The Passing Now the Taking Director:Nicole X. Featuring my avatar Soraya Vaher (the lady in the center) and Nicole`s avatars (the two dancing girls) all dressed Violator.
Music:”Human” by Falling You

Dear readers,
I have already introduced you to the World of virtual reality and “Second Life“. In SL I am known as Soraya Vaher, fashion designer and owner of the very known fashion haute couture brand “Violator“.

In SL I am known as Soraya Vaher, fashion designer and owner of the trend-setting, well-known haute couture fashion brand “Violator“.
SL is a virtual yet very real World where users can create and build up true businesses, make virtual art, create fashion and much, much more. For some SL is just a nice way to spend some time meeting and chatting and experiencing and networking with other users coming from all over the World, enjoying the high graphic qualities and all the advantages this kind of medium can offer them. For some others SL is a true business, a way to make a living out of what they create virtually. You can read some of my previous blog posts about that here… and here. Read SL in Wikipedia
The huge variety and true experience this World can offer is not easy to explain if you have never explored it, I can just say that for me, it has been a fundamental part of my life for the last four years. SL has its own active art scene, its own fashion industry, its own fashion designers and celebrities, its own super-models, its own fashion magazines, its own fans and its own costumers.

The scene of film making, better know as “machinima” is, in Sl, a very huge industry as well and often overlaps with art and fashion. To create a good quality video in SL requires advanced technical skills, a challenge which is not for everyone…Videos cover a huge variety of content. They can be like real movies, with a storyline and actors, art videos, commercial videos, recording of fashion shows and much more.

Today I will show you the work of a very talented filmmaker, NicoleX Moonwall. The ability of NicoleX is to syncronize a very strong artistic aesthetic with highly developed technique. Nicole has produced countless videos and movies featuring the work of some known haute couture fashion designers, including Violator…
In her movies a dreamy atmosphere is often contrasted with darker shades, violence and romanticism are interown with style and motion.…

Demon by Nicole X.Featuring Violator…
Music: Kalimayantra / “hands upon black earth” by hands upon black earth

INTERVIEW TO NICOLEX MOONWALL

How old is your avatar is SL?

I guess over 3 yrs old..

Why did you join SL?

To see if it was an advantage in creating art and also for an edge, something new and avant garde. I liked the freedom it gives artists, and all the different adventures I can go on with just a simple click.

Besides becoming a successful filmmaker did you have other kind of jobs in SL?

I looked at many angles and ways to make use of art in SL, and everything that would crossover between SL and real life. The other real reason I went into video was the ease of transferring it out of SL .. basically I am recording the art of SL.I am handicapped in SL because of starting on dial up connection, and now using a satellite. This was a medium that the disadvantages of the connection actually has, because of the challenge it presented, enhanced my art. I have become one of the best machinima artists in the world, not just SL. I have one of the biggest libraries of work, and have created a unique style and the ability to transcend the avatar world with images that reflect and impact real life.

Can you explain us, with few words, what kind of tecnic is required to produce quality videos in SL?

I developed my own software that I call ShoDo based on ancient Japanese calligraphy. I use proprietary techniques and information that I don’t share, things that you don’t see on the screen but that I see as I try to improve my craft.

You are a very talented and creative filmmaker, where do you get your inspiration?

Through my mind, I see things. I dream, and SL gives me the chance to expand my dreams. I feel them. I get inspired by others’ art, and look to mix and enhance the art of others, whether in builds or clothes, etc. I stay away from choppy video that breaks things up, I try to enhance the art by long shots that focus on the art as I see it thru my eyes.

What kind of SL fashion fits better to your taste and why?

I use a mix between cyber punk and high cyber/contemporary fashion. I blend different styles together – that is an art in itself.. I mix and make high end things work with other things I find.. to create my own look.

Your movies are often very dark, with a violent meaning and aesthetic, yet some very romantic as well. Is there a reason for this dualism or do you think darkness and romanticism go hand in hand?

It’s just like black and white, love and hate, darkness and light, they go together. There is a balance, I look for that balance.

are you moody?

Very – do I bite? Yes.

how much are you into darkness?

You have to have a balance.. as I said above. I need light after a period shooting darkness, and vice versa, so I balance out my feelings with my work.

how much do you like black and how much you dislike it?

I love black. Black is my baseline that I build off of.

You have the ability to choose always very fitting and charming soundtracks, how do you pick them?

I listen a lot to music, hundreds of minutes and hours. I set up at a site with music tied into to the filming. I don’t add music – I have it going as I film so that the whole film is like an emo, not a set thing, a feeling, based on having studied the site and finding the the half dozen or so musical pieces I feel will work, then I test the shot. I exclusively use Magnatunes.

Violator Wired by Nicole X
Music: Tin of Drum by Rapoon

You have produced many videos for Violator. Tell us a bit about your feelings and inspiration while directing this videos and what you wanted to express….

It’s a dominant dark side that I pull out of Violator. I feel it represents the highest level of avantgarde fashion and allows me to express myself. it is a crisp, explicit level of dominance and quality. You can feel the pain. The movement in the fashion and the flexing of the outfits is very important in my films. I do not use mesh. Flex is the important part in any fashions I use. Design, color and impact is all important. In my filming and photographs. I do not use Photoshop or image edits. I show what I see as it is presented.. not something contrived after the fact.

You have recently made a new video on Eshi Otawara and her creations… tell us a bit more….

It’s fitting into a story I am writing right now called “the Blender”. Her works are more like a flower, a flower that is beautiful but has an edginess that can be deadly. The story is about a group from another plane that has landed in our universe. I am using her works along with others that fit the story about how people from another plane have arrived via a microwave beam, little white data rays.. that are moving through you constantly and eventually taking over your mind, using social media etc., taking over the world with airborne data and “waves”.

Blenders, Cherubic Hymn by Nicole X. Featuring Violator designs
Music: “Hymns” by Adina Spire

credits: all videos and pictures are courtesy of NicoleX Moonwall