I am proud to present our latest machinima effort, a new inspired collaboration with my friend and respected machinima artist, Natascha Randt. I know this was a hard poem for some to like when it was just a poem, as it concerns the low dip in the process of accepting the loss of a loved one. There are other, maybe better ways to feel while learning to accept that we will never see someone again, but I was recently reminded, that the process of grief is many-phased, and each one, while grieving, will do it, go through it, and survive it, in their own way. If you follow my poetry and this blog, you will see many poems, videos, and series inspired by one single muse. Her name was Umahmad and she was not virtual but very real.Yet in some sense she became a virtual muse, a haunting memory that helped me tap into a well of poetry, feelings and scenes, that flowed out of my pen for her since 2002. I have written hundreds of poems for her, and just recently was with her when she passed away. See post “My Gliding Beauty 1971-2012”
I showed Nat the recording just to share it, no other intentions in mind, and I said to her (using her quote always about being “lazy”)
“If I weren’t so lazy I would make a machinima out of this”
She said, “Tell me what you imagine it would be like?” and before we knew it, we were putting together an abstract city on one of my worlds on Kitely – Virtual Worlds on Demand. I laughed today thinking how two, self admitting non-builders could pull that off, but one of the flairs and the talents that Nat has, is a fabulous camera eye, and a wizard’s magic for editing and fx’s, so… I think even our strange city, my odd birds somehow fit right into the mood of the poem. We tried to capture in a few minutes with music, poetry and visuals the feelings of despair and nostalgia all mixed up, that can pull one down into a temporary Tar Pit of despair and inertia.
I hope you allow yourselves to be dragged down ( if only for a few minutes) in our “Tar Pit Never” mood. We promise… that our next project together, will be a happy, silly and light-hearted supermarket musical…or something on that order…maybe:)
Oh and a recommendation to play it in HD (720p) and full screen, for a brighter view of the dark.
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Wow! Natascha’s visuals and Karima’s words are so reminiscent of early 20tieth century German film work. Dark and mechanistic-humans are lost within the tall buildings and framework of the City. So small by comparison-our heroin is engulfed and dwarfed by the crowd of teeming life surrounding her. Lonely and forgotten. Oh yes-Metropolis yet again. Writ even more foreboding. Looming. Unforgiving. Engulfing. What is a puny human’s life worth here? This is an ethical question worthy of contemplation. Deliberation. And….very personal. There is a visceral energy to German Cinema’s history. Disquieting. Somehow…unstable, off center. The point?
Maybe Fritz Lange will step out and create some new character here. Maybe we are simply supposed to be left with heavy disonnance about our disconnected world…or maybe….hers. This is real human pain here. It is to be shared to be understood. Or…maybe we know very much less than we think we do…..
Gorgeous, unsettling work. Disturbing. Unbalanced. Off-putting. Yikes!.
Nice work ladies. Like an amazing indescribable meal. Filling and completely unnerving. Just like the Real World!
Just amazing work-thanks! T.
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Oh Tube, thank you so much for this comment. You have told me before you were/are a student of films and your comment shows you have seen a wide variety including the early 20th Century German productions. I don;t think that it is just by luck that our film gives you this feel..I think it has a lot to do with Natascha being German, and I am sure a fan of her country’s cinematic history too. We do work well together.. like two directors with one head…. smiles, like conjoined director twins. I see you let yourself be pulled into our mood and you describe what you felt so wonderfully…Thank you for being such a amazing voice for all my and now Nat’s and my productions:):)
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Incredible production of combined artistic geniuses synched, in unison, to deliver this haunting work! The visuals are stunning, truly making your words come alive for all of us. Extremely well done and worthy of more than praise; let their be recognition! One of your best, sissy (((hugs))).
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Aww Sis, thank you so much for your superlatives..Really I am so glad you enjoyed our effort, well not really an effort, because it’s always such a pleasure to collaborate with someone who is creatively compatible…like we seem to be:)
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Lovely again. Very evocative capture of a dark, but ultimately healthy, part of grief. Thank you!
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Thank you Dale…Yes the many facets of grief..and lately..I hear the birds beginning to sing again..:)
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The two of you weave such magic. Clearly, you are beginning to read each others thoughts. Each new work builds on the last, and adds a new layer of collaboration, creativity, symmetry, and the love and respect of your deepening friendship. I can’t wait to see what the collective you come up with… when your hearts are light, and the goal is a smile on the face of your audience. ;o)
Natscha, it was wonderful to see you at Tukso’s show! I hope you will attend many more with us. I would welcome the chance to get to know you. Maybe we can conspire about ways to draw our fascinating and (oh so very) special mutual friend away from the tar pit… and back to the carnival. As you know, she is so beautiful when she’s happy. (well… she’s beautiful when she’s sad too, but SHHH! Don’t tell her I said that.) ;o) *hugs you both*
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Smiling big on this one Shesa..Ha! mutual mind reading…might get us in trouble:) but yes I think we feel the synergy and the symmetry too..How very cool others can notice that also. I remember I always wondered why David Lynch only and almost exclusively used Angelo Baldalamenti for his sound tracks? Well I get it, when two minds can work well together..you just want to try it again….and then maybe again. There are all sorts of chemistry, and creative ones also exist..Nat says it just takes two people not too egotistical to work well together.. haha it might just be that..but whatever, we both are enjoying this collaboration of like “machinima -minds” and Yes she will definitely come to another Tukso show and you my dearest Shesa are beautiful inside and out..Always..Thank you for all your support and your love. Big hugs back to you:)
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Oh Karima… this work of art is simply astonishing in its presentation of your combined talents…
in your profound expression of nearly unspeakable grief at the loss of this dear one who was inside of your heart and soul. If i remember correctly, you lost her three times… and all three times your poetry took a turn deeper, full spectrum of a great Love to soul melting sorrow and loss. This woman was partly responsible for the cracking open of your heart…. from which continues to pour the most beautiful Gifts upon all we who follow you…. Gratitude abounds… your spirit just keeps leaping into us!!! Thank you… you are such a Light to me……
And the visuals were so perfect… taking it dimensions deeper as this multimedia mixes!!!. an inspired relationship is born…. can’t wait to enjoy what comes next!!!!
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Oh Jan, you RL know this story..and yes I lost her three times, first to disappearance, second to psychotic schizophrenia, and now to the Loving Arms of Death..She was very responsible for “cracking my heart open” I can see that image so clearly in my mind. I wanted to honor her but also leave the message “what a hole you left in our lives” As I said above, for her children (the birds) they are beginning to find new trees, interests, getting on each with his or her life, as we must do..and I have even heard a few notes that sounded like singing again, in the house.Thank you my dear friend, for you beautiful comment, your support and your inner knowledge of who and what she represents for me. I will be home in a few days (Costa Rica) I have missed our daily talks….
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This is one of your best works. The two of you together have raised the bar. This surreal piece shows the love that you had for Umahmad, and how she inspired you. As in all your works, the reader/viewer is inspired to become introspective which invokes one to relate to their own similar experiences. This is the sign of a great writer and artist which of course you are. Thank you for this.
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Thank you so much Hoyt..I am really pleasantly surprised that you consider this one of the best, because of it’s subject matter. Many people do not like to be made sad or reflective by a 4 min machinima, but then again it’s just part of real life(and second life too for that matter)..Nat’s visuals are haunting, when I saw them come alive, I sucked in my breath (just like the dinosaur’s last gasp) So happy you approve of our, hopefully, improving collaboration.
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Kari: I agree enthusiastically with everything that has been said! This is an award-winning, world class effort, and shows much promise for future work the two of you will do together. I hope you will enter it in festivals where it will be seen by many. Everything I could say has been more eloquently said by other here, and I agree with Hoyt…this is one of your very best, out of a number of superb artworks. ! Love and blessings, AJN
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Thank you Alex for your great comment.. I am so glad you liked our combined finished product.I really am surprised by the enthusiastic response.I told Nat I bet many would not really enjoy it, or want to “go there” so I am so personally pleased, it did seem to translate after all into a good machinima experience…I give Nat the credit for that…
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Ghastly depth of feeling…
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mhmm Yes..and I guess you allowed yourself to feel it..I know this might be a close-to-home one for you, so maybe that made it harder to watch. Thank you though for watching it though Steve, and leaving your impression.
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Wow, lot of very profound comments for our little video. Big thankies for that , cause it shows me, that you not only watched, you’ve felt it. That is what we wanted to reach.
For me, the most interesting part in our collab of a video is always our brainstorming. We have sooo many ideas, zillions of them and then we begin with one of them and find out if it works. Then we change this or that and build something (oho we are great builders, lol) testing wl settings, light and so on. And the most important, we talk and discuss and discuss and talk about, sometimes with new ideas and finally we have a lot of footage, mostly 98% rubbish, lol. Inbetween I listen often Karima’s poem, to get the rhythm. Cause for me there are two key points, one is the rhythm the other one is consistency. For this one we broke up the consistency a bit.
After getting all together and having a semi final version, I said, look Karima this is what we have, but I am not happy with this or that scene. And Karima then said, Oh this is great, but that is …and so on. So we change again something…until we both are happy with it:)
And in this process happens something strange. You watch the whole thing through the eyes of your partner. Very strange but gives me then a new eeehm…perspective.
Especially the theme isnt easy to handle. Full of contradictory emotions and finality, and sticks to the soul like tar. The tar tries to pull you down into that emptiness. Like a black hole.
On the other hand, when I began making videos and/or movies in sl (I dont like the word machinima, cause it sounds to me like a toy for kids) I thought this is like an undiscovered country with so many many options and I had no I dea of the how and what. But I am addicted to cinema, especially from the twenties, thirties and forties, when the filmmakers do things never seen before, with light and shadows and the moving camera and so on, which influenced the atmosphere of a movie. Long story short, with the up to date editor software, it is possible to imitate the old masters, like Karl Freund, a bit, giving a video a special look and let the audience then feel what I feel, or what I want to let them feel:)
Eeehhm okies, I dont know if it make sense what I wrote:)
I learned a lot in our collab on different stages and its really really great to have a finished video. But the most important thing I’ve learned, and really understand, while working on “Tar Pit Never” is, that Confucius is true: “Der Weg ist das Ziel” (maybe the correct translation is: “The journey is the reward”)
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Smiling and smiling..Wow this is the biggest comment I have ever seen from you Nat..I love it, agree with it and l will cherish it in this part of our beginning partnership in videos.. You described the process perfectly(in perfect English too..I might add:) and yes the journey is the reward.. the brainstorming that turns into an enjoyable film is nothing short of magic. I Thank you and I thank the fates for steering me to the Machinima Artists Guild..where I first saw your work, and got to know you. Big public hugs to you Nat and eternal thanks for how you translated my poem into this moving imagery..Here”s to many more!! and…maybe we should actually take a building class or two…hehe wouldn’t hurt 🙂
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Hello Karima-)) Sorry I got to this so late. I just visited your Kitely world where you filmed this and tho not there long, it is a well done as the other I visited before you may recall-))
In any case, I posted a short note on the Kitely forums just now.
http://www.kitely.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=450&p=3120#p3120
Also, as I noted Fritz Lang mentioned. Are you aware of the Metropolis Grid? Their landing point startregion, newly remodeled recently for their 5th anniversary, is based on that.
It is a German based grid and also where my home regions are too.
http://www.hypergrid.org/metropolis/wiki/en/index.php/Hauptseite
There is actually a Fritz Lang avatar, who is otherwise know as Velazquez Bonito, a well, known sl artist some may be familiar with. As an aside he will be directing another performance of “The Change” in Metro 29 June, I am told-))
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