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Update #12: What we have done, what we are doing, and where we are going.
It's been nearly 1 year since the inception of this project. It was about this time last year when I made the move to Austin, TX and began playing with the idea of starting work on a StarCraft documentary. I half remember the drunken conversation I had with a software exec from Seattle during a SXSW party who convinced me I should make the plunge. Two weeks later I was taking a Grey Hound bus to Dallas to find out more about the professional gaming scene surrounding SC2 that I knew very little about.
This adventure has been a very wild and life changing ride for me. I don't even know where to begin. I think the best way to summarize my experience so is to say that this community is extremely special. I have never met a group of people so universally intelligent, inventive, and eager to share their passion with others. Everyone, from the players, managers, the fans, casters, and event organizers have welcomed this project as strangers to the scene with open arms and given us the benefit of the doubt. And I am making it my mission to show everyone who doesn't know anything about StarCraft or eSports how great and special what we have is. I really feel it is a remarkable thing.
We've taken a very broad survey of the StarCraft scene as it has unfolded in the US this last year. Below is an incomplete list of interviews and shoot locations we've shot. In total we have approximately 97.5 hours of footage and about 30 hours of audio, and we're looking to shoot another 200 more hours this year. Our inteview length per person has ranged from about 3 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. I took a bit of a break in December from the project to decompress after shooting nearly non-stop from late September until the end of November. But since then I have been organizing footage working through what I am calling 'profiles' for the project based on broad topics and our more dramatic story archs. These profiles are still in their infant stages but are providing us with a very clear path on what we need to finish out the project to effectively weave these profiles together in a meaningful poetic manner within the narrative tapestry. With some luck we'll be able to have an end result that will be worthy of this community.
To clarify the teaser that we plan on releasing soon, we have been following White-Ra and Naniwa this last year and will continue to follow them this year. But I don't want to confuse that there will not be other players involved in our story lines. We have been closely following several American storylines that will become a little more clear to both us and you as this year progresses.
Generally I would like to apologize for how the time-line for the project has changed. When I launched my kickstarter page I now feel that I did not understand what the scope for a project like this really needed to be. And to be completely honest a lot about project has changed since the it was funded through kickstarter. It has all been for the best and I am afraid I can not get into the full details yet, but we feel like we have something extremely special here and need to see it through. We'll do our darnedest to make sure the wait will be worth it.
I would like to thank everyone who has supported our project. Kickstarter donors, paypal donors, MLG, IPL, SteelSeries, TTeSports, Blizzard, Reddit, the folks at Twitch.TV, teams, players, managers, everyone who has shared links with friends and family, comments both kind & harsh, and everyone who has watched our content. Without you, none of this would be possible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comment section or hit us up on our facebook wall.
Interiview list:
Aleksey Krupnyk ‘White-Ra’ - Independent professional player
Jason Bass - Team Complexity co-owner/manager
Paulo Vizcarra ‘CatZ’ - Team Complexity player
Drew Moysey ‘Drewbie’ - Team Complexity player
Joshua Niven ‘TriMaster’ - Team Complexity player
Abdulaziz Abed ‘CrunCher’ - Team Complexity player
Michael O'Dell 'ODEE' - Team Dignitas owner/manager
Ryoo Kyung Hyun 'SeleCT' - Team Dignitas player
Tim Ollson 'Merz' - Team Dignitas player
Johan Lucceschi 'NaniWa' - TeamDignitas/Team Complexity/Quantic Gaming player
Greg Fields ‘Idra’ - Team Evil Geniuses player
Geoff Robinson 'IncontroL' - Team Evil Geniuses player
Brice Bates 'Machine' - Team Evil Geniuses player
Chris Lorenger 'HuK' - Team Evil Geniuses player
Anna Prosser - Team Evil Geniuses manager and web content
Kevin Riley ‘QXC’ - Team FXOpen player
Bradley Seymour ‘tgun’ - Team FXOpen player
Victor Goosens ‘Nazgul’ - Team’Liquid owner/manager
James Lampkin ‘Kennigit’ - Team’Liquid moderator
Jonathan Walsh ‘Jinro’ - Team’Liquid player
Shawn Simon ‘Sheth’ - Team’Liquid player
Tyler Wasieleski 'Tyler' - Team'Liquid player
Marcus Eklöf ‘ThorZaiN’ - Team Mousesports player
Won Tae Lee ‘WannaBeCool’ - Team It’s Gosu player
Nicholas Taber ‘Pokebunny’ - Team It’s Gosu player
Steven Bonnell II ‘Destiny’ - Quantic Gaming
James Van Sise ‘ThisIsJimmy’ - Team CheckSix player
Kristopher Wirch ‘Catechin’ - Aspiring professional player
Joshua Marston ‘Rekatan’ - Aspiring professional player
Duran Kamgar Parsi 'Xeris' - Fnatic team manager
Rachel Quirico - CSN reporter
Lim Jae Duk 'Nestea' - Incredible Miracle player
Jung Jong Hyun 'MVP' - Incredible Miracle player
Travis Hezel - former-TteSports player manager
Sundance D'Giavani - MLG founder/CEO
JP McDaniel - MLG caster/commentator
Rod Breslau ‘Slasher’ - former MLG social media liaison/personality
David Ting - IGN eSports division manager
Joshua Sutherland ‘AskJoshy’ - IGN play-by-play caster
Kevin Knocke 'CatsPajamas' - IGN play-by-play caster
Justin Kan - justin.tv/twitch.tv founder
Emmett Shear - justin.tv/twitch.tv founder
Kevin Lin - justin.tv/twitch.tv COO
Marcus Graham 'djWHEAT' - co-founder/co-owner OneMoreGame.tv
Michael Morhaime - Blizzard Entertainment CEO
Dustin Browder - Blizzard Entertainment StarCraft II Game Director/Lead Designer
Chris Sigaty - Blizzard Entertainment StarCraft II Lead Producer
Sam Didier - Blizzard Entertainment StarCraft II Art Director
Appproximately 25 fan interviews across the events
Shoot locations:
MLG Dallas - competition
MLG Columbus - competition
NASL Season 1 finale - competition
MLG Anahiem - competition
MLG Raliegh - competition
San Antonio, TX - Liquid'Tyler in home interview
Galveston, TX - JP McDaniel in home/studio interview/SotG shoot
Houston, TX - Jason Bass in home interview
IPL 3: Atlantic City - competition
MLG Orlando - competition
San Fransisco - WhiteRa barcraft/twitch.tv office showmatch
BlizzCon 2011 - competition
Howie's Game Shack - WhiteRa tteSports product lauch
Blizzard Headquarters - staff interviews
MLG Providence - competition
Planned Shoots:
Los Angeles, CA 2/15/2012 - Day[9] in home/studio interview
Austin, TX 3/9/2012 - 3/19/2012 - IPL SXSW showmatch and CSL competition
Link to new trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TqvsSmKSrQ
Update #11: IPL3 Teaser
For backers only,
Posted on January 6
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Update #10: Short update
Hey guys!
Apologies for the updates being few and far between, I can assure you we have been very busy.
This Sunday we'll be hosting our second BarCraft event for the IPL qualifiers #4. Our first BarCraft for MLG Raleigh, spear-headed by my producer Andrew Lee, drew 127 people, we're hoping for a bigger turnout this time. Next week we will be traveling down to Galveston, TX to interview JP McDaniels and shoot the next episode of SotG. We'll also be interviewing Jason Bass co-owner of team Complexity, Liquid'Tyler, and hopefully be catching up with TriMaster.
We have a few other things in the pipeline that I hope I will be able to make an announcement on in the coming weeks, cross your fingers.
I've been reviewing some footage for production stills that we will be using in a press kit that we are sending to Blizzard and I found this little gem today: Naniwa and HuK at MLG dallas post EdwardStarcraft interview.
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Rory Bryson on September 13, 2011
lol wth? Is this a joke? I've never read anywhere else of any 'beef' between these two!
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Ethan Lowry on September 14, 2011
Of course it's a joke guys, they're clearly smiling and laughing about it.
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Update #9: MLG Anaheim teaser and Raleigh
For backers only,
Posted on August 22, 2011
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Update #8: Post Anaheim
For backers only,
Posted on August 9, 2011
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on July 15, 2011.
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Star Nation starcraft II themed sticker. Name listed as contributor in credits.
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Full movie download and access to production blog with exclusive unedited interviews, footage, and candid discussions. Name listed as contributor in credits. Add $1.00 per character for custom message in credits. (keep non-offensive and PG-13)
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Contributor's edition DVD w/ exclusive documentary movie shorts to be shot at future tournaments. Access to production blog with exclusive unedited interviews, footage, and candid discussions. Plus Star Nation sticker. Name listed as contributor in credits. Add $1.00 per character for custom message in credits.
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Player signed professional gaming quality mouse pad (priority will be established by first contribute first serve basis, players already in agreement will not be able to sign unlimited amounts). Contributor's edition DVD w/ exclusive narrative and/or documentary movie shorts to be shot at future tournaments. Access to production blog with exclusive unedited interviews, footage, and candid discussions. Plus Star Nation sticker. Name listed as contributor in credits. Add $0.50 per character for custom message in credits, limit to 140 characters.
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Player signed professional gaming quality mouse pad (priority will be established by first contribute first serve basis, players already in agreement will not be able to sign unlimited amounts). Contributor's edition BlueRay w/ exclusive documentary movie shorts to be shot at future tournaments. Access to production blog with exclusive unedited interviews, footage, and candid discussions. Plus Star Nation sticker. Name listed as contributor in credits. Add $0.50 per character for custom message in credits, limit to 140 characters.
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Private one-on-one hour long coaching session from professional gamer seen in final documentary (keep in mind not every player in final cut will be available for this, but I can say with 100% certainty a quality list of professionals will be provided, we already have several teams on board). Player signed professional gaming quality mouse pad. Contributor's edition DVD w/ exclusive narrative and documentary movie shorts to be shot at future tournaments. Access to production blog with exclusive unedited interviews, footage, and candid discussions. Plus Star Nation sticker. Name listed as contributor in credits. Add $20 for BluRay. Custom message in credits up to140 characters, no additional donation.
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15 second video clip of 'whatever you want' to be shown during rolling of credits. This can be your personal SC2 highlights, shout out to your friends, me filming you at a major tournament we may end up together at, or you proposing to your loved one. Any thing non-offensive and PG-13. Will include name and gamer-tag and whatever else you would like. Plus everything above.
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Project By
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Justin Agnew is an architectural designer from Shorewood, MN. He received a Master of Architecture degree from North Dakota State University in 2009, but after the construction and design sector experienced major economic hits, he decided to reinvest his skills in an industry with better structural integrity (get it?!). Videography has captivated him since his grade school days, when he spent hours upon hours filming improvisational short films with his friends (see The Case of the Missing Entertainment System, 2001). He has now set his sights on making a meaningful and compelling piece of work. Star Nation is his debut documentary film.
Even as I fall further and further out of the Starcraft community due to time constraints and other life problems, every time I see another Star Nation trailer, my love for the game is rekindled like nothing has been able to do before it. It's remarkably inspiring and special... I feel blessed to have contributed to this project, even if it's such a small amount.
Things are looking absolutely incredible – I have no doubt this will be a fantastic representation of the Starcraft community. Take all the time you need – especially after meeting you guys in person, I know there will be a great product at the end of it all. ^_^
PS - NaNi hwaiting!!!
I thought you were going out to Korea? I don't see any locations there.... please go! It'd be great with korean interviews etc! Though I do love the europeans/americans etc