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WoW Moviewatch: I'm no good
I am, in general, a pretty big fan of Legs's body of work. This WoW music video take on Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good" is one of my favorites, even though it was first released a while back. The video is titled I'm no good, as it's very much a direct carry-over of Winehouse's song. As the video's story goes, it's about a couple who are having some "faithfulness" issues. The scenery and action does a good job of mirroring the song's lyrics. Legs's costume work is, of course, very strong. And while I've long admitted I'm a little burned out on the Blood Elf thing, the singing belf chosen by Legs is actually a pretty good fit for Winehouse's persona. I think this is some of the best "band" footage I've seen in videos. L70ETC lends itself to "Hard rock montage!" Legs, however, has managed to create a soulful and almost "fun" vista in which the boys can operate. I think some of that might be the music soundtrack, but I could almost expect to see these guys in my local coffeehouse. If you haven't seen this one before, here's hoping you enjoy it. If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com. Previously on Moviewatch ..
WoW Moviewatch: Downside Up by Lex
Lex only says about fifty times that his video, Downside Up, does not make sense. I have to disagree. Wookies on Endor? That doesn't make sense. This video makes sense. It's a music video, with various and meaningless scenes of an orc running. It's a showcase for music, with imagery meant to provide some kind of context to the sounds. It doesn't really have a story or a theme, but that doesn't mean it's sense-less. Lex created this entire piece within four hours, so it's a quick one-off. But there are still some things to say about it. Lex did a good job of choosing scenery for his orc to run through. I like quick vistas like this. It shows off some of the beautiful landscapes and images that are present in the game. It's kind of nice. Really, I can picture this video playing on a monitor above a club's dance floor. The action taking place in the video isn't the point, it's just setting up ambiance. I think Lex should explore this kind of thing, setting up a kind of YouTube play list of music videos. For all that he said "This makes no sense," I was able to appreciate the video as a showcase for the music.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
WoW Moviewatch: Guildy Conscience
The language in this video isn't entirely safe for work. They curse a bit.You probably remember last month when Nyhm teamed up with a trio of creative types as a final farewell to WoW videos. Their video, Pwnage Like Us, showcased three talents who I wouldn't exactly call new to the scene, but who are probably still relatively fresh to casual machinima viewers. Well, Gigi, Decision, Quixotica, and Abandonation are already back with a new music parody piece -- Guildy Conscience.This music video is a take-off from Eminem and Dr. Dre's "Guilty Conscience." I admit, I'm not incredibly familiar with the original song, and I prefer it that way. It lets me enjoy the work on its own, though I will say that vocal styles are definitely spawned from Eminem's distinctive sound. The song is a quick series of three parables about decisions everyone faces in World of Warcraft. Well, maybe not everyone, but they're common themes on Mr. Schramm's Guildwatch. First, an undead rogue encounters a gnome and has to decide whether to gank him. Second, a troll's got to resist the temptation to ninja gear from Malygos. And, lastly, a tauren wrestles with complexities of buying gold.It's meant as comedy, but I actually greatly enjoy their commentary about these ethical issues in WoW. That being said, I'm really wearing out on the "I'm a bad ass Belf!" gig, and hope that Abandonation and Gigi explore other personality facets. Quixotica's work on the video is remarkable, and I really do believe these three could create some astounding work in the coming months.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
Space Invaders are happy up there in Royksopp's new music vid
You should probably avoid the music video we've embedded after the break. "Happy Up Here," the latest single from Norwegian electronic (and possibly electronic Norwegian) group Röyksopp, concocts an inoffensive, lighthearted and worst of all, catchy, sequence of bleeps and bloops. It's exactly the sort of thing that wafts out of someone's cubicle and ends up infecting every brain in the office, generating impromptu humming and arming those whistling, morning people with yet another way to annoy the rest of us. But it also features cute invaders ... from space! We think that's from a video game.[Thanks, V]
U2 music video & concert collection hitting Comcast HD VOD
While we wait for someone to figure out how to squeeze the U2 3D experience down a coax wire, Comcast has gone ahead and put a few dozen of the band's concerts and videos on video on-demand and in high definition. The new album doesn't hit until next week but the video for the newest single Get On Your Boots is one of the available selections. Comcast claims users already watch 50-60 million music videos per month on VOD, and the prospect of pulling out an Irish flag and reliving the Vertigo tour's Chicago stop one more time is probably enough for us to join them.
WoW Moviewatch: Pwnage Like Us
Nyhm says to call it an encore. One last card up his sleeve as his way of saying "Goodbye" to the fans of his videos and World of Warcraft. A final masterpiece bearing his name, as he shuffles off this Azerothian coil and goes on to other pastures. Pwnage Like Us is not only Nyhm's final appearance in WoW machinima, but also a strong sendup for a trio of three friends to whom Nyhm would like us to pay attention.The video itself is a great farewell piece. It's an ensemble, and definitely feels like an homage to the work Nyhm's done over the years. I certainly feel like it's among the best featuring Nyhm -- it's got good lyrics, a solid beat, and the vocal performance is among the best. The animation is awesome, and I like the "book" transitions. I definitely love seeing the addition of a Tauren performing. It might just me, but I've worn thin on the Blood Elf as Star thing. I know they're probably the "hottest" models in game, but it's just kind of fatigued in my mind. Nyhm will obviously be missed. I'll be watching for more from Gigi, Demineonz, Abandonation, and Quixotica in the future, as I really did love this video.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
Japanese rock music video takes place in a LittleBigPlanet
Japanese rock band Beat Crusaders' latest music video, "Phantom Planet," takes place in a world we're quite familiar with: the LittleBigPlanet. This adorable music video features the band members' faces stickered atop Sackboys, running around various levels from LBP. Kotaku smartly points out that the band is signed on to DefSTAR Records, a division of Sony Music Japan, which may explain the blatantly promotional aspect of the music video.Hear the song after the break.
WoW Moviewatch: Cloud 9 by Zimtower
Tipster Dread Raven dropped us a note about Zimtower's music video Cloud 9. The tip labled the video as amazing. I admit, I was nervous about that word at first. The last time I got a tip labled that way was for BLIND, and that can be a hard one to measure up to. Also, just as importantly, we did a gnome-based video yesterday, and sometimes our readers have a low gnome-to-nongnome tolerance.But when I fired up the video and started watching, I was enthralled. Zimtower's work to animate the singer was astounding. Face and body movements are well-tuned and expressive. You can see her eyes behind her gnomish goggles. The soft glow of scenery and motion-capture are all beautifully done, giving the video an overall ephemeral quality.The song itself fits perfectly. While it's not my genre of music by preference, the strong bond between visual and audio has cemented "Cloud 9" as something to live in my iPod. Zimtower said the video was about joy. I was skeptical, but the sense of serenity and peace during the movie really did bring that across. I admit, I thought the music video was, in fact, amazing.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
WoW Moviewatch: What have you done?
"What have you done?" is originally a song by the Dutch gothic-rock band Within Temptation. For whatever reason, every time I look at the title I can't help but think "What did you do, Ray?" Keyra created a music video for the song, also titled What have you done?Keyra is totally up-front about the fact that, having used an older machine, the video's framerates suffer in a few places. So, that being said, let's pretend that's not the case for the sake of the review. At first glance, Hot-Blood-Elf and Rocker-Night-Elf sing to each other and walk around a lot. Also, there's angst. Okay, so not ground breaking choices there. But when the models for L70ETC kick in on the chorus, I start feeling like the video really comes together.I really liked the elements for this video. They're all appropriate to the genre of the song, well-paced, and creative, even while operating in the confines of the genre's memes. (It's a rock video. Guitars, for example, are mandatory. Without them, it's not a rock video. Just ask Slash.) I liked the way Keyra framed the orc singer, and even the Blood Elf guitar player. (Usually, I just want to slap that guy, and this might be the first time I felt someone's made him look cool.)Overall, I think it worked great. I hope Keyra keeps creating, and gets the chance to rock out on a computer without framerate issues.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
MacBook Pro, music video star
We tweeted this last week, but it seemed worth a second mention: New York-based hip-hop artists DeScribe and Y-Love have released their video for the new single "Change," prominently featuring a trio of MacBook Pro machines. While many computers appearing in videos are idle or showing mocked-up graphics, these machines are in active use -- Y-Love is apparently busy monitoring his Twitter feed via the Adobe AIR-based client TweetDeck.For more Mac & PC appearances on film and TV, check out Starring the Computer (via Ars), a compendium of technology cameos. You can also see the first music video recorded on an iPhone and a tour of Mac OS in song via past posts... but if you love your Mac as much as this woman does, maybe you should record your own video.
WoW Moviewatch: I Gave You
One of the things I think is most awesome about Northrend is the fact that it adds a whole continent of "real-world" scenes to the game. Outland was so out there that it was hard to use any of the in-game terrain for any stories other than those that took place on another planet, but Northrend is a very grounded place -- while zones like Zul'Drak and Crystalsong Forest can seem very otherworldly, there are zones like Howling Fjord and Grizzly Hills that seem much more normal, if no less beautiful.Today's Moviewatch definitely isn't a crafted masterpiece -- even the creator says it only took him about two hours to make, but it does show how haunting some of this Northrend landscape is. Just the cliffs of the Howling Fjord are enough to complement this stark little song and give it an extra dimension. I can't wait to see some more of the machinima that comes out of the new Northrend locations.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
The Best Thing You'll See Today: DJ I-Dee's 8-bit music video
We don't claim to know much about music here at Joystiq (our long-time favorite band is Cap'n Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters) but we do know what warms us to our very cockles. That's exactly the effect achieved by DJ I-Dee's new video, "Swollen Dome/1991," which features more references to classic gaming than we can count.Be forewarned though, like all of our very favorite Christmas songs, it contains profanity. Check it out after the break.[Via GTR]
Music video shot entirely on an iPhone
Behold, what is claimed to be the world's first music video shot entirely on an iPhone.This gem comes to us from GOSHone, A self-described "mad scientist with computers, gadgets, and musical equipment and stuff," G1 used his jailbroken iPhone and a copy of Cycorder to produce what I can only describe as a little slice of wonderful. I can't verify with any certainty that this is, in fact, the "world's first," but I'm going to go with it. GOSHone says that, while making the video was fun and relatively pain-free, he did struggle with the lack of a preview screen, and "tried to rely on the shiny black back and the chrome Apple logo for reflection." That's a simple, clever trick I hadn't thought of, mostly because I always have a case on my iPhone.Have a look at his video, then download his free album. It's good stuff.Thanks to Valerie for sending this in.
WoW Moviewatch: Polystyrene Dream
I don't usually do a lot of WoW music videos, because I tend to be more of a story-buff. But Polystyrene Dream by Yume caught my attention. I'm not sure if it was the ethereal quality of the video, which lined up very well with "Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead, or maybe the hints of narrative that persisted through the piece. I could probably drive myself crazy projecting motivations on the two central characters, and trying define relationships, reasoning, and results of their actions. In summary, two blood elves repetitively walk up to an increasing variety of critters, stab them, and take their stuff. It could just be meant to be pretty, and it definitively is pretty. I don't have much to say about the audio track, since it is essentially a nice song by a widely known band. It's possible that if I knew the song or band better, I might see more relevance in the imagery. Still, if you're talking about "Fake Plastic Trees," I guess it's fair to use a pair of Blood Elves as protagonists. [Via WarcraftMovies] If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
WoW Moviewatch: Route 440
Wrath is out! It's time to celebrate! We can all dance in the Tundra with this music video by Legs, called Route 440. There's no story here. Legs warns us that there is no coherent narrative to speak of, and we're pretty well suited to believe him. I will say, though, that I felt the gnome action was a little dramatic, and I felt bad for the critters when they were laid low. Why people always gotta be so rough on gnomes? And while that wasn't a story, per se, it definitely felt like narrative to me. That being said, I really loved the way the imagery works. Legs admitted right up front that it's all pretty random, but the variety of scenes and sets came together fairly cohesively. The music was strong for its pacing, and I liked the use of current graphics (pre-Wrath) to help motivate the "not-story." If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com. Previously on Moviewatch ...
WoW Moviewatch: Stuck in the World of Warcraft
Yesterday I wanted to impress you all on my first Moviewatch post, so I showed you a very classy, serious movie. Today? Not so much! Instead, today I offer you a good laugh. MTGScreenie brings us his musical and comedy stylings in the form of Stuck in the World of Warcraft. This music video, set to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," but with WoW-specific lyrics, is a comic ode to the game he loves. MTGScreenie's singing isn't going to win any awards, but I think that makes the song even more endearing and funny, especially when he strains to hit the high notes or runs out of breath because the song outpaces him. The visuals won't blow you away, but you'll see lots of amusing reminders of things you love and hate about playing WoW. Seriously, people, who doesn't love lag and ganking! [Thanks, Terrë Yuki!] If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
WoW Moviewatch: The Captain's Wife's Lament
(Warning: This machinima contains insinuations that will probably offend you. While nothing outright is dirty, we'd like you to approach caution when viewing this video. Also, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day!)Ahoy, me Moviewatch beauties! We have a special treat for all you land lubbers out thar. Mike "Spiff" Booth, the scurvy scaliwag that he is, has created a new music video for the Paul and Storm song, "The Captain's Wife's Lament".Spiffworld be no stranger to controversy, havin' been a key player in the V-Day Riot o' '08 (Very NSFW). However, comparatively, this music video looks like a Disney film. If you enjoy Seamen everywhere, though, then you'll definitely get a kick out of it. Arrrrrr![Thanks, Joshua!]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...Check out the video after the jump ...
WoW Moviewatch: Devour
(Warning: This machinima apparently contains some spoiler elements for the game F.E.A.R.)Inspired by Baron Soosdon, first time machinimator, Buzz Dawson, learned to make machinima in just three days with not only World of Warcraft, but also F.E.A.R. He even bought the editing program, Sony Vegas 9, just for this project, which is quite ambitious for an inaugural effort. The result of his educational experiment, Devour, a music video for the song by Shinedown, isn't a literal interpretation, employs creative use of the L70ETC character models, and contains some great cut scenes. While I wish WoW was featured a bit more prominently, for a new effort, this is fantastic. The aspect ratio doesn't jump, the characters don't randomly fade in and out, and the transitions are fairly smooth. What say you, (constructively) critical commenters?[Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
WoW Moviewatch: Tanked a Boss
While we're waiting for the final results of the WeGame machinima contest, I thought I'd take some time to dig into the viewer submissions. The boys at Dirt Dog Gaming, of Eradar, have flooded my inbox. It's an interesting strategy that worked, but just this once. I previously wrote about their Christmas and New Years songs with a WoW spin on them.This time around, Mirabell and Barenger have parodied the infectious Katy Perry song, I Kissed a Girl. Their take, Tanked a Boss, isn't the best machinima by any means. The aspect ratio is way off and it sometimes jumps around. However, the song itself is worth it, and they get bonus points for the creative ways they give fellow guildmates shoutouts throughout the video![Thanks, Infamy, Barenger, Brendan, and Gump for your various submissions!]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
WoW Moviewatch: Riot
Though fairly new to World of Warcraft machinima, bi0man22 took a crack at this music video. Named after the main song, Riot, by Three Days Grace, it's all about the little guy. The troops, led by a wee gnome, take on their king, who had begun to cause problems for them.What I find interesting about this machinima is that he used Adobe Premiere Elements, the lesser of the Premiere family, which retails for roughly 100 USD, and GIMP, a free image editing program. As evidenced, you don't always need a fancy editor to produce decent results. While he could use work on some of his handmade signs, he didn't do a bad job overall. If you're looking to rock out, check out the music video tag for more videos![Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
