Moo Money

Sasha "Moo Money" Rudie has taken just a few years to develop her reputation as the "go-to" woman for Second Life Machinima. A respected blogger and columnist for some of the largest virtual world publications, she produces Machinima professionally on behalf of clients like Linden Lab, Manpower, and Cisco. Her contacts inside Second Life and throughout the Machinima and MMO community make her a one-woman Madison Avenue for Machinima and Second Life content alike.

Articles by Moo Money

Cinemassively: Turpster's Dingstravaganza
Every Saturday, our sister site, WoW Insider, holds a podcast on WoW Radio. Last Saturday was special, though, as their station co-host, Turpster, also of Turpstervision, was about to hit level 70. He invited everyone to join him on the Sporeggar EU server as he challenged newbie gnomes and dwarves to take him down in their starting area.According to one attendee, Regis of Sunstrider, about 200 "newbs" showed up to take Turpster down. He kindly provided a video of the event, as well as a play-by-play of the action. Unfortunately, he was walking back from the graveyard when Turpster was defeated, so there are no screenshots or footage of that moment. Was anyone there that managed to capture the final battle?[Thanks, Regis of Sunstrider!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Slim Jim
For some videographers, machinima can be a lucrative business. Myndflame, the creators of the Illegal Danish series, have made a full time living for over a year now producing machinima for clients. Using World of Warcraft, they've recently released a commercial for Slim Jim, the beef jerky stick. In the ad, they focus on a knight that has problems rescuing a fair maiden until the product is introduced.While WoW is a popular machinima platform, Blizzard has imposed a Fair Use Guide that restricts how machinimators can profit from their work. In the case of this specific video, Slim Jim most likely received a content use license from Blizzard.[Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: The Future is Hear
Jim Gustafson's production company in Second Life, Slipstream Productions, has released the first episode, The Future is Hear, of a planned sci-fi series, Slipstream. In this inaugural machinima, a man learns that greed can get the best of him. While there are some rough shots in certain scenes, this is one of the most engaging storylines we've seen come out of SL. Once we started watching the video, we soon forgot that it was even made in a virtual world and paid more attention to the content. We totally didn't see the ending coming! With a large cast of characters and an even longer list of thanks in the credits, there is already plenty of support for this project. We look forward to seeing the second episode![Thanks, Troy!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Narien Arrives
Insomniaddict Productions is hard at work on his new machinima series, Narien Asks. In order to promote the series ahead of time, he created this humorous trailer, Narien Arrives. While the video was mostly created with World of Warcraft and the WoW Model and Map Viewers, he also used Second Life to customize the truck featured briefly in our favorite scene. There's no word yet on when the series comes out, but we hope it's just as funny as today's Cinemassively![Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: In For A Penny, Part One
(This machinima may contain some adult content. Viewer discretion is advised.)At the beginning of this year, when we reviewed In For A Penny: Prologue, we called Selserene the "IT" girl of 2008. We're pleased to say that we weren't wrong. In For A Penny: Part One - "On All Eight" is a true work of art, considering that it was made within World of Warcraft."On All Eight" is about a falsely convicted man, Thayle, that puts everything on the line for a woman, who holds the key to his future. The film itself is a visually stunning masterpiece. It clearly took quite some time to write the story, find the actors, and edit a piece with such custom scenery. The result is something that would hold up against a real film noir.[Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: AoC vs. WoW
They're on the opposite sides of the alphabet, yet both extremely popular games. World of Warcraft has the intense raids, and Age of Conan has the ... boobs. It's understandable that some fans of both games would go back and forth, and some would be more interested in one over the other. This video's creator, nalus, seems to like the more realistic looking violence of AoC. Now that the game has been out for almost a month, do you think that it beats WoW, or has it let you down? Is it even worth comparing the two?If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: The Hunt trailer
Fans of Tales of the Past III, or epic storyline World of Warcraft machinima in general, will be thrilled with the upcoming release of The Hunt. David Ciavarella recently released a trailer for what will be his last film. While there is no release date currently set, we do know that at 66% done, it's already 65 minutes long. That's going to be quite a movie!The story centers around a night elf bounty hunter, Fubarius, and a tauren warrior, Bron. As they each deal with the reality of their situations, they will be tested on their journey. Is love enough of a reason to seek revenge on those that wronged Fubarius? Will Bron and his nephew make it to the cave? For a full description of the plot, check out the Warcraftmovies page on The Hunt.[Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Global Warming Day in SL
Draxtor Despres and BuhBuhCuh Fairchild, the self-titled "uncrowned masters of machinima," have collaborated to make Second Life residents aware of global warming in real life. While the subject matter is very real, we're not sure how much of the actual machinima is. Some of it seems almost mocking, although obviously there was some dramatization. The website, Turning Up the Heat, offers more information for those that are interested.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Our Brilliant Second Life
While a lot of news reports focus on the breaking up of real marriages because of Second Life, a surprising amount of partners actually log in together. One couple, Blair Fizz and Alegria Garden, were in a documentary, Our Brilliant Second Life, last year. Created by Mixin Pixel to show a different side to virtual relationships, it ended up being shown at the Aspen Shortsfest in 2007!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Racing in Second Life
What always amazes us about Second Life is how real the activities are. Sure, lots of those realistic activities, like baking in your virtual kitchen, or washing your hands in your virtual bathroom, are pointless, but some are actually are pretty cool. For example, Italian Formula 1 and Ducati racing. While the site is entirely in Italian, you can get an idea of what goes on. It would appear as if they have regular daily, and monthly, events that one can participate in. This blogger has been the passenger in a race car (NASCAR) and would not do it again, but from the comfort of SL? Bring it on!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: SL as a platform for Augmented Reality
The Georgia Institute of Technology has been studying augmented reality in Second Life. Described as a combination of real world and computer-generated data, it allows you to interact with the objects in real time. If you're confused, check out this video, which explains Georgia Tech's research in SL, as well as shows some examples of what they've been up to. If you're curious and want to learn more, visit Augmented Reality island.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Chilled Escapism
Today's Cinemassively is a slow one, so grab your pillow and chill out with Chilled Escapism. This machinima is just yet another visual masterpiece by the World of Warcraft guru, Baron Soosdon. While there's no actual plot or point, we would say that this video could be used for zen meditation. Baron does such amazing things with Sony Vegas, such as blending color filters and special effects, and WoW, that we're pretty sure he's a ninja! For more information on Chilled Escapism, as well as his other projects, you can check out his blog.[Via Baron Soosdon]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Stage
Before Robbie Dingo was ever an artist in residence or brought paintings to life in Second Life, he was known as the machinimator that made us cry. With works like Better Life and Stage, he set the tone for deeply emotional machinima. With Stage in particular, he showed the relationship between a father and a son as time passed on. He illustrated this with a train set and a piano. Robbie proves that you don't need a complicated storyline to evoke a response.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Leet Str33t
While this machinima isn't made with an MMO, the subject matter of the video, leet speak, is something we've all encountered in online games. Leet Str33t is a trip down memory lane, to the old days of AOL, shown to us through two neighbors greeting each other for the first time. While this was made with The Sims, it could have easily be made in a virtual world!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Inside World of Warcraft, Episode 3
For fans of Machinima.com, Inside World of Warcraft won't be new for you. However, those new to the IWoW series will enjoy the three episodes out so far. It is a comedy news series (sometimes) starring Macheath, of Oblivious Films.Typically, the host spends some time telling jokes, then launches into a few pieces of humorous news, complete with banter. While not much is covered in six minutes, and it can be hard to take the news seriously given the delivery of it, Inside World of Warcraft is still an enjoyable machinima news program. There needs to be more programs like this for all platforms!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Guild Wars vs. World of Warcraft
This video is an oldie, but a goodie. Rather than debate the merits of Guild Wars, versus World of Warcraft, he held a dance off. Set to the eighties classic, You Can't Touch This, by MC Hammer, he also used a "cheesy" Star Wars intro at the beginning. Which game do you think won the dance off?[Via YouTube]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Hospital Replica in Second Life
Play2Train, a virtual company that boasts a town and two hospitals over three sims in Second Life, facilitates training exercises through interactive roleplaying. In this machinima showing off one of the hospitals, they use Google Earth to show exactly where it's at in real life, then quickly switches over to SL to highlight the facility itself. One of the particularly meta aspects of this video is the computer monitor in the virtual hospital that was at the desktop, with a Quicktime video open playing video of the real life hospital![Thanks, Ramesh!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Free fun with prim Puppeteer
When we first saw what Puppeteer could do, we were blown away. Now we've found a video of some examples of what other people have done with the product in Second Life. This little gadget allows you to place scripts in prims that will record movement and play it back, or "animate" it. Residents have animated doors, wings, stuffed animals, pets, and many other objects.The best part is that the creator, Todd Borst, has a no transfer version available for free, so that you can animate to your heart's desire. There is also a version for vendors that costs money, but today's post is all about free fun in SL![Via SLEXchange.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: BloodSpell team discusses going from series to feature
Strange Company's documentary series about the making of their feature-length machinima, BloodSpell has come to a close. Over the six episodes of the documentary, they discussed conception, pre-production, animation, editing, going from series to feature, and their experiences making the film. Today, we're focusing on the fifth episode in the series, on going from series to feature. Through their interviews, they provide helpful tips on taking your series and reformatting it into a feature-length film. Some of the topics they discuss are reshooting scenes and color correction. If you're looking to take your work to the next level, very few have come as far as feature-length in the machinima realm!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: LotRO music with a twist
Oh, how we've tried to find actual Lord of the Rings Online machinima. Everyone that plays seems obsessed with the musical instruments, though! However, we've finally found a "music video" that we can get behind.We don't want to give away the musical arrangement surprise for you, so you'll just have to watch. All that we can say is that Cervantes and Doreketh, the composers, had way too much time on their hands in LotRO.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.

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