New World Tableau: Frankie Rockett's "Miss Dynamite"

Since I'm at a Virtual Worlds Expo in Los Angeles and the conference has a decided Hollywood skew, I thought Mr. Rocket's "Miss Dynamite" was a perfect Tableau for today.  I discovered the image on his Koinup profile, but in real life, Frankie Rockett is a professional filmmaker specializing in machinima (website here, sample of a machinima-produced commercial here), and the process of turning an avatar into an action movie star involved a high level of post-production trickery.  Read how he did it after the break.

The image began when Frankie and his model searched for and found a pose that was out of the oridinary from the usual supermodel posturing. 

"I knew it could be the basis of something striking," he tells me. "I took about 20 shots of her from different angles, against a simple green screen... I tried her against lots of high buildings with the viewers point of view suggesting looking straight up at her. It was all less than satisfactory.

"Then I had a eureka moment and realized she could be traveling horizontally-- thrown toward the viewer by some intense explosion behind her. I was confident that I was on the trail again!

"I used a rendered explosion rather than a photo of a real one as it felt more native to an avatar's environment. To suggest the shockwave it would cause on her body I selected, feathered and applied carefully controlled and restrained blur to parts of her body at the periphery-- notably the arms and legs.

"The three points closest to the viewer (the palm of her left hand, her left breast, and her face) I kept sharp since these would be traveling straight towards us.

"Lastly I tidied up-- some hand anti-aliasing of harsh contrasts on her skin, adjusted the color palette of foreground and background, then balanced the lighting in each and of course merged the layers to produce the final composite."  The result is pure Hollywood on a low budget.

See more screenshot spectacle on Frankie's Koinup profile, and scroll down for guidelines to submit your own.

Submitting to New World Tableau:

New World Tableau is an ongoing album featuring Residents who've turned SL screenshots into a new art form, vividly conveying emotions, stories, and entire cultures in a single image.

- If you come across a picture or image stream that deserves a place here, please IM (Hamlet Au) or e-mail (hamlet@secondlife.com) me the link.   Please e-mail me the image as a file link, or attached as an .jpeg or .gif, as long as it's under a meg in size.
- Submission tip: I regularly check the SL screenshot stream of New World Notes partner Koinup, an MMO social network-- consider creating an account there.   
- Submitting as an in-world texture not recommended, as they often come out distorted and not high res.
- Feel free to describe what the image says to you, or if you're the creator, what inspired you to make it.
- Whenever possible, name the Residents pictured, and include a SLURL to the location (when appropriate.) 
- Moderately Photoshopped images are OK, just mention if this is the case, and what effects were added.  (On rare occasions when the post-production adds a special element, heavily Photoshopped images are also appropriate.)
- If you submit an image to NWT, it's assumed I have permission to run it, either as the owner, or because it's been appropriately CC licensed.  The original creator retains all their rights to it, in any case.

Submitting to New World Tableau:

New World Tableau is an ongoing album featuring Residents who've turned SL screenshots into a new art form, vividly conveying emotions, stories, and entire cultures in a single image.

- If you come across a picture or image stream that deserves a place here, please IM (Hamlet Au) or e-mail (hamlet@secondlife.com) me the link.   Please e-mail me the image as a file link, or attached as an .jpeg or .gif, as long as it's under a meg in size.
- Submission tip: I regularly check the SL screenshot stream of New World Notes partner Koinup, an MMO social network-- consider creating an account there.   
- Submitting as an in-world texture not recommended, as they often come out distorted and not high res.
- Feel free to describe what the image says to you, or if you're the creator, what inspired you to make it.
- Whenever possible, name the Residents pictured, and include a SLURL to the location (when appropriate.) 
- Moderately Photoshopped images are OK, just mention if this is the case, and what effects were added.  (On rare occasions when the post-production adds a special element, heavily Photoshopped images are also appropriate.)
- If you submit an image to NWT, it's assumed I have permission to run it, either as the owner, or because it's been appropriately CC licensed.  The original creator retains all their rights to it, in any case.

Submitting to New World Tableau:

New World Tableau is an ongoing album featuring Residents who've turned SL screenshots into a new art form, vividly conveying emotions, stories, and entire cultures in a single image.

- If you come across a picture or image stream that deserves a place here, please IM (Hamlet Au) or e-mail (hamlet@secondlife.com) me the link.   Please e-mail me the image as a file link, or attached as an .jpeg or .gif, as long as it's under a meg in size.
- Submission tip: I regularly check the SL screenshot stream of New World Notes partner Koinup, an MMO social network-- consider creating an account there.   
- Submitting as an in-world texture not recommended, as they often come out distorted and not high res.
- Feel free to describe what the image says to you, or if you're the creator, what inspired you to make it.
- Whenever possible, name the Residents pictured, and include a SLURL to the location (when appropriate.) 
- Moderately Photoshopped images are OK, just mention if this is the case, and what effects were added.  (On rare occasions when the post-production adds a special element, heavily Photoshopped images are also appropriate.)
- If you submit an image to NWT, it's assumed I have permission to run it, either as the owner, or because it's been appropriately CC licensed.  The original creator retains all their rights to it, in any case.

Submitting to New World Tableau:

New World Tableau is an ongoing album featuring Residents who've turned SL screenshots into a new art form, vividly conveying emotions, stories, and entire cultures in a single image.

- If you come across a picture or image stream that deserves a place here, please IM (Hamlet Au) or e-mail (hamlet@secondlife.com) me the link.   Please e-mail me the image as a file link, or attached as an .jpeg or .gif, as long as it's under a meg in size.
- Submission tip: I regularly check the SL screenshot stream of New World Notes partner Koinup, an MMO social network-- consider creating an account there.   
- Submitting as an in-world texture not recommended, as they often come out distorted and not high res.
- Feel free to describe what the image says to you, or if you're the creator, what inspired you to make it.
- Whenever possible, name the Residents pictured, and include a SLURL to the location (when appropriate.) 
- Moderately Photoshopped images are OK, just mention if this is the case, and what effects were added.  (On rare occasions when the post-production adds a special element, heavily Photoshopped images are also appropriate.)
- If you submit an image to NWT, it's assumed I have permission to run it, either as the owner, or because it's been appropriately CC licensed.  The original creator retains all their rights to it, in any case.

Submitting to New World Tableau:

New World Tableau is an ongoing album featuring Residents who've turned SL screenshots into a new art form, vividly conveying emotions, stories, and entire cultures in a single image.

- If you come across a picture or image stream that deserves a place here, please IM (Hamlet Au) or e-mail (hamlet@secondlife.com) me the link.   Please e-mail me the image as a file link, or attached as an .jpeg or .gif, as long as it's under a meg in size.
- Submission tip: I regularly check the SL screenshot stream of New World Notes partner Koinup, an MMO social network-- consider creating an account there.   
- Submitting as an in-world texture not recommended, as they often come out distorted and not high res.
- Feel free to describe what the image says to you, or if you're the creator, what inspired you to make it.
- Whenever possible, name the Residents pictured, and include a SLURL to the location (when appropriate.) 
- Moderately Photoshopped images are OK, just mention if this is the case, and what effects were added.  (On rare occasions when the post-production adds a special element, heavily Photoshopped images are also appropriate.)
- If you submit an image to NWT, it's assumed I have permission to run it, either as the owner, or because it's been appropriately CC licensed.  The original creator retains all their rights to it, in any case.

Submitting to New World Tableau:

New World Tableau is an ongoing album featuring Residents who've turned SL screenshots into a new art form, vividly conveying emotions, stories, and entire cultures in a single image.

- If you come across a picture or image stream that deserves a place here, please IM (Hamlet Au) or e-mail (hamlet@secondlife.com) me the link.   Please e-mail me the image as a file link, or attached as an .jpeg or .gif, as long as it's under a meg in size.
- Submission tip: I regularly check the SL screenshot stream of New World Notes partner Koinup, an MMO social network-- consider creating an account there.   
- Submitting as an in-world texture not recommended, as they often come out distorted and not high res.
- Feel free to describe what the image says to you, or if you're the creator, what inspired you to make it.
- Whenever possible, name the Residents pictured, and include a SLURL to the location (when appropriate.) 
- Moderately Photoshopped images are OK, just mention if this is the case, and what effects were added.  (On rare occasions when the post-production adds a special element, heavily Photoshopped images are also appropriate.)
- If you submit an image to NWT, it's assumed I have permission to run it, either as the owner, or because it's been appropriately CC licensed.  The original creator retains all their rights to it, in any case.

Comments

[Frankie]

For anyone that took 10 seconds to actually look at any of the sites you refer to such as my Koinup profile, my Youtube site or even glanced at my avatar, I am so obviously male (not female as referred to throughout this almost heroically inaccurate piece) that I am left almost speechless.

The fact that I have written to you several times requesting that you do me the simple courtesy of correcting it and have neglected to do so either means that yes, I actually am speachless / voiceless, or you are deaf to the most elementary requests for fair treatment from those who have attempted to assist you in your journalistic endeavours in the past.

Would I be wrong to conclude that this is quite shabby treatment?

[Hamlet Au]

Frankie, I replied to you in email on Jan. 27 seeking clarification but didn't get a reply. I apologize for the confusion, the corrections have been made.

[Frankie]

Hello Hamlet
So you have - thank you indeed for that. I didn't receive your email which may have been eaten by my over zealous spam filter perhaps. I want to withdraw my comment about shabby treatment and apologise for that. Thank you for these corrections Hamlet.

Best wishes

Frankie.