Online Epic to Release Penultimate Episode

Brokensaint writes "The award-winning 3-year epic 'Broken Saints' is preparing to launch it's 23rd installment in its cult hit saga. Winner of the Sundance Online Film Festival Audience Award for Animation, 'Broken Saints' contains over 10 hours of original flash storytelling in 'cinematic literature' format (think animated comic). Having been seen by over 2 million people worldwide, this free web project will be launching the penultimate episode in the series next week, and will close out its run with a 1 hour finale in June. 'Broken Saints' follows the paths of four protagonists from different cultures that receive an ominous vision of the future - a vision that is somehow tied to the launching of a global telecommunications network. One of the main characters - the Muslim mercenary Oran - was created as a direct protest of the continued sanctions against the nation of Iraq. His role in the story chillingly mirrors the direction of current global events. The 3-person team from North Vancouver, Canada hopes to release a tradition graphic novel and DVD box set of the series by Christmas 2003. They are also in talks with production companies ranging from HBO to the Sci-Fi Network to do a mini-series adaptation of the epic. If you want to help the lads chip away at their mounting bandwidth bills, please consider dropping a dime in their kitty."

Comments

Bad Storytelling

[Monkelectric]

was created as a direct protest of the continued sanctions against the nation of Iraq.

Uninformed artists unite! Political messages other than universal messages ("be nice to everyone", "love is good" etc.) are a classic sign of poor storytelling. Good storytelling (if it has messages at all) has "universal messages" that can be appreciated after the lifetime of the project. The fact it is dated before it's even out is just a testament to poor judgment.

Interesting fact, a musical number "The Jitterbug" was cut from the Wizard of Oz because the directors didn't want to date the film, they *hoped* it would be profitable for 10 years... Could you imagine how much less esteem the Wizard of Oz would be held in if they jitterbugged in it? (imagine someone doing a fad dance in the movie like "the bird" or "the cabbage patch")

Re:Bad Storytelling

[Anonymous Coward]

Basing a story on "universal messages" is great if you want to create a saturday morning cartoon. Things like 'be nice to everyone' are great for carebears, but adults generally like fare with more texture.

Of course I'm sure that since 'Full Metal Jacket' is dated (the Vietnam War is long gone), its message about war is completely irrelevant.

Keep your platitudes to yourself.

Re:Bad Storytelling

[Bodrius]

In this case, this speaks more about the poster than about the artist.

I don't know if Oran was created as a "direct protest" (this thing has been running for about two years) or to exploit a great dramatic situation. To me, it seemed like the second case.

The artists are very much on the left, no doubt, but the characters are no simple strawmen for their political arguments.

I disagree with their political stance on Iraq, as with a lot of their politics in general (feels too Salon-ish for me), but Oran is one of my favorite characters. The Iraq situation provides him with a lot of background and a great hook to put him in the story, as compared to others whose plots feel more contrived.

Broken Saints is a drama with a political voice. You may or may not agree with it, but it's very well done. Like all political fictions, it manipulates its world to express a political message, to use it as an model of ideas.

Oran, like all other characters, "speaks" about the political argument idealized in the fictional world.

You may even agree with the argument within the context of the fictional world, but find there's no connection between the fictional world (and the argument) with reality.

Or you may not agree with the argument at all, but find the fictional world so well done it's deserving appreciation as fiction.

You don't have to fear Big Brother is about to take over the world to appreciate "1984", believe the banality of American consumerism is the end of civilization to like "Brave New World", or have an anachronistic appreciation for chivalric tradition to understand "Don Quixote".

Or, perhaps closer to the media, you don't have to believe the world is being taken over by the secret societies operating under the UN and corporations to bring a New World Order to think Deus Ex had a great plot.

Re:Bad Storytelling

[Wespee]

Animal Farm
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Oliver Twist

Yep... lousy storytelling, all of 'em.

Good storytelling has a good story. You're giving a personal requirement for "art" and claiming it as a universal prerequisite of a craft. Not to mention that a well told story, even one with a specific and timely political message, becomes an instantiation of a universal. It's not necessarily the message that makes a classic, it's the way in which the message is presented. You also seem to be assuming that "good" is equivalent to "will last a long time". I don't see that that necessarily follows.

Flash bad for long form animation?

[DoorFrame]

Yuck. Ok, maybe I don't know how to control flash properly, but is it even possible to pause, or jump around, in a flash animation? If I'm going to be watching a half hour episode of a long series of animated featurettes, I want to be able to pause them when the phone rings. Or, missing that, I want to be able to quickly and easily jump around the animation with an easy to use slide bar (or some equivalent).

Expecting me to sit still for thirty minutes without these options is something that I'm not willing to tolerate for the sake of an anti-war cartoon series.

Now, short animations in flash are fine. Anything longer than five minutes really needs to make the transition out into another format. Give me mpeg, give me avi, give me divx, give me quicktime... give me ANYTHING that I can pause.

Does this bother anyone else? Am I missing an easy way to jump around in flash?

Interesting that...

[Zathras11]

they chose to create a character for THAT reason
instead of creating one as a direct protest to the
brutal treatment the dictator of Iraq subjected
his people to, while spending the countries oil
wealth money on things for his own pleasure
(including the torture and murder of Iraqies).
It sure shows where their priorities are, and
for that matter how out of whack with reality
they are. Loons... Screw 'em!

"One of the main characters - the Muslim mercenary Oran - was created as a direct protest of the continued sanctions against the nation of Iraq."