The moment you've been waiting for has arrived! It's hard to believe that a whopping five months have gone by, but Azerothian Super Villains - Episode 6 has finally been released! Ian Beckman went all out in the production of this sequel to his popular series. It wouldn't be complete without a voiceover from our favorite guest actor, Drewbie, though!
You know the drill. Illidan plots something evil, Kael'thas screws up, and everything goes awry. However, there's a lot more depth (and laughs) to it than that. In this episode, "The Virgin Kael'thas," Illidan plans to take over the island of Theramore, but needs Kael'thas to distract the leader, Proudmoore, in order to carry it out. When Proudmoore is discovered to be Jaina, a lady, will he be able to carry out his mission?
IanBeckman has remained tight-lipped about the plot of the highly anticipated sequel to his Azerothian Super Villainsseries, which is scheduled to be released on the 4th of July. However, Kael'thas was all too happy to discuss how ASV6 would turn out if he were the director. While we're not too sure about his sanity, we wish him all the luck in getting his version of the series bought. In the meantime, keep your eye out for the real version of Episode 6!
If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
Episode 2 of How 2 Machinima focuses on how to realistically lip-sync your actors using images of their own mouths. According to this tutorial, you would need pictures of the mouth in various stages of opening and closing. Then you would study the sound chart, which Ian has linked to on How 2 Machinima. From there, it only gets more complicated, so you'll need to pay special attention to the video. I personally use CrazyTalk, by Reallusion, for all of my lip-syncing, but the choice is yours!
On WoW Moviewatch, we regularly ask for and blog about user submissions. However, not all of the submissions are what we would call ... impressive. Such is the case with Ask a Warlock: Episode 1 - "Why is the what?" According to his show page, though, the poor soul actually asks for feedback.
Ask and ye shall receive, young warlock! First of all, we'll start with the premise. He solicits questions on his blog and then answers them in video format. Ask a Warlock is obviously a WoW knockoff of Ask a Ninja, which is a much better production. Maybe you're trying to emulate Ask a Chola, who isn't even a real chola, but the point is that you'll need to improve your schtick. For a much better example, see Ian Beckman's Ask an Assassin.
[Thanks, Andrew!]
If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
According to Ian Beckman, Blizzard has a trailer for the new 2.4 patch that they don't want you to see. In the Blizzard-issued version, Kael'thas believes that the Sunwell is the root of all evil and destroys it. When the destruction makes things worse, he turns to Illidan Stormrage for help.
Ian's version, however, tells the story of monsters that overtake the "pool of awesome." Kael'thas has an identity crisis and it just gets really random from there. If you like all things fun and happy, then this is the Sunwell for you! I wonder why Blizzard would cover up something so cool?
Ian Beckman (whom we interviewed a while back) recently released a DVD-style commentary video about his latest machinima, Azerothian Super Villains, Episode 5. In the video, Ian, and guest star Michael DeCamp, discuss the making of ASV5, as well as reveal some surprising facts about the film. At almost 11 minutes, it's quite informative.
For example, they point out the guest appearance by Drewbie, the disastrous Blackbird contest, and many of the special references that they made about real life events. They even briefly mention how they filmed scenes in the movie! Most of the content will spoil the film for you, so if you haven't seen it yet, I suggest watching Episode 5 first.
Machinimators have quickly learned that if they want special 3D animations or sets done, Pinkhair is the man for the job. Previously known for his WarcraftmoviesChristmas Spirit Contest entry that narrowly missed being in the top three, he has helped artists such as BaronSoosdon and Ian Beckman in his spare time.
In honor of Olibith receiving double platinum on WCM for "I'm only sleeping", Pinkhair finished a timelapse of the saucy filmmaker using Lightwave. He has stated that if there is interest in learning how to do it, he may post a tutorial. If you would like to see a tutorial, join #machinima on Quakenet IRC and let him know!
It's been a few months since we've had our last AzerothianSuperVillainsfix. However, Episode 5 is finally out, and I must say, it rocks! The Stockade Redemption focuses on Illidan's frustration with his team. When he is sent to prison for past crimes, will the gang save him or attempt to take over?
There are many goodies packed into this episode, such as the cameo by Drewbie (He sure gets around!), and the custom courthouse by Pinkhair. The pop culture references were current and spot on. If you enjoyed the fifth episode in the series, check out the high resolution version!
Ian Beckman, a popular WoW machinimator otherwise known as UncleTom, is very close to winning himself a brand new computer. GameRiotissued a call for filmmakers to insert the industrial-strength gaming PC, the HP Blackbird, into their favorite game. The winning entry will receive a machine that's supposedly worth $8,000 USD! His entry, Serious Business, was highlighted on WoW Moviewatch last week.
Appropriately titled "The One Where They Kidnap Thrall." And for once, the combined might of Illidan, Kael'Thas and Archimonde are able to pull off their dastardly plan to rule all of Azeroth. Except for one little problem. Which you'll have to watch to see.
The fourth episode of this popular series holds up the fine tradition of comedy established by the first three. If this is your first exposure to this series, be sure to check out installments one, two and three.
Lots of good news recently on the WoW Machinima front -- both for fans and artists. First, we had Blizzard's recent "open letter" to the machinimators of Warcraft letting them know just what they can and can't get away with. In that, they also offered a contact to the artists on how to get more information if the letter wasn't good enough to codify things. Follow that with some fabulous new machinima out recently from Oxhorn, Baron Soosdon, and many others.
And then we see on the Machinima for Dummies blog, and in a great tip mail from Hugh, that Machinima Europe has announced their nominees for this year. Among the many entries from all across the world are a few solid entries from WoW! In the "Best Commercial/Game" category, we have 4 commercials for MtvU by Oxhorn. Later down the page we see that Oxhorn has received another nomination for yet another machinima -- Hark! Hear the Wails in the "Best Sound" category. Further down we see the third and final WoW nomination into this years' Machinima Europe awards, Azerothian Super Villains (Episode 3) by Ian Beckman. Hopefully they both will come away with awards and even more recognition for their fabulous creativity.
Best of luck to all of the nominees this year, but especially to our WoW machinimators -- without whom, WoW Moviewatch (and many lunch-hour viewings) wouldn't be possible.