WoW Moviewatch: Yellow Grows the Grass
by Michael Gray 
Nov 17th 2008 at 12:00PM
This is a tough review. I'm a fan of music, especially ballad-like songs. I've never felt we see enough original fan-made music about WoW, and I'm still known to hum the tune to Big Blue Dress from time to time. Yellow Grows the Grass is a great song with good lyrics. I really enjoy the subject matter, and I appreciate what Boreas was trying to do.
Unfortunately, the production values fell short in this video. The animation itself is a relatively unmodified over-the-shoulder view of the game. The music track itself popped and cracked, sometimes even obscuring the words to the song. This kind of pained me, because I was really behind what the author was trying to do here.
I hate to see a great effort plagued by production issues. I hope he can get some help with a better audio track, especially, because I thought the song was strong enough to carry the video if not for that issue. And though the animation, as I said, was relatively plain, the chosen imagery itself wasn't bad. It seemed to me like there was a very strong script, but the "camera-work" itself is what let the piece down. And like "Big Blue Dress," if the audio were clear and crisp, the video itself wouldn't really matter.
[Via WarcraftMovies]
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Previously on Moviewatch ...
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Machinima, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Arkeband Nov 17th 2008 12:24PM
The song is really poor to begin with. x_x
Naix Nov 17th 2008 12:27PM
Music: Horrific
Video: Poorly done
Story line: Done 1000 times before
Over all experience: I want my 5 minutes back.
Major Malfunction Nov 17th 2008 12:38PM
While I understand the need to post content so the site stays popular, I think it is a pretty bad idea to blast someones work. Why don't you simply NOT give this work attention, negative or otherwise, and you won't draw people to your site who get off on blasting people. Trolls smell blood, your review was a blood bath. I didn't create the work, nor do I know the person, but I'll ignore your reviews critiquing others work when you have typos such as "tryind" and "plauged" in a published article.
Kyle Nov 17th 2008 12:51PM
My question is why the heck did he put "Still Alive" on the credits. I know its a funny song for anyone who's played Portal, but it destroys the mood, etc created by the song.
Not necessarily my cup of tea...I could put up with it...until the credits.
stevens.ce Nov 17th 2008 12:52PM
I didn't even make it thirty seconds into this before I wanted to quit, and I would have been better off had I listened to that little voice.
The song does suffer from audio issues and tons of repetition as well, and the video is pretty uninspired as well. I think this is just poor effort. Sorry to sound overly critical, but it just wasn't as good as many of the prior posts to this category.
Boreas Nov 17th 2008 6:35PM
This is actually my video, and I can't believe somebody actually made an article about it! Even if it's a bit negative, that's ok, it's fun to see a review. This wasn't some huge labour of love, I only spent 2 days working on it from start to finish. I know of other WoW movie makers who've been making their new films for months (and who still get slated)... :)
I'm very aware that there are problems with it. It's only the second movie I've made, and I've never claimed to be a great singer. I recorded it on a little voicecoms mic and I was also in a bit of a rush, I confess. It was mostly made for a bit of fun and to show my friends, so I wasn't too worried about some production issues. It annoyed me as well (more than anyone else I'm sure), when I heard the pops, but I didn't have the energy to sing it all through again, sorry!
@Kyle: I put "Still Alive" on the credits, because (a) I wanted to give a little change of flavour to the ending; and (b) because I felt that the theme was quite Forsaken-relevant, for that bit of the song at least: "when you're dieing I'll be still alive" etc. Just be grateful I didn't put William Shatner over the credits like I did with my first video! ;)
I also wouldn't have the first clue how to do anything other than a standard frapsing to film a movie. Further, as you can see by the banner at the top throughout, I was using the limited freeware version. I do like to learn new things, but I'm not going to invest loads of time in learning 3D graphics just to make a silly film!
I can cope with trolling (by which I mean some of the responses, not the review), it's inevitable on the internet; for the same reason, I won't be getting into big debates with anyone. I just thought I'd give my side of the story.
Overall, I cannot really entirely deny what is said in the review: to some extent, I agree. But, as I say, this certainly wasn't intended to be the next "Internet is for porn" or "Big blue dress", it was just a bit of fun for me while waiting for Lich King and waiting for comments on my thesis. ;)
Glanac Nov 17th 2008 7:27PM
I liked this song for the most part.
As everyone agrees, the production values weren't all that great, in fact it could have probably done without a video altogether, but the intent to make a great IC ballad was there.
In terms of the the lyrics, the chorus was a bit too repetitive and sometimes the meter didn't fit, but the meaning and story shone through.