Warcraftmovies opens voting on Synergy contest entries
by Moo Money 
Jul 29th 2008 at 5:00PM
Though there are indeed six entries, most votes are going to our main two contenders. In one corner, we have Martin Falch, responsible for the incredible feature-length film, Tales of the Past 3, which just crossed one million downloads in seven months! He chose to work with the script, The Best Kept Secret of the Horde. In the other corner we have the dream team of Baron Soosdon and Pinkhair, with help from Selserene, Olibith, Caruu, and Drewbie. Their chosen script was Busted. Only one contestant will go home with the $1500 USD Warcraftmovies contract.
Voting ends on Thursday, July 31st and the winners will be announced the following day. Check out the videos and help decide on who will win in this tight race!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Saiforune Jul 29th 2008 5:51PM
Although the scripts were TERRIBAD!
I have to admit that Martin Falch's was phenominally better than Barons. I talk with baron alot through gmail but I admitted to him that this was NOT his best work. It was terribad in my opinion.
Martin Falch's Was AMAZING I recommend everyone to watch both and make their own decisions but I encourage everyone to vote for Martin Falch's.
Frodrick Jul 29th 2008 6:31PM
It's unfortunate that you feel that way since I feel the exact opposite. Martin's was about as good as you could do with the script he chose, which was clearly the easier of the two. The script for Busted was left far more open to interpretation and rather than limit themselves to the silly script and make a short film about nothing (ala Martin's), they chose to make an epic battle with some amazing visuals that I was stunned to see with such a short window to create.
Sadly, I realize you're one of many blind TotP fanboys that can't see past that picture to see that anyone else could make something better.
Saiforune Jul 29th 2008 9:30PM
Actually as an aspiring film director I loved Martin's entry.
I have actually never seen tales of the past so you can take that and shove it somewhere unpleasent.
I loved martins ebcause of the great visuals that made it feel mroe epic.
With "Busted" I felt that the characters who were obviously level 70 looked nothing like a real warsong match. Even Warsong match i've been was never that stalemate in the middle of a field it was always rushing to the flag.
With "Busted" I felt there was alot of un-needed gameplay of just players running around. There was no "EPIC" feel to it in my opinion. All i saw were noobs with squeeky and unrealistic voices laughing or whistling. Just the game's sound database and nothing else. With Martin's they expanded upon the sounds and created some "EPIC" voices that felt right. No voice that was used in Martin's was a game sound. The spell effects in his were far more superior to the ones used in "Busted".
Another thing that went into my critquing was thte fact that Martin did it by himself. "Busted" was done with a handful of people that should ahve made something far superior than what they did knowing the names behind the product. Baroon Soosdon, who I talk to DAILY, and Oblith and many other GREAT names basically produced a piece of steaming hot crap.
You my friend need to understand how much effort and time goes into making these things before you should EVER make such a stereotypical slander about someone just because the Person that I am supporting has previously made some REALLY MAGNIFICENT pieces of art.
Ian Jul 29th 2008 6:26PM
Wow, that's a pretty crappy interface on warcraftmovies.
Have to open a flash frame to view the movies, and they won't even load on my Firefox (even with NoScript turned off) and can't link directly to any of the movies.
Nice site design there.
Culhag Jul 29th 2008 7:01PM
I voted for Falch's entry. Technically impressive, and the acting of the characters was very convincing. The party really made me laugh when the music started. :P
Soosdon's was really too long. He could have cut a lot of useless fighting.
TotalBiscuit Jul 29th 2008 7:34PM
The comparison between the two 'front-runners' is interesting. Busted is visually impressive, and the combat enjoyable to watch. The music is well chosen, and the sound assets are very well used, adding impact to the combat scenes. On the other hand, the voice-acting is atrocious save for Drewbie. Admittedly, there isn't much of it. The problem I have with it is that it's impossible to connect with the characters since they're all ultimately shallow, having very little dialogue, or distinguishing features. That makes the love story element impossible to care about. It is however, a light-hearted movie, and is set up that way from the get-go, so a lot of that can be forgiven in favor of slapstick and 'oh sh-, that's awesome!' moments. It's a good piece of work, but the scriptwriter needs to be shot. They're have had more luck reading out one of my damn reviews, it would have been more entertaining (for those who don't know, the script was set for the contest by WCM, and the machinimators had nothing to do with it).
The Horde's best kept secret was slightly less visually impressive, opting for a sharper style than Soosdon's usual etheric filters (which were toned down for his entry it has to be said). The voice-acting was impressive, with good choices made for all characters (the females were done by a professional with a client list as long as my arm, check the credits for details). The pacing was good, and when the joke was finally delivered it worked well. The problem I have with it, is that the climax of the movie, the apex of the joke, was not the machinimator's own original content. Not only was the use of the song against the contest rules (and the law, but that's less important) but it said one striking thing to me 'our gag, our gimmick, our big finale? yeah we didn't actually make that'.
While Falch's work was solid and certainly well put together, I think Soosdon and Pinkhair's work wins out on the grounds of originality and technical expertise. Their voice acting needs work, and they both need to do some serious study in the art of story-telling, but that doesn't stop the video from being enjoyable from start to finish, with plenty of surprises and great moments along the way. They gte my vote.
Saiforune Jul 29th 2008 9:34PM
And yes I understand that the script was EXTREMELY horrible since I did read it but that doesn't change the fact that it, "Busted", could have been produced to give the same points depicted by the script but been approached in the story differently than the random running around and 1vs1 combat fights that NEVER would happen in a real game.
The murloc was priceless but over used in the Baron Soosdon Pieces.
Frodrick Jul 29th 2008 11:16PM
I'm not sure where it was decided that movies had to be reflections of real gaming. I guess I need to hang around the Horde more often for their annual march to dance around naked to YMCA.
BaronSoosdon Jul 30th 2008 3:50PM
Wait, what? WSG isn't randomly running around? Are you in so good position that you never get to PUG that piece of shit battleground?
And there, you said it t youtself: "Never would happen in a real game". Our point was never to go down that road, instead we wanted the movie to happen in a "fictional" WSG.
elster Jul 30th 2008 3:22AM
hehe the gnom on the banner reminds me of Samson from the HBO TV Show Carnivale...maybe an easteregg :)
ramz Jul 30th 2008 7:01AM
I participated, and as it was my first machinima my goal was to get through the selection round.
well i did! you can vote for me haha, i voted for baron soosdon myself though. (Busted by Ramzienator)