illegaldanish
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Breakfast Topic: What matters most in machinima?
A little while ago, we asked what a good PvP video looked like, and so it's only natural that we should ask, as Relmstein did recently, what makes a good machinima? Yes, PvP vids are technically machinima, but in this case, I'd say we're talking about videos that tell a story that doesn't necessarily center around PvP-- stuff like Illegal Danish, Time Gnomes, and even music videos like Big Blue Dress (which is also a PvP video) and Code Monkey.Relmstein tries to make a spectrum between professional production and a strong script, but I'm not sure those are on opposite ends-- it's definitely possible to have both. I'd say a good, strong script is important for sure no matter how your movie looks. Humor tends to be popular, but I think that's only because non-humor stuff tends to be overly dramatic RP stuff so far-- it's hard to convey real emotion, as my friend recently said when I showed her the Code Monkey video, with characters who don't change facial expressions.And maybe this is just me, but I kind of have a pet peeve with some machinima-- I really tend to dislike overuse of the Model Viewer to create improbable situations. It has it's place, I think-- Hardware Store is a great video that uses the Model Viewer almost exclusively for all sorts of fun. But I am more impressed by the folks who are able to shoot great stuff inside the actual game engine rather than flooding the screen with their own creations, effects, and graphics. Yeah, it takes skill to come up with all your own stuff, but if I'm watching a WoW video, I'd rather it was made with WoW, not five or six other programs just using the WoW models.But maybe that's just my own personal opinion. What do you think makes a great machinima video?
Interview with Myndflame: Where's Illegal Danish 2?
While wandering the BlizzCon floor on Saturday I ran into the Myndflame team. Clint Hackleman was kind enough to spend a couple of minutes to speak with me about "Escape from Orgrimmar," the much-anticipated sequel to Illegal Danish. I was very eager to speak with him considering that those of us who attended the first BlizzCon were promised Illegal Danish 2 would be released the first day of BlizzCon 2007. Here's what he had to say.When asked about the delay in releasing the film, Clint said that they considered the film not ready yet, and much like Blizzard don't want to release an inferior product. Myndflame was showing an updated trailer of the machinima on the show floor, and when I asked if I could get a copy to show the readers, Clint let me know they were only showing it at BlizzCon. So I asked the ugly question: Why was the film not ready yet? What happened? The answer is the World Series of Video Games happened. Myndflame was invited to set up a booth at the WSVG, and with that a potential partnership looking towards good things to come. Good news for both sides, but bad news for the fans waiting for another Illegal Danish piece. But take heart, Clint says that the film will only be two weeks behind, and then we will finally be able to see the next chapter in the story.I also was interested in how they make films. Clint mentioned that Myndflame has been a professionally sponsored machinima studio for a year now, so he and his brother D.W. focus only on turning out movies for us to enjoy. A piece normally takes about 9 months to make, 6 months of writing and composing and 3 months of actual production. This seems like a long time, but their goal is to create a piece that is about 24 minutes in length, so there is a lot that goes into such a long movie. All in all, I was very pleased with the info I received talking to Clint. I know if I got an invitation to visit the WSVG I would probably be a bit behind on my projects as well. Good luck guys in finishing up the film, and we'll keep an eye out for it when it hits the presses.
