WoW Moviewatch: Kake Buk Island, Episode 1
by Moo Money 
May 10th 2008 at 12:00PM
KBI: YDB has an incredible line-up of special guests, including Drewbie, Olibith, and Baron himself, but I'm not sure what was up with some of the dialogue. Nevertheless, the cross-blend of World of Warcraft and Unreal Tournament 2004 made for a surreal set for Baron to weave his magic. As always, if you enjoyed the machinima, download the high quality version!
If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
Previously on Moviewatch ...
Filed under: Machinima, Humor, WoW Moviewatch
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
redxiii May 10th 2008 12:08PM
The trailer was soo cool and the graphics are too, but the voice acting made me stop watching this movie after 1min. :(
Tumnus May 10th 2008 12:41PM
Same here.
jacksonibanezpeavey May 10th 2008 12:11PM
Do you realize how much of an innuendo that title is? Kake Buk? Switch the words around then put them together to make one. Now type that word into google's image search. Fun stuff, eh? :-P
I bet Soosdon snickered.
Moo Money May 10th 2008 12:35PM
We get it. I ignored it. Thanks for being the billionth person to point it out though!
However you...just instructed someone who MAY not know to do a google image search. I hope you're proud of yourself. Go sit in the corner.
ray7 May 10th 2008 12:38PM
Lol that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the title...
Damn I've got a f'd up mind.
C.A. May 10th 2008 12:14PM
Man, I don't want to be mean but, that was amazingly bad. I believe "threatening" is the right term for this plotline machinima.
Sanol May 10th 2008 12:37PM
The voice acting isn't that good yeah, but for the rest I really liked this machima (has watched it 3 times or so now :O)
Minnow May 10th 2008 1:15PM
It was good, the only thing I didn't like was the voiceacting but I am really looking forward to episode 2 (hopefully with better voiceacting quality).
Sanaje May 10th 2008 1:16PM
I still think Soosdon is one of the better, if not best, WoW Machinima maker out there, but I really expected a little more of both the voice acting and the text itself. It has its good moments, but mostly the actors come over blant with no emotion behind it whatsoever; especially Thok has a couple of moments of which I thought that Drewbie could have done a lot better, since we've seen him do it before.
Regardless, the quality kept me watching, and I don't have that many qualms with the plot starting late into the machinima given its just the introduction part - I really like the setting to boot. Now's just hoping that Soosdon shoves the notch for the voice acting up a bit for the next part.
baronsoosdon May 10th 2008 1:31PM
As for scriptwriting, this machinima made me realise that I suck a lot more than I originally thought I would :)
Even though KBI:E1 has been out for just a few days, I know I really gotta improve my writing a lot so that the actors can get the best out of themselves.
My first step is to change the actual writing style a bit, and try to really think about "how this sounds when s/he says it?".
After that I need someone to install a switch to my head which makes me a native English speaker, kthxbai :)
Pzychotix May 11th 2008 8:23AM
Honestly, if you're not a native English speaker, GET SOMEONE TO EDIT IT.
Your voice actors also sound like robots. They're horrible.
Baron, in short, you're a genius at camera work and graphics in general, but in terms of actual content, it's pretty shoddy.
anonymoose May 10th 2008 1:26PM
OK Moo, this movie stank. Pretty editing and graphics are not enough to overcome the banal "plot", and the horrid voice acting. I especially disliked the varying volume of each voice actor--that was highly distracting.
I also don't want to be rude--but the way in which you critique the films makes leaves me wondering. It's sort of like name brand clothing--just because it has a name brand doesn't mean it's good, or even that it should be worn.
Same with this machinima--I only wish I could get back the few seconds of my life that are gone before I turned it off.
Moo Money May 10th 2008 2:00PM
This made me roffle. Thanks.
baronsoosdon May 10th 2008 2:44PM
Of all the comments I've seen on various machinimas, the "FFS GIVE MY TIEM BACK NAOW!!!11" are the most hilarious.
Kikr May 10th 2008 2:13PM
Just going to be honest..
That sucked pretty hard
Siorra May 10th 2008 2:14PM
It's been said to death so I won't say anything on the voice acting, but what really bothered me was the use of models. Mixing some bizzarre, freaky looking big headed anime dolls with a Thrall wannabe was too much of a contrast for me to appreciate. And also, some of the 'unpleasant' language just seemed... Unnessercary.
TotalBiscuit May 10th 2008 2:51PM
Visually stunning, as is par the course for Soosdon machinima. I'm going to dissent and say that I enjoyed the actual storyline and unanswered questions. But then, I'm a huge fan of series like Lost which have an abnormal setting, plenty of questions and no actual answers. If played right, the series could end up being quite gripping in that respect. I'm going to address most of this critique directly to the Baron himself, because I know he will accept constructive criticism, so here goes.
I would suggest outsourcing the script-writing. Soos, your talent is in editing and the creation of fantastic and outlandishly beautiful worlds. Stick to it, and bring a scriptwriter onto your team. Let someone else come up with snappy dialogue and jokes that are actually funny, while you concentrate on what you're good at. Do you see a film director writing the script, doing voice-acting and penning the story? Generally not, no, they stick to what they're good at, and work with the rest of the crew as a team to produce a good movie. This isn't something that's particularly common with machinima in it's current form and it shows, because otherwise great movies display fatal weaknesses, often in the areas of the script and voice-acting. This would be an ideal opportunity to take some pointers from classic film-making technique and building a crew with their own individual skills, to create some truly next-generation machinima. The series has the potential to really take off, if it has the right kind of people behind it.
On that subject, the voice-acting had some issues. The male characters were not terrible, and I understand the reason why you want 'big names'. However, aside from Drewbie, none of those big names can actually voice-act, at all, including you. The female characters were particularly bad, the dialogue undeniably forced, and there were weaknesses and disparities in the equipment used to record the voices which were readily obvious to me. Maybe I'm just being picky in that regard considering what I do, but I spotted it immediately, perhaps others did too.
For something that should have turned out as a hodge-podge of randomness though, this movie is surprisingly coherent. It did a great job of establishing the characters of the series and laying out the initial questions about the strange environment in which the movie is set. That's it's strong point, and it needs to continue along those lines. However, this series needs good solid voice-acting and a clever script. It does not currently have those things. Find people who can provide them, and you'll have a winner on your hands.
baronsoosdon May 10th 2008 3:07PM
Thanks TB!
I really do appreciate the constructive stuff compared a lot more to the other feedback(*cough* YouTube comments *cough*).
Getting someone to write the lines for me - I'll most definitely consider it before handing out lines to anyone.
Tenchan May 10th 2008 3:03PM
I love the idea, but I'm sorry to have to say that the girls need to really really pick up with their voice acting. The sound quality of the voices was also lacking. (I don't know how far the audio is being worked over, but if possible, balancing the voices so they sound more as if they all come from the same surrounding would help a lot.)
Other than that, I agree that the writing sounds stilted in a few spots, but doing lively dialog is easier said than done. I can only recommend reading scripts of succesfull movies/series etc. if you would like to get a better feel for it, Soosdon. Often, such scripts can be found by simple googling (most of the time noted down by fans), and many scripts for video games can be found on sites such as gameFAQs.
UncleTom May 10th 2008 4:29PM
I agree with TB completely on the voice acting/script issues. The women were just awful. You're talent is in your cinematography, editing. Stick to that and you're set for life.