Re-introducing ourselves

It's been a long road, but we've finally made it. Liquid Rising has been released.

When we unveiled the film in November, we announced it would be ready by February. As you can see, it's taken a good while longer. I remember when we first started working on Liquid Rising (then known as 'the Liquid documentary'), we joked about how it was announced later, but would be released sooner than all the other Starcraft documentaries. Things didn't go exactly as planned, and we had to learn a lot about the film-making process along the way.

What was originally the tale of Liquid's experience on the 2011 MLG Pro Circuit turned into something else entirely as HerO won DreamHack, and Zenio and TaeJa joined the team. February became March, March became April, and the months flew by as we found more stories to tell and details to fine tune.

Now that it's finally done, I speak for everyone who worked on this project when I say we're very proud of our work.

We believe this movie is special because it goes beyond games and competition, and reveals something about the hearts that beat beneath this industry's surface. Liquid players are some of the most open pros out there, and fans have come to know them well. However, you can't get everything across through standard esports media like streams or interviews, and I hope this documentary will let you see another side of Team Liquid.

Pay as You Want

Team Liquid has chosen to distribute Liquid Rising through a 'pay what you want' model. We want as many people to see this documentary as possible, after which they can decide whether it's worth their money or not. The revenue will be used to cover the production costs of the documentary, including travel, equipment, and wages. Additional revenue will be divided between TeamLiquid.net and the Liquid pro-gaming team.

I feel that with such a model it's important to be transparent to our fans and readers, so we will be displaying a public tracker that shows the amount of total payments we have received.

Shout outs

I'd like to thank everyone involved in making this project as awesome as it is. Lip the Pencilboy made a truly incredible intro, fishuu provided us with some of her charming art, and Ryan Johnson put the final polish on everything in post-production. And of course, I have to thank Michael Krukar, the main man behind everything. As the sole cameraman, editor, and director, Krukar devoted over eight months of his life to making this film happen.

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank all the fans of Team Liquid. You are the best fans in the world, and ultimately the reason I wanted to make this movie. This one's for you.

Thank you for your support, and enjoy the movie!

- Liquid`Nazgul

Message from the Director

A year ago I was having lunch with my father and he asked me “What is your dream job right now?” Without thinking about it I said “To follow a professional Starcraft 2 team and film a documentary about them.” At the time it was a dream, just a crazy idea I had in my head.

Now I’m sitting here a year later waiting for the finished documentary to go live and a part of me can’t help but feel sadness. We all have dreams, whether it’s a girl or winning MLG. You can see it in someone's eyes when they have a goal they will do anything to achieve. The ultimate question though is what does one do once the dream is achieved?

I’m extremely grateful to Victor for taking a chance on me. I remember sending my original message to Kennigit. It was a paragraph pitching a documentary about Team Liquid. TL's reply was essentially them saying they liked the idea and that we should go ahead with it. I couldn’t believe it. So many people would kill for a job in the community and somehow I was given this project. Hotbid later told me that I reminded him of a car salesman. I was slick, smart and convincing so they had no reason to doubt me. They believed in me because I could talk the talk. Today we find out if I can walk the walk.

People have asked me what has to happen for me to consider the movie a success and I’ve never known the answer. To me money and view counts aren’t as important as respect and being proud of what I’ve accomplished. While I’m saddened by the fact that I’ve achieved my dream, a new crazy idea is starting to form in my head. I don’t expect this to be the end. I don’t know what my next project will be. I don’t know what team or even what game I will be working with. But I can guarantee that I will be somewhere, doing my best behind the scenes, doing everything I can for e-sports.

- Michael Krukar

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