WoW Moviewatch: Circles
by Michael Gray 
Jan 12th 2010 at 12:00PM
I think her first attempt is pretty successful. The video does justice to the song, which is usually the first acid test for whether or not a music video can stand on its own merit. Her animation and graphics seem smooth and convincing. The pace of the vidoe goes well with the song's vibrant energy, and the whole thing comes together fairly well.
I know some folks won't like the use of Blood Elves in the video, but I think they were probably the best race for use in this kind of work. Besides, the sort of extravagance and elegance portrayed in Silvermoon as a pretty strong counterpoint to the lyrics, which means the city's natural inhabitants should probably be featured.
Congratulations to Moonora on her first work. I hope to see more!
Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Tori Jan 12th 2010 12:07PM
The movie itself was fine production-wise. It really is a great product from a first time creator, however I do wish machinima creators would lean away from the Blood Elf music video structure.
I don't even dislike Blood Elves, but every video I see with them seems to have the same story lines and the same setup, especially the over-used ETC band models. Even the music choice has been done to death before. It's better than bad rap, but still...there's plenty of other stuff out there.
Anyways, again...no issue with the video itself, but I find it hard to sit through an entire movie when I feel like I've already watched it 10 times before.
Sir7 Jan 12th 2010 12:11PM
Good thing this was said this with more courtesy by someone else before I nerd-raged all over it. Can't wait until Worgen videos can be the norm and belves can start living in obscurity with the rest of the horde. :)
BlackTiger™ Jan 12th 2010 12:13PM
Quite interesting...
99.99% of WoW machinimas are based on Classic/BC content.
Andrew R. Jan 12th 2010 12:14PM
I think the Blood Elves are used more than any other race because they "fit" the movie. If you saw two gnomes instead of the Blood Elves would you still think the movie was a great piece of work? The look, the way they move and the animations fit. Humans just don't work with this type of movie.
Having ETC in the movie was a nice addition. I thought they synced up with the music perfectly. For her first movie I give it two thumbs up.
Sir7 Jan 12th 2010 12:31PM
The movie wasn't a great piece of work regardless of it's use of, lack of, or any interaction with blood elves. :\
KronosIII Jan 12th 2010 12:22PM
I have to say it WOULD be nice. But all the stupid love movies ppl make are with 2 blood elves and they all have the same stupid story in general.
Plus in general and you may LOL if you did not notice. But the person loses flow of the song about half way through.
In general I have seen better ones and I have seen too many similar like this
Plus the guy changes outfit in the movie and the girl does also. The guy it is explainable, but the girl just has a bunch of outfits and it is not consistent to why there is a change of clothing.
2 out of 10
Drakkenfyre Jan 12th 2010 12:41PM
I am sorry, but I am really, really sick of Blood Elves in videos. The only one who gets a pass is Nyhm, and that's because he uses his character.
Stoneblade Jan 12th 2010 12:41PM
Circles...
She's spinnin' me around in circles... again
Oh that skinny blonde girl
Somethin' about the ages
I failed college algebra, again
Whoa that skinny blonde girl....
Kelsey Jan 12th 2010 1:44PM
Whew, glad I wasn't the only one.
Hava Jan 12th 2010 2:04PM
Tropical laserbeams...
Laserbeams of love.
Tropical limabeans.
Limabeans above.
toddhitch Jan 12th 2010 12:54PM
I am trying to send an email to one of the editors. The feeback section of the website isn't sending the email. Does anyone know how I might email Adam, Michael or Alex directly?
Thanks!
Eddy Jan 12th 2010 12:56PM
Aspect ratio please. I'm sorry, I can't comment on the video because I can't watch things that get uploaded to youtube using the wrong frakking aspect ratio. This is like the simplest, most important part of making a video. It could be the best machinima in the world and no one would ever know if everything was distorted out of shape like this. It was clearly made in 3:4 (not HD) so why would you treat it like 16:9? NERDRAGE.
dfgreat1 Jan 12th 2010 2:28PM
True, as an editor I can't believe how much I see this happening, but in my experience the average person only notices about a third of the time... youtube should have some kind of aspect ratio voting system.
ryan Jan 12th 2010 2:32PM
don't be such a jerk.. it's their first try at machinima. Like Dfgreat1 said, most people don't notice it. And by the way, if you're going to be so high and mighty about it, it's "4:3" not "3:4" I work for a pretty prominent television network and i still see it a lot, but it would never cause me to RAGE and not watch the piece AT ALL..
mike Jan 12th 2010 2:39PM
don't be such a jerk.. it's their first try at machinima. Like Dfgreat1 said, most people don't notice it. And by the way, if you're going to be so high and mighty about it, it's "4:3" not "3:4" I work for a pretty prominent television network and i still see it a lot, but it would never cause me to RAGE and not watch the piece AT ALL.. Besides, there's definately weird stuff going on, not everything looks out of aspect. The text at the beginning is definately correct, and some things are harder to tell than others.
Hrothgar Jan 12th 2010 12:57PM
Please, for the love of Adal, not another set of emo Belf sundered love tributes to teen angst.
*sigh*
glitterheather Jan 12th 2010 1:18PM
I liked it.
I especially liked the song. It was really beautiful, and I'd never heard it before.
I'm not really sure I followed the story well enough, but it seemed like a very good first video. :)
dkhar Jan 12th 2010 1:23PM
Uh, like the song, but someone please tell me what this video is about? I find it hard to follow the story, was that guy with another woman, is this about a lost lover? Who the heck is the draenei girl, and what is the BE girl to the BE male then??? Not flaming this video at all, just really don't understand the story of it!
Juanin Jan 12th 2010 1:33PM
I'd drop the blood elf for the Draenei anyway.
The Mooding Druid Jan 12th 2010 1:49PM
I appreciate both the negative and positive feedback.
To answer your question Dkhar as to what the story tells: The wife of a general confronts him, believing he's been unfaithful. As he denies it all, the enemy arrives. He offers his life in place of hers. She then must return to her husbands army and tell them what occured. That he gave his life to save hers. Because of this she now believes that he was not unfaithful and so she offers her fate as atonment to his men. However, since he would give his life to save hers they believe that the General saw her fit enough to lead them and honor her as their new General. She now must lead them against the enemy. I hope that helps you a little.
To answer the costume changing... I'm not sure I understood this comment. The singer character's outfit was changed to match the setting. The male BE only changed costume during the flash back scenes to represent the past. The female main BE changed outfits only in the past scenes. I set these sequences up by bluring and color toning.
As as for the upload aspect. My bad, I guess. I'd be happy for you to explain to me what settings to render it out, save it, and upload it as.