short film
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‘Fortnite’ will host an animated short film festival this weekend
The looping 30-minute program includes some Oscar nominees.
Watch a short film shot in augmented reality with Snap's Spectacles 3
Artist and community organizer Lauren Halsey captured her team's day-to-day work.
ASMR horror film 'Tingle Monsters' captures the terror of online trolls
Most ASMR videos give you tingles. This one will give you chills.
Short film created in Unreal Engine showcases a photorealistic world
A short film that premiered at GDC highlights the photorealism potential of Unreal Engine, and it would be easy to assume Rebirth is a live-action short given how life-like it looks. The video depicts an atmospheric environment full of craggy rocks, hills and fog, along with an imposing, industrial structure. We then see a futuristic car speeding across the landscape towards the building.
Watch the 'Anthem' prequel from the director of 'District 9'
A short film set in the world of BioWare's online shooter Anthem, which highlights some of the universe's lore, dropped on Thursday morning. Conviction is directed by Neill Blomkamp, a name you might recognize from District 9, Chappie, the ill-fated Halo movie or an upcoming RoboCop reboot.
Gaijin on the creation of War Thunder's Victory is Ours short film
Remember that spiffy War Thunder short film that we watched earlier this month? Gaijin has published a blog post that gives a little background on its creation. The script came together rather quickly, and Ukrainian studio Postmodern was chosen to handle filming duties which were then completed near Kiev in "a record two-day shoot." Gaijin says that an additional half day was spent on a studio stage, and that the abbreviated process was helped along by the fact that the entire film was "pre-visualized and made in a 3-D sketch." The company also says that more details on the making of Victory is Ours will be forthcoming.
Future Panasonic G camera's 72Mbps movie-making prowess teased through speedy drama (video)
If Panasonic didn't have attention from movie producers before, it just might as of this week. Joining the quickly developing tradition of camera makers producing elaborate short movies as technology demos, the company has let cinematographer Philip Bloom wield (and tease) a "brand new G camera" to record Genesis, a fast-paced mini-drama showing a man's race to meet his love before it's too late. While Bloom can't talk much about the hardware in question until the 17th, he's allowed to confirm that the upcoming Micro Four Thirds body relies on a "superb" 72Mbps All-I codec for video -- letting it capture a sprint through the streets without the compression artifacts of the AVCHD format used by most mirrorless cameras. Panasonic's upcoming shooter also touts "much improved" results in the dark, Bloom says. It all sounds very tempting, especially if it turns out that Panasonic's inadvertent leaks are for the same camera we see in action here. The full movie is available after the break, and Bloom has the behind-the-scenes details at the source link.
The drama! The suspense! The Leeroy!
It may be the "all your base" of the WoW world, but the Leeroy Jenkins meme will always be with us. Recently, the Worldwide Film Festival asked three directors to reimagine some of the world's most notorious viral videos as short films, and Finn O'Hara chose the Leeroy Jenkins video for his. O'Hara's version of Leeroy Jenkins, featuring the raid members as bank robbers and Leeroy as, well, a Leeroy, is certainly faithful to the dialogue of the original. Sadly, O'Hara chose to leave out "At least I have chicken," but one could see how it wouldn't really fit in with the rest of the film. Another entrant of note is Jeff Chan's Charlie Bit My Finger, which will result in flashbacks for anyone who's ever been overrun by zombies in a first-person shooter and totally ruined the cuteness of the original. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Theory uses tiny MicroVision projector to concoct even tinier police chase (video)
Looking like the ghost of Hot Wheels fantasies past, a new video short has beamed out of the minds at The Theory -- a production team that just happens to have a MicroVision pico projector. Called "Speed of Light", the mixed media film was made by projecting shots onto walls, floors and objects like laptops and then filming it with "no CGI trickery" added later, according to the team. Featuring a miniature Ford GT chased by a police car, helicopters, missiles and explosions, the pursuit was filmed with a Canon 5D MkII and HD MiniCam. To see if the little crook gets away with it, peel out to the video after the break.
Watch the entire Ghost Recon Alpha short film
If you appreciate violent art in forms other than gaming, you'll probably enjoy the desaturated bullet frenzy of Ghost Recon Alpha. If you think gaming is the only pure way to portray murderous creativity, wait until Ghost Recon: Future Soldier drops May 22 and silence the critique.
Nikon D800 short lets you experience miracle of birth, motorcycles
Few experiences in life can match the miracle of birth, but sweet bikes and D-SLRs are probably right up there, right? Now you can experience all three in a six minute film. There are no doubt some good takeaways from "Joy Ride," which was shot using the newly announced Nikon D800, but the most important has to be the fact that some things just shouldn't be captured in HD. Video and an equally lengthy making-of after the break.
AT&T unearths Jim Henson's 1963 Robot short for Bell
AT&T has released some real gems from its videos archives over the past year, but it's truly outdone itself this week. It's dug up a rarely-seen short film titled Robot that Jim Henson made for Bell in 1963, which was intended to explain computers and data communications to business owners at "elite seminars." It does so with phrases like "Correction: the machine does not have a soul. It has no bothersome emotions. While mere mortals wallow in a sea of emotionalism, the machine is busy digesting vast oceans of information in a single, all-encompassing gulp." Enjoy.
Filmmaker says Motorola's Super Bowl ad bears some striking similarities to his short film
He's not going as far as to say that Motorola (or its ad agency) blatantly swiped his idea, but L.A.-based filmmaker Mike Sarrow thinks that the company's recent Super Bowl ad bears a few too many similarities to one of his short films to simply let slip by without a comment. That film, "Do Not Disconnect," was shot back in 2009 (and shopped around for a few years prior), and involves a world filled with "drones" wearing white earbuds who are oblivious to the real world around them and incapable of human interaction. Now, that in and of itself obviously isn't the most original of ideas, but Sarrow notes that there a few "striking" similarities beyond the general concept between the ad and his short film, particularly when it comes to the ending (which we won't spoil for you here). Adding a bit of meta-ness to the whole thing is the fact that Motorola's ad is of course a reference to Apple's famous "1984" commercial, and we all know Apple is no stranger to accusations that it's borrowed some ideas for its ads. Contrary to what you might think, however, Sarrow isn't seeking any compensation from Motorola (or even an attribution), he just wants people to see his film and make up their own mind. Judge for yourself after the break.
Premiering tonight: AFK film offers laughs, epic gaming scenes
Tonight is the premiere of /afk, a short film that tells the story of a single WoW player with a dream to solo Onxyia before he quits the game for good. Earlier this week, WoW Insider spoke with Benjamin Dressler, the director of /afk, and got the scoop on some of the origins of the film. Today, I'll be following up that interview with a review of the film and a few more words from Dressler on the more detailed aspects of the production. /afk is a short comedy that combines live-action footage with in-game animation and machinima. The story follows Piet (Martin Schnuerch), a student whose parents want him to take control of his life and break his gaming habit. He is unwittingly submitted to counseling, where he meets with the brutally honest psychiatrist (Eva Spott.) Piet is cooperative to an extent, telling his in-game friend Nippi (Bill Dean) early on that he intends to quit the game, but as the story progresses, it's apparent that he's very torn on the matter. He questions whether he is addicted and what he wants to do with his life. To make the decision harder on him, Piet has always wanted to solo Onxyia in the game and liken himself to a mythical dragonslayer, like Beowulf or Siegfried, a task he has not yet fulfilled. The film takes place during Piet's final days in the game, when he spends his time with friends and preparing for his face-off with the dragon. Update: /afk is now available for viewing.
Lasse Gjertsen's 'Consoul' now available on YouTube
You'll forgive us if we hadn't heard of "Norwegian animator, musician, and videographer" Lasse Gjertsen until this morning -- we're just not that cultured, apparently! Last year, he and his friend Trygve Knudsen made a 8-bit-inspired short film titled "Consoul" (no, not that Consoul). But due to YouTube's length constraints at the time it was completed, there was no way for him to release the short on his preferred medium. On July 29, however, YouTube added five minutes to its length limit, making it a full 15. And just like that -- within two weeks of the new limit -- Gjersten has released Consoul to the public via his YouTube channel, which we've embedded after the break. Hopefully you're sitting down, as you need to be prepared for your mind to be fully blown. [Thanks, Greatslack]
'Avatar Days' short examines WoW characters and their players
"Avatar Days" is a new short by digital artist Cormac Kelly that examines the fascinating relationship between a World of Warcraft player and their in-game avatar. Not only is the animation great (and you can see how he's upscaled the five-year-old player character graphics of the popular MMO), but the premise is perfect, placing video game avatars of real-life players in everyday situations, and asking us the viewers to examine how they're connected together. Excellent stuff. Not the first time we've seen these characters invade the real world, but definitely the most poignant. Watch the whole four minute short embedded after the break. Update: Kelly emails to say that he only played a small part in the production -- the short was directed by Gavin Kelly and produced in just four days for Ireland's Darklight Film Festival. [via Citizen Game]
'Pixels' short film imagines the coolest apocalypse ever
We're totally expecting December 20, 2012 to come and go without bringing about the end of existence as we know it -- but should the end of days actually befall us, we think we'd want it to look like Patrick Jean's latest short film, "Pixels." There's something about the prospect of everyone and everything turning into glossy, multicolored cubes that really tickles our fancy more than a bevy of natural disasters or aggressive, bureaucratic aliens ever could. Check out the two-and-a-half-minute film after the jump.
First Assassin's Creed: Lineage episode is surprisingly great
We weren't surprised when the first of three episodes in the Assassin's Creed: Lineage miniseries, created by Hybride Studios, exceeded our expectations. These folks did the effects for 300 and Sin City -- so of course we knew it would look great. Our surprise simply came from the fact that Lineage is a promotional, game-based short film; and nearly all of the words in that phrase seem contrary to high quality. Share in our surprise by watching the first Lineage installment after the jump. If you'd like a bit of behind-the-scenes info into how the film was created, check out this GamesIndustry.biz interview with Ubisoft UK marketing director Murray Pannel. He does a good job of clearly explaining the game and movie industry synergy -- you know, what James Cameron alluded to during his fateful, four-week-long E3 2009 speech.
First Assassin's Creed: Lineage episode debuts Oct. 27
It's hard out there for an assassin. It was hard for Giovanni Auditore da Firenze, anyway; father of Assassin's Creed II protagonist Ezio. As you can see in the teaser for Assassin's Creed: Lineage above, the dude had a lot on his plate -- and good thing he had a sharp knife, too, to handle all that meat carving. According to Ubisoft, you'll get to see how it went down when the first of three Lineage short films, introducing plot elements leading up to Assassin's Creed II, debuts on YouTube on October 27.What we really want to know is: How did Giovanni manage to keep his whites so white? With all of that blood flying around, it must have been one helluva laundry day for the 15th century assassin. %Gallery-75857%
Dutch filmmakers whet our Half-Life 2 appetite with superb short
A group of Dutch filmmakers is setting the internet ablaze with a nine-minute video titled What's In the Box? When it was first discovered online, many believed the video was a viral marketing ad for Half-Life 2: Episode 3 because of the use of Half-Life 2 sound clips and imagery -- like the Combine soldier chatter and the large, Citadel looking structure in the video. However, the video also includes other popular references, such as the music from Lost and the initial isolation found in 28 Days Later. Two of the people involved, Tim Smit and Steven Roeters, recently won a film competition landing them a meet-and-greet with Discovery Channel's Mythbusters. In an article from their college campus paper following the competition, the pair mentioned they were hard at work on a film titled What's In the Box? So, unless they forgot to mention Valve contracted them for a viral marketing ad, this one remains labeled as an homage of sorts. The official site for the short film seems to indicate the story isn't finished yet, and we honestly cannot wait to see what happens next. Watch the incredible short after the break.[Thanks, enfo]
