Season 2 of The Blackened Mirror is currently taking a mid season break, which is good because it gives people time to catch up with the series before the next episode is aired. So far three episodes have been aired, a further three episodes are scheduled to start from Sunday January 26th.
For those of you who don’t know, The Blackened Mirror is a machinima based series filmed in Second Life. The show is written by Da5id Abbott and directed by Saffia Widdershins of Prim Perfect fame. treet.tv also happily put their name on the credits.
I’m a big fan of storytelling in many forms and The Blackened Mirror certainly uses the Second Life well as a means of telling a story, but credit has to go to Da5id Abbott for scripting that story.
To get the best from the show you really need to visit the website. The news section in particular is an excellent resource as it gives you background and information on the episodes. The episodes themselves can also be viewed from the episodes page, there you will get a little bit of blurb about each episode. I’ll embed the first three episodes below the cut.
The episodes are short, the longest one is just ten and half minutes long. The episodes also feature contributions from Second Life residents, activists, content creators, photographers and more. I will mention a few of them and apologise for not mentioning everyone involved. However if you go to the cast and crew page of the website you will see more names, some may be familiar.
Episode 1 – Reversals Of Fortune
Episode 1 opens with Harland Quinn in a strange place, with strange people and even stranger walls!
Random Information – Honour McMillan is the assistant director. Scott Simpson plays characters, provides original music and does post production work for the show. Scott Simpson is better known in Second Life circles as Zander Greene, co-founder of Fantasy Faire.
Episode 2
Episode 2 has a mysterious doctor, someone who believes strongly in science? We shall see.
Random information – Amongst the fish folk are art historian Rowan Derryth and Bear Silvershade, a photo journalist, virtual artist and storyteller at Seanchai Library in Second Life. Custom animations for the episodes are provided by Rynn Verwood and Fantasy Difference.
Episode 3
Provides a shock when a return to familiar territory doesn’t turn out to be quite as familiar as one would have hoped.
Random Information – Peter Jurasik (Of Babylon 5 fame) provides the voice for one of the characters. Special thanks are sent to Marcus Inkpen and Sharni Azalee of The Looking Glass, P4NDOR4 Quintessa of Pandemonium and Winona Wiefel and Reven Rosca of Prime Furniture.