Making Memorable Machinima

"I am big! It's the pictures that got small." (Sunset Boulevard) How do we make machinima that transforms and inspires our audiences, while blessed with a shoestring budget? This session will delight your senses as we explore examples of machinima from games, such as World of Warcraft, and from the virtual world of Second Life. Join us as we explore the features that have made these inexpensive films so successful.

About Cynthia Calongne:

Cynthia Calongne, (also known as Lyr Lobo in Second Life) joined the Computer Science Department at Colorado Technical University (CTU) in 1996. She develops and teaches undergraduate and graduate software engineering courses that benefit from activities and projects in Second Life. For over thirteen years, she worked as a software engineer in support of Air Force Space Command and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Her doctoral research included designing and building a PC-based immersive virtual reality system and a new user interface for it.

Today, her research includes the use of games and game-based rubrics in education, and she has presented a dozen papers on user interface design, online education, educational game design and education in Second Life. She works with 100 8th grade students on the Ramapo islands in the Teen Grid of Second Life and supports the English Village's ESL roleplaying games. In 2005, she completed an artificial intelligence project for San Juan College and the National Science Foundation.