Let me be the first to write something about this film. Firstly, I've never really watched much machinima before; just the occasional episode of Red Vs. Blue, but that's about it. So, essentially, this was my official introduction to the medium.
I'll try to sum up my thoughts on the film as briefly as possible.
1. It was incredibly well made. I was constantly astonished at how smoothly this had been put together. Clearly a lot of effort went into this production, as visible in the editing and camera movements of the film. That's not to say the editing was perfect. It was occasionally clunky, but that is assumedly understandable considering the medium. It would not be fair to compare it, in that respect, to a traditional film. 2. The story was very interesting. Basic fantasy stuff, but it held my attention. I loved the concept of the wrist slashing being necessary for magic to occur, and overall many of the explored concepts were quite sound. It twisted the ideas of good vs. evil back and forth, which I liked. 3. I found the voice acting pretty horrendous. The accents seemed clumsy, and the vocal tones didn't always seem to compliment the situations. This is especially obvious in the character Magda, whose attempts at drama were quite laughable. 4. The dialogue was so-so. Much of it was built from clichés, but was still passable, and did not really hinder my enjoyment of this film. 5. The music choices were strange, but added a lot of life to the production. Many genres were explored, but the song use did admittedly give it the feel of an overextended cut scene. 6. The characters were pretty shallow, which makes me curious about how much more development they received in the unedited series of Bloodspell.
That's about all I can think to say off the top of my head. That may seem like a lot of complaints, but I did actually enjoy this film quite a lot, but comparing it to traditional films it was heavily flawed. Still, it's not only watchable but also completely enjoyable and even occasionally arresting. If I read correctly, this is the first feature length machinima film to be created, and I will definitely be looking forward to any that come out in the future.
My level of enjoyment is reflected in my score.
I'll try to sum up my thoughts on the film as briefly as possible.
1. It was incredibly well made. I was constantly astonished at how smoothly this had been put together. Clearly a lot of effort went into this production, as visible in the editing and camera movements of the film. That's not to say the editing was perfect. It was occasionally clunky, but that is assumedly understandable considering the medium. It would not be fair to compare it, in that respect, to a traditional film. 2. The story was very interesting. Basic fantasy stuff, but it held my attention. I loved the concept of the wrist slashing being necessary for magic to occur, and overall many of the explored concepts were quite sound. It twisted the ideas of good vs. evil back and forth, which I liked. 3. I found the voice acting pretty horrendous. The accents seemed clumsy, and the vocal tones didn't always seem to compliment the situations. This is especially obvious in the character Magda, whose attempts at drama were quite laughable. 4. The dialogue was so-so. Much of it was built from clichés, but was still passable, and did not really hinder my enjoyment of this film. 5. The music choices were strange, but added a lot of life to the production. Many genres were explored, but the song use did admittedly give it the feel of an overextended cut scene. 6. The characters were pretty shallow, which makes me curious about how much more development they received in the unedited series of Bloodspell.
That's about all I can think to say off the top of my head. That may seem like a lot of complaints, but I did actually enjoy this film quite a lot, but comparing it to traditional films it was heavily flawed. Still, it's not only watchable but also completely enjoyable and even occasionally arresting. If I read correctly, this is the first feature length machinima film to be created, and I will definitely be looking forward to any that come out in the future.
My level of enjoyment is reflected in my score.
