Help hosting a short film premiere in world?

Hello, I am the Velvet Mariachi.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for help hosting a movie premiere in-world? I have made the greatest film in all of human history. (Frankly, I never thought Zardoz could be topped - but Sean Connery in a diaper for two and a half hours just hasn't held up as well as you might expect).

I thought an in-world premiere for my 17 minute film would be more interesting than the alternative which imposes all sorts of restrictions on the attendee - like clothing. In this way, my director of photography can roll out of bed at 9:30pm or whatever, watch the movie naked if he wants and go back to reading Goedel, Escher, Bach before plunging into an arm-flapping hypnogogic hallucination that would otherwise scare little children and other attendees.

Another advantage is that after most premieres you go off and snack on tex-mex strawberry canapes or mini lobster won-tons au jus or somesuch. In SL, you can eat ramen and Crystal Light (or that new 7-layer thing from KFC that may be the perfect meal) while you watch the movie and no one will complain about how stank-aweful your "gravy burps" are. Another advantage? After the screening you can have a goat skull replace your avatar's head. Ah, I love the future.

Anyway, I digress. My incredible film must be seen and I wish that it should be seen in-world. Any help? Anyone, anyone? Is this thing on?

The Velvet Mariachi thanks you for your help.

P2

Phoenix,

From your response I gather that you have curly hair. I like curly hair. I once had an uncle with curly hair. At least I think it was curly, I never actually saw it. He refused to take his hat off. He was a good man, Uncle Rodrigo. Tall. Broad shoulders. Was never sick a day in his life.

One day he took off all his clothes (except the hat) and walked into a gator-infested swap near Talladega race track. We never heard from him again.

Is that you, Uncle Rodrigo?

I believe P2 was indicating that his head was hanging from meathooks somewhere off the Jersey Turnpike near the Newark airport. He also indicates, of course, that he is unhappy with this. The internets is super for this type of communication. You should feel honored that P2 has reached out to you for assisstance.

I see! Internet is not my first language. My first language is Esperanto. My second is Spanish. English doesn't even break the top ten. In some languages I know, Phoenix and I are already married based on his emoticon.

Very well, Phoenix, let me know what questions you might have! And verily may you rise from the ashes of confusion.

I am the Velvet Mariachi. How may I be of service?

BEST POST EVER!

You honor me, Christiano. Truly, you are one of the chosen.

ahahaha, this thread is hilarious.

Velvet, video in SL is streamed directly to the client, it isn't hosted on the SL servers. What you need is some web hosting witch cheap bandwidth (for the video files) and in SL rented/owned land where you can set the video media URL for the video files. The video must be in a format quicktime can play. There are more advanced solutions with real streaming (as opposed to simple file hosting) but this should get you started.

Candide! Thank you so much. And may I take this moment to tell you how much I enjoyed your play. Bravo!

So essentially the SL location (the rented theater screen or wall or whatever) becomes, for all intents and purposes, a webpage that each user accesses individually? With all the attendant issues of bandwidth? Put another way, if I get 20 people, all viewing my magnificent 17 minute opus at once, I will need some hefty bandwidth. It's not like a true theater in that if you project it once, you can show it to as many people as the fire marshall will allow into the room.

A further question if you are not yet completely disgusted by my ignorance: Once I host the file somewhere, would every user who wants to watch it in SL have to wait for the full file to download before they can start watching?

Ah, Candide, your wisdom makes the Velvet Mariachi feel like he did not so many years ago as a little boy in the hardscrabble hills of Chihuahua. There, a boy can dream the impossible dream well into manhood. Or until his military service obligation comes due.

You are all being so wonderful. I send each of you a virtual A above Middle C. This is known as La Nota del Amor: The Note of Love. The Velvet Mariachi is here speaking platonically, of course.

Velvet, I await the great pleasure of seeing your film in Second Life. I hope you will tell me when it will be shown. Until then, my friend - Osprey

Wow. You are seriously hilarious. I can't wait to see your movie. Until then, we must go shopping sometime!

Osprey and Moo (does it seem wonderfully coincidental to anyone else that two such esteemed creatures of the Earth should post on the same day?),

I thank you both for your kind words and keen intellect. When the time comes, The Velvet Mariachi will let it be known far and wide that his film is premiering. And then the Earth shall know true rapture. Seriously, I cannot overemphasize how much better this film is than all other films that came before it.

For example: one of the on-line techs at the post-production house where the film was finished had a grandfather with cataracts that were cured JUST BECAUSE HIS GRANDSON WATCHED A ROUGH-CUT OF THE FILM!

If anyone has any resources or threads they can point the Velvet Mariachi to, he would be most grateful. Thanks again for the kind words and support everyone!

Correct on both accounts - if 20 people watch the movie you'll need bandwidth for 20 copies of the movie. Also, with simple file hosting people will have to download the whole file before they can watch it. That's where a streaming server comes into play, however I've never tried to setup such thing myself. You can search the Services forum here, or post in the Wanted forum. Another possibility is to contact people in the Alt-Zoom Studios group inworld, they make movies in SL so I imagine they know about streaming and where to get it. You can also try to ping Baba Yamamoto inword, I know he was streaming movies (if Baba doesn't want to help you let me know, I'll go and twist his arms). Good luck!

Edit: I've done some testing and it seems that with quicktime you don't need to download the whole movie before you can watch it. Each person will just have own movie time (i.e. if I come 10 minutes late I will see the movie from the beginning, 10 minutes behind everyone else)

Greetings, VelvetMariachi, and welcome to Second Life. I am Kim Anubis, Master Illusionist of The Magicians.

Perhaps we may be of service. We have the ability to convert videos into the correct format for streaming, along with all the other accoutrements required in order to present cinematic spectacles to the residents of SL. We are deeply interested in viewing The Greatest Movie of All Time, and starstruck by your description of the lavish premiere gala with the ramen and the Crystal Light.

Please, contact me inworld. I assure you, my hair is curly, and my cat tells me she suspects you are a very good mouser.

Con panna,

Kim Anubis, Master Illusionist
The Magicians

Candide! Wonderful information! I can't believe you allowed me another bite at the apple. Thank you many, many much (as my Thai friends used to say). I will take this under advisement and do some research and let you know what I find. Seriously, you have been very helpful.

And you, Kim Anubis, bringer of light! How am I fortunate enough to be bathed in your brilliance? I will review my miztvahs for the week to figure out which one gave me the outsized karma credit which, in turn, brought me into your orbit. I shall most definitely get in touch in-world and discuss this further with you.

And you will indeed be struck by stars if we work together. By that I mean that you should be wary of meteorites.

Until we meet again, please tell your cat the following on my behalf: "Meow, meowwww, ffttt, ffft, meoooow, meooowww. Meow? Meow!" She'll know what I'm talking about.

The Velvet Mariachi thanks you, one and all!