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Forum monthly theme-shoots w. virtual magazine compilation


Orwar
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Monthly 'forumite' themed picture virtual magazine

   For those who haven't kept up with the current on-goings in the 'How does your avatar look today?' thread, let me begin with a brief recap of what's up:

  • Someone posted a photo of a themed outfit.
  • People asked where one might acquire such an outfit.
  • People en masse began to post pictures of similar outfits.
  • The pictures are being compiled into a collage of dressed up forumites.
  • I suggested we make it a reoccurring 'thing', and that we compile each month's theme in the format of a virtual magazine.

   So, the purpose of this thread is to check for interest, and to discuss the execution of such a project, and everyone is welcome to throw around ideas!

First things first ...

   At this stage, nothing has really been decided upon, and there's plenty of room for ideas to be spun. Some of the suggestions and questions already brought up through previous discourse includes:

  • What would we call such a magazine/project?
  • Standardised picture format for application (3:4? I like 3:4)?
  • In-world 'home office' location.
  • Theme poll? Execution? (Discord? New forum thread each month? Ballot stand at the Forum Cartel hangout?)

   @Zennessa has offered the use of her public land for an in-world 'home office', so we've got that covered. As far as naming the magazine, well, start throwing around ideas and we'll try to figure out a way to do a poll on it. When it comes to format, my suggestion is a 3:4 (i.e. portrait) ratio - as this works well both for close-up portraits and full-body shots with plenty of wiggle room for poses, and it also makes a good page format; but it's still open for discussion!

Current themes open ...

   So, for those who have yet to do so, feel free to join the fun! For March's theme, we've gone with Bunny Outfits, and for April we'll do Arch-villains & Superheroes. Please keep the following in mind:

  • Please use an all-black background - this makes it easier to make a cohesive collage!
  • For now, stick to 3:4 formats - i.e. 768 x 1024 (size doesn't matter! We can always size down pictures for the publication.)
  • Keep in mind that the pictures go through these forums - and as such, must adhere to the rules of the forums. As per usual. Nothing weird.
  • Bonus points for Lindens participating. @Dakota Linden - grab your cape!

And, lastly but not leastly ...

   So a little something that I realized by this point is that I don't actually have a clue about how to make a virtual flipbook, or how to put it on an accessible domain. The first part I can probably pick up, I know how to make a PDF; but if anyone has somewhere to store and distribute the file somehow (I reckon a blog server will do fine - but what do I know?!), it would be much appreciated!

   Oh, and, I solemnly swear that all participants' pictures will be treated with respect (relative to the forum standards) and won't find use for any dodgy shenanigans. There's no profit plans, no schemes, and no souls changing hands. Participation is wholly optional, there are no 'have to's' or 'musts' (well, it's Easter time, so I'm drinking copious amounts of Swedish Easter must), and your picture will only be included in the virtual flipbook magazine with your express permission - you're entirely free to just post your themed shot in its respective thread without participating in that aspect.

   ... Let it commence! ... Go? I don't know. Have at it!

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   To get the ball rolling, I'm going to have at the format again - and also touch on the layout I have in mind.

   Physical magazines come in various formats, some of them are standardised to A4 (210 x 297 mm) - which is 'roughly' 3:4. But, add a few decimals and it starts going wonky - it's actual ratio is at 3.000000000000:4.243548387089. That's a pretty weird number to try to calculate your in-world camera's resolution by. Unless you're like me - give me a bunch of digits to play with and I'm a happy camper.

   But for simplicity's sake, it would mean that people can shoot the picture in 768 x 1024 pixels, and scale off of that. The maximum size available (at least in Firestorm) is 6144, so you can shoot in up to 4608 x 6144. For the purpose of the magazine, we'd simply scale it down to 768 x 1024.

   Part of the idea for the magazine is that you get one page for the shot, and the verso to write 'stuff' on. This can be your name, your title for the picture, your credits, a poem, a rant about what a dull theme this month had, your Flickr details, an open letter to the board members of  your local burger chain - you get to pick the content, and it can be as descriptive as you want it, or it can be left entirely blank. We can do either white versos with black text, or black ones with white text.

   I'm also thinking that there'll be plenty of space in the magazine for other things. If you take a picture of Sunday Breakfast or other events, you'd be welcome to submit it (a double-sided photo would be in 3:2 to fill up the whole thing) - of course, permission for submitting it should be asked of anyone who is in the shot.

   I'll go ahead and re-upload my Bunny shot in 3:4 for comparison:

BunnyForumUL.thumb.png.c611e76bf2a9c83dee12b9fa819198f4.png

   Another nifty thing with the all-black background is it was very easy for me to just add more background, even if I originally shot it in 1:2 and scale it down to 768 x 1024. It looks good at 100% scale on 'most' monitors. Optionally we could opt for a higher resolution for the shots - but I'd hate to see people drop out because their rigs can't handle the photo process. You could leave a link to somewhere (like, your blog, Flickr, or such) where you have the shot in higher resolution for people who want to zoom in.

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This sounds fun!

With regards to the next theme: I'm not much of a comic book or action hero person, but I'll do Spider-Gwen unless someone else is desperate for it? Alternately, I could do Chel (from Portal I and II), although she's not really an "action hero" in the traditional sense. I'm happy with either. Or neither. Or both.

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I might help with organization and administration, like where to store the magazine copies, how to organize polls, gather ideas for themes, maybe create extra flick account with themed albums etc etc. I'd go for google docs first as it is just easy and free.

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My apologies if this is already in motion, but wouldn't it be easier to just start a separate thread? As far as themes, let everyone submit themes on notecards and pick a random one each month, which then could be announced in the thread. 

I wanted to thank @Saravendi for the original poster, so much fun and i appreciate you taking the time to do it .

Edited by Darcy Kingmaker
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2 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

With regards to the next theme: I'm not much of a comic book or action hero person, but I'll do Spider-Gwen unless someone else is desperate for it? Alternately, I could do Chel (from Portal I and II), although she's not really an "action hero" in the traditional sense. I'm happy with either. Or neither. Or both.

   Well, that's an issue that I suppose we'll have to address, too. How does each person interpret the theme? How rigid should one be with it? To some, the word superhero will bring Batman and Superman to mind (and there's a whole debate on whether Batman is really a 'superhero' as technically he's just a guy with nice toys), but one could go as far as to say that 'Vlad III of Wallachia was a superhero' (whilst most of us conceive Dracula as an arch-villain, many people in Romania consider him a national hero for maintaining Wallachian independence from both Hungary and the Ottoman Empire throughout his reign).

   As for two people both wanting to do Spiderman? Well, I don't see why not (apart from the err, copyright bit) - there are several variations of the outfit you could do, and then picking a pose, and doing the shoot, you're bound to come out with two very varied pictures anyway. Just look at the bunny compilation Sara made!

6 minutes ago, Kotelle said:

I might help with organization and administration, like where to store the magazine copies, how to organize polls, gather ideas for themes, maybe create extra flick account with themed albums etc etc. I'd go for google docs first as it is just easy and free.

   See, I wouldn't have come to think of Google docs on my own. It'd be great if you'd like to deal with that bit!

6 minutes ago, Darcy Kingmaker said:

My apologies if this is already in motion, but wouldn't it be easier to just start a separate thread? As far as themes, let everyone submit themes on notecards and pick a random one each month, which then could be announced in the thread. 

   This is the 'new thread', theme-specific threads will pop up as soon as I can make them! This one is mainly meant to discuss the idea, see how many people are interested, and ironing out any question marks.

6 minutes ago, Madelaine McMasters said:

What a buzz kill you are, Orwar.

   Mwihihi. You actually trust me when I 'solemnly swear' something? Gets out the red marker, ready to start drawing various mustaches on all entries. (Also holds up the 'sarcasm' sign, since apparently, sarcasm doesn't always translate well in text.).

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Definitely up for this. My only suggestion is it should have its own separate thread(s) - perhaps a new one each month -  to prevent clogging up the main "How does your avatar look today" thread. And maybe set up an optional flickr group too; thats a good place to dump the high-res pics and it will get you more publicity than you'd get from the forum alone.  (Though please don't make flickr the only way to submit pics - I hardly use it now since they introduced the limits for free accounts).

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1 minute ago, Matty Luminos said:

Though please don't make flickr the only way to submit pics - I hardly use it now since they introduced the limits for free accounts.

Hey, at least you have an account there - I don't =^.^=

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   Here's the thread for the bunny pictures:

 

   I feel like a total spammer breaking all these new posts open. But it's for a good cause!

1 minute ago, Fionalein said:

YAM!

(yet another magazine) but better look if that name is already taken

   Haha, I like it. Aaaand now I'm compulsively going to try to find something that goes off of 'F.O.R.U.M.'

   ... ... Something, Orwar, something, something ... Heads to the Thesaurus.

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Just now, Orwar said:

   Here's the thread for the bunny pictures:

 

   I feel like a total spammer breaking all these new posts open. But it's for a good cause!

   Haha, I like it. Aaaand now I'm compulsively going to try to find something that goes off of 'F.O.R.U.M.'

   ... ... Something, Orwar, something, something ... Heads to the Thesaurus.

I didn't get a bunny picture in.  Is it too late?  :(

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Just now, Donna Underall said:

I didn't get a bunny picture in.  Is it too late?  :(

   Nope, go for it! I'm yet to figure out how exactly to make the magazine to begin with. So. You've probably got a fair while before that!

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I don’t mind the Flickr thing myself, but let’s remember what this is all about. It’s a virtual magazine for inworld and whether or not it hits Flickr doesn’t matter to me. We have our own Flickr accounts and even SL groups there where these photos can be uploaded. Let’s concentrate mainly on the forum and the magazine!

Edited by Zennessa
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2 minutes ago, Orwar said:

   Haha, I like it. Aaaand now I'm compulsively going to try to find something that goes off of 'F.O.R.U.M.'

   ... ... Something, Orwar, something, something ... Heads to the Thesaurus.

But can you come up with a tagline for that name that can compete with "tasty lickable avatars"  (which would definatelly fit a magazine called YAM! ;) )

 

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Just now, Fionalein said:

But can you come up with a tagline for that name that can compete with "tasty lickable avatars"  (which would definatelly fit a magazine called YAM! ;) )

   Hmm, I doubt it. "Forumites gone wild" maybe? I think I'm just going to lean back and watch on the whole naming bit for now!

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In the meantime I am trying to figure out a schedule of posting pics and theme voting so that there's plenty of time and noone misses the fun. How about that:

1st day of the month - the theme is announced (for example April theme - Superheroes and Supervillains)

between 1st and 20th day of the month we post pics according to the theme  (we publish pics till April 20 in the thread that Orwar created)

21st to last day of the month we prepare next month magazine issue with current month theme and we also vote for next theme. It is mostly to have some frozen period to make sure all pictures are included, no one is missed and everything works as expected. So on May 1st the Superheroes and Supervillains is live and new theme is announced.

 

would 3 weeks of posting pics and around 9 to 10 days of voting / preparing the final touches of the magazine be enough?

Edited by Kotelle
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Totally into this.

Years and years ago in a land far away (ok, it's SL) many Cartelians got together to create a pin up calendar which may still be available for all I know at the Hangout. Quality is laughable to look at now - it was when I first met Ghosty and yikes but sure was a fun time.

There was also another one done for a forum I belonged to, Second Citizen II, when the Official Forum here went kaput for some time. That worked out a LOT better! (see below). I remember doing a group shot of all the "girls" (ahemmm) naked at the end of the calendar also. Weee!

Anyway I'm up for the challenge and fun. If I don't already own it - will give me a reason to go shopping as if I needed one 😄

 

july 2011.png

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15 minutes ago, Kotelle said:

In the meantime I am trying to figure out a schedule of posting pics and theme voting so that there's plenty of time and noone misses the fun. How about that:

1st day of the month - the theme is announced (for example April theme - Superheroes and Supervillains)

between 1st and 20th day of the month we post pics according to the theme  (we publish pics till April 20 in the thread that Orwar created)

21st to last day of the month we prepare next month magazine issue with current month theme and we also vote for next theme. It is mostly to have some frozen period to make sure all pictures are included, no one is missed and everything works as expected. So on May 1st the Superheroes and Supervillains is live and new theme is announced.

 

would 3 weeks of posting pics and around 9 to 10 days of voting / preparing the final touches of the magazine be enough?

   Sounds good - but we could move the vote to open pretty much when we announce the coming month's theme, no? I mean, once one theme is decided and people start working on that, we could throw around ideas and just say that the final day to put down your vote is the 20th. That way, if someone isn't here say between the 13th and the 20th because they're away, they can still get their opinion voiced and do the shoot when they're back.

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3 minutes ago, Orwar said:

   Sounds good - but we could move the vote to open pretty much when we announce the coming month's theme, no? I mean, once one theme is decided and people start working on that, we could throw around ideas and just say that the final day to put down your vote is the 20th. That way, if someone isn't here say between the 13th and the 20th because they're away, they can still get their opinion voiced and do the shoot when they're back.

of course we can, let's see how it goes with more open voting and if it doesn't work well or it is hard to find what's the winning theme, we can always narrow it.

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