'Wild Griefer' Music Video Wins There.com's Virtual Film Festival

'Wild Griefer' Music Video Wins There.com's Virtual Film Festival

Original Song With Action Sequences Rocks Machinima Competition

SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- A tongue-in-cheek music video featuring an original song about a "griefer" who likes to make mischief in her online community has won the top prize in the first annual There Film Festival, a computer-animated "machinima" competition sponsored by There.com. Now posted at http://www.therefilmfestival.com/ , the entry was created by long-time There member Richard Hallock using a song written by fellow There devotees whose avatar names are Banshee_Kate and Stungthumbz.

The singer/star of "Wild Griefer" boasts of her There exploits, threatens the community banker when her Therebucks online currency account is empty, races There buggies dangerously close to other members, runs over a friend's dogs, and taunts other avatars with her paintball gun. The action moves from the stage where the band is playing to various locations in the 3D virtual world, complete with the Santana-like soundtrack pounding in the background.

The lyrics and dialogue showcase There's real-time voice chat feature, which makes it appear as if the avatars are speaking and singing without the need for editing or dubbing. There's integrated voice and avatar animation technologies also ensure that the audio comes from the direction of the speaker and allow the avatar "actors" to take on exceptionally lifelike facial expressions and movements.

"The combination of real-time in-sync mouth animations with the way the body stands and gesticulates to emphasize certain words makes There an ideal production environment for movies," said Hallock, whose alter ego in There goes by the name of Francis_7. "When you add the ability to teleport your whole cast and crew to any location on the virtual globe in an instant, you get the best online environment to make films with realistic dialogue."

Film Festival contestants were asked to create videos no more than five minutes in length with footage starring There avatars, filmed exclusively in There's 3D online community, based on original scripts, and including optional voiceovers and/or royalty-free music. The staged scenes were recorded with the video capturing software of the user's choice. Awards were given for the best There commercial, comedy and action video as well as the best overall entry.

Winners were selected by community members. The top prize, won by "Wild Griefer," is a Sony MiniDV Handycam Camcorder with 90,000 Therebucks and a There sweatshirt.

The There Film Festival is There.com's latest effort to nurture the artistic talent and creativity of community members through special events ranging from the recently completed There Fashion Challenge to themed Wild West and Renaissance Faire events, annual There Summer and Winter Games, and the upcoming Winter Wonderland festival. The community events complement There's Developer Program, which enables members to design themed clothing, vehicles, furniture and other items using special tools on the site and then sell them through There auctions.

About There.com

There.com is a fully interactive 3D online social network where members can hang out with friends, get involved in There-sponsored events ranging from paintball to fashion shows, create their own events, build and decorate a virtual home, and participate in building the community. The site offers sophisticated integration of multi-person voice chat, avatars who communicate with a full range of emotions, a virtual economy enabling users to buy and sell items using a currency called Therebucks, and a PG-13 environment suitable for ages 13 and up. For more information, visit http://www.there.com/ .

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Source: There.com

CONTACT: Belinda Banks, S&S Public Relations, +1-908-685-2300, or
belinda@sspr.com

Web site: http://www.there.com/
http://www.therefilmfestival.com/

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