I’m a courteous and responsible avatar who enjoys making machinima. When I am filming it looks like I’m standing around, either alone or with my subject. It isn’t like I’m driving a van through someone’s flower beds or tracking mud on the carpets or scaring their sheep into a stampede.
I still have a huge amount to learn and the electronics I use aren’t so great. One thing I’ve learned is that unlike virtual photography, unless land description specifies that machinima is welcomed, we’re expected to ask permission. We can film on the LEA sims but we can’t rez. (Having no rez rights isn’t a problem for me; I rarely use poses for photography or deal with details that many others work with.)
When I see that others have used a location, I can guess that it’s acceptable to film but I’m not sure. Many showcase sim owners create flickr groups and invite avatars to submit their photos. It would be great if they would include information about machinima as well. Of course the location is to be credited; I don’t recall seeing when it hasn’t been.
The thing is, when I’ve sent IMs and notecards asking permission I haven’t been getting responses at all. I’m not sure how other avatars deal with this. None of the well known machinimists know me and we don’t hang out and chat so I am pretty much on my own. (My creative efforts have inspired several avatars to go and make wonderful machinima because I have such a blast doing it.)
It takes hours and hours to even end up with a three minute film so we have to kind of love it to bother. I think I recall seeing a list somewhere of places where filming is welcome but so often those things are not up-to-date.
I am hoping that some of the showcase sim owners who aren’t able or available to respond to IMs and notecards will indicate about permissions in their land descriptions for us everyday avatars who quietly go about doing video capture and editing it for our own enjoyment as well as the amusement of a few friends. I’m mostly thinking of these unique sims that are around for three or six months.
If this doesn’t make it more easier, I’m prepared to make more use of the LEA build locations. And at Art Farm Co-op, there will be a Fall Session 2 for six weeks where participating avatars can have rez rights as well as film which is something I very much appreciate.
Anyway, here is my last machinima. I don’t have words to describe how much fun it was making it.
