Spencer Halpin's Moral Kombat: Difference between revisions
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The film opens makes extensive use of a full twenty-eight person orchestra in its sound track, which serves to heighten the intensity of the matter. Despite concern and criticism from enthusiast gaming media outlets and gamers themselves, Moral Kombat was designed from inception to be objective and impartial in the debate. |
The film opens makes extensive use of a full twenty-eight person orchestra in its sound track, which serves to heighten the intensity of the matter. Despite concern and criticism from enthusiast gaming media outlets and gamers themselves, Moral Kombat was designed from inception to be objective and impartial in the debate. |
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This claim has been debated and challenged heavily since the release of the trailer, with many video responses being released. Most notably among the responses are a series of videos that point out statements made by Jack Thompson, each with a web location leading back to the statement itself. Many have pointed out that Mr. Thompson's participation in the movie may rob it of its credibility |
This claim has been debated and challenged heavily since the release of the trailer, with many video responses being released. Most notably among the responses are a series of videos that point out statements made by Jack Thompson, each with a web location leading back to the statement itself. Many have pointed out that Mr. Thompson's participation in the movie may rob it of its credibility. |
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Due to the utter silence of Director Halpin and his associates, no proof or counterpoint to these complaints has been given or appears to be forthcoming. To date, Halpin's website under YouTube has received a number of negative comments and the Moral Kombat video itself has over 200 plus such comments, almost all negative. Some have suggested that this silence is proof of the movie's bias, while others have said it may be that the movie is unbiased and that the trailer was just attempting to generate hype. |
Due to the utter silence of Director Halpin and his associates, no proof or counterpoint to these complaints has been given or appears to be forthcoming. To date, Halpin's website under YouTube has received a number of negative comments and the Moral Kombat video itself has over 200 plus such comments, almost all negative. Some have suggested that this silence is proof of the movie's bias, while others have said it may be that the movie is unbiased and that the trailer was just attempting to generate hype. |
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Revision as of 23:29, 23 May 2007
 | This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. |
| Moral Kombat | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Spencer Halpin |
| Written by | Steven Kent Skylar James |
| Produced by | Spencer Halpin Ramy Katrib |
| Starring | David Walsh Jack Thompson, Michael Rich Lorne Lanning Greg Fischbach Dean Takahashi Jef Griffiths John Marmaduke Pamela Eakes Andy McNamara Greg Ballard Bob McKenzie American McGee Hal Halpin Dave Grossman Phil O'Neil Marie Sylla Ed Williams Richard Ow Henry Jenkins Jason Della Rocca Doug Lowenstein Vince Broady |
| Cinematography | Jeff Orsa |
| Edited by | Lakan de Leon |
| Music by | Mark Petrie |
| Distributed by | TBA |
Release date | TBA |
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $650,000 ~ $1 Million |
Moral Kombat is a 2007 documentary film, directed by Spencer Halpin, an American independent filmmaker. The title of the film is in part a reference to the Mortal Kombat series of video games, which are notable for their extreme violence.
Overview
Shot entirely in high definition, the full-length feature documentary studies the controversial subject of violence in video games through a series of interviews with experts on both sides of the matter – some believing that violent games should be banned and the sale criminalized, others defensive of the emerging art form see it as media and protected by the First Amendment.
The film makes extensive use of green screen technology to blend the subject matter being discussed (games, characters, archival news footage) in the background, while keeping the interviewee actively in the shot.
The trailer was uploaded to YouTube and made live on January 3, 2007 and was met with overwhelming concern and dismay from gamers around the globe who felt it sensationalized the topic and serves as a rhetoric piece for anti-games and anti-gamer activists and political figures. The trailer was viewed over 100,000 times in the coming weekend and spurred debate on scores of websites – receiving six awards from YouTube including:
- #23 - Most Viewed (This Month) - Video Games - All
- #22 - Most Viewed (This Month) - Video Games - English
- #3 - Most Discussed (This Month) - Video Games - All
- #3 - Most Discussed (This Month) - Video Games - English
- #25 - Top Favorites (This Month) - Video Games - All
- #23 - Top Favorites (This Month) - Video Games - English
- #37 - Most Subscribed (This Week) - Directors
- #90 - Most Viewed (This Month) - Directors
Interviewees in the film are leading politicians, journalists, academics, consumer advocates and special interest group executives, game developers, retailers, trade associations and publishers. The interviewees among others, include: Dr. David Walsh, Jack Thompson, Dr. Michael Rich, Lorne Lanning, Greg Fischbach, Dean Takahashi, Jeff Griffiths, John Marmaduke, Pamela Eakes, Andy McNamara, Greg Ballard, Bob McKenzie, American McGee, Hal Halpin, Lt. Col Grossman, Phil O'Neil, Marie Sylla, Ed Williams, Richard Ow, Dr. Henry Jenkins, and Jason Della Rocca.
Summary
The film opens makes extensive use of a full twenty-eight person orchestra in its sound track, which serves to heighten the intensity of the matter. Despite concern and criticism from enthusiast gaming media outlets and gamers themselves, Moral Kombat was designed from inception to be objective and impartial in the debate.
This claim has been debated and challenged heavily since the release of the trailer, with many video responses being released. Most notably among the responses are a series of videos that point out statements made by Jack Thompson, each with a web location leading back to the statement itself. Many have pointed out that Mr. Thompson's participation in the movie may rob it of its credibility.
Due to the utter silence of Director Halpin and his associates, no proof or counterpoint to these complaints has been given or appears to be forthcoming. To date, Halpin's website under YouTube has received a number of negative comments and the Moral Kombat video itself has over 200 plus such comments, almost all negative. Some have suggested that this silence is proof of the movie's bias, while others have said it may be that the movie is unbiased and that the trailer was just attempting to generate hype.
However, regardless of the silence from the films creators, it has been widely criticized by the gaming community. Many have suggested legal action against the film, while others have suggested a campaign to have the film delayed until certain parts are removed or corrected.
Games Shown in the Trailer
City of Heroes
From 01:34 to 01:47 of the film’s trailer one of the interviewees, controversial anti-games attorney Jack Thompson, discusses the possibility of another Columbine type incident. Immediately afterwards The Statesman from the video game City of Heroes is shown for approximately five seconds. In response to this, Jack Emmert, co-founder and creative director of Cryptic Studios, made the following statement:
"I'm extremely disappointed that an image of Statesman would be used in such a way. I know that we designed City of Heroes to appeal to "children of all ages." My proudest accomplishment with the game is that many parents (including my brother) play with their children...sharing, I hope, the same joy for the comic book world that I've had ever since I was 8. I cannot express the shock that I felt seeing that a character created by Cryptic would be used in the same sentence as Columbine." —Jack Emmert on the Official CoH Forums
A discussion on the City Of Heroes forum has run over 40 pages, and among the demands of the COH faithful was that Cryptic, which owns the rights to The Statesman, sue the film makers for slander, defamation of character, and illegal use of copyright. Though the legality of it is in question, many feel that simply the act of bringing suit may force the creators of the movie to correct what some feel is a major offense to the character.
References