute. Looking…
Shooting machinima at the BAVC Producer’s Institute
Today we started shooting machinima for the presentation for the "Virtual Mine" project, being pitched at the conclusion of the BAVC Producer's Institute on Friday. Yes, it was a lot of work for the team to create the assets, write the shooting script, and arrange the sets for the machinima shoot. But it was also…
Youth-led filmmaking of the Global Kids Conference and virtual simulcasts
Last Friday, Global Kids held its Annual Conference at Baruch College, gathering 600-some students and educators from around New York City to examine critical social issues, meet each other, and get activated. This year's theme was "Global Health — Be the Vaccine," featuring speakers and workshops on a wide variety of health-related topics. An important…
Get your “Tiny Nation” tee-shirts, tea cozies and other tchotchkes here!
Fans of the machinima series "Tiny Nation" will be happy to know that you can now purchase all sorts of "Tiny Nation"-branded clothing and merchandise from Ill Clan Studios. For those that haven't seen the show, it's the story of a cute but profane group of backyard animals who stage various unsuccessful rebellions against their…
Machinima “book trailer” for thriller novel Cemetery Street (video)
My friends at Ill Clan studios produced this sweet little machinima as a "book trailer" for the young adult thriller novel Cemetery Street by Brenda Seabrooke. Produced in Second Life, it's an interesting marketing tactic to attract new readers in the YouTube era. In related news, Ill Clan's "Tiny Nation" series has been accepted for…
Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds: the machinima, graphic novel and report!
As previously reported, on Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending the event "Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds" at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. The gathering featured Rita King and Joshua Fouts discussing their project to research how Muslims have been using virtual worlds as a medium to express their faith, find…