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Orcish Army Knife on taking great screenshots in WoW
I love taking screenshots. Writing for WoW Insider is largely about the writing, but it's also about the layout, and having snazzy images to go along with whatever it is I'm writing about. That said, I have a truckload of screenshots from every expansion on my computer, because it's become some kind of collecting disease to me. If I'm going a really good quest, I'll screenshot the different parts of that quest. If an NPC is talking, I'll invariably take a screenshot of what they're saying. But just snapping away while playing the game doesn't guarantee you're going to have a good image to work with. And if there's anyone that knows anything about taking great screenshots, it's Fabulor, a.k.a. Rades from the blog Orcish Army Knife. For quite some time now Rades has been entertaining his readers with tons of posts pointing out both the silly and the serious in Warcraft, always illustrated with plenty of gorgeous screenshots to help tell the story. Over the past week, Rades and guest author Hugh Hancock from MMO Melting Pot and more recently Death Knight Love Story have been sharing their tips and tricks to capturing the perfect image.
Death Knight love story casts actors Brian Blessed, Joanna Lumley and more
Okay, guys, look - I could talk about how Death Knight Love Story is a fan film, machinima made with some decidedly interesting talent behind the scenes. Created by Hugh Hancock of Strange Company, (who's been making machinima since 1997) who also created Machinima.com (a little website you may have heard of) it's an ambitious project using motion capture in addition to in-game assets, and it has voice acting from people you'll have heard of like Joanna Lumley of Absolutely Fabulous fame, Anna Chancellor (BAFTA award winner) and Jack Davenport (Commander Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies). But the real reason I just about leapt at the chance to post this is the picture above, because that's Brian Blessed playing Arthas. So yeah, I'm pretty much there for this. Check out Death Knight Love Story for yourself.
Cinemassively: Three strikes on file-sharing in Europe could mean no internet for life
Machinima book authors Hugh Hancock, Johnnie Ingram, and Matt Kelland have taken to World of Warcraft to fight a stealth law that is trying to be passed in Europe. Hidden in thick packet of telecoms legislation is a "three strikes" law that could blacklist your household IP for life if it has been deemed to be file sharing three times. It doesn't matter if it was your sister, your parents, your girlfriend, roommate, friend stopping by, or someone that "borrowed" your wifi.Surely you would have heard about this before, right? They managed to fit it in one week before voting and there is now only one day left to fight back! On Monday, voting will begin on this legislation. However, given the short notice, many of those voting may have not even read it. If you would like to do something about this, you can find more information on the Strange Company website.[Thanks, Hugh and Johnnie!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
WoW Moviewatch: Stealth legislation that could affect Europe on Monday
If you live in Europe, you should be really concerned right about now. A small group of MEPs are trying to sneak in a law that could punish you even if you're innocent. When it goes through, if anyone in your household has been determined to be file-sharing by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) three times, they'll blacklist your IP for life!There's less than one day to stop this from being passed. It was slipped in right before the legislators broke for the summer, hidden within a huge package of telecom legislation, so most of them won't even get a chance to read it before they vote! Hugh Hancock, Johnnie Ingram, and Matt Kelland decided to do something about it by creating a machinima to warn everyone. If you would like to know more about what's going on, check out the Strange Company website, where they outline what you can do to help.[Thanks, Hugh and Johnnie!]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Cinemassively: BloodSpell team discusses going from series to feature
Strange Company's documentary series about the making of their feature-length machinima, BloodSpell has come to a close. Over the six episodes of the documentary, they discussed conception, pre-production, animation, editing, going from series to feature, and their experiences making the film. Today, we're focusing on the fifth episode in the series, on going from series to feature. Through their interviews, they provide helpful tips on taking your series and reformatting it into a feature-length film. Some of the topics they discuss are reshooting scenes and color correction. If you're looking to take your work to the next level, very few have come as far as feature-length in the machinima realm!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: The making of BloodSpell
While Neverwinter Nights wasn't quite an MMO, players were able to host up to 64 people at once on a home server. It was also extremely customizable in a way that few MMOs allowed for. That's why it served as the medium of choice for veteran machinimator Hugh Hancock to create his feature-length machinima, BloodSpell.Making a feature-length anything isn't easy. It requires a lot of planning, time, dedication, and a large cast of supporting players. Hugh has been releasing documentaries once a week that go over everything from concept to development to preproduction, all the way to finish. These short films are extremely helpful to any aspiring machinimator plotting a large-scale project! For more information, check out the BloodSpell blog.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Windlight - Fleef's Second Life Sojourn
With Windlight mania turning the heads of even the harshest SL critics (Sorry, Hugh!), it's safe to say that it will become a staple of Second Life Machinima. FLeeF, aka Frank L. Fox, not only managed to capture the beauty of our new skies, but also provided the score for the film! The song, "From Agnes, Flowers," was written for his mother. All together now: "Awwwwwwwww."Previously known for his hilarious Moviestorm film, Morning Run Amok, FLeeF provides great examples of just about every sky preset available, including a wintery blizzard scene. One notable moment offers comic relief - the blinging snowman towards the end. He also highlights some of SL's great architectural feats, like the Ivory Tower of Primitives. If you've been skeptical about trying Windlight, this video may seal the deal![Via Machinima for Dummies]
Cinemassively: I'm So Sick
There's definitely a hierarchy in the Machinima world. For example, I personally get all fangirl over people that do community-related activities, like Hugh Hancock or Phil Rice. They, however, rave about guys like Baron Soosdon.Baron created this music video based on a song, of the same name, by Flyleaf and Legion of Doom. He used Unreal Tournament 2004, Half-Life 2, and World of Warcraft for the backgrounds, but the characters themselves are from WoW. The editing in this video is absolutely superb. The visuals are top notch, showing off stunning scenery and little tricks like depth of field.Did I mention that it's just one of a ton of outstanding movies he's made in WoW and other mediums? Yep, he's just that good. You can read more about how he made it on his blog.
Cinemassively: BloodSpell
Here at Massively, we take movie clips and Machinima very seriously. That's why we're introducing Cinemassively, your daily dose of video goodness. It's fitting that our launch today would be complemented by an equally massive Machinima; BloodSpell.Filmed in Neverwinter Nights, this feature-length epic tale follows the story of a young monk, Jered, who is trained to hunt the Blooded, or people whose blood has been infected with magic. When he realizes he has magic coursing through his veins, he must flee from the Church of the Angels. As he is pursued by his brethren, he is taken on an adventure with plenty of action and even a hot chick or two!The director of this film, Hugh Hancock, must have been created by putting Joss "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Whedon and Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson in a blender. Hugh is one of the pioneers of Machinima, and his experience really shows. His script is by turns funny, intense and sometimes moving, the cinematography and direction is excellent. He has created a Machinima feature film that's involving and entertaining compared to other feature films in the cinema, not just Machinima.Check the full movie (you may need a Divx plugin installed) after the jump, or go download it over on the website.
Bloodspell feature length released
Just in case you weren't at the Machinima Europe Festival the other weekend, you might like to know: Bloodspell is out. The feature-length machinima film (created with Neverwinter Nights) has been released, in both streaming and downloadable versions. The film was released by machinimakers Strange Company, who have also worked in Azeroth before. And two of them, founder Hugh Hancock and Johnnie Ingram, were nice enough to sit down and chat with us about Bloodspell, the future of Machinima, and their new book, Machinima for Dummies.Still no word on the Bloodspell DVD, which we were told was going to be released as a downloadable disk with all kinds of commentaries and extras. Strange Company only says that it is still coming, in the next two or three months. And if you can't bear to watch anything that hasn't been created in WoW, there's good news for you, too-- Hugh tells us that he is planning to work on more WoW machinima soon.
WoW Insider Interview: Hugh Hancock and Johnnie Ingram from Strange Company
I think the title of "Godfather of Machinima" might already be claimed (by either Tristan Pope or Paul Marino, depending on who you ask), but when the history books are all written on the art of making films with 3D engines, I'll be darned if the folks at Strange Company don't at least get listed as uncles and aunts. They've been making films from games since before it was cool to do so, and both Hugh Hancock, Strange Company's founder, and Johnnie Ingram, have been tireless advocates of the form.They've collaborated both on a book called Machinima for Dummies (part of the Dummies series-- they're blogging heavily about it at machinimafordummies.com), and on BloodSpell, a machinima feature-length film which is being released officially this weekend at Machinima Europe, a festival in which Hugh will be part of the review panel.WoW Insider got an exclusive chance to speak with these two Uncles of Machinima before their big premiere this coming weekend about how to make machinima (for dummies, of course), machinima's main "competition," how tough it is to make a living doing what Strange Company does, and what's next for the makers of BloodSpell. Read on for the complete interview. Thanks to Hugh Hancock and Johnnie Ingram for speaking with us, and we with them the best of luck at the festival this weekend!
