Star Nation is an upcoming documentary focusing on the eSports community of Starcraft II. It will attempt to give us the perspective of every type of individual involved in the Starcraft community, including professional players, people trying to break into the professional scene, the spectators who attend tournaments, the people playing in local LAN tournaments, play-by-play casters on YouTube and those who stream games full-time on justin.tv, the guys who put on these tournaments, the people making a living from coaching other players, team managers, and the men and women who developed the original StarCraft game and now StarCraft II. It will be directed and produced by Justin Agnew and is slated for a late 2012 to early 2013 release.
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.
NOTE: This thread is not to talk about donations. It will be closed if it is. Keep this STRICTLY to discussing the documentary and its production blog.
wooo idra and huk i loved the showmatch they did before gsl3!!
Sounds like he knows good basics. I think it would be imperative that he goes to korea and features starcraft 1 at least as an image of how HUGE it could get. Footage from stadiums in the golden era would not go amiss in the theme. I don't know this guy tho is he an enthusiast or an entrepreneur?
On June 02 2011 04:12 ComaDose wrote: wooo idra and huk i loved the showmatch they did before gsl3!!
Sounds like he knows good basics. I think it would be imperative that he goes to korea and features starcraft 1 at least as an image of how HUGE it could get. Footage from stadiums in the golden era would not go amiss in the theme. I don't know this guy tho is he an enthusiast or an entrepreneur?
According to his webpage this is his first documentary. I assume he is quite the enthusiast.
Heres hoping! also says he has the backing of pros to do coaching and sign mousepads... Great way to get (forbidden word) which i hope he does so he can go to korea! I would pay a significant (forbidden word) to have a 15 second clip in the credits.
I think its EXTREMELY weird that both this documentary and My Life for Aiur went within 24 hours of eachother. We've been waiting years for a documentary.
Wow, this looks fantastic! And yeah, it is kind of odd that My Life For Aiur also went live just recently too. I hope to hear some updates from the filmmaker soon, especially after the shoutout he got on SotG last night.
Trailer looks great and I like how he interviews the aspiring pros as well as the established pros. I also like his concept, it seems like he wants to show a lot of humanity to the sc scene.
While this is only a trailer, I really like the direction it takes. It's obviously geared toward people not as familiar with SC and I think it does a fantastic job of appealing to non-gamers and conveying(even in this short trailer) the passion and dedication that generate such enthusiasm around SC. My only concern with a longer documentary is getting lost in the talking heads. Lots of different voices is good because it reinforces the idea of SC as a sport comprised of a diverse group of people, but too many voices just weigh down the audience. Obviously it was easy to us to follow because we love SC and I knew everyone on the screen. But had I been unfamiliar with the scene, more voices over a longer period of time might have been too much for me to handle and I might not take away as much as say the same documentary with a smaller interview pool. Perhaps this is just me, but when I watch a film, I want to connect with the people on screen, and having constantly rotating faces makes that hard to do.
Still, a well-done trailer with a strong approach that I think can appeal a wide audience.
I don't want to start anything between the two different documentaries (I hope they both get completed and see some success beyond just our community), but I think Star Nation has a little more potential to be a documentary that shows the entirety of the scene and not just the pros. I do agree that the possiblity of getting lost in the talking heads can happen in a long documentary, I'd assume (hope) there would be some overlying narration (done by Artosis lol) or perhaps just following one particular pro/semi-pro through the events of MLG etc.
Music with the footage provided a very strong feeling. I would love to see all tournaments covered by this guy. He looks like he really knows and enjoys what he's doing :D
this is pretty crazy, when sotg mention this on the stream last night they were at roughly 4,500$; today hes already almost reached his production goals.
@Whole, thank you I appreciate your kind comment. I'm only one guy with an opinion so I hope I didn't come off as arrogant, but I'm really excited about both these projects and since this sorta of project is similar to my intended profession, I thought I might be able to use my experience to provide some useful initial feedback.
@PartyBiscuit True, I guess I assumed there was going to be narration(artosis would be fantastic but something tells me GOM keeps him busy ^^). It's certainly possible that the producer could take a post-modern approach and let the pros speak for themselves (those shots of MLG, a single shot tells a story by itself) but I just figured there'd be someone else to provide more context and tie different parts of an interview together.
With the talk heads though, what I was trying to convey was this: I don't know squat about football. If you give me a 1 hour, 2 hour, 5 hour documentary about football and you have 30 ppl speaking throughout. I can almost guarantee you, I won't remember those people even with the 5 hours. Maaybe I'll start to get some of them down by then, but certainly not all. So my concern was that even in a long-form documentary with narration, what we would consider a moderate amount (or even too little) of programers would be enough for the average audience member because they don't have the established connection we do. I mean, you show me MKP, Select, Idra, Incontrol, Gretorp, Tyler, Jinro, Huk, San, and MC and I'll ask you why you left out MMA, Thorzain, Naniwa, Kas, etc. I'm sure this is something the producer has already taken into account or will when they get more interviews, but I know that it can be easy to think you're fine(people wise) because you forget that it's easy for you to tell who's who.
holy shit, they went to 9.5k in a single night? when i seen this page last night they were at like 3k or something. damn thats some serious backing up.
seems pretty nice but please bring over a mic when you do those interviews the audio was pretty bad several times throughout the video. looking forward to it
Wow kickstarter began 48 hours ago, all of the funding is raised! Good show, I hope this will be a Starcraft version of a "Behind the Game" doc with the International SC scene instead of Grubby/Sky/Madfrog for wc3.
He's at 11k now, this is really amazing how much support he's collectively gotten, I love all of you starcraft people, will be really cool to see how this turns out.
so effectively, by donating more, the documentary should be more awesome right? =D
Might as well get download access now, but the quality to price spent is not a certain pattern. I just want to see the MLGs I can't afford to travel to and see first hand on the floor.
Just wondering, I know you plan to attend many events, and that being said- when can we expect to see this documentary completed? Will you be releasing the footage of the MLG you attended, and then the rest that you make later?
This is great, no other community would make me feel so proud to be a member, and no other community would do this, the earnings more than doubled overnight, good job, everyone.
On June 02 2011 05:41 PartyBiscuit wrote: perhaps just following one particular pro/semi-pro through the events of MLG etc.
I would think this would be a great idea for at least one of the documentaries to do. From what I'm understanding, this documentary will be about the community aspect or a broad take on SC2 ESPORT. The other documentary "My Life for Aiur" seems to be focusing on a pro-gamer's trials. Both approaches are viable.
But take Arnfasta's advice carefully. If focusing on community, I think it would be good to follow maybe a caster or an active community person while having brief interactions with random spectators and progamers. If doing a broad approach, just don't try to do too much at one.
On June 02 2011 05:41 PartyBiscuit wrote: perhaps just following one particular pro/semi-pro through the events of MLG etc.
I would think this would be a great idea for at least one of the documentaries to do. From what I'm understanding, this documentary will be about the community aspect or a broad take on SC2 ESPORT. The other documentary "My Life for Aiur" seems to be focusing on a pro-gamer's trials. Both approaches are viable.
But take Arnfasta's advice carefully. If focusing on community, I think it would be good to follow maybe a caster or an active community person while having brief interactions with random spectators and progamers. If doing a broad approach, just don't try to do too much at one.
I agree. I'm a huge documentary fan, and the best ones always have a very personal element where you can relate to and share the experiences of the subject.
On June 02 2011 05:57 Arnfasta wrote: @Whole, thank you I appreciate your kind comment. I'm only one guy with an opinion so I hope I didn't come off as arrogant, but I'm really excited about both these projects and since this sorta of project is similar to my intended profession, I thought I might be able to use my experience to provide some useful initial feedback.
@PartyBiscuit True, I guess I assumed there was going to be narration(artosis would be fantastic but something tells me GOM keeps him busy ^^). It's certainly possible that the producer could take a post-modern approach and let the pros speak for themselves (those shots of MLG, a single shot tells a story by itself) but I just figured there'd be someone else to provide more context and tie different parts of an interview together.
With the talk heads though, what I was trying to convey was this: I don't know squat about football. If you give me a 1 hour, 2 hour, 5 hour documentary about football and you have 30 ppl speaking throughout. I can almost guarantee you, I won't remember those people even with the 5 hours. Maaybe I'll start to get some of them down by then, but certainly not all. So my concern was that even in a long-form documentary with narration, what we would consider a moderate amount (or even too little) of programers would be enough for the average audience member because they don't have the established connection we do. I mean, you show me MKP, Select, Idra, Incontrol, Gretorp, Tyler, Jinro, Huk, San, and MC and I'll ask you why you left out MMA, Thorzain, Naniwa, Kas, etc. I'm sure this is something the producer has already taken into account or will when they get more interviews, but I know that it can be easy to think you're fine(people wise) because you forget that it's easy for you to tell who's who.
lol, I'll shush now >.>
If I see you at Anaheim I'll give you a sampling of my vocal talents. I just use them at my pizza place, but I get like 10 compliments a day from everyone that I should be doing radio. Maybe we could work something out. Been meaning to break into it. I would do it for next to nothing, or maybe even nothing.
On June 02 2011 13:15 GeneralissimoNero wrote: does anyone know the song from this video? i loved it.
It was in the credits at the end. xD. Can't remember it though....
Anyway that video was amazing!!!! So does he have the money now? I certainly wouldn't mind paying even $5 to see the full thing. I love videos like this.
The website even shows how many people donated how much money and the coolest thing to me is that more people donated $15 than $5. People could have just given the bare minimum, but more went out of their way than they had to.
I'm pretty sure the TL community can help him lower is budget by offering to sleep in a TeamLiquidian's house everywhere he travels, with food and stuff. Let's show the world how awesome we can be.
Progamers should contact him aswell to make the meeting easier. If we all support that guy, I'm pretty sure we won't regret
On June 03 2011 00:05 KimJongChill wrote: The Idra clip alone is worth my support.
Could not agree more. I really was digging it and then when i saw the Huk/IdrA scene, i fell in love. I hope this gets enough love and that this works out great!
Beyond the Game documentary was great, I suggest you copy that concept.
I agree!
My favorite part of "Beyond the Game" is when Sky's father is talking to the neighborhood outside his front door, and Sky mo-peding.
Justin Agnew, if you read this thread, I highly suggest using "Beyond the Game" as a reference for the framework.
Cuts between the players games, their lives, their monologues, events, etc., a epilogue text summary after the end of the documentary updating the audience where the players lives have led them.
On June 02 2011 23:47 Xaeldaren wrote: The website even shows how many people donated how much money and the coolest thing to me is that more people donated $15 than $5. People could have just given the bare minimum, but more went out of their way than they had to.
On June 03 2011 00:09 Diks wrote: I'm pretty sure the TL community can help him lower is budget by offering to sleep in a TeamLiquidian's house everywhere he travels, with food and stuff. Let's show the world how awesome we can be.
Progamers should contact him aswell to make the meeting easier. If we all support that guy, I'm pretty sure we won't regret
He has the capital now to rent high quality equipment and lodge his staff and himself, but you're right. The more assistance he receives to help push him through life the easier it will be for him to focus on his product.
Depends on if he is planning to go to Dreamhack or Korea as well. If it's an MLG exclusive documentary it will be our American imperative to help him get around. He's from my home state (Minnesnowta) so I can relate to his upcoming journey.
I'm curious if there's any updates about this documentary. Any news from Columbus or if hes attending Dreamhack? I'm just a poor college kid but I'm wondering if donating 15$ would be worth it to see updates through the production blog? Thanks for any information.
To start off, I'd like to announce that I will be committing my time to this project full-time. This started out as something that I was just going to commit my personal spare time to, as a pet project in addition to the work load I managed to build up doing freelance design and construction work in the few months I have been in Austin, TX. The overwhelming support that I have received, thanks to the attention brought to my project by Kickstarter, r/starcraft, and twitter tweets and retweets, has forced me (not begrudgingly!) to reevaluate the role this project will be playing in my life. I know that I am not able to perform at the level that worked for my Kickstarter video by myself, at least not well enough to give this project the quality of production it deserves and especially now that the scope has changed so drastically. In the coming months I will be finding an experienced editor, a director of photography (this will be happening much sooner), and a production partner, to name a few.
I'll also be opening a base of operations here in Austin, TX. One of my best friends, Andy, came down from Minneapolis last Thursday just to come check out the town and to see what has been going on with the project. Andy has an extensive background in information technologies and will be working his job full-time in addition to helping me manage the logistical side of operations (editing workflow and storage). We are already making a searchable organized database that will encapsulate all information relevant to the project story lines so that it can be easily disseminated to people jumping on and off the project as things move along. My head is already spinning thinking about the terabytes upon terabytes of footage we will be shooting. This will be a much needed addition.
Also, it might be a bit premature to state this but.... Mother Falcon will be composing the score to this film! Both parties are extremely excited about this partnership. The details are still being worked out, but I am extremely confident that we will hammer out an arrangement that both Star Nation and Mother Falcon will be very happy with. I truly believe that this band and the people around it are going to be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come.
I cannot say enough how thankful I am for the opportunities stemming from the Kickstarter video that have been so abruptly afforded to me. And that is thanks to you, my donor base. It didn't settle in how great of chance this is until some time last week, once I had the chance to settle down after attending MLG Columbus. And it is still hitting me. THERE IS SO MUCH WORK TO DO!
I am doing my best to watch my footing as I start taking the first awkward steps toward building a strong production. Soon I can start running with my eyes on the horizon. I've got some big plans, but I'll be making sure I have some great experienced people behind me first.
THANK YOU!
Keep an eye out for an MLG Columbus teaser video sometime next week.
Also, if you are thinking about donating or upping your donation to my project, please check out Turk and Christy Pipkin's project linked below first. They are doing things that seriously make a difference in people's lives, like providing access to clean drinking water and a good education.
I can not express how good something like this is for not only e-sports but for starcraft gamers that can express what it is they do or aspire to. Best of luck to you I hope you get the funding you need.
Justin Agnew full time attention is on his feature documentary StarNation! $14,750 capital atm for production, $5000 above his projection. Hopefully the rest of his MLG footage will encapsulate the American scene gaining momentum. Good fortune Mr. Agnew!
Justin just updated the page with a new video he made about columbus, similar tone to the first one, more words with naniwa though, and featured EdwardStarcraft and Thorzaim, which is really good. cant wait for the finished version
Looks amazing. You should go to GSL August if you can collect the money in time. Would be a great story to follow Naniwa's journey to GSL/GSTL. You already got material of him winning MLG Dallas and him confessing his love for sc2 in Columbus. Keep it up.
I've already pledged towards this project but capturing professional footage of the Korean scene, pro houses, the GSL would absolutely make this the definitive SC2 E-Sports growth documentary, lets make it happen!
its only been a few hours but another $2000 dollars has already been pledged, itll be no time until it reaches the second target! as long as it gets a few tactical tweets of course
Latest email from them....less than 24 hours to go!!! If you're going to donate, gogogogo
Project Update #5: Less than 24 hours to go!
Less than 24 hours remain for my kickstarter's funding! I feel extremely overwhelmed by the support that I have received from everyone and especially the passionately hardcore SC2 community. Your support has garnered a lot of opportunities for the project and has given us the springboard to take this project so much further that I had ever dreamed of at its inception.
We've made preliminary arrangements to attend BlizzCon coming up in October and are starting to plan for other events such as attending small SC2 leagues, some SC2 college circuit events, and *ahem* other places. (my lips are sealed... for now!)
Again, I would like to thank everyone for their support. The players, the fans, the team managers, the people who have offered to lend their expertise to the project, r/starcraft (you've earned a spot in my credits!), everyone who has helped spread the word, and especially those who have pledged their hard earned money. I can't say how much it means to me, I feel very very grateful. I wouldn't be able to commit myself full time to this project without you.
Thank you.
PS I'll be posting backer only updates via kickstarter to hold everyone over until we launch our website which will host the exclusive content for the production blog.
bumping with the latest video teaser, this time its footage from MLG Anaheim, not going to spoil the content because its a wodnerful video, but this time it focuses on white-ra, which is always nice :D
I really liked the Anaheim video, it seems like this documentary is going to be great to give out to people who are dipping their feet into the E-sports scene.
Sound was big issue with that documentary sample, he really need to improve that.
Also that one guy who claimed that unless he is already established pro and 27 year old he is done and too old, is simply wrong. It is very well possible to make it happen at the age of 27 if you devote yourself to an idea.
Omg the white ra part was sooooo funny and touching, he's such a charismatic icon. I really want to see the entire thing, can't wait for it to be done. Good luck to Star Nation, make us proud of being starcraft fans
whats happened is that hes had so much money raised by the community that he has enough more than enough money to go to all the MLG event this year, but he also raised enough to go to a 'foreign' event i.e. GSL/Dreamhack. the full documentary itself should come out end of this year or early next year i think
On August 23 2011 05:28 th3_great wrote: whats happened is that hes had so much money raised by the community that he has enough more than enough money to go to all the MLG event this year, but he also raised enough to go to a 'foreign' event i.e. GSL/Dreamhack. the full documentary itself should come out end of this year or early next year i think
Hell yeah, amazing teaser. This is why I love ESPORTS. It's not just about the game, it's about the players around it with the passion and hard work they put into it. The guys behind this documentary have done amazing work. It is going to be awesome, can't wait :p
Wow, this looks like it could be a really successful documentary. Like, the kind of thing that people who don't know anything about the SC2 scene could watch and get fascinated by.
The only question I have is are you going to get to go to Blizcon and see the GSL final/bliz invitational? I can only imagine how sick that footage would be
On August 23 2011 06:36 chipmonklord17 wrote: The only question I have is are you going to get to go to Blizcon and see the GSL final/bliz invitational? I can only imagine how sick that footage would be
i think he said he had enough money to cover every MLG and one extra internation event overseas, like dreamhack or GSL. but seeing as blizzcon has the GSL finals as well the main invitational, thats like taking two birds with one stone lol
if this was the first video you saw by this guy, you HAVE to see the first two videos, they were just as touching, if not more so
Its nice to see that the level of film making keeps getting better as those guys go along with this and of course anything with White Ra is gold. I can't wait to see the part about Boxer's games there...
The White-ra bit of the trailer was incredibly inspirational. Gave me nerd chills hearing the crowd cheering his name too. Can't wait to attend an MLG myself!
I know it is like impossible to get interviews with casters, but I really hope you can try get some content done with them as well as the players. I'm sure they will want to be a part of something like this.
this video is edited well. But i hope that this is not the entire clip of each MLG because i feel there is much more content that can be put in. I really feel that when this is released, this can rival D9D#100 as one of the best starcraft videos, the white-ra and MMA chants gave me nerd chills even though i have watched them before.
Great job and hope that you can produce this and even more videos ion the future :D
I would like to thank the author for the amount of work already applied to make this documentary completed - teasers are really great. The only thing I would like to mention is that it seems to me, that the subtitles for White-Ra`s words are a bit wrong in a single moment. In the teaser it says on the 2:45: "If you want to make one goal to win" while I clearly hear White-Ra saying "If you want to make long road to win". And it makes sense - White-Ra means that if you set an ultimate goal to win which is to become a skillful player, then you have to go through the trial of losses and this thing is a long, long road every young player should be aware of. I dont know, maybe you rephrased White-Ra on purpose or simply heard it in different way. Thanks!
On August 27 2011 10:26 unijoux wrote: :/ thanks anyway
You can still donate actually! its found on their website under support http://www.starnationmovie.com Donated 35 during the kickstarter phase, may donate more because of the amount of awesome stuff they are doing ^^
This documentary looks like it will be extremely good assuming that the strength of the trailers carries over into the actual film. The My Life For Aiur film trailer seems rather juvenile in comparison when watching the trailers. I have donated to this one and I can't wait for a release.
I got to see the trailer for this multiple times at MLG, and it was inspiring. Especially WhiteRa part @_@ I was in awe. Finally a piece of documentary about progaming (or gaming in general) that doesn't try to put it in a bad light (The Hax Life is another good progaming documentary following WMF, but that may just make you cry if you're a WMF fan)
I've updated the main page a little bit. I'll be putting a link to the SotG with Justin in it and also linking the official website soon. Gotta dash for now.
I'm SOOO excited. I really hope this makes the game a little more familiar, and a little more accessible to people who have no idea what SC is all about. It's things like this that really help our mutual goal of making eSports something more people can enjoy!
So according to Sotg he's leaning more towards visiting Europe than Korea. That's a shame, because Korea is indisputably THE Star(craft) Nation. At least show a good amount of history of SC1 and the current SC2 scene, because a Western-oriented perspective would be quite distorted. Without Korea none of this would even exist today.
I cannot possibly say how excited I am for this. Be sure to frequent the IMDB page to help them out guys. As a film student, kinda confused how I didnt think of this haha
On September 29 2011 15:55 rift wrote: So according to Sotg he's leaning more towards visiting Europe than Korea. That's a shame, because Korea is indisputably THE Star(craft) Nation. At least show a good amount of history of SC1 and the current SC2 scene, because a Western-oriented perspective would be quite distorted. Without Korea none of this would even exist today.
I would assume the point is to show a new angle. Not that the Korean one is played out, it's been far more examined than the European one.
Here you guys go. I actually interviewed Justin about StarNation on my show a few weeks back. I don't know who has seen it or cares, but Justin is an awesome guy. http://blip.tv/sc2newscast/weeklyedit14-5529554
I am so excited for the film myself. I love documentaries and Justin has made some of the most awesome trailers I have seen in a long time.
Hey guys, Andrew - producer for Star Nation. Not sure if you guys were familiar with some of RSE's previous work, but if you're interested, we just uploaded our latest narrative short film and posted on Reddit: http://redd.it/m7gxx
We're consistently trying to make each subsequent film better and pushing for Star Nation to be as high production quality as possible. Let me know what you think of the short (warning: it's not that short ~24min).
Quick update on Star Nation: - We just got back from shooting at MLG Orlando, IPL3: Atlantic City, San Francisco, BlizzCon 2011, and Blizzard HQ. - We shot about 2Tb of footage! Justin is going through it all right now. - Justin cut a quick rough piece about MKP at MLG Orlando. - Gearing up for MLG Providence!
On November 11 2011 10:47 FunKee wrote: Hey guys, Andrew - producer for Star Nation. Not sure if you guys were familiar with some of RSE's previous work, but if you're interested, we just uploaded latest narrative short film and posted on Reddit: http://redd.it/m7gxx
We're consistently trying to make each subsequent film better and pushing for Star Nation to be as high production quality as possible. Let me know what you think of the short (warning: it's not that short ~24min).
Quick update on Star Nation: - We just got back from shooting at MLG Orlando, IPL3: Atlantic City, San Francisco, BlizzCon 2011, and Blizzard HQ. - We shot about 2Tb of footage! Justin is going through it all right now. - Justin cut a quick rough piece about MKP at MLG Orlando. http://youtu.be/T8Qi0uYxNT4 - Gearing up for MLG Providence!
When it's done. We don't have Blizzard's clout to say that, but we're wanting to make sure everyone's donations are used as wisely as possible. When we get closer to the finish line, you guys will be the first to know the ETA.
On November 11 2011 10:58 FunKee wrote: When it's done. We don't have Blizzard's clout to say that, but we're wanting to make sure everyone's donations are used as wisely as possible. When we get closer to the finish line, you guys will be the first to know the ETA.
On November 11 2011 10:58 FunKee wrote: When it's done. We don't have Blizzard's clout to say that, but we're wanting to make sure everyone's donations are used as wisely as possible. When we get closer to the finish line, you guys will be the first to know the ETA.
Are you guys still taking donations?
Yeah, if you're interested, you can donate at our official website through PayPal:
On November 11 2011 10:58 FunKee wrote: When it's done. We don't have Blizzard's clout to say that, but we're wanting to make sure everyone's donations are used as wisely as possible. When we get closer to the finish line, you guys will be the first to know the ETA.
Are you guys still taking donations?
Yeah, if you're interested, you can donate at our official website through PayPal:
We're starting to move YouTube videos from Hard Ends Productions to Star Nation Doc. We had the opportunity to hang out with several of our favorite SC2 players who came to our home town (Austin) for the Lone Star Clash, so we decided to just release some raw footage on the new YouTube account. Let us know what you think.
It made me really happy to see Rekatan in the MLG Dallas teaser from a year ago. I watched his VODs and streams religiously and looked to him for zerg tips and ways to improve, and then he just disappeared from the scene. I hope he makes a comeback soon!
Playhem is our new sponsor for Star Nation! Their sponsorship will get our director, Justin Agnew, to Europe to cover the eSports community there. We're excited about this new sponsor because Playhem has done great things for eSports, including sponsoring tournaments, providing cash awards, sponsoring travel expenses for upcoming pro-gamers (Scarlett), and more! Playhem is the perfect sponsor to help us get eSports out to the general public.
On July 03 2012 08:25 jakek95 wrote: Whatever happened to this??
Seeing as their release date is 2013 I imagine still filming?
Ah okay thanks, but there hasn't been any big updates like there has been before with teaser videos of Anaheim etc so I wasn't sure what the situation was.
i was just wondering what happened to star nation as well. nice of you to give some updates, funkee! i would just like to say that i absolutely love what you guys have shown us so far. it's looking amazing! i can't wait to watch the entire thing in 2013 and i'm sure I'm not the only one that feels that way. hang in there guys. (goes to the creators as well as the fans of star nation)
When this documentary comes out we will probably be playing HOTS by then, where new champions will rise. So this will be like a history documentary of SC2 e sports scene. Pretty cool.
i bet theres gonna be tons of interviews. and tons of footage that wont make the final cut. that goes for pretty much any documentary i would imagine. would love to see something like a b-roll sort of thing to be published as well, with all the "relatively" interesting stuff that didn't quite make it into the actual movie.
After watching the the Liquid Rising documentary, I honestly have no hope for any future documentaries about starcraft. Star Nation seems to have no unifying narrative across the trailers. It gives a vibe that everything is "awesome" and "happy" in the various communities, while upbeat features may bode well with some viewers this is nothing short of a circlejerk. The only notable work that the site list is "The Spirit Molecule" and according to imdb none of the people involved in Star Nation had any influence in The Spirit Molecule nor do their imdb pages list any notable pieces or awards won. It looks like several projects made during school and they might have possibly been stage hands or PAs on some large scale commercials. Nothing that indicates the ability to tell a cohesive story.
I am also weary of filmmakers trying to make a name for themselves without any experience in storytelling. There is a reason why most authors of novels are in their late 30s/40s/50s when publishers are able to sell their work. They have a lifetime of experience in knowing how to tell a story. While I'm sure everyone can come up with examples of others who made it when they were young, most artists aren't successful in their medium until they are beginning middle age.
Storytelling is something hard to teach, it is often done wrong but when it is done right you know the reasons why. The Starcraft community, for the most part, doesn't have many people whose stories would be interesting enough to warrant a documentary. Maybe an interview but not much else. Take another Starcraft documentary that is still being made, "Sons of Starcraft." While Tasteless and Artosis may be nice people (I never met them) and they are successful, I believe their stories on how they got where they are isn't enough to warrant a feature length documentary and I highly doubt that the filmmaker will portray them in a manner that will be engaging. The real talk that JP made with Tasteless was pretty dry as is. Unless Tasteless is hiding massive amounts of skeletons in his closet, he is a normal person with a well paying job. Unless the filmmaker for Sons of Starcraft takes some liberties or knows something that we all don't, the film may very likely be a massive bore with pretty visuals, witty remarks, and maybe an interview that no one has seen. Hardly breathtaking, hardly worthwhile, and hardly innovative.
I see the same fate happening for Star Nation. I'd like to be proven wrong but it is so easy to make a shit movie. The exceptions we see are just that, exceptions. Star Nation will be no different. Unless these documentaries that are coming out put up some scenes that show critical discussions and/or negative portrayal, they all seem to be massive commercials for advertising, marketing, and branding interests at best or shitty interviews at worst. Nice visuals and decent music will never make up for a coherent narratives and engaging story lines.
On July 21 2012 02:23 TeslasPigeon wrote: After watching the the Liquid Rising documentary, I honestly have no hope for any future documentaries about starcraft. Star Nation seems to have no unifying narrative across the trailers. It gives a vibe that everything is "awesome" and "happy" in the various communities, while upbeat features may bode well with some viewers this is nothing short of a circlejerk. The only notable work that the site list is "The Spirit Molecule" and according to imdb none of the people involved in Star Nation had any influence in The Spirit Molecule nor do their imdb pages list any notable pieces or awards won. It looks like several projects made during school and they might have possibly been stage hands or PAs on some large scale commercials. Nothing that indicates the ability to tell a cohesive story.
I am also weary of filmmakers trying to make a name for themselves without any experience in storytelling. There is a reason why most authors of novels are in their late 30s/40s/50s when publishers are able to sell their work. They have a lifetime of experience in knowing how to tell a story. While I'm sure everyone can come up with examples of others who made it when they were young, most artists aren't successful in their medium until they are beginning middle age.
Storytelling is something hard to teach, it is often done wrong but when it is done right you know the reasons why. The Starcraft community, for the most part, doesn't have many people whose stories would be interesting enough to warrant a documentary. Maybe an interview but not much else. Take another Starcraft documentary that is still being made, "Sons of Starcraft." While Tasteless and Artosis may be nice people (I never met them) and they are successful, I believe their stories on how they got where they are isn't enough to warrant a feature length documentary and I highly doubt that the filmmaker will portray them in a manner that will be engaging. The real talk that JP made with Tasteless was pretty dry as is. Unless Tasteless is hiding massive amounts of skeletons in his closet, he is a normal person with a well paying job. Unless the filmmaker for Sons of Starcraft takes some liberties or knows something that we all don't, the film may very likely be a massive bore with pretty visuals, witty remarks, and maybe an interview that no one has seen. Hardly breathtaking, hardly worthwhile, and hardly innovative.
I see the same fate happening for Star Nation. I'd like to be proven wrong but it is so easy to make a shit movie. The exceptions we see are just that, exceptions. Star Nation will be no different. Unless these documentaries that are coming out put up some scenes that show critical discussions and/or negative portrayal, they all seem to be massive commercials for advertising, marketing, and branding interests at best or shitty interviews at worst. Nice visuals and decent music will never make up for a coherent narratives and engaging story lines.
I hope I'm wrong but I sincerely doubt it.
To be fair, most authors in general are god-awful, no matter what age they are.
On July 21 2012 02:23 TeslasPigeon wrote: After watching the the Liquid Rising documentary, I honestly have no hope for any future documentaries about starcraft. Star Nation seems to have no unifying narrative across the trailers. It gives a vibe that everything is "awesome" and "happy" in the various communities, while upbeat features may bode well with some viewers this is nothing short of a circlejerk. The only notable work that the site list is "The Spirit Molecule" and according to imdb none of the people involved in Star Nation had any influence in The Spirit Molecule nor do their imdb pages list any notable pieces or awards won. It looks like several projects made during school and they might have possibly been stage hands or PAs on some large scale commercials. Nothing that indicates the ability to tell a cohesive story.
IE am also weary of filmmakers trying to make a name for themselves without any experience in storytelling. There is a reason why most authors of novels are in their late 30s/40s/50s when publishers are able to sell their work. They have a lifetime of experience in knowing how to tell a story. While I'm sure everyone can come up with examples of others who made it when they were young, most artists aren't successful in their medium until they are beginning middle age.
Storytelling is something hard to teach, it is often done wrong but when it is done right you know the reasons why. The Starcraft community, for the most part, doesn't have many people whose stories would be interesting enough to warrant a documentary. Maybe an interview but not much else. Take another Starcraft documentary that is still being made, "Sons of Starcraft." While Tasteless and Artosis may be nice people (I never met them) and they are successful, I believe their stories on how they got where they are isn't enough to warrant a feature length documentary and I highly doubt that the filmmaker will portray them in a manner that will be engaging. The real talk that JP made with Tasteless was pretty dry as is. Unless Tasteless is hiding massive amounts of skeletons in his closet, he is a normal person with a well paying job. Unless the filmmaker for Sons of Starcraft takes some liberties or knows something that we all don't, the film may very likely be a massive bore with pretty visuals, witty remarks, and maybe an interview that no one has seen. Hardly breathtaking, hardly worthwhile, and hardly innovative.
I see the same fate happening for Star Nation. I'd like to be proven wrong but it is so easy to make a shit movie. The exceptions we see are just that, exceptions. Star Nation will be no different. Unless these documentaries that are coming out put up some scenes that show critical discussions and/or negative portrayal, they all seem to be massive commercials for advertising, marketing, and branding interests at best or shitty interviews at worst. Nice visuals and decent music will never make up for a coherent narratives and engaging story lines.
I hope I'm wrong but I sincerely doubt it.
You watched one movie, the first of its kind in this area, and it didn't meet your expectations. This causes you to lose hope for all other movies in the same genre to be made hereafter, in spite of them now having the benefits of community feedback and a type of "what to do and not to do" from the former? Seems fairly cynical.
On July 21 2012 02:23 TeslasPigeon wrote: After watching the the Liquid Rising documentary, I honestly have no hope for any future documentaries about starcraft. Star Nation seems to have no unifying narrative across the trailers. It gives a vibe that everything is "awesome" and "happy" in the various communities, while upbeat features may bode well with some viewers this is nothing short of a circlejerk. The only notable work that the site list is "The Spirit Molecule" and according to imdb none of the people involved in Star Nation had any influence in The Spirit Molecule nor do their imdb pages list any notable pieces or awards won. It looks like several projects made during school and they might have possibly been stage hands or PAs on some large scale commercials. Nothing that indicates the ability to tell a cohesive story.
I am also weary of filmmakers trying to make a name for themselves without any experience in storytelling. There is a reason why most authors of novels are in their late 30s/40s/50s when publishers are able to sell their work. They have a lifetime of experience in knowing how to tell a story. While I'm sure everyone can come up with examples of others who made it when they were young, most artists aren't successful in their medium until they are beginning middle age.
Storytelling is something hard to teach, it is often done wrong but when it is done right you know the reasons why. The Starcraft community, for the most part, doesn't have many people whose stories would be interesting enough to warrant a documentary. Maybe an interview but not much else. Take another Starcraft documentary that is still being made, "Sons of Starcraft." While Tasteless and Artosis may be nice people (I never met them) and they are successful, I believe their stories on how they got where they are isn't enough to warrant a feature length documentary and I highly doubt that the filmmaker will portray them in a manner that will be engaging. The real talk that JP made with Tasteless was pretty dry as is. Unless Tasteless is hiding massive amounts of skeletons in his closet, he is a normal person with a well paying job. Unless the filmmaker for Sons of Starcraft takes some liberties or knows something that we all don't, the film may very likely be a massive bore with pretty visuals, witty remarks, and maybe an interview that no one has seen. Hardly breathtaking, hardly worthwhile, and hardly innovative.
I see the same fate happening for Star Nation. I'd like to be proven wrong but it is so easy to make a shit movie. The exceptions we see are just that, exceptions. Star Nation will be no different. Unless these documentaries that are coming out put up some scenes that show critical discussions and/or negative portrayal, they all seem to be massive commercials for advertising, marketing, and branding interests at best or shitty interviews at worst. Nice visuals and decent music will never make up for a coherent narratives and engaging story lines.
I hope I'm wrong but I sincerely doubt it.
You obviously did not watch the short complexity documentary that the Star Nation crew made. Completely groundless speculation is bad enough, but groundless speculation at the straight up ignorance of available data is even worse.
On July 21 2012 02:23 TeslasPigeon wrote: After watching the the Liquid Rising documentary, I honestly have no hope for any future documentaries about starcraft. Star Nation seems to have no unifying narrative across the trailers. It gives a vibe that everything is "awesome" and "happy" in the various communities, while upbeat features may bode well with some viewers this is nothing short of a circlejerk. The only notable work that the site list is "The Spirit Molecule" and according to imdb none of the people involved in Star Nation had any influence in The Spirit Molecule nor do their imdb pages list any notable pieces or awards won. It looks like several projects made during school and they might have possibly been stage hands or PAs on some large scale commercials. Nothing that indicates the ability to tell a cohesive story.
I am also weary of filmmakers trying to make a name for themselves without any experience in storytelling. There is a reason why most authors of novels are in their late 30s/40s/50s when publishers are able to sell their work. They have a lifetime of experience in knowing how to tell a story. While I'm sure everyone can come up with examples of others who made it when they were young, most artists aren't successful in their medium until they are beginning middle age.
Storytelling is something hard to teach, it is often done wrong but when it is done right you know the reasons why. The Starcraft community, for the most part, doesn't have many people whose stories would be interesting enough to warrant a documentary. Maybe an interview but not much else. Take another Starcraft documentary that is still being made, "Sons of Starcraft." While Tasteless and Artosis may be nice people (I never met them) and they are successful, I believe their stories on how they got where they are isn't enough to warrant a feature length documentary and I highly doubt that the filmmaker will portray them in a manner that will be engaging. The real talk that JP made with Tasteless was pretty dry as is. Unless Tasteless is hiding massive amounts of skeletons in his closet, he is a normal person with a well paying job. Unless the filmmaker for Sons of Starcraft takes some liberties or knows something that we all don't, the film may very likely be a massive bore with pretty visuals, witty remarks, and maybe an interview that no one has seen. Hardly breathtaking, hardly worthwhile, and hardly innovative.
I see the same fate happening for Star Nation. I'd like to be proven wrong but it is so easy to make a shit movie. The exceptions we see are just that, exceptions. Star Nation will be no different. Unless these documentaries that are coming out put up some scenes that show critical discussions and/or negative portrayal, they all seem to be massive commercials for advertising, marketing, and branding interests at best or shitty interviews at worst. Nice visuals and decent music will never make up for a coherent narratives and engaging story lines.
I hope I'm wrong but I sincerely doubt it.
You obviously did not watch the short complexity documentary that the Star Nation crew made. Completely groundless speculation is bad enough, but groundless speculation at the straight up ignorance of available data is even worse.
To give him some credit, the coL documentary hadn't been released when he posted that. Would be curious to see if his opinion is different now though.
On July 21 2012 02:23 TeslasPigeon wrote: After watching the the Liquid Rising documentary, I honestly have no hope for any future documentaries about starcraft. Star Nation seems to have no unifying narrative across the trailers. It gives a vibe that everything is "awesome" and "happy" in the various communities, while upbeat features may bode well with some viewers this is nothing short of a circlejerk. The only notable work that the site list is "The Spirit Molecule" and according to imdb none of the people involved in Star Nation had any influence in The Spirit Molecule nor do their imdb pages list any notable pieces or awards won. It looks like several projects made during school and they might have possibly been stage hands or PAs on some large scale commercials. Nothing that indicates the ability to tell a cohesive story.
I am also weary of filmmakers trying to make a name for themselves without any experience in storytelling. There is a reason why most authors of novels are in their late 30s/40s/50s when publishers are able to sell their work. They have a lifetime of experience in knowing how to tell a story. While I'm sure everyone can come up with examples of others who made it when they were young, most artists aren't successful in their medium until they are beginning middle age.
Storytelling is something hard to teach, it is often done wrong but when it is done right you know the reasons why. The Starcraft community, for the most part, doesn't have many people whose stories would be interesting enough to warrant a documentary. Maybe an interview but not much else. Take another Starcraft documentary that is still being made, "Sons of Starcraft." While Tasteless and Artosis may be nice people (I never met them) and they are successful, I believe their stories on how they got where they are isn't enough to warrant a feature length documentary and I highly doubt that the filmmaker will portray them in a manner that will be engaging. The real talk that JP made with Tasteless was pretty dry as is. Unless Tasteless is hiding massive amounts of skeletons in his closet, he is a normal person with a well paying job. Unless the filmmaker for Sons of Starcraft takes some liberties or knows something that we all don't, the film may very likely be a massive bore with pretty visuals, witty remarks, and maybe an interview that no one has seen. Hardly breathtaking, hardly worthwhile, and hardly innovative.
I see the same fate happening for Star Nation. I'd like to be proven wrong but it is so easy to make a shit movie. The exceptions we see are just that, exceptions. Star Nation will be no different. Unless these documentaries that are coming out put up some scenes that show critical discussions and/or negative portrayal, they all seem to be massive commercials for advertising, marketing, and branding interests at best or shitty interviews at worst. Nice visuals and decent music will never make up for a coherent narratives and engaging story lines.
I hope I'm wrong but I sincerely doubt it.
You obviously did not watch the short complexity documentary that the Star Nation crew made. Completely groundless speculation is bad enough, but groundless speculation at the straight up ignorance of available data is even worse.
To give him some credit, the coL documentary hadn't been released when he posted that. Would be curious to see if his opinion is different now though.
Whoops, easy to lose track of the days in summer haha.
Hey guys, there was a Star Nation advertisement during the MLG championship that was a couple minutes long and was very cool. I thought they might have posted it on youtube but they have not. I wanted to watch it again.
If it was released I'm pretty sure there would have been a big announcement and what not. Last I heard it was slated for a early summer release, so hopefully soon!
On March 21 2013 08:14 SimDawg wrote: Hey guys, there was a Star Nation advertisement during the MLG championship that was a couple minutes long and was very cool. I thought they might have posted it on youtube but they have not. I wanted to watch it again.
On March 21 2013 15:58 Schelim wrote: Tasteless said on his stream yesterday the ETA is 'under three months'
I believe he was talking about "Sons of Starcraft", the documentary about him and Artosis. (there's a bunch of nice starcraft-related documentaries that are being made simultaneously, which is quite awesome!)
lol so many of these should have been done for the WoL period - took so long it's kinda hilarious. The sons of starcraft better be the most amazing documentary in history of esports or I don't know what to think of the guys who are making it:D
On March 21 2013 15:58 Schelim wrote: Tasteless said on his stream yesterday the ETA is 'under three months'
I believe he was talking about "Sons of Starcraft", the documentary about him and Artosis. (there's a bunch of nice starcraft-related documentaries that are being made simultaneously, which is quite awesome!)
oh yeah. i get my StarCraft documentaries that don't come out for years confused
someone should make a thread compiling a list of all the unreleased starcraft documentaries that have massive kickstarter funding put into them. I can think of good game and star nation, sons of starcraft i cant remember if it asked for donations but still. This shit is getting a bit ridiculous.
On May 14 2013 05:19 DanLee wrote: someone should make a thread compiling a list of all the unreleased starcraft documentaries that have massive kickstarter funding put into them. I can think of good game and star nation, sons of starcraft i cant remember if it asked for donations but still. This shit is getting a bit ridiculous.
Starnation's twitter is still active and as of April 8, 2013, they said they were still editing and were looking for an editing machine that can handle the amount footage they have. Remember that major releases sometimes take over a year in post production(after shooting) and most movies have much larger staffs than these documentaries have.
Also, witch hunting about kickstarters going wrong seems a little silly.
Also, witch hunting about kickstarters going wrong seems a little silly.
Why does it seem silly ? What other check and balance is there? If you are crowd funded and don't do what you say you will do, don't be surprised when the torches and pitchforks show up at your front door. The crowd can give and the crowd can take.
On July 30 2013 17:11 publicenemies wrote: Srry for bumping this but is this documentary going to be released during my lifetime or did I just get scammed out of 20 bucks?
Their twitter and facebook is active
It takes enormous amount of time to make a huge documentary
A search on TL showed that this is the most recent thread about this documentary. Has anyone heard anything more about this? I was seriously excited about it when it was first announced and followed it for awhile but I haven't heard anything recent.
My god I hope it comes out this year. I have been so excited for this piece of work for so long now.
EDIT: Just watched the 40 some odd minute interview with Jason Agnew from January and he said it will be released in 2015. He also said it should be completed far before then (He mentioned June 2014), but would like to give it time to essentially set the stage for release, and get people's attention to make a big impact.
Just rewatched Sons of Starcraft and got to thinking, what the fuck happened to this documentary. I know that I donated to this project over 3 years ago, and it still hasn't been released. I think this dude made out like a bandit.
On December 08 2015 01:35 Bojas wrote: Don't worry it will be done soon as it's 99,999999999% done!!
I gave up on this 2 years ago.
I'm not holding my breath but it would be amazing if it was finished. I just tried looking for updates and couldn't find anything. I don't have a facebook though so maybe something is posted there.
Nah there is nothing really on their facebook. Just a bunch of unrelated gaming articles being posted with people asking when it's coming out. The last thing they said a month ago was:
The music has been put in, and we're having a screening with Mother Falcon this Friday evening. We're getting there. Given our track record, there's no point in announcing hopeful deadlines or anything of the sort, so we're generally just waiting for these last few large items (music, color, sound mix, paperwork, distribution) to finish up.
So yeah, I'd be shocked if it got released this year, if ever.
I was thinking about this the other day. Amazing we first heard about it way back in 2011 and still nothing to show. What a shame...I was looking forward to it five years ago.
LOL. What is this "documentary" supposed to be about? The old MLG days when SC2 tournaments were actually held there? I checked their kickstarter, their last update was in 2015, they're not still working on this are they? If it ever gets released it'll be out of date by more than 5 years. This just looks like a standard kickstarter scam or an idiot who had no idea what he was getting himself into.
Cool watch, a nice trip down memory lane. Loved the White-Ra stuff, he always brings a smile to my face : ) Bit sad how hopeful people were for Star2 in the future and knowing it didn't quite land where they wanted it to. All in all, i enjoyed it, but as someone who watches a lot of docs I can say it's safely middle-of-the-pack for me. It's no Smash Bros doc, but it's not the worst thing ever, either.
It's funny in a very sad way. Almost all the people on that video all have literally:
A)Retired B)Died C)Left Blizzard D)Continued outside the sc2 scene
It even says (2017) which is hilarious since it was suppoused to come out in like 2012, and ended up coming out in 2020.
Still, better late than ever. I appreciate the guy actually released it. I think many would have never done so.¿m, and it's a good ride down memory lane.
On November 29 2020 07:07 [Phantom] wrote: Wow.. This is hilariously out of date.
It's funny in a very sad way. Almost all the people on that video all have literally:
A)Retired B)Died C)Left Blizzard D)Continued outside the sc2 scene
It even says (2017) which is hilarious since it was suppoused to come out in like 2012, and ended up coming out in 2020.
Still, better late than ever. I appreciate the guy actually released it. I think many would have never done so.¿m, and it's a good ride down memory lane.
well, smix is there for a bit so...
wonderful documentary. lots of memories i forgot exist.
So grateful they released this, missed it when it arrived. To me the one I look up to the most starcraft related is Sheth, it was so good to see and hear him again. He was such a smart player but also very humble and nice, it always cheered me up watching him.
On January 14 2021 21:42 Shuffleblade wrote: So grateful they released this, missed it when it arrived. To me the one I look up to the most starcraft related is Sheth, it was so good to see and hear him again. He was such a smart player but also very humble and nice, it always cheered me up watching him.
Me too. I hope Sheth's health got better, he deserves to live a happy life.
EPT
Got some goose bumps while watching 
