Posts with tag mushanga

The Road of War was Fablesim's entry into the BlizzCon machinima contest. It features orcs, war, and the inevitable road to it. See what I did there? I couldn't escape the notion that this video was a sort of apology or love letter to Garrosh, but that could just be because he was such a popular character at the convention. I think it's interesting how terribly relevant this video is to the overall themes of the new expansion. Warlords of Draenor, and all that. Check it out and let us know what you think!

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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.

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It's not the holiday season without a dose of Christmas with the Critters. While the cavorting crew of critters seek to celebrate the season, some wolves just want to watch the world burn. With a little bit of resourcefulness, and a bit of trickery, the heroic critters turn the tide against the wolf and get back to their party.

Christmas with the Critters has always been a holiday favorite of mine. It's got that right spirit of joy and togetherness, a credible but-not-too-scary threat, and a resolution you could have taken right off the page of a Christmas kid's book. My hat's still off to Mushanga for this video.

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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.

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Mushanga won the BlizzCon 2010 machinima contest with this video titled The Rocket of Love. It's the story of a gnome man who wakes up, falls in love, professes that love, has it rebuked, and finds himself inadvertently taking decisive action. This all happens within the span of about two or three minutes, so you'll find the story pace moves along pretty quickly.

Mushanga's imagery for this video is spot-on and amazing in execution. The voice actors for this movie were equally perfect, with appearances by Rawrbug, Jesse Cox and FrozenDeathKnight. Mushanga's video is pretty awesome and it's easy to see how he won.

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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 machinima@wow.com.

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Baby He's your Man is an absolutely bizarre piece of work by Mushanga that is dedicated to Olibith. The clip shows Jimmy the Gnome, from Mushanga's Wish Upon a Gnome series, suffering some significant setbacks to his love life. Of course, it turns out there's a genie to blame for it all. It obviously fits in the themes of Wish Upon a Gnome.

This was a hypnotizing video. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I couldn't peel my eyes away. Something about the singing gnome and taunting genie just kept me riveted through the whole piece. It definitely inspired me to go back and enjoy the Wish Upon a Gnome movies again.

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WoW Model Viewer's Christmas contest really turned out some great videos this season. Mushanga's entry was Christmas with the Critters and is probably going to be on my playlist for a long time. The movie is fast-paced, fun to watch, and full of several laughing moments. I love the premise, and the film's closing gag was surprising and painfully true.

Christmas with the Critters is the story of an old target dummy, who simply wants to enjoy the holidays by playing with his woodland friends. Unfortunately, a big bad wolf is stalking the same forest and tries to make lunch of the target dummy's friends. But the dummy won't stand for it, and hatches an ingenious plan.

I think a subtle strength of Mushanga's script is that it plays on the traditional Christmas theme that we see in so many mainstream movies. An underdog character tries to enjoy the holidays, finds obstacles in his way, and then overcomes those obstacles. It's a fairly simple plot, but Mushanga uses it expertly to frame his holiday film.

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Mushanga's entry to the BlizzCon 2009 machinima contest was this satirical piece called The 12 o'Clock to Northrend. It's a pretty wide and varied spoof of dozens of movies and films. It almost certainly has something to amuse anybody.

This is actually a director's cut of the video, running a little longer than the BlizzCon three minute limit. I enjoyed the Titanic references, of course, but my absolute favorite is at the end. It seems only fitting to me that Leeroy Jenkins would find his final match in Northrend, in the mountains. Be sure to watch all the way through the credits.

The movie felt a little disjointed to me, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I suspect it's because of the film's high density of one-liners and sight gags, which can be very difficult to string together narratively. But since each joke felt worth it, I'm not sure there's much help for it. Overall, this was a pretty funny movie, and I enjoyed it.

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Mushanga created a new Wish Upon a Gnome episode for his entry into the WeGame.com Christmas contest -- WuaG: The Winter's Veil Whiners. For those of you new to "Wish Upon a Gnome," the protagonist of the story happened across a genie (the Dranei), who'll help the gnome out in his various hijinks. This one is obviously themed for Christmas.

Grandfather Winter has been kidnapped by a cadre of Frost Mages, who will hold him hostage until they recieve further buffs and damage. Hijinks ensue, including a cameo by everyone's favor Midsummer's dancers. It all turns out all right in the end, of course, and has a nice little ending for our hero. You don't need to have seen the other WuaG episode to understand what's going on.

I especially liked the climatic fight scene, set to Christmas music. The character models are all well chosen, and Mushanga did a great job of using convincing scenery without letting that background take over the action. So far, this has been one of my favorite seasonal videos this year.

[Via WeGame.com]

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

Previously on Moviewatch ...

Creating a great machinima involves a delicate balancing act. You must use equal parts voice acting or visual expression of emotion, plot devices such as humor or fight scenes, engaging story lines, and proper editing and sound design, wrapped together in a neat little package. Too much of one single element can destroy an entire production. Today's featured movie makes a valiant effort at being complete.

Wish upon a Gnome, Episode 1, is the first of three episodes centering around a wee gnome that stumbles upon a Genie that grants him three wishes. His first wish finds him craving the power he feels is long overdue. However, as he soon discovers, not everything goes as planned. Given how disastrous his newfound fame and glory turns out, I can't wait to see what he asks for in the next two episodes!

Mushanga may just be the dark horse of the WeGame machinima contest. With only two unremarkable contest submissions prior to this entry, this is the first time he's involved voice actors, including Caruu and Jesse Cox, in his work. I found myself drawn into the story and rooting for the little guy, despite his flaws. If you get the chance, check out the higher quality versions of WuaG and give him some constructive feedback!

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

Previously on Moviewatch ...