Indie Fantasy Epic Movie Bloodspell Locks Horns with Cars and Shrek

July 04, 2006 - Press Dispensary - Running the gauntlet of its Hollywood hi-tech rivals, Scottish indie overlord Strange Company launches the first part of 'Bloodspell', a computer-animated action-adventure fantasy film, produced over three years on a budget of less than GBP £5,000.

Free to download and view on its website (http://www.bloodspell.com) from July 2006, the feature-length Bloodspell tells the story of a world where some people carry magic blood in their veins: when their blood is spilled, its magical power is released. The movie follows the adventures of Jered, a monk of the magic-hating Church of the Angels, as he discovers he is one of the ‘blooded’ and has to flee for his life into a bizarre magical underworld.

Strange Company, producer of ‘machinima’ films which manipulate 3D game software to create original animated stories, shot Bloodspell using the visual technology of the computer game 'Neverwinter Nights' (http://nwn.bioware.com). By using the game's existing graphics instead of the time-consuming frame by frame rendering techniques of movie powerhouses like Pixar and Dreamworks, and by calling on a largely volunteer work force, Strange Company produced its epic for a tiny fraction of any Hollywood budget.

Science fiction author Cory Doctorow says of Bloodspell: "There's some damned fine storytelling here. The Strange Company folks are at the forefront of using the machinima medium for feature-length drama."

Convinced that big budget commercial films mask uninspiring stories with flashy visuals, artistic director Hugh Hancock comments: “What we lack in slick polish we make up for in originality and passion.”

Bloodspell is released under a ‘creative commons’ (http://creativecommons.org) licence which allows completely free access to and circulation of the film, reflecting its grass-roots origins.

The first part of Bloodspell and all subsequent episodes can be downloaded free at http://www.bloodspell.com

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Notes for editors
Strange Company (http://www.strangecompany.org) is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has produced independent films such as ‘Ozymandias’ in addition to commercial work for clients including the BBC and Merck. Within two weeks of releasing the first episode of Bloodspell on its website, the film was downloaded by 30,000 viewers.

Artistic director and executive producer Hugh Hancock is the director of 16 ‘machinima’ (http://machinima.org) films. He is also on the board of directors of the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences.

For further information please contact:
Hugh Hancock, Artistic director, Strange Company
Tel: +44 (0) 131 555 2349
Email:
Site: www.bloodspell.com