[Teen/VVP] WFFC Contest and Judging
For the past week, I guess I have been busy with being involved in this contest. I did not literally participate in the contest, but I was a judge. I have to admit though, when Barry told me that I was going to be a judge—I was slightly surprised and at the same time, I was worried about how objective I could remain in judging the contest. It was not that I was not happy about it, I was honored to have been chosen as a judge ^^--but it is a hard job, no? So, after I found out I was going to be a judge, I went around Second Life asking the people I knew if they had heard of the contest and if they were participating in it. I did this mainly because I thought I would have a harder time doing the judging if I knew the people personally. So, the weekend before the contest began, I found out that I really did not know that many people who were going to be a part of the contest—and I was very happy about that. But then…as the contest progressed, and I looked around as people were building, I began to become friends with the contestants. Most of them were even kind enough to give me tours of their builds and explain what they were trying to depict. It was then that I realized that it may be an advantage to me as a judge if I knew the people because then I may be able to understand the builds better and thus, that would help me more on the judging.
On Tuesday, during Machinima, I spend about half the time doing an interview for the judging. It was not a long interview actually, ^^ but technical difficulties kind of delayed us. And plus, now I would like to apologize to Tabitha, Sam, and Barry for not blogging before about what we did on Tuesday, because I did want to talk about the interview… and I did not want to do that while the contest was still going on. Anyway, I was nervous about the interview—because I really did not want to say anything wrong. And by being nervous, and not wanting to say anything wrong, I pronounced a zillion words wrong! And, I also forgot one of the issues that they were supposed to base their builds on (it was child abuse and exploitation). Oh yes, and I froze up a lot, so I repeated myself. I’m sorry~ ^^. I think Tabitha was the one that helped me feel so not bad about messing up though, because she told me that only a small portion of the interview would show up—I just wish someone told me that before…but oh well~ whatever happens, happens for a greater good. I am just glad that it’s over, not that the interview was not fun, ^^ the person who interviewed me was very nice, and professional.
The question that I did have a little trouble answering was (I can’t seem to remember the exact question)… about how this contest differed from others, and why it was significant. For me personally, (and the other judges may have a different view on this) I thought that this contest put forth a challenge for all the great TSL builders. I think that when they organized this contest, everyone knew they would have some very talented builders come and complete in this contest, but the challenging part was taking your knowledge about building and your passion for a world issue and combine those two things to make a beautiful piece of art that is also educational. I think that is a really hard challenge, because it is not hard to create something beautiful and meaningful to you, but the challenge is to do that AND make it meaningful the world, make it so people may learn about the issue that you want to depict.
That truly was a hard challenge, and I know that if I had participated in the contest I would not come anywhere near winning. Which raises the question, when it comes to building Machinima for the VVP Internship…will I be capable of meeting the challenge? I will not deny that I had concerns before, because I did, but seeing all these great builds just makes me wonder more. Although, there have been a lot of TSL-ers that have offered to help me when it came down to it, which I really appreciate. This makes me truly grateful to all the kind people I have met on TSL—teen and adult. I really should thank everyone for all their help and guidance—especially Rafi, Mariel, Sanuk, UFO, Boyer, Valenteen, and there are so many others. Of course, I also have Barry, Tabitha, Sam, Ting, Jack, Joe, and all the other GKids to thank because they have also been there to help me through all of this. And honestly, I think some of, referring to the people at Machinima, have more confidence in my capability than I do. But back to the contest…
On Tuesday…well we learned more about the World Fit For Children, and camera angles. Actually, I was only there for the part when they talked about Camera Angles. It was interesting seeing how different camera angles were used in actual Machinima. I knew that angles were a big part of the making of Machinima and maybe video in general, but it was very interesting seeing the different angles in an actual Machinima. On Tuesday, Sam took a Machinima that we watched a couple of times before—made by Eric Linden (correct me if I am wrong with the name)—and he paused it at different times to show us the different angles used. I guess when you look at it, it seems pretty simple and normal…but it really is not that simple.
I tried to incorporate that into Thursday’s Machinima Program…when we were trying to pick a build and video it using different angles. Each group, which composes of two people who share a laptop, had to choose one build that they wanted to film and would use the angles to help make the film more effective—the thing was that the film could only be (at the most) 20 seconds long. Ting and I were doing our video on Team Zen’s Build. Trying to get all the different angles was a little hard to do all at once and in 20 seconds. So we separated it, into parts; we first took an above shot of the build, and filmed that. Then we tried different ways to film the actual build itself. Since the house had two different sections, I guess it was only obvious that we could not film both parts at once….and since we did have a limited amount of time, we decided to film only one part. First, we filmed the house from the outside and then went in, and tried to get a perfect shot of that and then we did the opposite, we filmed from the inside out. I thought that filming from the inside out was pretty interesting because you get to see what is inside before you find out which build it is. Anyway, we ran out of time, so we really did not get to finish up everything and perfect the shots—but we did gain a lot of experience. But one thing I feel bad for is Sam’s MP3 Player…he threw it, and no one caught it—actually, to be honest, I wasn’t paying attention so I didn’t know he was throwing it. Oh well, it didn’t break though ^^, which we should all be happy for. Anyway, that is how Thursday at Machinima went.
Thursday night though…that was one hectic night. Of course, the day I would be judging I would also have a pile of homework that’s due on the next day. But oh well, that should have been expected. When I went online into Second Life, it was 8 PM Eastern Time and I finished my judging around 11:30 PM. So, no one has the right to tell me that I did not think everything though when I did the judging. First, I went through all the builds, and gave them general scores from 1-10 on the five grading sections, and then I wrote my comments and reconsidered my ratings and whether they really deserved those scores. Then I compared my scores with Mariel’s and then thought about her scores and why she gave each team that score, and after that, I did higher about 4 of the teams’ scores by a point or two. I have to admit, I was the most gracious and brutal when it came down to scoring note-cards. If I saw that a team had a note-card and it explained what they were trying to depict, I probably gave them a score from 8-10. But if there was no note-card then I did not hesitate to give them a 0 in that section of the scoring, and also low scores on the other parts of the scoring. I think the note-card was an essential part of the entire build because it was supposed to show the viewer and judges what you were trying to depict—and without it, it was hard to someone just passing by to figure out what you were trying to show. So, I was very harsh in scoring those that did not have note cards.
Over all, I think the people who won something did deserve to win. The contest was great, but I think some people put more effort into it than others. I don’t think that was due to lazy-ness but maybe it was time. Maybe, it would have been better if they were given more time to build, and I think with more time—the people who had already build extraordinary builds would be able to expand what they built and add more information. Also, I did wish that the ceremony was held a little later, because I rushed home from school and still got online late for the ceremony. Also, I wish I had pre-prepared something to say to all the contestants—because I did not know what to say. Plus, I was lagging so much—it was getting on my nerves. All I can remember is that I spelled technical difficulties wrong, and when I was trying to get to the stage I might have accidentally pushed someone—SL was really laggy. But yes, if I did push someone, I am sorry ^^ I didn’t mean to…really. Anyway, I also did not know when to sit down~ and I was getting IM’s—it was so insane. But I did survive ^^--and it was a great ceremony and I think everyone who deserved to win something did win! Although, I had a hard time doing the judging, I was kind of sad that it was all over. It really was a wonderful contest, and I wish that they hold another contest.
Also, this brings up the concern that a lot of people do not like adults in Teen Second Life. I really do not understand why that is. Well, actually I can understand their reasons, but they are not very good reasons. The adults that come on to TSL are really objective as in the actions they take. I do not think that they are interfering with anyone on TSL’s private business. Sure, if someone came on Global Kids Island, and they acted horribly, and said things they probably should not, then they will take action—but that should be expected. Teens are not allowed to do just ANYTHING they want on TSL—especially not anything that may be offensive to others. Like any other website, forum and etc, things like bad behavior and flaming is not allowed. But otherwise, I think, as far as not getting involved in what teens do, all the TSL Approved Adults are doing their job right. Plus, I know that TSL is…basically built off of teens…but I don’t think that teens could have gathered together and organized a competition like the WFFC Contest. And if they could organize such a thing, and get so many people involved, and put together prizes, then for all those who believe that adults should be allowed in TSL, consider trying this as a challenge. I would really like to see Teens gather together and make a contest this big with that many participants. I do not think that teens can do everything on their own; I think sometimes we do need guidance for someone older. I guess that’s why we have Lindens, because if we need help then we go to them anyway, and are they not adults? I don’t know, but I believe that the adults should be allowed to stay in TSL…but then again, this is only my opinion and I can understand that not everyone will see this in the same way. But, for those people who do not see it in my way, I do think that they should come to Global Kids Island once and see all the wonderful things that are on it, and meet one of the adults and talk to them…and perhaps, then they will change their minds, because they are great people ^^ and they deserve a chance. I don’t think that anyone deserves to be judged based on bias facts, the person who is doing the judging should get to know them before they judge them. That’s only fair.
