Going down

Due to the cancellation of Ep4, there really is little need for this site.
I could write personal posts, but it seems so wrong.

The site will remain up for a little while.
In May a new Travel Blog will be made where I can post updates from around Europe.

Double Album News!

Wow, this week has been an awesome week...musically. Lots of things happened.

First, Ugress ' newest album "Unicorn" arrived, SIGNED, this tuesday. I listened to it and thought it was great. What's great about Ugress is that he likes to stream and share his work. He is a machine and creates songs all the time, releasing the majority of them on the internet so you can download them for free. Even though this is a great thing, it sadly reduces the aniticipation of his newest album. I don't know how many Ugress or Ugress-related songs I have, but I have ALOT. And when Unicorn came out it was like "Yay another 11 songs".

Don't get me wrong, the album was great. Especially Redrum was awesome. Ugress, or Gisle Martens Meyer, has a very varied style which can be quite appealing. It goes from rock to techno to retro between songs. I would say it's a groove-rock-techno/retro thing if I had to categorize his style haha. He sort of touches a vide variety of genres. Gisle "Ugress" M.M. is no doubt the biggest name for me when it comes to mass production of music, with the intent of giving as much as possible to the listener.

However, I'm afraid the Unicorn release has fallen in the shadows as a different album arrived at my doorstep yesterday after 5 years of waiting. That's right, Ott 's newest masterpiece "Skylon" is finally here! And man, it is just SUPER-AWESOME-OMG! Seriously, I've listened through the entire album countless of times already. The floating sensation you get from this album, the way it touches the soul, the way it makes you connect...is something I've never experienced before musically.
Ott is of course the opposite of Ugress, he rarely produces songs. He only has 20 or so songs, unlike Ugress who has like a hundred. Of course, Ott was a freelance music engineer for a long time and specialized in mixing and remixing, so he has been involved in alot. Regardless, it's been such a long time since he last released anything that I've been waiting and waiting for ages, anticipating the arrival of his newest album, which was originally meant to be released in October last year. It was also emotional since I designed Ott's t-shirt, and made him a card which he hung on the studio wall. He promised me a signed promo CD but he hasn't gotten his copies yet. Doesn't matter...anyway, the album is INCREDIBLE!

The album is a dub album, or downtempo psytrance if you will, although Ott's style is so unique and perfected that it really should be a category of it's own. Even if you don't like this kind of music, you will no doubt find the album relaxing.

For now, let's Signal for Bob!!!

Ugress - Uncanny Planet Records
Ott - Twisted Records

Omg UD2??

Yesterday I somehow fixed my old hard drive, which contained all the underdark 2 files. When I watched the nearly 200 videos I really wanted to put something together quickly, if only for the sake of my friends in the clan.

I even watched a demo, but I noticed it's been ages since I last did this, as I had forgotten so many commands. Anyway, I will work on a ud2 movie, yes a CS movie, but you probably won't like it. Most likely it will be my last movie ever, since I'm moving in the summer to Bergen, and therefore I will make it as personal as possible. This means psytrance music, little or no effects, and odd editing. It may not even be released, but I just felt like telling everyone what I'm doing so you know I'm not completely inactive.

Concering ep4, it's been rewritten and I can probably make the whole thing in just a weekend. One day when I feel inspiration to make it I will sit down and do it. Until then, it's reading, working, chilling and occasionally edit.

The most anticipated album of 2007 and 2008 (for me at least) is FINALLY ready to be ordered. It's been delayed again and again since it's original release date back in October last year, but now the final releasedate is set to February 1st. You can, however, pre-order and have it shipped on the 25th of January.

Judging from the previews, the album sounds awesome. And as we, the faithfull listeners, already know, Ott is a perfectionist and has a music style which cannot be matched by anyone else, and therefore the album is worth the wait!
The previously released track Rogue Bagel, which is also featured in the album, is one of the best songs ever in my opinion.

So pre-order your copy NOW! :D
You can get it here:
http://www.twistedrecords.co.uk/shop/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=125

Updates?

You have probably noticed that I've been slow on updates. Well I told you that during holidays there will be few or no updates at all.

Anyway, holidays are over, but I have alot more things I need to do. Until these things are done, or have settled, there will be fewer posts. So for now, just check like once a week or something and there will hopefully be an update :)

Oh btw...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Style vs Chillside AUDITIONS

The day is here people!
Time for auditions! There are several roles to be filled, varying from police officer to zombie!

For a full overview go to the style homepage here:
http://www.style-productions.net/index.php?page=read_article&id=274

Upcoming Auditions

Very soon I will post about audtions. I am atm preparing the information.

The script isnt done but it doesn't need to be.

Once the new banner for ep4, -which NOW HAS A TITLE BTW - is done, then I will post about it ;)

Updates and Christmas

The last few days I haven't posted anything. Sorry about that.
I'm afraid that during December there will be rather few updates. Instead of daily posts I think there will be 1 or 2 posts a week.

This is because I am more busy now than before, with Christmas coming up. Just more to do in general, and I am also going to work some more this month.

On the bright side, ep4 is beginning to move and I will msot likely post about auditions THIS WEEK!

Also, I might just give you a little Christmas present on Christmas Eve(qual) ;)

Storyboarding

So I've begun storyboarding. Some may ask why, considering SvsC is so low quality anyway. Well, storyboards are even lower quality and can be drawn uberfast. Ep4 is alot bigger than anything I've done before and there are some complex scenes, so I prefer to draw some crappy storyboards to make some of the scenes easier.

Does this mean the script is almost done? Yes ;)

Hans Igor

Okay, so I was reading Ugress' blog, which I often do, and he mentioned that he talked to his friend Hans Igor. When I read that name I was like "omg what a badass name", and became adamant about creating a character for svsc with the same name.

So I sat down, and here he is. This is Hans Igor!

I don't know his role in ep4, or if he will even have any lines at all. But he will be there, somewhere. Why? Because he's Hans Igor dammit! A very dangerous Russian-German breed!
I see him as Glebans cousin or something hahaha!

The Celebrity Guest Stars

I had this idea that I should try to get as many stars as possible to do cameos in the upcoming episode. When I say "stars" I of course mean figures that most people in the online gaming community, particularly the CS community, would recognize.
So far, all of the ones I have asked have responded, and I'm gonna try to get some more on board.

So far, these people have all agreed to do a cameo in the episode:


-Gabe Newell




-Angel Munoz





-Ott





-Simon Posford (aka Hallucinogen)



Some of them are going to play themselves, others will play fictional characters.
I should perhaps mention that Simon P has not directly said yes, but Ott said he would try to bring him on board.

However, none of them have delivered their lines yet. This I can understand as they are all very busy people. And also, whenever I do guest roles in other movies, I am superslow to deliver my lines, even if it's just 1 line. So I forgive them.

I have however, prepared punishment should they NOT deliver their lines at all. If they deliver, it will be fine. If not, this will happen:
- Gabe will be uberfat
- Munoz will be killed
- Simon will have ridiculous hair (he'll probably love that though) and die
- Ott well...we can't punish Ott, he's too cool :P

I'm gonna try to get a few more people involved. If they do deliver their lines as they promised, then it will be really cool for the episode! :D

Counter

Added a counter to the blog, weee! :)

Workday

No development today. Had to work very hard to get the store where I work into decent order.
And now I'm gonna try out some WoW stuff after being absent from the game for nearly a year.

Tomorrow is my day off and I'll work more on SvsC then :)

Script? Hell yeah!

Yay, I've written 3 more scenes in the script now! It's going forward. We're getting close to what I believe is the "second act" or whatever the correct terminology is. Personally I call it "After-the-intro-but-not-the-middle-of-the-movie-yet" part!

Wohoo!

I'm a Crazy Psychopath yes

So yesterday we had a company-party, which I hosted. It was me and 13 of my fellow co-workers. We had a great time :D

But when we got to the city we went into a club (crazy piano), and this american chick started bitching to me. We were all on the dancefloor and I took a picture of us. Then this chick comes up to me and the conversation went like this:

Chick: "What the hell are you doing? You can't just take pictures of people like that!"
Me: "Huh? Oh, it's okay I work with them"
Chick: "What are you taking pictures of all the girl in the club, or something?"
Me: "What? I can't hear you?"
Chick: "You can't just take pictures of the girls!"
Me: "I said: I work with them!"
Chick: "What are you some crazy psychopath or something?!"
Me: "Uh...yes, I am a crazy psychopath. Bye!"
*I leave but she grabs me and pulls me back*
Chick: "Just stop it, okay?"
Me: "I can't, I'm a crazy psychopath!"

Haha, man she was annoying. After I left and joined my friends she went to the guards and tried to have me thrown out, but they refused to do it. Then she came back, grabbed my arm, shook it, and then left.
I dunno how it is in America, but in Norway we like to take pictures of our friends when we party :P

Joining Style

It finally happened: I joined Style.
It feels good to be part of something again. I haven't been in a movieteam in ages. I was in MovieMakers and others for a short while, but ever since 2004 I've been a freelancer, the third party, the outsider. Of course I had PKTV, but that's not a "real" group.
And "Zaknafein GameVisions" which you sometimes see, is also not a real group, but just an alternative to "A Zaknafein Production".

Anyway, I've been close to Style for a long time now, so this move was just natural. They are fantastic people and we get along so well.

Some people might ask about ep4 now that I'm in Style. Well there will be no change. I was very close to Style when I made the previous 3 episodes, so becoming part of Style hardly creates any kind of influence on ep4. And nothing will change production-wise regarding ep4 either :)

It's actually quite interesting because now I have been a member of both Chillside and Style! Haha

So it's all good. Feels great to join these fantastic people. You can read their lovely post here:
Zaknafein joins Style

The Villain in Ep4

Okay, recently I've been working a bit on the bad guy(s) in Ep4. A "new" character is introduced, however I haven't decided yet how he is supposed to look. He has...associates, and need something distinctive in his looks so he stands out from the crowd.

Originally, the bad guy was actually supposed to be "Mask" from the discovery in episode 3, but the idea was eventually scrapped because I couldn't find a logical reason why he would be involved, or why the bad guy would dress in those clothes for that matter.
Even though this is a comedy, and most of it doesn't make sense, it should nonetheless have some kind of limit so it doesn't become THAT stupid.

So I rewrote the badguy part to a different character, which in my opinion makes alot more sense and it's more badass (having the badguy running around throwing dolls at people really isn't that intimidating).

Perhaps a cartoon version of Mask will appear in a cameo instead :)

Russian? Da?

Yes I'm learning Russian.
I could say that I'm doing it for SvsC just to promote the movie, but I'd be lying. I'm just doing it because I want to. But it will be used in ep4, that's for sure!
Speaking of which, I will need native speaking Russians for ep4, but I will post more about that later.

Also, today I got an idea for a new scene to put in ep4, which I love. Not only will it add alot of cool and funny elements, but it will make the final scene more climatic. Man I wish the movie was done already, so I could see it haha.

Zaknafein co-stars in "The Emissary"

It wasn't until Style vs Chillside was made that I realized my voice could actually be used for something. However, before SvsC I did a few supporting roles in WoW machinimas. Most of them sucked, and my acting was horrible. The exception would be my demon voices, they kick ass.

Anyway, Johan Vågstedt from Firebolt Production has released a short movie called "Emissary". It was submitted for the "Fabled Few" WoW Machinima Contest, where the winner would get $1000. And after looking at the comedy selection I really should've made an entry myself because I didn't find any of them particularly funny.

This will be the fourth time I have loaned my voice to Johan. However, this is the first time I've had a lead role in a movie not my own, and this is also the first one to receive any kind of high honor. It was selected as one of the 10 finalists for the competition.
I play the blood Elf, Tristan, pictured on the right.

Currently the movie is only available through stream, because the voting has begun. Shame, because I felt it really needed subtitles. You can watch it HERE. Click on "Emissary" and a pop-up stream window will appear. If you are registered at WarcraftMovies, you can also vote.

Personally I didn't think my performance was very good. The voice used is pretty much my natural voice, softened down a bit as per the directors request. He felt it was perfect, however, so maybe it's just me who suffers from "is-that-my-voice-wow-that-sucks-syndrome" again. The director said that me and my co-star sounds like real brothers, and the movie DID qualify for the finals in the competition, so maybe I'm wrong :)

Normally I prefer comedy roles such as SvsC where I can be creative, original and funny, because then it's more believable. I also like to play villains. I did that once before and thought it was really cool.
Anyway, please leave a comment and tell me what you think :)

Here is the link again in case you missed it amongst my constant babbling:
The Fabled Few

Mountain Dew Supply Running Low

Oh noes! I'm nearly out of Mountain Dew!

I am addicted to this stuff ever since I tried it in Germany about 6 years ago. We started selling it in Norway but only had it for about a year until they removed it. So therefore I order Mountain Dew from the States.

Around 3 weeks ago I got 48 cans of Mountain Dew, now there are only 14 left. Nooooo!

Beyond the Frames

I will update this blog almost daily. Alot of things happen when I work on ep4, and some of it I can share with you.

Also, there is alot of stuff about episode 1-3 that was not covered in the Behind the Scenes video, which I will post about from time to time.
Feel free to write comments (you don't have to be registered), I especially appreciate it when I post new/beta stuff :)

So look forward to lots of fun (and exclusive) stuff.

(PS: Exclusive meaning that it's posted here first of course. Feel free to share :) -red)

The Crowd Chatter in Ep2 and Ep3

Some people asked me exactly what is being said whenever the crowd is talking in episode 2 and episode 3. I also got some nice feedback saying it sounded like a real crowd. I really appreciate that.

Below is a video excerpt from the episodes, with Xenoq's voice removed.

The process was very simple. I just recorded 5-6 completely random and improvised lines, and then played them on top of each other. If you listen close in ep2 you can hear them repeat themselves. The same thing was done when the crowd gasps.

Making crowd noise is some of the most fun I have because I just speak out whatever random things I can think of and just say what I want :)

Anyway, I thought maybe it would be fun for you to know what is actually being said.
(The sound files are available through a link at the bottom of the post, but the volume is a bit low because many of them are whispers, and I thought the actual lines are funnier than the performace in this case ^^)

Believe me, this is some of the most random, makes-no-sense stuff you have ever heard!

Episode 2:
Chatter 1: "So eh what have you been up to today? Eh I dunno, I like grapefruit but apples are pretty good too. It's really nice you know when all the stuff comes out and it's eh...pretty cool. It comes out, it's eh, vegetables and soups and, uh, yeah"

Chatter 2: "I quite like it when it, eh, and something uh...I don't like, eh, oranges. They're pretty...eh, I think they're evil. It just goes on and on, you should check it out and make melon juice and these kinda things"

Chatter 3: "Yeah that looks like it's one, yeah, they come on and it's all up to you, I mean. Pava he really is gay, I mean, there is no denying it. It's in his voice, it's just-just, he's gay. I mean, you can hear it, he's like Michael Jackson except Michael Jackson aren't gay"

Chatter 4: "Oh no that's hardly the case, I mean, you can't even go on and do that. I mean, when I told my wife 'Go Fuck Yourself', I mean, she never did it, I mean, shit yeah. She went into her room and, heh, you don't want to know more than that. I mean, it's pretty scary from that on and let's not go into details and everything"

Chatter 5: "No I never saw that movie. Nevertheless it was pretty good. I mean, I like the way Shannon shakes her ass, but...I didn't really watch anything else. It was kinda gay, just like Pava. That's pretty cool, I guess."

Chatter 6: "Jaegern 7 never really worked for me. It was more like a gay movie, just like Pava. But eh, gehjeghehe, I mean I really like episode 1 of Style vs Chillside it was really cool, even though there were no gay sex scenes. But that would've made it best!"
Episode 3:
Rabble 1: "YEAH! Let's go, this movie sucked balls. I mean even I had better gaysex than that. I mean, look at the way he threw the dolls. I mean, jesus christ, I mean...does he even have aim?"

Rabble 2: "Well that was disappointing. I do wish I never have to see anything like that again. What if my grandmother had to see that, that would've been so embarrasing. Jesus Christ, I mean who am I hoo-aaah."

Rabble 3: "Well that was kinda a waste of time. I mean, what the fuck were they doing here anyway? Where am I? What's my name? Hey where are we going, come back eeeeh"

Rabble 4: "What a piece of crap! Never have I seen such a piece of shit before. I mean, Style is really good to even show up and--uh, what the fuck am I even talking about?"

Rabble 5: "Asså den filmen, den, åh, den vakje någe bra asså, åh, herregud at eg gadd å ver her i det heila tatt, åh, asso I mean, åh, asso hallo, åh åh åh, ååh"

As you can tell it's mostly me saying "I mean" and talking about Pava being gay :P
If you would like to hear the sound files they are available in (LQ) mp3 form HERE.

Banner Weee

My friend Kipex from gamingmovies made me the cool banner which you can see at the top! Now the journey towards the blogside is almost complete moahahaha.

Btw, Kipex and Hesesses run a site called Doublemoney.biz, which doubles your first desposit money in the online poker game Titan Poker. I'm not much of a gambler myself (I always lose), but if you are, perhaps you should pay the site a visit.

But enough off-topic talk. My sister said that her boyfriend and other employees at the local cinema keep saying quotes from SvsC haha. Lovely.

SvsC 4 Status

Status:
The current status of ep4 is that it's still in pre-production. The last thing I did was to write a scene summary of the whole movie. I have begun on the script but it's not finished yet, and I won't post about auditions until I'm satisfied with it.
When it's done, you'll know!

Scene Summary:
Obviously I can't tell you the plot yet. However, I will give you a hint as to how big ep4 really is. The scene summary is done, and it may of course change. Things will be removed and added as the episode is made. However...just to compare; the previous episodes had 5-9 scenes each.
Brace yourself:
Episode 4 has - atm - 34 scenes!!

Quite big in other words. I've told myself that I will not allow it to be more than 35 minutes max in length, because otherwise it will be too stretched out and thin and can quickly become boring.
I used roughly 24 hours on each of the previous episodes. However ep4 is bigger, and it also has a few different angles in the various scenes, so I have to draw more than usual. Just watch the ep4 preview to see what I mean. There are for instance 6 different shots of the car jumping the chasm.

Goodie Gumdrops:
Since the episode is still in pre-production, I don't have many screenshots yet. However, I have made an ep4 banner which you can see at the top of this post and the previous one. It doesn't show much, but gives you a hint that this time I'm actually drawing the background rather than using city pictures like in the other episodes.
As the project moves along, I'll replace the banners from time to time ;)

Also, I'm soon starting visual research for the episode (finding references for hard images) and I will draw some drafts. So don't worry, there will be lots of screens before I'm done with the episode. I've told myself that I will try not post news about ep4 without some kind of screenshot or excerpt you haven't seen before ;)

Style vs Chillside Episode 4 Update Info

SvsC Episode 4 is a huge project, at least compared to the previous 3 episodes. And as I stated in the Behind the Scenes docu, it will NOT be named "Episode 4", but have a subtitle as in "Style vs Chillside: The Movie" but I haven't decided the name yet.

Since it will take some time to create the "episode", I will write continuous updates here in my blog. I don't work on SvsC every day, but maybe 2-3 days a week, and I will try to post a production diary as often as I can.

In the upcoming posts you will get exclusive news, screenshots and updates. Also, from time to time, I might post video or audio pieces.
However, remember that whenever I post items from the upcoming episode, most of it will be beta material. What you see is not neccesarily what you get ;) -(in a good way)

Other news:
Auditions will be available soon!

Welcome to my blog

Well well...Zaknafein has a blog!
This is not just new for you but for me too, I have never blogged before.

However, I thought it would be fun. I like to write down my thoughts, plans and events on paper. And after reading Ugress' blog for some time I figured, what the hell, I'll make one too.

I'll try to write daily, but I can't guarantee it. Especially because some days I work at night and therefore when I wake up, your day is almost over and nothing has happened in my day yet haha.

Primarily I will post updates on Style vs Chillside Episode 4, but also lots of other stuff.
Hope you like to read! :P

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