Gianna Borgnine got a lot of attention earlier in the year because her company, sand castle studios, were nominated for an Emmy for their work on Deep Down Mine project. The project, which covered the plight of Appalachian coal miners in East Kentucky was a superb example of the way Second Life can be used to crossover into other mediums.
Sand Castle Studios have also benefited from the work of Qarl Linden Fizz …. Karl Stiefvater! Karl has helped them with the scripting. However Gianna is still around, still enthusiatic about virtual worlds and still getting publicity, as exemplified by this excellent interview with Delaware Online.
I do wish Linden Lab would bring back that blog idea where they blogged Second Life in the news stories …. hmm wait, then what I would blog about … hmm still, I liked it! Anyway, back to Gianna’s interview!
The interview exemplifies not just the potential of making projects in Second Life, but also the potential of people from different parts of America working together on a project because of Second Life, you could replace this with people from different parts of the world if the right team get together for your own team, this is one of the beauties of Second Life, my Chief Elf is German, although she speaks bloody good English, which helps.
Sand Castle Studios don’t just get involved with documentaries, they are involved in educational projects such as nursing students being able to virtually practice their techniques, education is an area where Second Life has heaps of potential, but this has been mentioned before, hotel receptionists, nurses, general education, the potential really is here and being a virtual world, the reach is extended.
The interview is upbeat and manages to avoid one of the pitfalls of interviews, Gianna doesn’t come across as only being bothered about her own company, she sounds positively enthusiastic about Second Life as a whole, which is good to read. My favourite part of the interview though, comes right at the end:
“I don’t think people understand the power of virtual worlds,” she said. “It blows my mind every day that everyone’s not there. This grabs you, engages you, lets you become part of it.”
Yes indeed, very true. I’ll say this for Gianna too, she’s far more in touch with what’s happening in her business than I am, I’m still trying to figure out what the hell is going on in my roleplaying sim after receiving this group notice just as I logged off:
“Melee Combatants needed for a Medieval – Fantasy Movie Trailer.”
I do wish my minions would keep me informed of what’s going on!