The Sound'r Blog

Behind the scenes with Musica Poetica

Dear friends,

after more than two years of exploring the commercial and artistic opportunities for Machinima using Second Life® as a platform, Sound’r has entered into a somehow new, yet familiar spectrum of production.

No longer do we fight with frame-rates, server lag or as we like to call it “Virtual Weather”, however we do now once again fight with the classical hindrances of real life production such as bad lighting, real weather and dealing with the fact that you can’t just change the background of a set with the flick of your mouse anymore (damn-it).

Indeed, with the acquisition of a broadcast grade professional full HD video camera and tons of production accessories, Sound’r has (re-)entered “real-life” film production.

With several great projects on the table, the first one a co-production in partnership with Dirk Fischer and Tobias Fischer, already wrapped mid-February and now in post-production, is a short format documentary following the preparations leading up to a mind boggling concert performance of the amazing Musica Poetica ensemble. A group of unique musicians, under the musical direction of Jörn Boysen a young, energetic conductor and musician, that has garnered respect for their historically accurate, faithful and musical performances.

While Machinima is still an avenue of our productions that we continue to explore, experiment and support, it does feel good to once again hold a real clapboard in hands and haul lights, tripods and cameras from set to set.

Check back soon for some more production notes and behind the scenes footage of the Musica Poetica project and thanks for reading!

-André

Streaming live from the Coolsounds & Magick Studios in Amsterdam, the Born Again Pagans have been travelling the grid in their tourbus for over a year, sharing their unique sound: reggae sidetracked by synths and heavy guitars.

“We’ve been touring the grid since the early spring of 2008,” says vocalist (plus guitarist and percussionist) hexx Triskaidekaphobia. “What got us started was all the other musos: the more we invited to jam at our own place, the more we started thinking about getting ourselves out there as well. So once we found out how easy it is to set up a stream, we just did it. And after we got used to the weird feeling of playing tens of seconds earlier than the people actually heard it, we got the groove.”

With Madame Amoufhaz on synths and percussion, the Born Again Pagans play an average of two shows a week.

“A lot of our shows are regular ones and those are always at venues we really like. Santir on Bayou Noir comes to mind, the Memphis Pavilion of course, the Stream Life Gallery, the kitchen table in the Greenies home. We’re also invited to take the stage at the Phantom Theatre on Eerie Isle every other month or so. Oh, and we really should jam more often at our own place, Rastafairy Beach on Prankster South,” says Triskaidekaphobia.

The band’s website includes a calendar of upcoming shows, as well as pictures and links to their music online. You can also hear original songs on the Born Again Pagans’ MySpace page, follow the band on Twitter or IM hexx Triskaidekaphobia in-world to request a free copy of their live album, released earlier this year.

This video was one of the first Sound’r made, a couple of months ago – we worked with Shelly, Dazz, Aems and Luth to give a proper demonstration of how their fabulous new collaboration ought to be enjoyed.

Well, how we all thought it should be, anyway. The shoot just so happened to coincide with a set of new armour at Monolith, called the Helljumper (available soon in both male and female versions – click the SubscribOMatic if you’d like to be told when it’s released), so we told a little sci-fi tale.

The end result might be dark, moody and meaningful, but filming it certainly wasn’t. We discovered that Shelly cannot run to save her pixel life, and I can’t shoot for toffee when in mouselook (or at any other time, for that matter).

Perhaps those of you with a little more hand/eye coordination might be able to do it more justice – the Crusader outfit, with belt and leg accessory, can be found at Moonshine, and comes in both a male and female version, as space cowboy is a profession of gender equality.

The hair is by Philotic Energy and is called Sloane, and is again unisex, and the poses are part of a set created to complement the look by Reel Poses – if you’re not a fan of gun-toting, there are alternative versions with finger pointing instead.

Why am I bringing this up now? Because we’ve just finished filming a new episode! So many people asked us what happened after the ship blew up that we decided it was only right to finish the story, which prompted us to make a whole series to answer the question… here’s a sneaky screenshot Shelly took on set – watch this space!

Sound’r was lucky enough to be allotted a nice big plot at this year’s SL birthday celebrations (you can still visit our booth here), so I’ve been spending much of my online time on the sims, chatting to passers by and generally making a nuisance of myself. If you’ve yet to visit, the video above gives you a little taste of what’s there.

And, of course, because there was no way I was going to be able to help myself, I made a beeline for the goodies other exhibitors have on offer to the roaming many.

One place I recommend for patient clickers is the Paradox sim in the south west corner. Touch the small green aliens as they fly past your head and collect all manner of gifts - but make sure you’re within 10m or the little buggers will just taunt you.

The goodies range from Grobbins (like the one perched on my shoulder), to Snotlings on sticks, lil aliens you can cuddle, Hermes One Mp3 player/radios, GUS Security Bods and, shown above, the 2020 outfit in gold from Evil Lu Designs (far left) and gold-splashed earrings and paint-splashed bangles from Dark Mouse. And more I no doubt missed.

If you haven’t run out of patience, I also recommend hunting down the Cyberfashionista exhibit on Portal, where Digit Darkes and Baiastice have set out various pressies, including prim eyes and a cyborg skin. Above them, you’ll find a sky-full of stars, 12 of which are hiding more gifts to be squirreled away.

In the picture, from second left to right, are the Opti-death (paired with Digit Darkes Gem Brooch Heels) and Intrigue dresses, both from Baiastice, and the Retro Bikini and Moulin Rouge from Digit Darkes. But there’s much more to find up there…