On Actors and Second Life - The Actors' Sandbox, Part One

I love actors. I think the realization hit me only recently. I had another grand 90 minute session recently with The Actors' Sandbox in Second Life.

In case I haven't written about it yet, this is a collaborative effort between Running Lady, Corky Myrtle of Schoolhouse Earth and Wytchwhisper Sadofsky of TMU. Its evolving purpose is to allow actors of all levels of experience to come in and stretch a bit, do some scenes, discover and rediscover the tools of the trade, and generally relax and be actors together for an hour out of the day. At the same time, it is a place where directors and producers can come and observe these actors in preparation for casting of future projects. I'll post another blog on the evolution of The Sandbox and the particulars of the workshop sessions.

I'm excited about this project for a couple of reasons: it is providing a place for actors to hone their craft, and it is raising the profile of the role of "actor" in a virtual environment. In our case, it is Second Life that we focus on and in SL , frankly, the role of actor in machinima has been at best nebulous and at worst non-existent. For actors, filmmakers tended to grab the nearest avatar standing around, usually themselves, and basically place them in the shot as a prop.

In the last few years, I've worked to both seek out talented actors roaming the wilds of SL, and to show filmmakers that their films can be much richer and the experience of shooting a film can be greatly enhanced by using these talented actors. Not only talented, but trained, as well, in the craft of performing in SL.

I'm happy to report that the during the last three years, I have seen a rise in the both the awareness of an actor community in SL, but a desire to use these actors in films and live performances based in SL.

Here's to keeping that momentum going.

Introducing SSC&C: A casting agency for virtual worlds...really

Hi there!

I'm Suzy Yue (that’s me in the director’s chair on the right wearing the black turtleneck in the group shot – very artistic, right?). I suppose, more accurately, Suzy Yue is my avatar in Second Life (SL), an online virtual world created by Linden Lab (LL) five years ago. I say that LL created SL, but in truth, its residents, a diverse group of people from all over the world, created it. And all of them are trying, in their own way, to make their mark in this brave new world. That is what makes SL truly unique among all other virtual environments - it is the only one that can state that it is not a game. But more about that in later blogs :).

I am the owner/CEO/Artistic Director of Suzy's Super Cast & Crew (SSC&C), the group for whom this blog has been created. Just stopping in to say hi and welcome you to our new blog!

Yes, your read the blog title right. SSC&C is a casting agency, based in SL. Don't get you brain stem in a twist, it is not as bizarre as it might sound! Within Second Life and other virtual environments, just as in "real life", there are people who make movies. This art form is called machinima. SSC&C provides skilled, talented individuals to filmmakers, called machinimatographers or machinimists, and to others, who need cast and crew members for their projects.

I won't dive into the particulars of how that works here. I will tell you all about it in my next post. If you're just dying to know what machinima is, and can’t wait, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinima where you will find a great explanation! And, please check out our page at www.runninglady.com/sscc to see clips from some of the projects we have worked on.

This blog is a place for us to tell you about SSC&C's past, present and future projects, and to share fun and funny stories from the set and from Second Life. I’ll be the primary voice for the blog, but our actors, designers, builders and scripters will also take turns as the mic and to fill in as guest bloggers.

Okay, that's it!
Talk soon!
Suzy