Posts with tag dan-ross

We first talked about the BitFilm Festival 2009 Machinima contest when we featured La Terroriste last week. With the clock running out on the time for votes, I wanted to mention another machinima entry for this year's contest. The Orchard is a horror-genre movie from Dan Ross (otherwise known as Lafawnduh). Dan is the same creator who filmed The Ultimate Snowdown.

The Orchard is an incredibly well-crafted movie that is deeply steeped in its own genre and moody atmosphere. I particularly enjoy how the story is tied up without an obvious, author-determined morality applied to Margaret. The video is well worth the time, and Dan should be applauded for his artwork.

Ultimately, I wish good luck to La Terroriste, World of Workcraft, and The Orchard in the BitFilm contest. While WoW.com obviously has no stake in the contest, I think all three would be worthy winners. Good luck, folks!

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We lead off this week with an offering from Lafawnduh, otherwise known as Dan Ross. The video is The Orchard, and it won first prize in the Warcraft Movies Shrieking Shorties Contest. Lafawnduh was previously featured on Moviewatch for the Ultimate Snowdown back in December 2007.

This time, Lafawnduh's looking at the strange story of Old Margaret, whose mysterious apple pies have won the Brewfest's Southshore Apple Pie contest for years. A frustrated farmer is at his wit's end and tired of losing to Old Margaret. He chooses to sneak into her barn one night to discover the secret.

The Orchard is categorized as "Horror," but you don't need to be told that. Within a few second of the video, the mood, music, and first-person perspective tells you what kind of story you're about to witness. The perspective carries the horror theme very well, with a disjointed sense of what the character's witnessing.

The story itself has a great ending. The morality of Margaret isn't called into question, except by what you might draw on from horror tropes. In fact, the cruel coincidence of what the narrator happens across probably makes for the most horrific part of the story. If he hadn't chosen this night, if he hadn't happened to be around, things might have turned out differently for him. I particularly enjoyed this graying of events, since it makes everything plausible without particularly maligning anyone, or relying on tired cliches of motivation.

[Via Myndflame]

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...