You Are the Expo

Wear your underwear to the Expo!

What a time! I really like Phil’s blog post where he says “You are the Expo”. So true. You, the community of filmmakers, artists and animators and underwear wearers. All of you are why we have created the Expo. And most importantly it’s the films that we present for you. Well, ok, we also do it for ourselves, but you just happen to be there too, right?

This kind of experience, getting together and sharing films, advice, knowledge and fun, is to my mind essential for our machinima community. It develops a common goal; to make more and better films. Plus, there are some very cool people that you just don’t hear about, but at the Expo you can stop and talk with them and maybe even agree to collaborate on a project.

And finally, seeing our best films, films that are technically and artistically superior, gives us a solid understanding of what good machinima is all about. And it inspires our imagination.

I can’t tell you how glad I am for putting the Expo together with Phil, Damien and Ingrid. There are times when it’s rough and you feel down, but being at the Expo yesterday and reading what people are saying makes all of our efforts worthwhile.  Truly.

And we thank you for your support. Almost 100 people came yesterday. We are so proud.

So……

Kate and Russell are on their game at the Expo

We are having a Port Mortem on the Expo this Wednesday at 7pm Pacific Time/10pm Eastern Time at the Expo site to discuss what worked and what didn’t at the Expo this year. While we feel we did a good job, there are things we’d like to add to next year’s Expo, plus we want to hear from YOU about your experience. If you can’t make it, please comment here or at our Facebook page about what worked for you and what didn’t.  And if you are more comfortable with a private message send them to

expo[at]machiniplex[dot]net

Our Facebook page is at:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185438178818

(PS more photos and media coming)

Welcome to the Machinima Expo 2009

We welcome you to the Machinima Expo 2009. We have 6+ hours of panels and presentations, plus 7+ hours of machinima for you to watch. Remember the screening rooms and the screening theatre will be running 24/7 this weekend and all through next week. Phil has busted his butt to get a film by film schedule for you. Just look for a billboard in front of each screening area. And please, explore the island. We’ve worked hard to provide a fun environment for you to play in. We have designed the island to be experienced at night, so if it isn’t dark when you arrive go to the top of your Second life screen and choose “World”, then follow the drop down menu to “Environment” and choose “Midnight”. The environment will automatically change for you to midnight.

If you need help look for the main help booth or someone with a red Expo Staff t-shirt. Plus, don’t be afraid to ask anyone attending for help as well.

The main slurl to UCSVILLE (exact second life name of Expo location) is:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/ucsville/141/124/25

Welcome to the Expo

2009 Expo Movie Showtimes

Approximately 12 hours from right now, at Midnight Second Life Time (that’s Pacific Time – US & Canada GMT -08:00), the two primary screening reels of Expo selections will begin running – and will continue running for the next full week. That means the screenings will not only be going on during the live event, but a whole day before and a whole week after!

Last year, information was a bit sketchy on when certain films were playing. This year, we’re trying something a bit more ambitious: specific, predictable showtimes for EVERY film on these reels, round the clock, for the entire week. This should not only prove helpful for people wanting to surgically watch one individual film, but for those of you who plan to take in all eight (8) plus hours of machinima in multiple sessions, this will enable you to plan your days or evenings with what should be very good precision. Or feel free to organize “movie nights” to bring along some friends and take in some movies as a group.

So without further ado, I present the full Showtimes schedule for the Machinima Expo 2009. It’s a PDF file, so feel free to right-click and save it to your hard drive:

2009 MachinExpo Showtimes (PDF)

Note: This is an experiment. Theoretically, this should work wonderfully, but bear in mind that we might run into the unforeseen. If that happens, we’ll make every endeavor to get the screenings back onto this schedule pronto. Watch our Twitter feed for any status issues related to this schedule.