WoW Moviewatch: The Rumpus Machine
by Natalie Mootz 
Oct 6th 2008 at 12:00PM
The Rumpus Machine is the latest offering from Oblivious Films, of The Grind fame. It's the story of what happens when an easily-frightened dwarf and his friends stumble upon a "metal pig" which seems to grant their every wish. It's not a follow-up to The Grind storyline, but rather a new, self-contained story. It's kinda like what O. Henry would have written if he'd only lightened up a bit. The moviemaking here is top notch and the storytelling is quite funny with everything from sexy dancing girls to throwback dungeons. Make sure you stick around throughout the entire credits roll for some final jokes at the end.
Drew "Drewbie" Syring from Oblivious tells Moviewatch that Macheath made this film for the BlizzCon machinima contest and, for you Diablo III fans, "yes, that is really the real Deckard Cain who was kind enough to lend his voice talents to our production." How'd they manage it? Just watch it, you'll see.
Updated: In case it wasn't clear to anyone who watched the film: The filmmakers want you to know that they got the actual voice actor for Deckard Cain to perform in their film.
[Via Vimeo]
If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
Previously on Moviewatch ...
Filed under: Machinima, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Drewbie Oct 6th 2008 12:10PM
For the record, the films are made by Macheath, as he's the actual talent behind the making and writing of our movies. I'm just a lonely voice actor, and in most cases, PR guy for Oblivious Films.
If you could, please change the "he" in "he made this film" to "they" and we're golden.
Arvenis Oct 6th 2008 12:12PM
I think you mean lowly voice actor. But maybe you are lonely as well...
Drewbie Oct 6th 2008 12:13PM
Could really go either way.
Nexxis Oct 6th 2008 12:23PM
Deckard Caine! This movie was epic, gratz to "THEY" who made it.
Tap Oct 6th 2008 12:57PM
I'm aware that everyone, including myself has some weird random thoughts in their heads, but I don't think I'd ever spend that much time to make a movie about them. God that's some weird stuff.
Ekar Oct 6th 2008 1:11PM
That was great!
vlad Oct 6th 2008 2:05PM
geeze, i never had a vimeo imbed work in opera browser before!! grats. you beat moo lol
Drakkenfyre Oct 6th 2008 2:11PM
The article says to watch to find out how they got Deckard Cain. It didn't. So what's up? Lol.
Drewbie Oct 6th 2008 2:18PM
It was super tough to do. We started out by asking him. Then he did it.
Well, I guess it wasn't that tough after all.
darian Oct 6th 2008 2:41PM
Lies, you obviously had to combine Wirt's Third Leg with the newly added Scroll of Recall in a modified Strong Lockbox.
Drakkenfyre Oct 6th 2008 3:17PM
See, that's an explanation.
The article says "How did they get him? Watch and find out!" and then there is nothing in the video about it.
So my criticism was of the line in the article, lol.
Drakkenfyre Oct 6th 2008 3:23PM
"It sounded to me like they used sound files from the Diablo game."
You could think that at first, but as the video goes on it's obvious they didn't. Seeing as Deckard Cain never said "Bloodspire Life-siphing Gryphon", or "Ethereal Witherfang Trundlebear" in either Diablo 1 or 2, and since they haven't released Diablo 3, lol, it would be kind of hard to do.
G Oct 6th 2008 4:28PM
Audio levels and cringe-worthy story resolution, ftl. But it definitely has its moments. Fiddlesticks!
TotalBiscuit Oct 6th 2008 5:01PM
What exactly was wrong with the audio levels?
Keyra Oct 6th 2008 6:46PM
Audio levels - a few times the gnome was speaking too softly and at others the background sounds overpowered...sort of like cable television! :-)
Seriously, though...the audio levels were (for the most part) mixed very well. Perhaps your sound settings are off? I know that this happens frequently with my father's computer - check your Multi-Channel Sound Manager in Control Panel (you may need to switch to "Classic View" to find it).
G Oct 6th 2008 6:53PM
I'm an audio professional. I just tend to forget that a good mix isn't easy for everyone, or even necessary. No offense intended.
Keyra Oct 6th 2008 7:37PM
No offense taken (at least from my end - can't speak for TB).
I know what you mean, really. I'm a musician and the final mix makes or breaks a piece. I'm also an amateur movie maker, so mixing dialogue with sound FX and foley is key to making a good piece or a piece of...well, you get the picture.
For this one - I haven't listened to it through my headphones, just the computer's (so-so) speakers with natural ambient noise in the background, so other than the occasional lows for dialogue and highs for sound FX, I can't judge right now. Headphones are packed away in a box somewhere that I haven't gotten to during my unpacking :-)
Keyra Oct 6th 2008 6:50PM
Oh.
My.
Goddess.
bibble...bibble...bibble...
Dr. Who meets The Young Ones meets Kids in the Hall meets Monty Python meets Black Adder. Heh...
Excellent rendering and bizarrely entertaining, especially for those of us who have rather warped senses of humor (you know, your typical WoW player these days)
Great pick, Natalie! I'm gonna have to save this one!
Macheath Oct 6th 2008 8:43PM
RE: Tap's "this is weird" comment... yes, it is weird. I wanted to make something random, but it still needed to be slightly comprehensible, so this was a sort of middle-of-the-road script. I'll take your comment as a compliment, because I take everything as a compliment, because I'm a highly delusional, self-obsessed shitbaker.
RE: G's "stand back everyone I am an audio professional and these audio levels suck" compliment... yeah, you're right, there's a couple parts that I hate too. But you reach a point where it doesn't seem worthwhile to re-render the entire 30-gigabyte project to fix volume levels when you know the whole damn thing's gonna get scrunched down to YouTube quality anyway. I'm lazy and I was on a deadline. But all that said, I'm definitely not an audio professional.
RE: Deckard Cain... he's awesome.
Toneslice Oct 7th 2008 12:07AM
People of Oblivious films.
Your machinima work remains my favorite of all wow machinima. I look forward to stalking you, and attempting to hug you at blizzcon.
Do not fear if no pants are involved.