Another view from above

This is a great shot of the sim, not least because of the backdrop - god knows how the Lindens create those stunning sunsets!

From this angle you can start to see inside the hub, our central screening area, and can glimpse inside the business centre as well, open at the front and with a beautifully turfed lawn on the roof. You can also see inside one of the exhibition orbs, linked to the hub by the tramway.

A View to a Sim

A bird's eye view of Silverscreen...


...and a view from a jauntier angle.

In the foreground a rare glimpse inside the penthouse office of reclusive sim owner Davidian Wilber. Note the private helicopter, transporting him around Second Life far over the heads of you, me and the hoi polloi. This is the film industry we're talking about after all.

These are just two of several beautiful shots Liam has taken for use in an award submission. They take an age to upload, so I'll post them piecemeal over the course of the next few days, and try to include some further insight into the constituent parts of the sim.

LOCATIONS, LOCATIONS, LOCATIONS!

Silverscreen is inviting builders and designers from all over Second Life to join us in paying tribute to some of the greatest movies of all time.

We're inviting you to recreate your favourite movie locations inside Silverscreen, on land provided and paid for by us.

We'll help promote your build, and let you run it as a working businesses if you want. Hell, if we like your idea enough we may even subsidise it.

So whether it's Rick's Cafe Americain in CASABLANCA, STAR WARS' Mos Eisley Cantina or the disco from SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, let us know what you want to build and we'll see if we can help make it happen.

Post your idea as a comment below, email it to silverscreen@theppc.com or IM me, Dannyboy Lightfoot, with details.

Silverscreen v1.1

We had these pictures taken to accompany a press release announcing the island acquisition. The model was developed from our initial concept by Second Life architecural consultants TheV3 Group. On the strength of this early in December '06 we appointed them to build Silverscreen.


The central hub is a meeting point and screening area, as well as being somewhere we can showcase the film-related skins, clothes, animations and accessories we'll be giving away. The four coloured orbs are conceived to function as additional venues and exhibition space, to be developed according to our ongoing requirements (alothough we've since decided to tone down the colour scheme). The tower incoporates penthouse office space and a helipad, with a studio, business centre and rooftop garden at its base. The sim also features a small marina and some wind turbines.

When I questioned the need for helipads, marinas and wind trubines V3 CEO and project lead Liam Kanno was quick to point out that there's very little anyone actually needs in Second Life, that he saw V3's role as being to create an interesting and dynamic space, albeit one fit for purpose. V3 have certainly succeeded in this regard, and working to a realistic entry-level budget. The challenge for 2007 is to fill the sim with equally intersting and dynamic content.

Welcome to Silverscreen

It's the last day of 2006, and this is the first post on the Silverscreen blog, the focal point for our plans to turn Silverscreen, PPC's island in Second Life, into a home away from home for film and its fans.

Just to make a quick introduction, Picture Production Company (PPC) is the largest specialist film marketing agency outside of North America, having been at the forefront of the industry for over 20 years.

With offices in London and Los Angeles, we produce marketing materials and campaigns for clients including Universal, Paramount, Dreamworks, Buena Vista International, Warners Bros and 20th Century Fox. Bottom line is, if you saw it at the cinema, PPC probably worked on putting it there, in one capacity or another.

We bought the island in late November, with a view to creating a venue for events including film premieres, preview screenings and Q&As. By bringing these exclusive opportunities to SL we hope to build a community around film and the film industry, creating a virtual space where film-lovers the world over can meet and talk movies.

Of course, we intend to use this to add value to our marketing campaigns, reaching new audiences and engaging them in new ways. We also sincerely belief that we can improve the quality of Second Life in the process, finding new and more inventive ways to let people share and enjoy the things they love.

Silverscreen will be officially opening its doors February 2007 but anyone wanting to have a look around can IM me - Dannyboy Lightfoot - and I'll be happy to show you around at the first opportunity.

Just to finish up, here's the comp we modelled when we first started talking about the design of the PPC sim. It's changed a lot since then, but this is where it started, so I figure it belongs here: