WoW Moviewatch: What have you done?
by Michael Gray 
Feb 13th 2009 at 12:00PM
"What have you done?" is originally a song by the Dutch gothic-rock band Within Temptation. For whatever reason, every time I look at the title I can't help but think "What did you do, Ray?" Keyra created a music video for the song, also titled What have you done?
Keyra is totally up-front about the fact that, having used an older machine, the video's framerates suffer in a few places. So, that being said, let's pretend that's not the case for the sake of the review. At first glance, Hot-Blood-Elf and Rocker-Night-Elf sing to each other and walk around a lot. Also, there's angst. Okay, so not ground breaking choices there. But when the models for L70ETC kick in on the chorus, I start feeling like the video really comes together.
I really liked the elements for this video. They're all appropriate to the genre of the song, well-paced, and creative, even while operating in the confines of the genre's memes. (It's a rock video. Guitars, for example, are mandatory. Without them, it's not a rock video. Just ask Slash.) I liked the way Keyra framed the orc singer, and even the Blood Elf guitar player. (Usually, I just want to slap that guy, and this might be the first time I felt someone's made him look cool.)
Overall, I think it worked great. I hope Keyra keeps creating, and gets the chance to rock out on a computer without framerate issues.
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 2)
Wimpkin Feb 13th 2009 12:07PM
I know what you did...It was making this bad music.
Shame on You!
*points evil finger*
Thats no art form having a bad machine and making music video's, making people suffer ...with a not so great song, just don't do it. simple.
SunwellVialist Feb 13th 2009 12:17PM
Disagreement.
Within Temptation is a great group, and I, for one, quite enjoy listening to their songs.
As always, taste is fully subjective, and while you may not like this song, it doesn't make it a bad one.
I watch very few of the Machinima videos, but I quite liked this one. Doesn't hurt that I am a sucker for Angst.
Vervaldi Feb 13th 2009 12:40PM
Good lord, my poor eardrums. Do all of you listen to this horrible ''music''?
Lemons Feb 13th 2009 3:02PM
Yes all music is subjective and therefor no form of music sucks.
A cactus thorn being plucked by a butterfly wing in rhythm is not only music, but GREAT MUSIC!
wait...what?
McRaider Feb 15th 2009 5:04AM
If you ask me, within temptation is a great band.
Problem is that when I start thinking about bands I don't like, I usually think about that for the next hour...
I have a WIDE taste of music. Everything goes from classic to hip-hop. From light pop to heavy metal. (Well Death metal is a bit too heavy stuff for me, to be exact)
Slog Feb 13th 2009 12:30PM
I though the video was awesome. Don't listen to that kinda music, but did enjoy how he put it together.
Maebius Feb 13th 2009 12:41PM
I liked this! Not quite my style of music, but I do really like how the pacing, and the animations really were "fit" into the song like they were. Poor machine or not, this was a worthy effort, and very well done. Ignore the trolls flaming you for poor quality music or framerate. With the tools give, this was art. Keep up the good work.
Origano Feb 13th 2009 12:56PM
It is great how you feature new artist's videos also, it gives them a chance to get more motivation! Propably the owner had almost forgotten about it, the video had been in wegame for 19 days and just 100 views, no comments nor likes : / hopefully he will get more motivation from this!
ladygamertn Feb 13th 2009 1:20PM
Bravo! I enjoyed both the music and the video!
I'm sorry but I am a woman and I think the Belf guitar player is HOT! I made a Belf male toon just so I could look at him. and play with his hair.
I hope to see more of this artist's machinima.
Origano Feb 13th 2009 1:35PM
ladygamertn, I hope you are just joking :p that sounded pretty weird, like how many boys make a naked nelf to look at it? :p
WooHoo Feb 13th 2009 2:08PM
Geez people chill out. lol Being an artist I appreciate the pacing, transitions, and it synced well with the song. I think it turned out good. :) It was fun to watch. Now I'm not a fan of the music in particular but...compared to all the other horrible and crappy "home made music" with videos on here this is at least professional sounding and the audio quality is very listenable. I watched the whole thing. :D
Shad0wembrace Feb 13th 2009 2:23PM
So this has happened to be one of my favorite bands/songs for about a year now when a friend I raid with introduced me to them. (I enjoy Nightwish and she said since I liked Nightwish I would probably like them. She was right.) Ever since hearing the song I've been wanting so badly to do a machinima for it, but I, alas, have no idea how to even begin wtih something like that. So I came to wowinsider.com today, and low and behold, a machinima with my favorite song! Alas..it had a Night Elf in it, and the video isn't at all what I pictured a machinima for this song looking like. I did enjoy the LV70ETC band in it, but the NE/BE relationship was a bit off the top, and really didn't fit in, in my opinion. Otherwise, the video was very good and I enjoyed it and am looking forward to more.
Stone_Rhino Feb 13th 2009 2:33PM
Lvl70ETC = Auto Fail
Otherwise the video was composed well enough, but I thought the female vocalist sounded a bit off at parts.
Not to mention the music was fairly generic if every respect. Slight melody, lots of guitar with some voice over, stop for drum solo. Repeat.
Karma Feb 13th 2009 2:54PM
Easily one of the best female vocalists around, been a fan for a few years now.
Thanks for the video, the happy ending was a suprise!
To the critics, feel free to link your own superior efforts..
Squeegie Feb 13th 2009 2:57PM
did anyone else notice the random leg that was sitting beside the belf at one point?
djmayhem2k3 Feb 13th 2009 2:58PM
@Vervaldi
Too bad it couldn't be The Jonas Brothers or Fall Out Boy eh?
Nodales Feb 13th 2009 3:00PM
Love the choice of song, although I personally feel Within Temptation has much more better songs than this one. I wouldn't call him "Goth-Rock" though, but rather Symphonic Metal is the more correct term.
Marco Polaris Feb 13th 2009 3:03PM
I thought this was a very strong and thoughtful attempt, despite the rough edges of its implementation. Bad framerate aside, there were a lot of moments where characters did not match the frames, or that the picture fell slightly out of step with the music. But there was a good sense of timing overall in the application of scene changes and animation to match the song, and the story was very easy to catch on to.
One could argue that the love-hate relationship of the blood elf / night elf pair seems to be a little nonsensical overall, but I personally don't concern myself with lore problems unless the machinima strongly suggests that it's intended to be a serious story within the lore of Warcraft. The loving pair did seem to make reparations a little early given the overall tone of the song, though - normally, such happy endings are uncovered just after the lyrics have played their part in full.
Carlos Feb 13th 2009 5:09PM
Love the song, been a fan of WT for awhile now, though the artist could have given some credit to Keith Caputo (spelling?) for being the male vocals of the song (as he's not part of WT).
That aside, the video was a good attempt, though I have to agree it was really rough around the edges and probably shouldn't have been released until those last little bits were touched up on. Other than that, I wish they had reused the same animation for the NElf and BElf characters, that got old really quick.
I did like the meaning behind it though, nice try and here's to hoping the next one comes out better!
Kylenne Feb 13th 2009 5:14PM
Within Temptation is not a goth band. For the fortieth time. They belong to the same crappy Scandinavian symphonic metal genre as Nightwish. Having a terrible female singer caterwaul over loud guitars does not make something goth.
Signed,
Someone who used to be in an actual goth band.