Gameumentary:Explore the very beginnings of Larian Studios and the Divinity franchise in our feature-length documentary. Discover the struggles the studio faced on their journey to becoming an independent studio, and how each game in the Divinity franchise laid the foundation for what would become, Original Sin.
Great Big Story:This is the story of how a tiny, magical creature was transformed into a cultural phenomenon by inventor, marketing genius and complicated eccentric Harold von Braunhut. Full of fun facts (both charming and disturbing), Just Add Water is a colorful short film about a half-century of marketing directly to children, the force of nostalgia in pop culture, and an unlikely meeting of flim-flam and hard science. A film by Penny Lane.
The Smash Brothers is a 9-part documentary series about seven of the greatest “smashers” of all time. Through years-long rivalries spanning coasts and countries, discover the passion for a game which started as a casual experience only to become a heart-pounding competitive lifestyle.
Noclip:In the first video in our three-part series, we tell the story of how the 1.0 version of FINAL FANTASY 14 came to be. How FINAL FANTASY 11 inspired its design, the ways in which the game fell short and how Square-Enix and the development team reacted to its failure.
Witness the magic of moviemaking and journey into the little known world of Foley Artists, who bring films to life with their perfectly-timed sound-effects.
In this three-part documentary from 2010, VICE founder Shane Smith visits North Korea to try and penetrate the Korean Feature Film Studio, the state-run film production facility west of Pyongyang: a sprawling lot that at its height produced around 40 films a year.
VICE: North Korean Film Madness:You could say that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il has two primary obsessions: maintaining nuclear weapons capability as a means of protecting his “hermit kingdom,” and thwarting pressure from outside forces like America and the rest of the industrialized world to open his country to modern things like electricity… and he’s obsessed with film. He loves movies. It’s rumored that he has one of the largest private film collections in the world. His favorite film is Gone with the Wind and his favorite actress is Elizabeth Taylor.
He’s a film collector and bona fide cinephile, but he’s much more. He’s everything really. He’s a director, a producer, a financier, a costume maker, set designer, screenwriter, cameraman, sound engineer… and he’s also a film theorist. His masterwork on aesthetics and practice is “On the Art of Cinema” (written and published in the early 1970s). In it he gives himself the humble title, “Genius of the Cinema.” He built an extensive film studio in Pyongyang and when he couldn’t find someone to make his film he did what any self-respecting eternal leader and great president would do… he kidnapped one.
The Kurzgesagt team is comprised of 8 people: Philipp handles script and design, Stephan does the animation and there are two other designers, a German and English voice actor, a translator and a musician who does a bespoke score for each video!
There are lots of great educational YouTube channels, but this is one of my favourites.
Wizards, demons and goblins collide in the world’s first trading card game Magic: The Gathering, affectionately dubbed “cardboard crack” by its 10+ million diehard obsessives. From dank, wood-paneled basements to international big money pro tournaments, Magic continues to flourish since its phenomenal debut in 1993.
Magic is one of those things that theoretically I think I would love, but I’ve never gotten into.
Over than 3500 km traveled in 20 days, capturing landscapes from the bluish tones of Pamukkale to the warm ones of Cappadocia, the all passing by a great variation of colors, lights and weathers through six other cities.
I’ve crossed Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Ephesus, Istanbul, Konya; and tasted baklava, kunefe, doner, the turkish tea; and got the chance to meet the soul of Turkey, its people.. and got their smiles and their hospitality.
This is Turkey lived by me from north to south, and I hope you enjoy it 🙂
“Everything being made here is always being rushed out the door because I always have to fuckin’ make money.”
“Corners are cut everywhere and that just materialises in the product. I was smart to build that into the brand and make that the chief aesthetic.” Sucklord
Monstertrack is an alleycat race started by a New York City bike messenger, “Snake”, in the year 2000. It is a race specifically for brakeless, fixed-gear bicycles.
The Monstertrack alleycat starts with a manifest, which lists all the checkpoints. The first rider to complete the checkpoints wins.
And that’s just the first part. I’m not condoning this behaviour at all – in fact I find it totally obnoxious – but it’s a hell of a thing to watch.
A three-year journey spanning eighteen (and counting) episodes, the Double Fine Adventure documentary chronicles the creation of “Broken Age,” from a germ of an idea in Tim Schafer’s notebook to a finished game and beyond. Along the way, the team is confronted with production delays, internal strife, and outside controversy in what is the most honest, in-depth look at video game development ever created. Previously exclusive to Double Fine’s Kickstarter backers, now everyone can share in the passion, humor, and heartbreak of this landmark documentary series.
Life After Pi is a short documentary about Rhythm & Hues Studios, the L.A. based Visual Effects company that won an Academy Award for its groundbreaking work on Life of Pi – just two weeks after declaring bankruptcy. The film explores rapidly changing forces impacting the global VFX community, and the Film Industry as a whole.
This is only the first chapter of an upcoming feature-length documentary Hollywood Ending, that delves into the larger, complex challenges facing the US Film Industry and the many professionals working within it, whose fates and livelihood are intertwined.
When i went out for the 5S launch i found a lot of that excitement and enthusiasm but i also found a lot of tired anxious people who were waiting in line for reasons other than their own desire for a product.
I didn’t see this when it came out. It’s fascinating and a little bit tragic.
…a documentary on the post-war redevelopment in the City of London – focusing on the attempt to build an ambitious network of elevated walkways through the city. The film explores why the ‘Pedway’ scheme was unsuccessful and captures the abandoned remains that, unknown to the public, still haunt the square mile.
What really struck me about this documentary was how well the supporting stock footage and photography was researched and used. I never felt like I was just watching filler material just put in for something to look at.
In 1992, Stella Liebeck spilled scalding McDonald’s coffee in her lap and later sued the company, attracting a flood of negative attention. It turns out there was more to the story.
Every news outlet should dedicate a regular slot or column to looking back at old news and how it was reported.
This week, we check out OkCupid, the dating site with a propensity for data research. Alexis sits with Christian Rudder about how he and the SparkNotes founders went from study guides to an online dating network — and from there, how the startup functions after being purchased by Match.com owners IAC.
PBS Off Book covers one of my favourite subjects – fan art.
The fan art community is one of the most creative and active online. Taking pop culture stories and icons as its starting point, the fan community extends those characters into new adventures, unexpected relationships, bizarre remixes, and even as the source material for beautiful art. Limited only by the imagination of the artist, the fan art world is full of surprises and brilliance.
If you haven’t seen Off Book, you should totally subscribe. Off Book is a PBS web series that explores cutting-edge art, internet culture, and the people that create it. Here are some recent episodes:
Out of Print narrated by Meryl Streep, draws us into the topsy-turvy world of words, illuminating the turbulent and exciting journey from the book through the digital revolution. Jeff Bezos, Ray Bradbury, Scott Turow, Jeffrey Toobin, parents, students, educators, scientists – all highlight how this revolution is changing everything about the printed word – and changing us.
While filming a routine stop and search of her boyfriend on the London Underground, Gemma suddenly found herself detained, handcuffed and threatened with arrest.
Act of Terror tells the story of her fight to bring the police to justice and prevent this happening to anyone else, ever again.
Sockrotation 