The 48 Hour Film Project is prepping its first timed film competition in Second Life.

The Washington-based film group will launch its first virtual film competition in the Second Life online space next month. Now in its seventh year, the group is inviting teams to create films that are written, cast, shot, edited and viewed within the online world in 48 hours. The clock starts ticking on Jan. 11 at 4 p.m. Second Life Time (7 p.m. ET).

About 22,000 people from 48 cities, including Toronto, are expected to take part.

The group, which has sponsorship this year by Panasonic and Visa, will meet with representatives from each competing team inside Second Life, giving out genres, characters, props and lines of dialogue that must be worked into the films. The filmmaking will rely on Machinima, or ‘machine cinema,’ which uses images from video games.

Virtual screenings will be held in Second Life at the New Globe Theater on Jan. 16 and 17, sponsored by Millions of Us, a California-based agency specializing in marketing programs designed for social media platforms. The winning film will get a real-world screening at 48 Hour Film Project’s Filmapalooza, which will be held at Cinequest in San Jose, CA in March.

From Media in Canada