Category: Virtual Worlds

The Ottawa International Animation Festival runs from September 20 – 24 and the blurb informs us :

Every September, the Ottawa International Animation Festival presents the world’s most cutting-edge, quirky and important animation — and transforms Ottawa into the centre of the animation universe.

The festival features screenings, workshops, talks, competitions and more. One of those competitions is The Canadian Student Competition which will feature a short film entitled “Second Life“, directed by  Benjamin Reyes and Joshua Fischle and produced by Ryerson University.

This short film, is not surprisingly, inspired by the virtual world of Second Life, as an article by Bruce Deachman at The Ottawa Citizen informs us; Ottawa filmmaker comes home with Second Life . The article is itself an interview with one of the directors, Benjamin Reyes, who explains :

“I was interested in these stories you would hear of people meeting each other through the Internet, through things like Second Life. That idea was bizarre and interesting to me, that you could know somebody strictly through this avatar and not even see their face or know what they look like, and you don’t really know who’s controlling them.”

The film appears to have been inspired by Second Life, rather than machinima filmed in Second Life but it’s interesting to see how virtual worlds can inspire other mediums.

Continue reading “Second Life Inspired Short Film Makes The Cut For Ottawa International Animation Festival”