Virtual storytelling. Methods and techniques of ‘audiovisual writing’ through virtual worlds

This paper describes a set of animation techniques and methods known as machinima that can be successfully applied in media education activities centered on audiovisual production through the story form. With machinima, immersive 3D worlds become a tool for building narrative worlds, theatres of a sort in which performances can be recorded as on a movie set. This is done through the computer and the Internet, without expensive equipment or the need to leave the classroom. The paper also presents the results of a pilot activity performed by a group of teachers in the Second Life virtual world. This was aimed at exploring the technical and methodological feasibility of machinima practices in the school context.