Second Life Machinima& Education
Anthony Fontana
Instructor of Art
Learning Technologies Consultant
Bowling Green State University
Machinima - Tutorial
• Definition: Computer-generated animation that uses the virtual world engine to render real-time three-dimensional graphics
• SL on SL: to use software, maneuver the virtual world, build, and script objects.– See Torley Linden on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Torley
Machinima - Documentary
• Document the interactive happenings of the virtual world
• Second Skin– Premiered at
SXSW 2008
• SLPN
Machinima - Documentary
• Journalism
• Filmmaking
• Communications Studies
• Anthropology– Ethnographies
Machinima - Live
• Mac: CamTwist
• PC: ManyCam
• Social Live sites:– Stickam.com
• Production– Ustream.tv
– Mogulus.com
Machinima - Live / Recorded
• The Second Life Cable Network (SLCN) features a number of interview and talk-show style programs.– Metanomics
• Cornell University
Machinima - Live
• Communication Studies
– Telecommunications/Broadcasting
– Interpersonal Communication
• Marketing
• Pop & American Cultural Studies
• Musical and Performing Arts
Cylindrian Rutabaga
Machinima - Narrative
• Filmmakers
• Animators– Machinima.com
– Vimeo/ Blip.tv
– WeGame.com
• Festivals
Machinima - Narrative
• Animation (.bvh)
• Modeling
• Post Production
• Screenwriting
• Scripting (LSL)
Machinima - Narrative
• Easy on a budget
• Highly collaborative or extremely individual– simultaneously actor, writer, director,
machinimatographer, set designer, lighting engineer, scripter, sound engineer, editor…
Machinima - Cinema Continuum
• The aesthetics of machinima?– “…the printed word and cinema are
cultural traditions, distinct ways of recording human memory and human experience”
• - Manovich, The Language of New Media
• Distinct ways of recording avatar memories and avatar experience.
Machinima - Generated User
• Teachers without training– Assessment standards
– Collaboration skills
– Adjusted rubrics
• Duplicitous expectations– Characterized by experts
– Cultivated ‘underground’• Punk
Second Life Machinima & Education
Anthony FontanaBowling Green State UniversityIn SL: AnthonyFontana Chevalier
August, 2008