48 Hour Film Project Announces Second Life Contest Winner

New York, NY (PRWEB) January 18, 2008 -- The 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP) today announced the winner of its first competition in the virtual world Second Life, held over the weekend of January 13-14. "Zombie Attack", a horror film by Team CADE, won the coveted Best Film award. In the film, two men nervously hide out during a zombie attack, with only a match to fight the darkness. Will they be discovered? That is the question.

Other notable films entered in the competition include "SL 042" by Team Harvey (a drama), "We only live twice" by Team The Machinimatrix (a spy film), and "The Pink Flamingo", by Team Dream Team (a buddy film). Film team leaders live all over the real world, including the Netherlands, Germany and Canada. In addition, teams included crew and talent who worked on the films simultaneously from all parts of the world. To keep things interesting and to ensure the films were created within the required 48 hour timeframe, each film contained the following required elements: Tony or Toni Martin, Teacher (a character), a pink flamingo (a prop), and the line of dialogue, "That's the way it goes."

Twelve teams competed to write, shoot and edit an entire "virtual reality" film, all in just 48 hours. Teams were challenged to film entirely within the popular, online, resident-created virtual world called Second Life. This relatively new art form is known as "machinima" and enables filmmakers of all levels to showcase their talents in a low-cost, high-creativity environment with few barriers to entry.

The 48HFP originated in May 2001, when co-executive producer Mark Ruppert first envisioned challenging artists to make a film in 48 hours. Six years later, it's a global phenomenon, with competitions having taken place in over 50 cities worldwide. In a sign of 48HFP's ever-higher profile, the Project debuted in 2007 at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Submissions to this year's inaugural Second Life contest were judged by Millions of Us Chief Creative Officer Douglas Gayeton, UK-based Millions of Us artist-in-residence Rob Wright, and Second Life machinima pioneer Ben Batstone-Cunningham of Seattle. "Zombie Attack" will go on to be screened at 48 Hour Film Project's Filmapalooza to be held at Cinequest in San Jose, CA, March 2008.

"Second Life machinima artists are taking film in exciting new directions that are unconstrained by the limits of physical reality," said Second Life 48HFP co-producer Melissa Robison. "We truly appreciate everyone's participation. Through this competition, we hope to bridge the gap between real life filmmaking and filmmaking in Second Life and other virtual worlds in the near future. Everyone's participation has helped 48HFP do that."

"We were thrilled to have the opportunity to help organize 48HFP's inaugural Second Life competition," said Reuben Steiger, CEO, Millions of Us LLC. "Team CADE shows the caliber of talent in this emerging discipline, and this talent will have an impact that extends far beyond the arts."

About the 48HFP:

Back in May 2001, co-executive producer Mark Ruppert came up with a crazy idea to try to make a film in 48 hours. He quickly enlisted his filmmaking partner, Liz Langston, and several other DC filmmakers to form their own teams and join him in this experiment. The big question back then was: "Would films made in only 48 hours even be watchable?" The answer was a resounding yes, and now six years later and with more than 100 competitions having taken place around the world, it is amazing to consider the success of the Project.

The winning teams' films go on to screen at the annual awards weekend, Filmapalooza, which has been held at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, and Cinequest, in San Jose, California, in the past. The Project debuted in 2007 at the prestigious Cannes International Film Festival with the Best of 2006 films, including 11 films made especially for Cannes.

Cities competing in the 2007 tour included: Amsterdam, Asheville, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Brisbane, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Des Moines, Fargo, Ghent/Gent, Greensboro, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Louisville, Madison, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Mexico, New Orleans, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Maine, Portland, Oregon, Providence, Richmond, Rome/Roma, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, Tel Aviv, Utrecht, Virginia Beach and Washington, DC.

The 48 Hour Film Project's mission is to advance filmmaking and promote filmmakers of all kinds. This Second Life 48HFP competition is a special project that opens the definition of filmmakers to include machinima artists. Through its festival/competition, the Project encourages machinima artists and would-be machinima artists to get out there and make movies. The tight deadline of 48 hours puts the focus squarely on the machinima artists -- emphasizing creativity and teamwork skills. While the time limit places an unusual restriction on the participants, it is also liberating by putting an emphasis on doing instead of talking.

About the Second Life 48HFP Producers:

The Second Life 48HFP producers, Michael Domingo and Melissa Robison, are long-term Second Life residents. Between the two, they have also produced films, videos, podcasts and machinima.

About Millions of Us LLC

Millions of Us LLC is an agency specializing in virtual worlds and large online communities. Founded in 2006 and based in San Francisco, the agency's clients include 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Toyota, Microsoft and Intel.

Related Links:

48 Hour Film Project in Second Life:

http://www.48hourfilm.com/secondlife

Second Life:

http://secondlife.com/

Create a Second Life Account:

https://secure-web12.secondlife.com/join/

# # #