0zymandius King is a Second Life artist who works as a photographer and writer for MAGE Magazine. He has also worked as a photojournalist for the SL Newser, was awarded a fellowship with the Windlight Art Gallery and currently has two art exhibitions with the Sisse Singhs Art Gallery and the Horus Art Gallery. I recently had an opportunity to interview 0zymandius to find out more about the role he plays with MAGE Magazine.
Thomson : Could you describe the process by which the magazine is produced from concept to publication?
Ozymandius : The senior team has an online meeting in which we discuss ideas for the next issue. 0THELLA, the editor, gives everyone an assignment based on the ideas pitched at the meeting. We work independently to develop these ideas and contact 0THELLA if we require assistance. For example, if I’m photographing a scene that requires multiple models, if I already know the models I will contact them directly, but 0THELLA has a list of models and photographers so if I need someone who has a dragon avatar, for example, I’ll contact 0THELLA and she will usually find someone who fits the bill. Organizing for a photo shoot is similar to organizing for a film production. Once you find the actors / models, you have to scout locations, find clothes and props for the models and type up a shooting script. The more organized you are the less time it takes to shoot the scene. In my experience some models can be very impatient so usually they are good for an hour but after that they tend to go afk. If you are thorough with your prep work the actual photo shoot is relatively painless. Occasionally you will have a problem like the computer crashes or the model’s computer crashes but this is part of the scouting process, to ensure the sim is stable and relatively lag free. If I’ve worked with the models before and know what poses and animations they have I can write the script around these poses and animations. If it is my first time working with a model I have to improvise and hope the model is patient and considerate. Once I have the images, I will touch them up in photoshop then send them via e-mail to 0THELLA who edits them into a 3D book, which is then distributed to Second Life Residents. We are also looking into publishing some of our issues as slideshows on YouTube.
Thomson : Are there some models you prefer working with to others?
0zymandius : I don’t want to play favourites, but the best models are thoughtful, patient and considerate. What I mean by this is that, when I first meet a model, a good model will volunteer to take the time to go through all their poses, animations and avatars in their inventory. Or they will have an online portfolio that features their different poses, avatars, clothes, props and accessories. 0THELLA generally does a good job at screening the flakes but every now and then I encounter someone who wants to be a model because they think it is an easy and glamorous way to make lindens. They couldn’t be more wrong.
Thomson : Are you a model?
Ozymandius : Yes. I have shapes and skins for YAYO the Minotaur, Hassan Al’Qantara, the Guardians Ayax, Ramesis and Ozymandius, Larissa’s father and some of the Viking characters.
Thomson : Some of those characters are in the same scenes together. How do you do this?
Ozymandius : There are times when it is easier to shoot my own avatars, one at a time, against a green screen back drop then superimpose them onto a common background using photoshop. However the image quality suffers and, if you want the character to interact with elements in the location, it is better to work with multiple models.
Thomson : What is the most difficult photo shoot you’ve been involved in?
Ozymandius : Every time I shoot a scene it becomes easier because I’m more familiar with the mechanics of machinima and SL photography but at the same time I want to improve so I try to do something I haven’t done before. For example, the cover and table of content images for MAGE Magazine Issue #3 where shot on a location that provided statues, mist particles, rain and windlight haze settings so all I did was choose interesting angles and play around with the windlight settings to alter the colours within the virtual environment. For MAGE Magazine Issues # 6 and 7 I wanted to deploy similar effects in different locations, so I’ve been experimenting with different “fog machines”. This increases the difficulty of shooting a scene, because some fog machines create lag, which makes it difficult to move the camera around and causes the avatars to move in a disjointed manner. Also, as the story progresses, the logistics become more difficult because more characters are involved.
Thomson : Using your green screen studio couldn’t you produce an infinite amount of characters and simply overlap them on the background?
Ozymandius : In the past I’ve done this but when using particles within the scene, for example the scene where the Vikings kidnap Aria was shot on a boat with fog machines and torches, which meant that, if I shot the characters individually, because the torchlight and the fog particles are constantly in motion, the effect on the different characters wouldn’t match and so it would look like it was shot against a green screen background. The whole point of doing a special effect is so that it doesn’t look like a special effect so, by shooting multiple avatars in the same scene, there is a more “natural” look to the final product.
Thomson : How do you co-ordinate a scene involving multiple models?
Ozymandius : I’ve done some directing in real life and the process is very similar. With models I’m familiar with I know what poses they have so a shooting script usually has a list of poses for the models and, when we shoot the scene I tell the models which scene I’m shooting, they apply their poses and I begin shooting multiple angles, making adjustments to the windlight settings as I move the camera around or de-rendering background objects that don’t fit in the scene or making adjustments to the positions of the fog machines, torches and other objects that affect the ligth within the scene. When I feel I have enough coverage of the scene I let the models know that we are moving onto the next scene, they change their poses and I repeat the process. Sometimes, when I change the camera angle I might have to ask a model to adjust their clothes of props. The most common adjustment is the models eye direction.
Thomson : Who is your favourite character to photograph?
Ozymandius : I really like the avatar that Andressa put together for Felicia the Fairy. She isn’t a conventional looking fairy and has a bit of an amazon quality to her. It’s unfortunate that she is so small in the frame because there are a lot of interesting little details like her tattoos, the red streaks in her hair, the jewelry and the patterns in the butterfly wings. I think that there should be a story that features other fairies or characters that are the same size as Felicia so that we can get some close ups of her and really show the great work Andressa did with assembling that costume.
Thomson : Who is your least favourite character to photograph?
Ozymandius : There isn’t any character that I don’t enjoy photographing but YAYO the Minotaur is probably the most difficult because he stands almost twice as tall as the other characters, so whenever I scout a location I wear the YAYO avatar to make sure he will be able to fit through doorways and the ceilings are tall enough. There have been some cool looking locations that I had to abandon because they weren’t built to accommodate Minotaurs.