WoW Moviewatch: Faces of Cataclysm - The Return of the Highborne
by Mathew McCurley 
Sep 2nd 2011 at 12:00PM
Melvenor is one of the last epic machinamators who takes the lore of World of Warcraft and adds bits of flair, acting, and depth to tell pieces of Warcraft's story. His most recent Cataclysm movie is all about the return of the Highborne to Night Elven society and the pains they must endure to win back the trust of their Kaldorei brothers and sisters. On his way to meet with the Night Elves in Silvermoon Refuge, a Highborne conjurer is in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Epic machinima is a hard sell for me, at times. Melvenor's work, however, feels like it has just the right amount of quality, substance, and skill that makes his epic machinima work. The camera work is great, the voice acting is superb, and the video itself looks wonderful, cleaned up with a bit of After Effects. If you haven't seen Melvenor's work yet, you owe yourself a few minutes to do so.
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 email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.Filed under: WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shinae Sep 2nd 2011 12:10PM
Yes!!! I love all of Melvenor's work. He provides a believable window into the happenings of Azeroth and tides me over until some fateful day when we'll finally get a Warcraft movie.
Mat, thank you for letting us know about his latest video so soon after it was updoaded.
Shinae Sep 3rd 2011 3:15AM
Now that I've had a chance to watch it, I'm disappointed. The story felt clunky, and the voice acting was off. I hope to see him give it another shot.
My favorite of his is Home Sweet Andorhal. :)
Minstrel Sep 2nd 2011 12:17PM
I'm also not generally a fan of "epic machinima" but Melvenor's work is so quality. I consider them significantly better than Blizzard's own cut scenes. He really has a flair for telling the stories with machinima, and they're beautifully produced. Even the voice acting is generally good.
Jason Sep 2nd 2011 12:16PM
Neat!
RetPallyJil Sep 2nd 2011 1:14PM
/e watches video
/e smashes her crappy computer
/cry
Lovely work! I don't think the topic of the Highborne was well-addressed at all within the game, so I'm glad you stepped up to take care of things.
artabasdos Sep 2nd 2011 4:00PM
Um. The visuals are excellent but his voice is weird - far too dorky for this 'epic' kind of thing.
Nathanyel Sep 2nd 2011 4:50PM
test bla hopefully this gets through and does not give me a "You did it!"
Nathanyel Sep 2nd 2011 4:51PM
Is my text too long or what? Let's split it.
Visuals were good, but I agree with artabasdos on the voice.Is my text too long or what? Let's split it.
Visuals were good, but I agree with artabasdos on the voice.
Also, I don't get the story - the Highborne (apparently already in Darnassus) try to gain the trust of the Kaldorei by sending one of their own as a messenger to Ashenvale to warn of a Horde attack (instead of telling Tyrande right away, who might dispatch a druid or someone on a hippogryph) [...]
Nathanyel Sep 2nd 2011 5:04PM
for some reason it won't let me continue here, with a few words without any special characters whatsoever, anyway, the story sucked, it lacked coherence, there.
Tri Sep 3rd 2011 4:08AM
I am amazed. I'm subscribed to Melvenor on YouTube, and it's not even there yet... WoW Insider must have some neat skills to get ahead with the news!
----
Also, having just watched the video, I must say I really enjoyed it. Being a Night Elf roleplayer myself, I got the chills when Deathwing came down on Auberdine (questing through that zone post-cataclysm is very emotional!).
My own character saw the Horde at Silverwind Refuge recently as well, and also felt similar grief over seeing it taken over by orcs.
Anyways, it was a nice little bit of information about the Highborne and why they are back. Also, I think Melvenor's Malfurion looks much better than the in-game model /sigh.