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| "The Shopping Trolley" - Created by Bryn Oh |
Although I can not be entirely sure I have seen each and every entry, I have seen many of them.
As usual, the standard needed to win an award will be high. And rightly so if the UWA machinima and art contests are to retain the respect and authority that it has gradually and deservedly built up over the last few years.
The UWA competitions attract the best-in-class but, significantly and probably contributing to its success, it also encourages newcomers, beginners and amateurs. Personally, I think it that this is a great thing.
As regular readers may recall, I accompanied Tutsy Navarathna as his guest to the UWA III award ceremony when his 'A Journey Into The Metaverse' won joint first prize.
'Journey' has recently been voted to be part of the exclusive jury-nominated Machinima Expo 2011 contest. The winner will be announced 19/20th November and we wish Tutsy lots of luck!
I have already blogged Tutsy's hotly-tipped UWA IV entry 'Welcome to The Other Side', which I was chuffed-to-bits to appear in. This machinima is also part of the Machinima Expo event as one of the fifty films deemed unique and interesting enough to be screened at the expo. However, it is not part of the prize contest as 'Journey' is. Another of the fifty films to be screened at the expo is Iono Allen's The Red Zone, which I have also previously blogged.
We'll return to discuss Iono's UWA IV entry later in this blog-post, but first, there a few other things I would like to address.
I have been asked a handful of times why I haven't yet entered any of the UWA competitions. My reply always is, "I am not ready yet. I am not good enough." This isn't a false modesty, I mean it.
Only after 'Rapture' did I start to think I now understood enough about the SL viewer, Windlight, frame rate expectations in SL, draw distances, the difference between client and server lag and other such Second Life related technical matters to feel reasonably confident of submitting a UWA-quality machinima.
Generally, contests and competitions don't turn me on very much and so I tend to avoid them. I did, however, have four films entered into THE SEXIEST 2010 adult machinima contest - but only because a sponsor paid the entrance fee!
I cannot deny feeling proud that all four films were nominated in their respective categories and I walked away with a 'gong' - Best Special Effects - for 'Sex With Strangers'.
The actual award now hangs in pride of place over the fireplace at 'Old Lar's House'. Go see it for yourself!
However, as I believe most independent and unbiased observers would agree, there is a world of difference in the quality of machinima being submitted to UWA contests and those submitted to the SL adult machinima contests.
And so, with that in my mind, I have not yet felt ready for UWA. However, a few nights ago, Iono *forced* me - yes, forced me - to agree to submit an entry for UWA V, next year.
So, this is my public declaration of that intent, as discussed with Iono and Tutsy, to make it harder for me to back out!
The weekend just gone also saw the first production kick-off meetings for my next SL machinima, jointly produced and directed with Lollie Razor of Eyo Bitch Productions. We are keeping our cards close to our boobs for the time being but I am excited about this film and have been planning it conceptually for the last four months. It is very experimental and it is an artistic risk. It could very well turn out to be a flop and a disaster.
How exciting is that!!
Its release will be my last "adult" machinima for a while, I think. Although there could very well still be sexual scenes in my films, I am becoming increasingly disinterested in SL "porn", mainly for aesthetic reasons.
As Serenity has already posted on Emmanuelle's blog, Pel Beaton and Scooby Mode have submitted entries to UWA IV. I sincerely wish them luck. The gradient is steep. However, one of the great things about the UWA contests is that no one is excluded and that the organising committee - JayJay Zifanwe in particular - is very encouraging. The UWA committee like to recognise newcomers and specifically mention those they see as emerging talent, even if no prize is actually being awarded in that particular round.
Personally, I give respect to Pel and Scooby for entering. I'll be watching their progress with interest and cheering them on!
In Serenity's blog-post I just linked to, she makes an extremely pertinent point but then does not go on to explore the implications of that point. Frankly, I don't blame her. Not publicly anyway!
I am simply going to quote her here and not dig any deeper at this time. I might return to consider it in some future blog-post. I definitely feel that any person making SL "porn" films who wants to move out of the realm of what is essentially roleplay and into the more serious and creative realm of *film making* really should be thinking about Serenity's point and its wider implications:
Serenity said: "When you remove the sex from our movies you begin to see the challenge ahead for creating a winning project."
Let's return now to Iono's UWA IV entry - "Virtual Love".
This machinima is delicately and deftly executed. It is a delight to watch. One can imagine the amount of pre-production planning that went into it.
It is also very, very cool!
Imo, it is Iono's best production thus far. I wish it, and Iono himself, well in UWA IV.
One final thing to say before presenting Iono's machinima. I wanted to thank all the creators of 'The Path' for popping over to my humble blog here and/or for leaving messages in-world. I especially want to thank Bryn Oh for the gift of the 'Shopping Trolley' from her 'Anna's Many Murders' installation (see the first picture on this blog-post) for my SL home. It looks great next to the sack of dung and the latrine!
Okay, okay...enough talking!
Let's watch the film!
I love this film, it remains me of the poetic world of a French writer, Mathias Malzieu, especially in his novel La Mécanique du Coeur.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting and sharing it, while I'm away from SL, I really apreciate not to be totally cut off from what's going on inworld.
Klute Coppola, ex SL and Rainbow Horizon resident :-)
PS : please could you lick Debbie's calves for me LOL
Thank you so much Pixie!
ReplyDeleteI wished I could convince you to enter MachinimUWA IV ! :)
Bravo for your always interesting posts !
@Klute: Thank you :) As french, I know Mathias Malzieu only as a musician, I should read some of his books !
@ Iono : great, hope you'll tell me what you think about his writing. According me, I don't know Mathias Malzieu as a musician, I should listen to him :-)
ReplyDeleteKlute Coppola