loss to body: the process

Building Virtual Worlds
Team: Dr. Quantum and the Quarks
Project 1

During our preproduction phase we were faced with Skill-Set Assignments, Scheduling, Concept Planning, Research, and Technical Setup. Once we were underway we started rolling down that list of items to be completed. Our original team roles looked slightly different from our roles when post production time rolled around to adapt as needs aroused. Those original roles looked like this:

Fouad - Video Editing, Post Production
Matthew - Web Scripting, Video Capture, Post Production
Ken - Programmer, Video Capture
Bryant - Story Boarding
Patrick - Project Manager / Treasury

Once project roles were decided we moved on to our concept creation and brainstorming. This phase was most enjoyable by all as Bryant and Ken lead spirited debates that finally lead to our final concept: Lucid Dreams as it relates to the fluidity of Virtual Reality. As we now had a working concept, our project plan was quickly worked out and we stuck to it throughout the duration. Our group then did some research by screening Waking Life, a moving about Lucid Dreaming.

Soon after that movie screening we moved in to the production phase of our project. Our first challenge was that of a technical nature. We originally planned to use Snap video capture software to film while in Second Life in the Mac O/S. After our first day this quickly changed to using Fraps video capture software and Second Life on the Windows O/S.
Once our technical fiasco was solved we proceeded to tweak and finalize our story script that Bryant created during our concept planning phase. While finalizing our script we all were given some in-game currency to go on a shopping spree in order to outfit our characters for filming and create the needed environments. With a finalized Story, outfitted characters, and a studio set created, filming commenced. With the direction of Matthew and Fouad we shot all necessary scenes and story dialogue in a matter of days with voice over recording to follow at a similar efficiency.

With video capture, and voice over dialogues completed Matthew and Fouad began to compile our masterpiece. Days later we had our first render entitled: Loss of Body. The following days brought a few tweaks here and there to better sync the audio or brighten up certain areas and all was right on schedule. All that remained was the creation of our website to showcase this masterpiece, our first project while at the MDM:

Loss to Body.