Making "Molotov": How The Man Behind The HBO/Cinemax Special Created His Avatar-Based Documentary, And Why
When Douglas Gayeton began creating the documentary short that airs tonight in the US at 8pm on Cinemax, he wasn't even sure what people meant by the word "machinima".
"I had heard the term," Douglas told me last weekend, "but didn’t even know what it was. I thought it was a Second Life culture." In 2006/early 2007, the Dutch production company Submarine had hired the seasoned filmmaker to create a documentary about Web 2.0 culture, specific topic unspecified. But his wife Laura had just given birth to their first child, and he was loathe to leave their goat farm in Petaluma. (Laura runs a popular organic goat milk ice cream company-- a story in itself.) "That’s when I realized I could stay in Second Life and not have to leave the house."
The result was "Molotov Alva and the Search for His Creator: A Second Life Odyssey", and the story of its viral ascent into a major cable network was covered here. Since writing that post last year, I should say by way of full disclosure, Douglas and I have become friendly. But I was enthralled by "Molotov Alva" the very moment the first part aired last March on YouTube, and having seen the whole film since, that sense is only heightened: dizzying, funny, profound, it's a fever dream vision that perfectly captures the essence of Second Life. (I'm hardly its only admirer.)
In creating it, Douglas more or less invented a new technique to shoot machinima, waded through 100 hours of footage, and wound up with a movie that challenges the very definition of "documentary". After the break, he talks about that, the surprising (and spoiler-laden) plot twists that were added at the last moment, and where Molotov goes from here.


















