Bolty's Compleat List of Fun WoW Movies

[Taelas]

Loved it, Trien.

I am not as devoted to the druid class as you are, but I am still a druid.:)

[Bolty]

Long-time-coming update:

The Bountiful Chest, The Demise, Busted, The Best Kept Secret of the Horde, WoW That's Irregular, The Rumpus Machine, Snacky's Journal Episode 4, Divided Soul, and Empire Guild's Sunwell.

Also massively edited the list, removing descriptions and such - it was just getting bloated. Removed PvP vids (well, all one of them).

Did I miss anything decent recently?

-Bolty

[Drewbie]

I didn't want to keep coming here whoring our stuff, but I'm glad to see you liked our latest effort, "The Rumpus Machine."

You may or may not have noticed that the character of the "whiny dwarf" was voiced by none other than Nynnja.

[Tal]

I didn't want to keep coming here whoring our stuff

But you're so good at it.;)

[Taelas]

It certainly deserves it! Hilarious!:lol:

[Bolty]

I didn't want to keep coming here whoring our stuff, but I'm glad to see you liked our latest effort, "The Rumpus Machine."

I found myself hating the machine. I wanted it to die and did not get satisfaction. :whistling:

One of the problems with WoW Machinima in general is that it has matured so much as a medium. Movies that years ago would be considered top-notch would be also-rans nowadays and probably wouldn't even get on my list. I mean, look at Snacky's Journal Episode 4 and compare it to, say, Illegal Danish: Zinwrath. The video editing and voice acting is just so far above.

Certainly Oblivious Films is part of the "problem," yes. If the Grind Episode 3 were ever released, it would likely be crushed under the weight of the expectations of the fans. When people say "good, but not as good as the Grind" to new machinima comedy makers, it discourages them from even trying.

TLDR: It's all MacHeath's fault.

-Bolty

[Lissa]

I found myself hating the machine. I wanted it to die and did not get satisfaction. :whistling:

One of the problems with WoW Machinima in general is that it has matured so much as a medium. Movies that years ago would be considered top-notch would be also-rans nowadays and probably wouldn't even get on my list. I mean, look at Snacky's Journal Episode 4 and compare it to, say, Illegal Danish: Zinwrath. The video editing and voice acting is just so far above.

Certainly Oblivious Films is part of the "problem," yes. If the Grind Episode 3 were ever released, it would likely be crushed under the weight of the expectations of the fans. When people say "good, but not as good as the Grind" to new machinima comedy makers, it discourages them from even trying.

TLDR: It's all MacHeath's fault.

-Bolty

But we blame Tal.

[Chesspiece_face]

dear adia,
i have logged in, but i cant post here, need help!

FAIL.

[Kevin]

whoops I hit reply not report, my bad....

[Bolty]

AFK PL@YERS are back with Wrath of a Couch Potato. These are the Tawianese fellas who brought you the mage Ah-ha, who makes a cameo appearance. It's rare that a movie makes me actually laugh out loud, and this one did...multiple times.

-Bolty

[Drewbie]

Here tooting my own horn again.

Jun from the Snacky's Journal movies and Macheath of our crew teamed up for the 48-hour film project and produced the comedy Musical Things You Need. Unfortunately, they missed the contest deadline by a couple minutes and were disqualified, but the film is still fantastic, regardless of it's lack of Drewbie.

[Tal]

Here tooting my own horn again.

Jun from the Snacky's Journal movies and Macheath of our crew teamed up for the 48-hour film project and produced the comedy Musical Things You Need. Unfortunately, they missed the contest deadline by a couple minutes and were disqualified, but the film is still fantastic, regardless of it's lack of Drewbie.

WTH - no Drewbie?

[Drewbie]

WTH - no Drewbie?

I know. It's sad really. When they told me when the contest was going on, I was sad to see I had a previous engagement that weekend and couldn't be a part of it. Rumor is that there is a sequel in the works that might feature everyone's favorite Bloodfang hooded rogue.

Course, I'm known to make stuff up. After all, I did say we'd be done with The Grind: Episode 3 at some point in time;)

[Tal]

I know. It's sad really. When they told me when the contest was going on, I was sad to see I had a previous engagement that weekend and couldn't be a part of it. Rumor is that there is a sequel in the works that might feature everyone's favorite Bloodfang hooded rogue.

Course, I'm known to make stuff up. After all, I did say we'd be done with The Grind: Episode 3 at some point in time;)

Finally got a chance to check it out and found it very impressive for 48 hour turn around. =)

[Bolty]

Jun from the Snacky's Journal movies and Macheath of our crew teamed up for the 48-hour film project and produced the comedy Musical Things You Need.

I saw this when it came out, it's quite good. Didn't add it to the list at the time because, due to the rush job, it doesn't really compare to your other works. So I just watched it again and realized that it's still better than 99% of the other movies out there. Jeez. That's...sad?

Also added The Craft of War: BLIND, which, unless you're the one person on the Internet who hasn't seen this by now, should be of no surprise. This is one of those machinimas that just raises the bar for everyone else.

Removed the Fury trailer, since Fury is never coming out due to its work being lost by the creator in a tragic computer crash.

-Bolty

[Trien]

Also added The Craft of War: BLIND, which, unless you're the one person on the Internet who hasn't seen this by now, should be of no surprise. This is one of those machinimas that just raises the bar for everyone else.

It's interesting how the 'machinima' scene has changed over the years, with techniques such as compositing wowmodelviewer characters into scenes... things are becoming a lot like the creation of modern films. You have the live action ... which would be like filming entirely within the game and no real post-processing other than editing cuts. Then you start adding special effects, inserting wowmodelviewer characters bluescreen-style, compositing, rotoscoping, etc. Then you have movies like BLIND which are created completely outside the game itself (in this case, within 3D Studio Max), using only the game models and sets... this would be akin to a Pixar movie, or maybe more correctly something like the Final Fantasy movie which was going for photorealism.

So my question is... what is 'machinima' and what isn't?:)A movie such as BLIND goes for the appearance and style of World of Warcraft, but was not done within the game at all... much like say, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (crappiness of that movie aside) was trying to portray the appearance and style of 'real life', but was not done in real life at all. When things get to this point... should you call it 'machinima', or use a different name altgether, or just say 'movie' and tack on different adjectives?

Back in the beginning days of machinima, they were recorded and created within a game engine such as the original Quake, with actors moving the characters around, activating custom animations if the creators went so far, and to view a movie, you would play it back within the engine. This in my mind, is sort of akin to 'theatre'... except the script (ie. demo recording) is performed the same way every time without actor variation. Nowadays, this is commonly seen with in-game cutscenes, so it's nothing new. But this imposes certain limitations, namely whatever the engine is capable of doing.

Things have come a long way.:)

Mind you, I have nothing against any of these techniques, since you can create works of art in any way, whether it be by in-game performances (theatre), recording and editing game footage (live action), with or without additional effects (bluescreen compositing, rotoscoping, etc.), or completely indepent of the game (pure CG movies). It's just starting to feel funny calling this stuff 'machinima' when the movies have more in common with modern movies instead (sort of like how 'film' doesn't really describe moden movies anymore either).

'WoW movie' works just fine for me though, since afterall, that is the look and feel that is used:P

[Bolty]

Baron Soosdon again with No Point: Stretching Time.



Also, Out in the Cold and Northrend Wonderland were some serious holiday treats that you hopefully didn't miss.

-Bolty

[Trien]

Many may have heard this already, but as of March 30th, 2009, Filefront is closing down. Since an overwhelming proportion of WoW movies tend to be hosted on there, they will all disappear unless/until they are given a new home. So, grab them while you still can, if there's something you've been meaning to watch but have not done so yet.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to a replacement site to host them (since I've got a few movies of my own; hosting for download and not just streaming would be the idea)? I've been looking around for alternatives, and haven't had much luck so far.

[Tal]

Just discovered The Journey on another site I frequent - and loved it.

[Bolty]

Many may have heard this already, but as of March 30th, 2009, Filefront is closing down.

And a few days after the announcement, they were brought back online by its original owners. Interesting stuff; makes you wonder what kind of money changed hands.

-Bolty