Top Five Features of My Favorite Second Life Machinima -- and The Top Five Elements That Make Me Click Away

Since we're talking a lot about Second Life machinima this week, I should mention all the features I generally look for in machinima I blog on New World Notes. I watch a lot of machinima, but maybe just 5% of what I see shows up here.* Why do I pass on the other 95%? Usually, for elements like these:

• Generic opening titles: Opening credits which use generic/template titles created from video editing software.
• Lip sync: Second Life lip sync is unbelievable, distracting, and often a narrative crutch to convey information better related visually or in voiceover.
• Poor pacing: Few machinima intended for online consumption should be longer than 5 minutes; less than 3 minutes is ideal.
• Too "inside baseball": Most machinima is only interesting or comprehensible to users of the software/online world it's created in. This is not a bad thing in itself, but it is generally difficult to blog.
• Indifferent visuals: User interface visible; low res shots, shots that convey little or no information. Boring angles, bumpy camerawork, etc.

So what Second Life machinima works? Ideally, the very best includes:

Original titles: This is the first sign that the machinimator is serious about their work -- opening credits that are visually interesting or impactful.

Interesting in the first five seconds: I can't emphasize this enough -- if there's not a powerful image or other element in the very first moments of the machinima, there's rarely any good reason to keep watching. But when there is, as below, you're instantly hooked:

Strong and simple story: This doesn't necessarily mean plot or dialog per se, but enough story to frame the video, or convey a single idea. In the hands of a master, "Girl loses boy, boy saves girl" can make for an incredibly powerful machinima:

Innovative visuals/great production values: Sometimes, it's just enough to create a new and creative way of shooting/editing machinima:

(The same goes for excellent editing, which is generally the main reason that I blog a machinima that's really just a story-free montage.)

Emotionally compelling: To me, this is the absolute gold standard that outweighs everything else: does the machinima evoke a true emotional response? Even better, does it evoke complex feelings? Those machinimas are rare, but as this segment of Cao Fei's "i.mirror" suggests, shows how powerful the medium can be:

* With this post, I'm not talking about videographic machinima that's mainly meant to document or feature Second Life content, such as a new sim, or an in-world event, or machinima made for real world purposes (education, training, etc.)

Comments

[Metacam Oh]

Well the problem is that people assume just because they video captured themselves walking around Second Life, that its actually "Machinima" There needs to be a quality standard by which we say, ok this is not machinima, its merely crap. If someone cannot remove the SL Menu/UI I can't call it machinima. I also can't stand when people make videos for copyrighted music. Do we really need an SL Video for a Beyonce song? No. Theres plenty of SL musicians out there that would love to offer their music for a music video.

[Adric Antfarm]

We don't want to reek of art snobs who discourage the work of hacks like myself as they service those who churn out work that is frankly bizarre and nonsensical with no meaning. If you talk about the rules of art you have stopped talking about art. You are really just rolling down your car window and asking for Grey Poupon.

Do these folks really take themselves this seriously? Wow? More so considering Second Life was not designed to make machinima and it actively tries to make it difficult as you rig camera pans and pray for the best.

There are programs that are suited to the task. Moviestorm is great but that is all it does. As for dialogue Xtranormal is great. That Second Life can work is a testament to those able to use a butter knife to cut steak.

Sure, you can cover it up with bright colors and avant garde work that is sadly derivative, but it's simply served on a tray for the little crowd of those who consider themselves the artists in Second Life as they prepare for the 12-6 shift at Denny's.

Making someone laugh is a challenge in this form and those who pull it off like Josue Habanna in his Octomom video, the brilliant Man vs Second Life, and the sad saga M Poster Linden are making real stuff. That is content. Not flashy trashy.

I get that you want to be the high brow art guy writer, but the vast majority of your readers may very well relate to something more unrefined.

Original titles. Really? That is one of your criteria? Am I being punked? Where is Ashton?

[Nine Warrhol]

Very well said Adric. I agree! Why should there be limits on what is and what isn't Machinima? It's silly the very idea. Most of the stuff that I have seen that is called Machinima is really just a circle jerk for the creator showing off how good their graphics are..lol

As long as its fun that should be all that matters. Don't define it. Creativity should be welcomed in any form, from anyone.

[Ann Otoole]

Yea sure it takes a lot to get to the top of the pile. But what makes judgmental people that don't even make anything worth looking at the experts?

There is a lot more to it and posting articles that read like they are intended to drive off potential talent is just another example of the most ugly and despicable aspect of SL that drives people away: elitism.

Look at some of the early work from some of the people you have deemed the masters and get back to us with a story from them about how it was at first and how they evolved.

[Hamlet Au]

I said this post was about "My Favorite Second Life Machinima" in the title for a reason, I'm not claiming this is a definitive list, just mine. (Though I'll go out on a limb and say slow-paced machinima with muddy visuals and bad lip sync aren't generally a great idea.)

[Paisley Beebe]

Yeh Hamlet we know you are hung up on the Lip Sync thing..but you know what..if you don't find that watchable how do you find anything about SL machinima beleivable or watchable. None of SL annimation is Synced like real life, SL hair doesn't move like RL hair, people in SL don't walk like real Life people, no one other than you cares about Lip Sync, its all about suspending disbelief...in the same way as when we watched the Thunderbirds in the 60's we could see the damn strings, it was still fun! still a story...get over the lip sync and enjoy the message and the content you are way too distracted by the limitations. Paisley

[Mistletoe]

I don't see it at all as discouraging or driving off potential talent. I see it simply as "This is what I personally like and look for." I didn't see any point in which Hamlet says they are absolute musts; only that there are elements that work for making a good machinima. And aside from the opening titles and lip sync, the rest are really just general elements that make any production better: a good story, good pacing, emotional appeal, etc.

I've never made an SL machinima before, but if I ever do, these are all things that I'll consider. I find the article far less "driving off" than inspiring.

[Chaffro Schoonmaker]

Thanks for hating my work and dismissing all the effort I put in. I'll give up now.