Bunky Snowbear

The debut episode of the new web series, "Game of Groans" is out now on Vimeo. A Second Life Game of Thrones parody with all the sex, violence and death that you'd expect, so watch Evie, Zoe and Bunky disgrace themselves in predictable Cinema Minima fashion. Not suitable for minors, the elderly and people with high standards in general. Now with voice! Game of Groans - Episode 1

My fifth film, "You Only Rez Twice" is now out on YouTube. It's been getting good feedback so if you feel like a laugh, have a look. Click the link or watch below :) You Only Rez Twice My Last film "Dead Road" tried to appeal to a broader audience, but this one is definately made for the SL community. It's starts a bit slow but picks up the pace as it moves along. The last few scenes are my favourites with plenty of action and gags. The film premiered at London City last night to a good crowd. It's a relief to have it out there after a year of filming and post production. Now... what to do next? Clean my inventory? Nahhh!

A year in the making, my latest film "You Only Rez Twice" will have its premiere at The Crown Pub, London City in Second Life on Saturday 17th January, 7am SLT. A second screening will be held at The Crown on Sunday the 18th at 4am SLT. Frock up, front the paparazzi and come and join the fun :) A big thanks to my friends and stars of the film, Muse Ze-Bank and Evie Falconer (as always). Without their dedication and patience this film would not have been made. The official trailer is below... "You Only Rez Twice" is the followup to my first James Bond spoof "Dr. Noob" and features plenty of references to iconic Hollywood movies. I've learned a lot about SL machinima over the last few years and the latest film is a lot more slick than Dr. Noob, and I'm now filming in 1280 x 720. If you missed the original film, you can see it below. The film is to be hosted on YouTube, but you can view my Vimeo channel here. Hope to see you at The Crown!

1. Sure, a few musos testified against the advisory stickers. Doesn't mean they were the licence holders of their recordings with any rights. And yes, some musicians have gone into bat for the record companies that own their music. Depends on the contract and influence they have with their company. Arguably, killing Napster didn't do wonders for Metallica. The few pulling their music from Spotify now are those that record under their own labels. Yes, some established musos have total control over their music and it's an increasing trend. The majority still don't. 2. Again, I don't make money from my hobby. I don't intend to and I don't want to. I'm not selling someone elses music. If a website chooses to host my video, they might make a few cents if they're lucky. YouTube hosts a few vids of mine and makes a few cents from ad revenue, which it rightfully shares with copyright holders. I don't get a cent, and that's fine with me. What's wrong with that? If I was in a position to profit from making a few obscure, harmless SL machinima films, I wouldn't be doing what I currently do. 3. Ok, you can rip audio and video from YouTube, but why rip half a poor quality song from one of my vids when you can rip the whole thing from a dedicated video on YouTube? Or get the whole album on P2P? You can also record music from the radio. No one in their right mind would rip half a song with sound effects through it to listen to later. 4. Thanks for the tip. I'm not familiar that YouTube function but I'll check it out. I was under the imperssion that private videos can only be viewed by the account holder. 5. I'm not a famous YouTuber. If I was, I'd turn the radio off too. As it stands, I have nothing to lose.

Firstly, musicians rarely have control over the use of their music. It's the multi-national corporations that own the music, not the artist that created it. The artist often has opposing views on how their work should be shared. Secondly, yes the website hosting the video may profit, but only if a video receives a substantial amount of views. Mine might get a few hundred views, not millions. The webiste might make a cent or two from my films. YouTube's model of paying copyright holders a percentage of advertising profits from views is a good thing, a win-win if you like, but not all copyright owners have taken to it. Thirdly, you cant "steal" the content from YouTube or Vimeo. You can't download a YouTube video or audio. You go to a torrent site to do that. If you held a voice recorder near the speakers you could. When you only get a third or so of a musical number at awful quality, why would you bother? Suggestions that my obscure Second Life tribute films are stealing the profits of Sony, Disney, their artists etc are ridiculous. Fourth, no it's not mine, but it's more than "making my little movies seem better". I've bought the music and listen to it often and lovingly, with passion and respect for the artist. The music is integral to the work. It's a tribute. It comes out of respect and love for the artisitic creation, the film, the music, the genre. I'm not passing it off as my own creation. I'm not seeking fame and fortune from it. I'm not making money off it. I just want my Second Life friends to be able to see it. I'd have them around to watch it on my PC if I could but they live 15,000km away. Music should be out there, being listened to, inspiring people, or would you rather it sit in some dusty archive, forgotten...confined to history. George Lucas encouraged fan film makers to borrow Star Wars iconography. He even ran a fan film competition for a while. Lucas realised that having passionate fans sharing homemade concepts/content of the films only serves to keep it in the zeitgeist, keeping it alive while having zero impact on ticket sales, soundtrack sales, merchandise etc. If I played a theme on a recorder (cute suggestion), I'd still be breaching copyright... technically. Fact is, I admit I do breach copyright laws. I'll own that. I'm one of millions. Remove all copyright breaches from the internet and sites like YouTube etc would have to remove more than half their content. But you have to concede my crimes are in the "least concern" category. I have several little films that have been marked by YouTube, Vimeo etc as having unauthorised third party content, but YouTube, Vimeo and copyright holders (despite being notified) have allowed them to stay online. Why is that? Perhaps they don't consider my obscure, scarcely viewed machinima to be a problem or a threat. Second Life machinima has an extremely small audience. It just doesn't fly outside the SL community. None of my little films have been taken down, despite rights holders being notified of my activity. Perhaps they think the use is actually a positive thing, to get their product out there, and maybe someone will even buy some music because of it? Free publicity. My younger SL friends might be hearing the theme from The Great Escape for the first time, and they might think "That's a pretty catchy tune. I might actually watch that film one day". It introduces them to it and stays in their memory. Crazy thought, hey? Piggybacking of other people's fame? Hardly. If I was taking credit for other people's work, or profiting from it, I would be piggybacking. But I'm not. It's fan film. It's loving tribute. It's not unauthorised exploitation of other's work for finacial gain, it's a hobby and it's harmless. Reasonable minded people that have seen my little films would agree with that. And if I can't upload a film, have a film taken down or receive a cease and desist letter, I'll respect the umpire's decision, even if I strongly disagree with it. But after four years and ten or so little fan films with not many views, no one has bothered. Go figure.

Thanks for all your replies. The subject certainly generates some passionate responses. I never assumed my video would qualify as fair use, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience making such a claim with Vimeo. I found the EFF guide very good. Despite my intentions, the best I can do is post my videos where I can and hope that they're not rejected. And if they make it but are later taken down, so be it. I just want my overseas SL buddies to be able to see them and make them laugh. I have had some very mixed experiences in the past. I split my last film into three parts for YouTube. Part 2 and 3 had the audio disabled due to multiple Content ID matches, but after a few months the audio was restored and you can hear it in Australia, the UK and presumably other countries. Interestingly the YouTube information still tells me it's "blocked worldwide". It is "unavailable" on mobile devices though, at least on my devices. Who knows. It might disappear tommorow. The trailer I uploaded the other day on YouTube uses the James Bond-Dr. No opening music. But the copyright owner must have a deal with YouTube and my video has been "monetized" and appears in all countries (except Germany) though with ads. A week earlier I posted the draft trailer on Vimeo for testing with no problems but a few days later I couldn't upload the final version. Maybe Vimeo ID matching software is paying special attention to my account? Despite posting a dozen or so videos with matched content, I've never had a video taken down, though audio has been disabled on a few (but later restored). I'm either lucky, or copyright holders have reviewed my works (as they are notified via the Content ID system) and have considered them to be not a threat and have let them slide. I hope it's the latter. Either way, the whole experience has may me reconsider the style of machinima I make.

They're back! Heidi D'Sausage and Agent 008 fight to save the world from certain destruction, one martini at a time. Now in glorious 720p with 82% more gratuitous arse shots and 66% moar splosions! A fan's tribute film made for love, not money. Release scheduled for December 2014...if everything goes well :/

Would you be happy if someone used your music in a movie without permission? I wouldn't be. I would be happy. I'd be flattered, as long as they weren't profiting from it. An obscure machinima video made for a small online community that attracted a few hundred views would hardly be a threat. Better to have the music out there being listened to than fading into obscurity IMO. Some copyright holders are lenient on not for profit fan films as they help keep the original product alive. That is why many copyright holders allow some of their music to be uploaded onto YouTube without permission. And they also get a cut of the sites advertising revenue.

Try this. These are the considerations for fair use... The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes. The nature of the copyrighted work. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. Shades of grey there.

Ok, it's contentious and I respect people's different opinions, but has anyone had any experience trying to claim fair use for a machinima video they uploaded on Vimeo or YouTube? I've noticed that I'm not the only one using well known songs in my SL videos. Vimeo have recently become quite strict with their Content ID policy, which is disappointing for me because I make fan films, tributes that celebrate classic films. Vimeo have let me post such films in recent time but it looks like I won't be able to post the one I've spent the last year making :( Has anyone sought permission to use copyrighted music? Has anyone appealed a video block under Fair Use? Cheers.

The makers of Griefbusters and Dead Road are in the final stages of filming the follow up to the original James Bond Second Life tribute/spoof, "Dr Noob". Agent 008 (Bunky Snowbear) and Heidi D'Sausage (Evie Falconer) return in "You Only Rez Twice", a roller coaster ride of action, gratuitous nudity and trademark silliness. In this preview, Heidi and 008 take a groovy trip into space to thwart Admiral Arsewipe's evil plan for virtual world domination. Full release scheduled for December 2014. Enjoy!

I'm a fly-by-night, maverick kind of machinamist. I love it, but I'm skeptic about the prospects of machinima ever becoming a sustainable business proposition because it has a very limited audience. It's a labour of love, and it's hard enough to make a good film without having to deal with a lot of extra people. That's just my opinion, but I wish you the very best and look forward to seeing what comes of it.

Ctrl+Alt+F1 doesn't work on my new computer, but it works on the old one so I don't think its a FS bug. New computer is a Dell XPS15 running Windows 7 Home Premium. If anyone knows anything about it, please help! I make machinima and I neeeed to toggle my UI a lot. It's driving me crazy!!!

DEAD ROAD is the story of a terminally-ill woman and her doctor seeking salvation in an apocalyptic world. Filmed opportunistically over 19 months on a budget of 5000L, the film was only made possible with the dedication and enthusiansm of a few good SL friends and the blessings of the owners of the sims that form the backdrops to the film. DEAD ROAD is inspired by recent grindhouse revivalist films such as Planet Terror, Deathproof, Dusk till Dawn (Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez), classic exploitation cinema such as Mad Max (George Miller) and gritty road/apocalypse movies such as Wild at Heart (David Lynch) and The Road (John Hillcoat). The film uses traditional live action camera techniques and devices in an attempt to emulate the feel of one of my favourite genres. The biggest challenge was how to convey such a story in the shortest possible time without it feeling too rushed. The film could have easily ran for over an hour but that would have tested the patience of most web viewers, most of who only have the attention span for watching a cat fall into a swimming pool. The timing needed to be snappy but just the right length to allow the story, atmosphere and characters to soak in without resulting in viewer boredom. Another challenge (or experiment) was to see if I could generate an emotional response from viewers through sympathy with the main characters. One of the pleasures of making machinima is to watch a film develop organically. For me, I find it best to come up with a rough idea of how you want it to looks but to keep an open mind and let all the pieces fall into place while filming. Some of my favourite shots were completely unplanned, an animation or prop that a friend tries out that just fits the bill perfectly. More often than not, the finished product turns out better than expected. From this project I hope DEAD ROAD inspires budding film makers and machinimists alike to realise the great potential Second Life has to offer as a vehicle for story telling. While I haven’t much experience with other virtual worlds, Second Life offers almost infinite camera positioning and motion, seamless environmental controls and a costume and prop department the envy of any film maker. And the best thing is if you can’t find a prop or costume, you can simply make one. All this, virtually for free without leaving the comfort of your house. It surprises me that film students are not embracing Second Life as a way to make a pitch, story board or even turn their entire films into reality. A few other points... Dead Road was filmed using Xfire screen capture with Phoenix Viewer. Post production was done using Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5. Old programs, but effective.The 640px format is only due to hardware limitations and my current connection speed. The low quality capture format was neccessary to reduce lag, along with shooting most of the action sequences on a low inworld graphics setting. Not my ideal scenario but I make do with what I have.Voice has not been used as in my opinion, without professional voice actors, unconvincing voice can diminish the overall effect and quality of a film. It was either professional voice actors (unaffordable) or no voice at all. For the most part, Second Life is voiceless, so reading subtitles is apt and easy for Second Lifers. Like other Cinema Minima films, subtitles are kept to a bare minimum and I try to let the action and music convey the story. Most viewers don't need everything spelled out to them.I decided not to obsess over the HD smoothness or realism that some machinimists favour. For this story, it is the composition of shots, the lighting, the costumes, the characters and the sounds that drive the story. I am also a observer of the "Uncanny Valley" effect, whereby the more realistic an imitation of a real person or place is, the less aesthetically pleasing it can become. Just my personal taste. The overall effect of my priorities lends a feel more like a cartoon or traditional animation, which I am pleased with.Some may take issue with the unauthorised use of music in the film. Current laws around copyright and fair use are flaky and have loopholes, but regardless I stand by my passionate beliefs that... provided a user is not making a single cent from the unauthorised use of music, there is nothing “stolen”music only remains “alive” if it is played. Music will only make money if it is “alive” (played), not sitting forgotten in an archive somewhereall the music used was from my personal collection which I obtained using my hard earned moneyall the artists I hold in the highest regard and have giving due creditWithout the unauthorised use of music by not for profit film makers, there would be far less creative output and popular culture would be poorer for itIf licence holders were truly serious about unauthorised use of music (which they are to varying degrees under different circumstances) and if current laws favoured all their demands (they don’t), video sharing sites such as YouTube would have to remove around 80-90% of their content.I can't afford a composer and backing bands/orchestras, and I don't have a spare $500,000 to pay for the rights.You wouldn't be watching much machinima without it, and I wouldn't be making it. In my opinion the world is a better place with machinima.These are just my personal opinions. You are welcome to disagree. So I hope you enjoy the film and it inspires or informs your own creative ideas. Please share it with your friends if you do! More Cinema Minima Films from Second Life can be viewed HERE

London City in Second Life presents the World Premiere of Dead Road, filmed entirely in Second Life. Dead Road is the story of a terminally ill woman (Zarah Minx) and her doctor (Felix Bunkenstein) desperately seeking salvation in a crumbling, apocalyptic world. Pursued by a deadly assassin and hunted by a ruthless vampire clan, Zarah and Felix fight their way to a better place in a sexy, action packed roller coaster of gratuitous violence and intrigue, a tribute to the grindhouse/exploitation genre and its revivalist film makers. Written and Directed by Bunky Snowbear (Dr. Noob, Griefbusters) and starring London City’s Evie Falconer, Dana Luckless and a cast of familiar locals, Dead Road will change your perceptions of Second Life machinima. London City in Second Life will be hosting the World Premiere of Dead Road at Comptons Pub on Sunday 28th July 2013 at 7amSLT (3pm UK time). Everyone is welcome, so frock up and come along to be among the first people on the planet to see it! (refreshments available at the bar) To view Cinema Minima’s previous Second Life films, please visit the Vimeo page at Cinema Minima