WoW Moviewatch: Winter Weapons
by Michael Gray 
Jan 9th 2009 at 12:00PM
Winter Weapons is by Selserene, the same author who created the In for a Penny pieces. The movie is apparently based on an old war story told by Selserene's grandfather. I'm not going to spoil it here, since the story is well-conveyed by the characters in the movie. There's a recap and explanation at the end to help make sense of what's going on, in case you don't entirely get it.
The movie was satisfying, like all of Selserene's work. An impatient chap, I could have gone with slightly faster pacing, as it took me a little time to figure out what was going on. I want to draw attention to the amount of emotion Selserene manages to convey via her human soldier's face. We're seeing more manipulation of the face model in machinima nowadays, and Selserene makes strong use of that. Angles, slight distortions, and careful shots really help convey the consternation of the soldier.
Thanks to Anastriana for the tip!
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: Analysis / Opinion, Machinima, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Adamarius Jan 9th 2009 12:15PM
First to be a douche, you mean.
McGayver Jan 9th 2009 12:31PM
Haha, I really enjoyed this little video. I feel so happy, suddenly.
Meøw Jan 9th 2009 12:41PM
This actually brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for this great story.
shibumi Jan 9th 2009 12:53PM
As a Vietnam Vet this is certainly a good film. I enjoyed it. My first take when I saw the grenade was 'they didn't pull the pin - it's not armed'. Then the snowballs and I recalled stories about WWI and WWII where they had a seasonal 'cease fire' for the holidays.
nicely done.
/shibumi
Salacia Jan 9th 2009 12:53PM
Oh yeah! I think the story at the end was recently made into a movie in France, wasn't it?
Really nice machinima. I liked it!
Rosie Jan 9th 2009 12:57PM
2 thumbs up! And gratefully remembering and praying for all our Armed Services personnel!
Badbart Jan 9th 2009 1:18PM
According to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Army_Group
They were north of the buldge in the winter of 1944 near Malmedy, Belgium
See 21D on this map:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/P23%28map%29.jpg
http://europe.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=BE&addtohistory=&address=&city=Malmedy&zipcode=
Sels Jan 9th 2009 3:51PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Czechoslovak_Armoured_Brigade
Originally part of 21st Army Group Montgomery. He talks about Dunkirk for a lot of his memoir.
:)
BadBart Jan 9th 2009 1:30PM
The Movie is
A Midnight Clear (1992)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102443/
Dobmeister Jan 9th 2009 2:16PM
The best they thought of was snowballs and unarmed grenades? Doesn't quite match up to the 1914 Christmas Truce where us Brits creamed the Germans at football in No-Man's Land!
twh Jan 9th 2009 4:28PM
Now this is a movie worthy of being noted on Moviewatch.
Keyra Jan 9th 2009 7:09PM
A very short piece, to be sure. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't that long (I was all set to see an all-out snowball battle) but it still told the story nicely, and I LOVE the look that the Orc had with the snow on his face!
Done very nicely and very smoothly (my own machinima that I'm working on is, unfortunately, jerky in a lot of spots due to the fact that I have an ancient HP Pavilion that just doesn't cut it for frame rates...need a new 'puter for my birthday!!!). A quality piece that is most definitely worthy of being featured here!