The 4th Annual The Escapist Film Festival Winners Announced

[Zolem]

Well yeay to two of them that I voted for, but Creature Caster Master? I'm sorry but a spoof of pokemon is not that interesting. It looked like it might also spoof Yugioh at a later date, but really, it's not that good. Overused jokes, repetitive use of the 'underappreciated creature' joke, sight gags that are just there for the sake of being there, lack of real plot or explanation, really it just doesn't seem all that good. I could be wrong an it will blow my mind away, but for that to happen a couple of things need to happen.

1. Plot , even a simple plot can expand outwards rapidly into something interesting.

2. Stop fan-sight gaging. The 'Masterball' waffle-maker was a pointless joke except to poke the fans in the ribs and go 'Haha! Get the reference? Get it? Huh huh? Get it?' References have to be used either as short-hand for what's going on, to set up expectations about actions, personalities, and/or events (whether or not they are correct), or in a joke that makes sense in the context of the world.

3. Set context for the world. How do you get a creature? How do you control them? Is it only one per person? What is the battle system like? A firm set of rules is needed, though what goes on in those rules can change. Card based attacks performed by the creatures? Make the cards do what you want! Setting rules doesn't limit the comedy, and it adds structure to the world, making the zany things that happen even more so because it 'follows the rules'.

 

[Jimtopia]

Well yeay to two of them that I voted for, but Creature Caster Master? I'm sorry but a spoof of pokemon is not that interesting. It looked like it might also spoof Yugioh at a later date, but really, it's not that good. Overused jokes, repetitive use of the 'underappreciated creature' joke, sight gags that are just there for the sake of being there, lack of real plot or explanation, really it just doesn't seem all that good. I could be wrong an it will blow my mind away, but for that to happen a couple of things need to happen.

1. Plot , even a simple plot can expand outwards rapidly into something interesting.

2. Stop fan-sight gaging. The 'Masterball' waffle-maker was a pointless joke except to poke the fans in the ribs and go 'Haha! Get the reference? Get it? Huh huh? Get it?' References have to be used either as short-hand for what's going on, to set up expectations about actions, personalities, and/or events (whether or not they are correct), or in a joke that makes sense in the context of the world.

3. Set context for the world. How do you get a creature? How do you control them? Is it only one per person? What is the battle system like? A firm set of rules is needed, though what goes on in those rules can change. Card based attacks performed by the creatures? Make the cards do what you want! Setting rules doesn't limit the comedy, and it adds structure to the world, making the zany things that happen even more so because it 'follows the rules'.

Interestingly enough most of your complaints I was intending to address in subsequent episodes. First off, a plot is going to be introduced in episode 2, for the sake of episode 1 though, I only needed to give Justin a goal to attempt to achieve, just so the series had a vague direction, in this case, needing to get his Trainer badge. Now that I'll be actually producing a series of episodes I can begin fleshing out an overarching story. Second, I just enjoy site gags, I think this is just a point where we disagree. I will admit the master ball/wafflemaker one was a bit in your face, and I intend to keep the site gags to the sidelines in the future, like posters on walls, or something on a desk. Third, you must remember, Justin was heading to the professors house, and while he's there a lot will be explained. One thing I really wanted to do if I won was expand upon the universe a bit, make a list of creatures, a map, and actually set rules for the game. That was actually my first thought when I came up with this series is making the whole universe for it as well, however only having a month to make this thing, I didn't have a ton of time to flesh things out when it comes to the world of creatures.

I guess what I'm getting at is, do check out episode 2, if your complaints aren't addressed, then feel free not to watch it, but if those are your main complaints, then I think you'll be very happy with episode 2.

-Jim

 

[satansgrandma]

Nintendobo, you deserved better.

despite the fact that i sold my soul to PgG, i have to agree that nintendobo was about 8 levels above everything else. i will admit that the first time i watched it i wanted to cut myself and i sat in a corner for 15min contemplating my life, but then i watched it again and realized how amazing it actually was.

as for the winners, it made me crap my pants. there were some quality entries, and only Tales from the Table ever actually entered my mind as possible competition. but here we stand. aside from the winners i was rather disappointed at the... "commentary"... from the judges, (one sentence is a short answer to a test, not a commentar), And the fact that in the end and true to the American way my vote (and apparently many others') didn't matter in the end.

in summation: Nintendobo i solute you, and i tip my hat to the fallen. specifically the Viewers Choices.

 

[satansgrandma]

the fact that in the end and true to the American way my vote (and apparently many others') didn't matter in the end.

I couldn't disagree with you more. It's easy to say 'my vote doesn't matter', it's hard to admit you may be in the minority.

We didn't get what we wanted, don't judge the system as being bad just because we didn't get what we want. That's kinda not cool.

Regardless, I'm glad to have had a vote, and a voice.

i'm not saying the system is bad, i'm just scratching my head as to the point of having a voting system where the three winners are not held within the videos the viewers apparently liked the most. and yeah, love having a vote, but a voice implies that the holds some weight. i'm trying to be a downer here or start anything, just saying that maybe one of the "Viewers choices" should have been one of the three winners. maybe it's just me, after all in the past i only came to this site to watch Zero Punctuation.

anyway gratz to the winners, didn't mean to offend anyone i'm just getting my... 'voice'... out there.

 

[APSunder]

One big complaint: All the winning entries are derivatives of something else. Creature Caster Masters IS innately Pokemon+Yugioh+Other animes with cheap toylines. Times from the Table IS The Guild plus A Good Knight's Quest (though their game is basically Dungeons & Dragons instead of World of Warcraft, so maybe there's some Unforgotten Realms in there too) (not to mention the elf guy reminds me SOOO much of Bladez from The Guild). And the last winner IS Loading Ready Run, except with some transitions and an extra special effect shot or two.

This is inevitably what has been happening to the game industry: games that are considered 'The Safe Bet' and are similar to sure-fire hits, are made, believing they will be sure-fire hits. But that formula has never worked with t.v. or film (with the exception of something like Saw). If Fringe had aliens, it would be too close to The X-Files to be a remotely good show, but as it is, everyone will inevitably draw comparisons between the two already.

 

[tristan_n]

in summation: Nintendobo i salute you...

*salute taken and returned* And no worries, I think it was rather cool of The Escapist to even give the Nin episode a shot, considering its subversive nature. It was like hurling a Molotov cocktail into their film fest - but instead of it crashing & exploding, they caught it one-handed and had a sip. Escapist 1, Cineplex 0.

Permalink for the Nintendobo vid: http://blip.tv/file/4378197

 

[Tower 87]

Congratulations to everyone who entered and got their video up. I have only seen a little bit of 'The Guild' and only recently watched the first few episodes of 'Unforgotten Realms' so correct me if I am wrong, but Tales from the Table seems like a combination of the two ideas thematically as oppose to being a derivative of them both or any in the genre for that matter. Yes it shares a similar subject matter apart from that it is more of an amalgamation of the ideas that make each show watchable and to say the that winners are all more or less copies of others successful shows is really not accurate. Creature Caster Masters Isn't just a combination of Anime shows, its a look at eastern animation culture from a western viewpoint showcasing all the things we find strange when watching anime and expanding on them for comic effect.

 

[APSunder]

Congratulations to everyone who entered and got their video up. I have only seen a little bit of 'The Guild' and only recently watched the first few episodes of 'Unforgotten Realms' so correct me if I am wrong, but Tales from the Table seems like a combination of the two ideas thematically as oppose to being a derivative of them both or any in the genre for that matter. Yes it shares a similar subject matter apart from that it is more of an amalgamation of the ideas that make each show watchable and to say the that winners are all more or less copies of others successful shows is really not accurate. Creature Caster Masters Isn't just a combination of Anime shows, its a look at eastern animation culture from a western viewpoint showcasing all the things we find strange when watching anime and expanding on them for comic effect.

If you watch more of The Guild you'll see the strong similarities. As for Creature Caster Masters, yes i suppose it's more an amalgamation of other spoofs than the shows themselves, but either way it is derived from many similar things.

 

[Zolem]

Interestingly enough most of your complaints I was intending to address in subsequent episodes. First off, a plot is going to be introduced in episode 2, for the sake of episode 1 though, I only needed to give Justin a goal to attempt to achieve, just so the series had a vague direction, in this case, needing to get his Trainer badge. Now that I'll be actually producing a series of episodes I can begin fleshing out an overarching story. Second, I just enjoy site gags, I think this is just a point where we disagree. I will admit the master ball/wafflemaker one was a bit in your face, and I intend to keep the site gags to the sidelines in the future, like posters on walls, or something on a desk. Third, you must remember, Justin was heading to the professors house, and while he's there a lot will be explained. One thing I really wanted to do if I won was expand upon the universe a bit, make a list of creatures, a map, and actually set rules for the game. That was actually my first thought when I came up with this series is making the whole universe for it as well, however only having a month to make this thing, I didn't have a ton of time to flesh things out when it comes to the world of creatures.

I guess what I'm getting at is, do check out episode 2, if your complaints aren't addressed, then feel free not to watch it, but if those are your main complaints, then I think you'll be very happy with episode 2.

-Jim

Well if all of this fleshes out, it could be rather good. I'll keep an eye out. Also, I give things about 5 episodes to sink or swim with me. If it hasn't hit its stride by then once it gets enough exposition out of the way, it won't really hold my interest.

 

[Tower 87]

If you watch more of The Guild you'll see the strong similarities. As for Creature Caster Masters, yes i suppose it's more an amalgamation of other spoofs than the shows themselves, but either way it is derived from many similar things.

That is a fair assessment I guess. I just hope that the winners use this as a platform to make a good series and not just retread old ground laid by other series.

 

[Captain Bobbossa]

Really?
Dissappointing... Cheap, funny videos must be hard to come by.
watched the top six and didn't laugh once.
Still outraged that these can be given contracts before they go grovelling on their knees to Rob Moran and ask him to come back and get back to making Unforgotten Realms.

I dont think anyone would ever employ rob moran again, unforgotten realms was brilliant... but then season 3 came out and I don't really need to say much more about it

But I will...

What about the fact that it takes months to bring out a new episode of UR? It also doesn't help that he keeps doing shitty podcasts instead and decided to start e-devs (which again is very VERY slow in the production considering there's only been one episode since it started) before he even sorted out the massive time laps between episodes of UR which is probably the only thing on wittywizard that most people acctually care about.

He said that he turned down a contract with some TV company in Cannada because he wanted to keep UR open to it's fans (or something along those lines) but then he goes and complains about his lack of income is the reason episodes aren't coming out... wtf.

Oh and what about the whole buy my DVD or I'm not doing it anymore thing?

He needs to stop making excuses and either give it up or acctually do some work on it. I used to be on his side about the constant moning of fans saying "hurry up" and stuff but it's just gotten to the point where he deserves it what with excuse after excuse and nothing to show for it.

Michael Jackson has a better chance of making a comeback than Rob Moran getting employed by the escapist again.

 

[Flying Dagger]

I dont think anyone would ever employ rob moran again, unforgotten realms was brilliant... but then season 3 came out and I don't really need to say much more about it

But I will...

What about the fact that it takes months to bring out a new episode of UR? It also doesn't help that he keeps doing shitty podcasts instead and decided to start e-devs (which again is very VERY slow in the production considering there's only been one episode since it started) before he even sorted out the massive time laps between episodes of UR which is probably the only thing on wittywizard that most people acctually care about.

He said that he turned down a contract with some TV company in Cannada because he wanted to keep UR open to it's fans (or something along those lines) but then he goes and complains about his lack of income is the reason episodes aren't coming out... wtf.

Oh and what about the whole buy my DVD or I'm not doing it anymore thing?

He needs to stop making excuses and either give it up or acctually do some work on it. I used to be on his side about the constant moning of fans saying "hurry up" and stuff but it's just gotten to the point where he deserves it what with excuse after excuse and nothing to show for it.

Michael Jackson has a better chance of making a comeback than Rob Moran getting employed by the escapist again.

I enjoyed the third series, and the podcast is the funniest thing he's done since the first series.

I guess my point was, watch the first episode of UR, it's lightyears ahead of anything in the top six.

he's currently trying to hold down a real job whilst sorting out UR, which I imagine isn't making him much money vs time spent on it, whereas the podcasts are quite easy to make.

 

[Captain Bobbossa]

I enjoyed the third series, and the podcast is the funniest thing he's done since the first series.

I guess my point was, watch the first episode of UR, it's lightyears ahead of anything in the top six.

he's currently trying to hold down a real job whilst sorting out UR, which I imagine isn't making him much money vs time spent on it, whereas the podcasts are quite easy to make.

I know he's apparantly trying to hold down a real job but I doubt that it's anything that takes up that much of his time unless it's of a similar nature in which case he probably would have tld us about that so we could go check it out.

As for the podcast, I think it's the worst thing he's done so far, including the third series.

There's the odd good bit in the third series but it's really nothing special.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

I'm a little confused, why weren't the Viewer's Choice winners the overall winners? I would have thought having a Viewer's Choice competition would make it pretty clear what your viewers actually wanted to watch?

 

[Penn0086]

I'm a little confused, why weren't the Viewer's Choice winners the overall winners? I would have thought having a Viewer's Choice competition would make it pretty clear what your viewers actually wanted to watch?

I don't understand it either, like i would get it if the judges picked one, the viewers picked one and then there was like a wild card or something... i dunno, i feel it was a bad idea putting previous winners on the judges panel and it should have been looked at more subjectively with the viewers getting a bit of say, that sounds like a more business logic plan to me. Rather than.. oh you want this product? Well we're going to purposely not make that and try to sell you something that isn't even third on your list of wants as a consumer!

 

[Wolfenbarg]

So when does the first update for each new series come out?

 

[Penn0086]

likely not for a while

 

[Spinwhiz]

In an effort to eliminate some of the confusion of "why weren't the Viewer's Choice winners the overall winners?"

There are many reasons a video show may be well-suited (or not) for becoming a series at The Escapist. Entertainment value is just one of them. We also have very high standards for the kind of content we produce and the kinds of content teams with which we expect to be able to work on a weekly basis. Plus, it's just plain hard work to create a show that will be just as good every week, week-after-week, as it was the first time. The hardest part of our job here is figuring out which shows will be great over a long period, and which creators will be able to meet our high standards and still love what they do each week. Whether or not something makes us laugh (or cry) is often just the first step.