Guest Thinkers — February 22, 2011

Molotov Alva: an innovative film within Second Life

While the initial hype surrounding virtual worlds such as Second Life has somewhat faded over the past year, it’s exciting to see that CINEMAX plans to run a 10-part documentary film about Second Life (“Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey”) starting this Thursday. It’s innovative enough to do a film about virtual worlds, but what makes this film especially stand out is that it is shot entirely inside Second Life, machinima-style.

Last year, I had the unique opportunity to work with a talented machinima director on a similar type of project for a major client, and it’s really extraordinary the effort and time that goes into filming inside Second Life. There are sets, actors, scripts — basically, anything that goes into making a traditional film. Mad props to Douglas Gayeton for getting this film made and finding a cable TV sponsor (CINEMAX) bold enough to show it.

[image: Molotov Alva]

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