Bloodspell Locks Horns with Cars and Shrek

Indie Fantasy Epic Movie Bloodspell Locks Horns with Cars and Shrek

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