Rate Comment Subscribe: An Interview with Weses
Former Rate Comment Subscribe Interviewee Julian Smith posted up a new video last week. In it, we meet Jacquese, who is just trying to be polite….sorta. Check it out by clicking here. As promised, for this edition of RCS, we’re bringing you a YouTube user who tries out all sorts of things with Machinima. I first saw one of his videos featured on GTAGaming, and all his other ones we’re just as impressive. Hit the jump to meet Weses—-a user who creates videos with games, namely Half Life 2.
NK: We appreciate you for taking the time to answer these questions, Weses. First off, when did you start making these cinematographic gaming videos (machinima)?
Weses: Thanks for asking me to do this interview. Nice to know people are interested in me and my work. I started making these types of videos back in 2007. It all begun with Half-Life ‘Till I Die. I tried something different than what most machinima makers were aiming to create at the time. Most of what you would see were comedies, parodies, random videos etc. I had this idea in my head showing the detail of Half-Life 2 with Coldplay - Clocks and said “Awesome” every time I thought about it. So I went ahead and made that awesome thought a reality, and then came along “Half-Life ‘Till I Die”.
NK: “The Feeling of Liberty” video on your account is what drew us in. Where did this idea come from? How long did it take (picking spots to film the landscape, etc.)?
Weses: Well, it didn’t really come from anything in specific. I was listening to the song regularly for about a month, and suddenly this thought of the camera moving upwards with the intro drumbeat of the song playing and Niko coming into picture walking across a bridge came into my mind, and I felt something special just thinking about it. It just seemed perfect. I couldn’t sleep very well that night, the thought of it was so exciting. I woke up the next day and ran straight to my computer, booted up GTA IV and started making the video. But that was only 1 scene, it took me 2 weeks to make it all. What made it so hard was that I didn’t use any mods or cheats, I literally waited for the game to reach daytime and nighttime, passed missions just to buy Niko better clothing for scenes, flew up on top of buildings when the weather was how I wanted it and hoped for Niko to do an interesting animation before the weather changed (What annoyed me the most when doing that was trying to hide the helicopter I used to get up there for the scene and still keep the camera at a good angle.) It was difficult, but worth it in the end.
NK: How do you come about picking the songs when making videos?
Weses: I just listen to some songs I have or songs I’ve found on YouTube and think if it’ll fit in a certain type of video or not. Sometimes friends of mine would suggest songs as well.
NK: On average how long does it take to create one full length video?
Weses: Most of my videos would take around a week or two to make, whereas others would take around 4 or 5 days to make. It’s very diverse… I always try not to rush it. On average I would say probably 1 week.
[caption id=”attachment_14865” align=”aligncenter” width=”405” caption=”Weses(2) YouTube Page as of 05/08/09——-The Feeling of Liberty”]
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NK: What would you consider inspiration while creating content?
Weses: The video games of course, and the songs. I’ve always been very interested in the increasing detail of 3D graphics in games. I love to be a part of it somehow by creating videos of them and showing the beautiful worlds 3D graphics can create nowadays.
NK: We just have to know, what’s your favorite game made by Valve?
Weses: Half-Life 2. The episodes were okay, but HL2 itself was just freakin’ amazing. I have bittersweet memories of trying to connect to Steam with my Dial-Up connection when it was released in 2004, getting to play it for 10 minutes without crashing on my slow PC, wondering why it was updating, waiting 2 years for a broadband connection and a new PC so I could play the game fine. Oh it was tough but funny now that I think about it.
NK: Are there any other projects you’re currently working on?
Weses: Not at the moment, though I’m planning on making something soon.
NK: Out of everything currently on your account, which video is your favorite? Least favorite? If you have one.
Weses: My favorite would probably be… Half-Life ‘Till I Die. It’s been my personal favorite for a long time, even if people didn’t think it was as good as The Feeling of Liberty. I liked the fast motion camera mixed with slow motion gameplay feel I gave it. My least favorite would be Isolation because I feel bad when I watch it. It has a sad feeling of loss, the man is just sitting in the corner at the end and left to die.
NK: Anything else you would like to tell your fans/subscribers?
Weses: Thank you for the support and positive feedback you’ve all given me. You’re all amazing and deserve cookies. If you just found out about me now, thank you for reading this and check out my work if you like! Thanks!
We’d like to that Weses again for answering our questions. Being that many of us have experimented in trying to make these videos, we know the amount of work that goes into them. Support him by subscribing to him on YouTube. As of right now, RCS has two more interviews lined up for your enjoyment. Keep an eye out for those in the near future. Until next time, enjoy surfing the web.
Justin “The Pepsi Plunge” Verterano
Staff Writer
