My current project is something I’ve never done before. It’s very nerdy but it might be the future of filmmaking and it opens up a lot of doors because I’ve always had the basic idea of this plot but never could make it. Essentially what I’m doing is using a screen capture program, FRAPS, and I am going to record the entire short movie inside the World of Warcraft. This isn’t a new or original idea by any means. I’ve always wanted to do this but until now wasn’t able and there are hundreds of YouTube movies out there which do this exact thing.
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. In other words, they created this entire world made up of (so far) four continents which you, as a character you create, can move through freely and interact with other real people. I joined a guild called ‘Darkness Around the Sun’ and have become very good friends with many of the guild’s active players. They know me so well that they know I love making movies and asked if I would make a movie about the guild. So I got FRAPS and started right away.
I had to play around with FRAPS so I wouldn’t have any technical problems while recording the actual movie, so I started by recording a teaser trailer. After thinking about the plot long and hard I came to the conclusion that nothing in the teaser trailer would be used in the actual movie, but I’ll embed it anyway.
I said before that this could be the future of filmmaking, and I wasn’t kidding. Stephen did some research for me and found out that James Cameron, the prick who we can’t help to love because he makes amazing films, used a similar technique while making Avatar. He created the entire digital world that Avatar would take place in and used a computer to move through that world and “record” the breathtaking shots he needed. Then, I’m guessing, he used chroma keying to put the characters in the digital world. This is very similar to how I’ll be making my first animated film. I’m just moving around this digital world and capturing myself and my online friends (or guildies but I hate that word) doing the actions. This is difficult because I am limited to the motions and such that a Warcraft character is able to do; however this gives me my first opportunity to make a movie taking place in a fantasy world with warriors and dragons and such. Many people, including my guildies, are wondering what this movie will be about and here is the plot so far. I’m trying my best not to give away the twist at the end.
The Setting:
Imagine this world completely torn by war… not too hard to imagine, right? In the icy oasis of Northrend, the magical city of Dalaran floats above the Crystalsong Forest. Dalaran was once located in the Alterac Mountains but after having already been destroyed and with the threat of another attack, the mages of Dalaran lifted the newly rebuilt city out from the ground and moved it into central Northrend where it continues to hover half a mile above the ground below. The two main Warcraft factions-Horde and Alliance-have joined in a temporary coalition against a common enemy, the Scourge, and share the city of Dalaran because it remains neutral. I chose Dalaran as the main location of this movie because of this neutrality. The city is virtually free of crime. As a matter of fact, I noticed there aren’t any real law enforcers for the city. So whether or not this is true to the World of Warcraft or not, in my movie we will consider Dalaran to be a utopia because it is such a haven compared to everywhere else.
The Plot:
The story revolves around a few things; Dalaran, the ‘Darkness Around the Sun’, and the main character Trevalin (who is later known as Deathsting). All characters in the story are based off and played by characters in the actual Darkness Around the Sun guild. All of the characters are a vital role in the story but because I need a specific hero and the easiest character to record, taking availability into consideration, is my character-Trevalin.
Trevalin and his brother, Will, are young paladins-in-training who are recruited into a secret underground clan of vigilantes called the Darkness Around the Sun. They are the unknown protectors of Dalaran. Seeing how Dalaran is supposed to be a utopia but a city without crime is impossible, the Darkness Around the Sun is supposed to protect the city without the citizens knowing so that the citizens will believe the city is naturally perfect and under control. The Darkness Around the Sun is so secret that the guild’s leader, Grand Master Bregalas, is willing to go to any lengths to protect it for the good of Dalaran. The secrets begin to leak and Bregalas is almost certain that they must have been leaked by a former member and traitor, Dargath, who had only recently left the guild (which is the reason they needed to recruit new members). Bregalas and his second-in-charge, Elfsheena, work diligently to find out who Dargath leaked information to and assign members to investigate their suspects. Trevalin and Will go along with Jazeratle, a guild assassin, as part of their orientation. Their duty is to investigate the Scourge but in the process Will is killed by a Scourge grunt, Nyethun. Will’s final words describe the pain of death as a horrible stinging. Trevalin, in a careless attempt at revenge, is captured by Nyethun and transformed into one of the Scourge Death Knights but in the process he is saved by Jazeratle who then pursues Nyethun. After his human consciousness is returned, the Death Knight Trevalin (who is called Deathsting by Nyethun) returns to Dalaran…
I don’t want to spoil the ending but if everything works out as planned, there is a great plot twist. If you want to find out, you’ll have to watch the finished movie!
Conclusion:
I am casting a few friends to do the voices of the characters and will announce the final line up when I know for sure who will all be involved. I can’t put a date on when the final production will be released because I’m terrible with deadlines but if I’m able to get everyone to cooperate, it should be done in January or February. The hardest part will be getting people online when I need them and all at the same time! I might have to shoot some people individually and splice it together so it looks like we were recording together. So here is the teaser trailer! Keep in mind I made it as an experiment and it really doesn’t show what is going to happen in the actual film. But I still think it is kinda cool. There are a few shots which seem to be way longer than they should be, this is because I was planning on putting an over-voice but decided that I’d rather just get it over and done with so I could work on the actual film itself.
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