I think the rise and fall of scripted content for minecraft can best be summarized by a little series by a youtuber named 'dark corners' he had this super cool finding herobrine series, no microphone, all communication was done using on screen text, ominous and suspenful piano music being tastefully and sparsly used to add tension in the exploration of caves or the dark nights. And an editing style reminiscient of VHS and found footage... now look at it. He's a infl*encer. Basic, lifeless, a complete sell-out.
Holy crap, you need to watch the content smp finale, it is so good, like an actual movie, you should make a follow up dedicated to content smp it is so good
My absolute favorite piece of scripted Minecraft media has to be "The Wifies Debunk" by Kenadian. It initially presents itself as another one of his regular debunk videos, in which he makes fun of a creator's escape room content and tries to prove that it's scripted, but creates a really fun and subversive story by the end. In my opinion, the way it uses its medium is incredibly creative and definitely worth watching.
I've seen that one! This is the sort of stuff I mentioned (albeit briefly) in the Parkour Civilization stuff where the game-y conventions of Minecraft are used in an interesting way to cultivate the creation of a wholly unique narrative. Totally agree with your perspective, thanks for sharing!
Parrot is telling a minecraft story. Evbo_ is telling a story that is grounded and told through minecraft. Whitepine is telling a story that happens to be expressed through minecraft.
@@Tyhond parrots videos are good, I’m just not a big fan due to the fact that he tries to hide the fact that it’s scripted, and, at least in my opinion, takes away from unscripted smps like hermitcraft. Evbo on the other hand leans right into the scripted side and doesn’t hide it. At least that’s what I think, and you can think otherwise and that’s ok
I personally think that Evbo choses to have his videos the way they are to tell a story that parodies minecraft content, I think this can be demonstrated through the titles alone. "Minecraft but I survive PARKOUR CIVILIZATION" is a clear spoof on the Minecraft but genre of content that was big a year or two ago, and so the format of the story acts to parody this sort of content in a similar way to how Analog Horror parodies and spoofs on weird old analog media.
my favourite scripted minecraft scene is "Minecraft, But It's Just A Burning Memory" Its 4 minutes, it doesnt have any words, but it follows a script of events. Please watch it, THAT is the minecraft scripted content i want
Oh yeah I remember watching that video when the whole dementia and the burning memory became whole meme, it's really good in the whole "show don't tell" format
I feel like a lot of The Caretaker's sonic work has been diluted in efficacy (not in isolation, but in use) within the modern memetic context on the internet, but at least here it was handled with some semblance of tact. Thanks for the recommendation and the comment!
The amount of mods that have been made that enable Minecraft as a storytelling medium is like we've never seen before. Camera utility mods, building mods, create, and so much more are just a few that have taken the game of Minecraft to the next level, and I hope we start to see that in the media that is made about Minecraft. Amazing video, great topic, keep up the good work man!
Totally agree! From what little time I've spent playing with it, Flashback is leagues ahead of other comparable mods in terms of its cinematic utility, and like I said in the video, the art of building is in the best place it's ever been too. We're only just beginning to scratch the surface of what's possible, and I hope to see more artists push against those boundaries. Glad you enjoyed the video, and thanks so much for the comment!
I miss when scripted content used more mods. More than just Create at least. Every single scripted video is vanilla or vanilla+ now. But that’s just modding in general now I guess. Create is the only content mod.
It's like Moon Channel promising a video on Korean gacha games, but first starting with half an hour of the origins of Korea and it's earliest cultural stems
It's not fair to compare Parkour Civilization with Whitepine, it's like you're comparing a theatrical performance with a movie. Whitepine utilizes elements of cinema (post-processing, lighting, camera control) while PC is a theatrical performance set within the game, treating the game just like theater treats the real world. There's nothing inherently artistically worse or "insincere" about fully accepting the confines of the game and performing within them-I see a profound beauty in how much people can tell in a relatively confined environment. Stories told wholly through the game as it is can be closer to us, because playing Minecraft is an experience we all share. Would you compare a solo piano piece with a fully produced electronic music track, arguing that the second one is better because it isn't restrained by its instruments? Why are you surprised or disappointed that stories told through Minecraft primarily use symbols, devices and established concepts from Minecraft to drive the story? Whitepine uses aforementioned cinematic elements to tell its story, but obviously most scripted content isn't going to do that, because (good) lighting, camera work or post-processing aren't devices that the game offers you. There's no reason creators should constrain themselves to established real-life vehicles of storytelling. Limitations breed creativity. I will say though, "content"ization of art is a plague, and I wish we'd get a Parkour Civilization that's art, not content, while also accepting the challenge of staying within the game's confines to tell its story.
You're drawing out this tenuous tension between our two contentions as if they're inherently incompatible- I don't think that's the case, since I actually agree with you. I said in the text of the video itself that between Whitepine and the other examples enumerated, my intention was to establish a "degree of difference," and it's exactly this. I don't think storytelling that embraces the confines of the game and actually attempts to use them in a creative way is *inherently* inferior to storytelling that uses Minecraft merely as an artistic medium. But the former is much more likely to be mere "content" than the latter, hence why for the purposes of this video I *construed* it as a subordinate iteration of the form.
@@FrostbyteFreeman yeah i can see how both whitepine and parkour civilisation have hardwork put into their separate aspects but its the vision and execution that leaves such a strong difference and the part where parkour civilisation could learn from whitepine is that hardwork needs an auteur or the most focus into translating it better (uniquely, creatively, emotionally) so i totally agree, both can be compared in this matter
I fully agree with this comment. I cannot in good faith enjoy this video. And I actually agree with most of the video!. Not only is it using "art" as something of a status that must be earned rather than a right of anything that is created, (Real art is whatever you deem it to be.) but... to be honest? I think that I see Whitepine, at least in the small snippet I was shown, as being LESS sincere than what Parkour Civilization (or, my personal favorite creator in the field, Zeemyth) offers us. Can you prefer the more mature tone of Whitepine? Absolutely! But reserving the term "art" for something "mature" is so incredibly passe and it was not the end of this video that I was hoping for. I think that to be truly genuine to yourself and your work is to embrace your limitations. A story that wants you to ignore it was made in Minecraft without purpose seems to go against that. Maybe my opinion will change, should I ever watch Whitepine. I do think there was a clear tension between the points, given how FrostbyteFreeman clearly sees one as far superior than the other. I don't really know what else to say other than "you literally called it the good, the bad, and the ugly." And both the bad and the ugly embraced their limitations, for better or worse. The video is literally called "*The Problem* With Scripted Minecraft Content." Ideally you want to isolate as many variables as possible when proving a point, because otherwise things like this get implied. Also, I think that the part in the video trying to dunk on "content" is... certainly a choice, given how the video itself could be considered "content." ...Do check out Zeemyth, though. His SMP stuff is alright, but Bedrock.ZIP, Found Footage of a Player Being Followed, and the Farlands video are where it's at.
@@FrostbyteFreeman Thank you for replying! Good point, I must have not caught that during the duration of your video. But yes, ultimately it is more common for storytelling within Minecraft's confines to end up as neatly packaged, sterilized "content" for TH-cam with a lesser degree of artistic intent. Hopefully this will change at some point. Personally, I'm a fan of some (not all of them, certainly) ARGs and horror-inspired webseries ran in Minecraft, most notably AlphaVer, one of whose core themes are the game's boundaries and limitations themselves.
i think the idea of clownpierce as pure evil, the final boss, could be done well. lord english from homestuck, death from puss in boots, heavy from emesis blue. the essence of death and brute force behind a shell of humanity. it works if the portrayal is evocative. regardless, i think clown's role in parkour civilization undermined the depth of his character, his straightforward villainous persona undermines the fact that he and evbo are the first two characters to share a love of parkour (some read this as a metaphor for a love of art), but his love is for parkour races, a form of parkour (or art) that is done with the purpose of killing. a good comparison is the boy and the heron, but it's different because the boy and the heron does not have a neutral artist as a foil.
The ancient Rome bit reminded me of those clips of matpat going "Ancient pyramits have the symbols representing the stars of this particular constellation, Five nights at fredd-" lol
He wants to be the big scary villain so bad. Tbh i think he deserves it. Hes been building that persona since the start. That and naming urself "clownpierce" doesnt exactly scream silly whymsical peaceful player lol
so what I heard is "youtubers need to play DnD on their free time and apply that logic to scripted content". The DM (writer) having a storyline with room for self-expression and improvisation, the players (smp members) learning to let everyone have their moment and letting the group itsefl be the main character and working to have a place for everyone without overlapping eachothers, experimenting with what would their character feel and do (letting yourself be wrapped up in your character without irony), having your character learn and evolve from their experiences... And sometimes you fail big time, have things have stakes. DnD man !
I think one of the greatest strengths of parkour civilization is that everything that's not cinematic (the youtuber narration and the first person and the title) is a deliberate choice to simplify the story. All of the characters are one-note: you have evbo, the audience insert, or characters with such an obvious name that they feel like placeholders at times (evbo's master friend, parkour villain, etc) and that's the point! Like you said, it's a fable told in the simplest and most digestible form in the minecraft youtube sphere. It's a deeper story that almost feels disguised as content rather than being content, meant to cast the widest net possible and then sit them down with a deeper, more complex story than they would have expected from the get-go. Every person who thought it would be cringe from the memes and trends (which is quite a lot of people from personal experience because I'm a big fan of the story and have shown it to plenty of people) ended up being captivated by it too. Parkour civilization is a story that is unabashedly not a film, and to call that a weakness just feels a bit off to me. Its choices may not be conventional for the kind of story it's trying to tell, but that's part of why it's become something of a cult classic. And that's pretty cool! (also on the topic of seawatt, his role is a whole other can of worms but generally I do like him as a foil and think he's generally very effective as a character :D)
You mentioning that everyone in an SMP wants to be the main character made me think again about Techno's place in the DreamSMP. Because while he was like, a major character, you wouldn't call him the main character. That was always Tommy. But neither Techno nor his viewers wanted him to be a protagonist, we enjoyed him as an antagonist, a villain. Which isn't a role that most people would want (hell, Dream sure as heck didn't want it in the end), but Techno placed himself as always being at odds with anyone wanting to be a main character in that SMP, he was the destroyer of governments. The only "special" thing about him was that he was the single best player on the SMP, but did not have the ambition to use that fact to make himself the most important one. Anyway I guess I should watch Whitepine sometime, I just haven't really gotten round to it.
That's another thing that made his tenure as head writer special- he was content to play a part in the broader story, even if it wasn't always the most favorable. Really excellent points being made here in this comment, and I definitely recommend Whitepine. Thanks for sharing your perspective with me!
While i do agree with most things you said, i can't say that technoblade didn't try to be a major character, he saw that everyone wanted to be as important as possible to get more content out of this golden egg laying goose we called the dreamsmp. He was no exception, instead of trying to become the main character, he took the second biggest role in the story which arguably outshined the main character spot in the end (which was likely the cause of everyone trying to become the MC) I think the main antagonist is as big of a role as the main protagonist role. and thus i think they should both be considered as "Main characters" So in the end, techno did become a main character, he just took a different approach, that gamble luckily ended up paying off amazingly.
@@just_dylan_official well yeah, that's what I wrote. That he was a major character, but didn't try to become the main character (protagonist) of the SMP, more like a really big and really scary boogeyman
@@just_dylan_official there's a difference between an important character and a main character. techno was important to the lore, but he didn't try to the lead part of every single story. he wasn't pushing himself to be included everywhere (which is what main character syndrome describes) - all he did was play a part of it. you can look at the SAD-ist Hog Hunt animatic as an example. this didn't Hugely affect the greater plot - it was just a series of understandable character decisions. they try to execute a major threat to their city, a different major threat comes to his aid (without his knowledge) with the intent to enlist his help in a shared goal, and then they Successfully do that.
I think the issue you mentioned where everyone in an SMP wants to be the main character is alleviated in [REDACTED] SMP. No one feels like the main character but they all feel like protagonists of their own story that is taking place at the same time as everyone else's. I personally would really recommend it. It's in my opinion the best scripted smp. Also if you like Minecraft art I recommend Zeemyth his stuff goes beyond traditional Minecraft content and elevates it to a form of art in a way that most others don't.
@@dylratner Stuff like moments where his commentary is interrupted by in game moments as if he's reacting to them in real time, the logic of these being videos by a youtuber should be meaning he can control what the viewer sees via editing, the fact that in his getting lost in the mansion video he doesn't decide at one point to take a break from the computer or quit out of the world. Essentially, the narrative feels weird when juxtaposed with the fact that this is supposed to be in the same game we all play with our friends on the two week servers.
IMO my biggest issue is this play between script and roleplay. people can feel when stuff are pre-scripted, and it makes it just awkward. the creators need to either go past the theatre line, fully script it, make it FEEL like a story, or go full DND mode, have one person who architect the story instead of playing in it, and a small cast of players who go on the adventure, act a pre chosen role, but given full freedom to act as they think fit the character, then when the story is done, maybe re-shoot some parts for the story's sake, but keep everything really natural, make it FEEL like you're watching a real DND adventure.
I mean part of the issue could be that a majority of these scripted stuff involves having characters that are literally more of a pastiche of their real life personality.
This is why my favourite minecraft smp is the life series smp. Theres usually no clear villian or hero, the winners win almost at random (thought there might be a little buy of scripting from preventing the same hermit from winning twice) and nothing is dramatized. The suspense and emotions come naturally, and because of that it actually suprises you. The audience is allowed to make their own story.
@@Just_a_random_username was just reading through the comments and I just wanna point out that they probably mean the life series made by grian not the lifesteal ^^ I saw you said spoke and wanted to make sure you knew AJDJFJSKDJAA :3
@@ManceAdventures holy shit i am a ht1 npc. Ive watched both series literally when they both started for the first time and i didnt see the diference. Ig it would happen eventually with how long ive watched both but man i was so good at not mixing them up for so long
As a film studies student, the difference in parkour civilization and whitepine is fantastic and instantly noticeable, whitepine treats itself like an actual film with its use of cinematography instead of a minecraft movie where its all first perspective + some cinematic shots. Sadly i don't ever think i'll watch it, not my kettle of fish or my short attention span, but i can certainly appreciate it aesthetically.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm very happy to hear that someone enjoyed this video enough to share it, and that you managed to get something out of it too!
I think the retcon is the idea of parents being a thing. All other characters have said new players just spawn in. The idea that you can have parents does not fit that lore. It is possible that maybe Seawatt's parents merely adopted a brand new player and raised him as they were older, more experienced players, but it would be the only example of that happening in Parkour Civilization as no other family units are brought up. At the end of the day it's just a weird plot point that could have been just his friends dying in the layer instead of parents that brings up many questions about how it works.
I want to address the importance of videos like this. I happened upon the Parkour Civilization videos by Evbo, watched the first and second movies back to back just yesterday, and I have more grievances about the second than I did the first. As a whole it was... Something. Something I did not expect to keep me watching or to find any real heart in. But I also decided to give one of his newer projects, the PVP civilization a gander, think it could be ok depending on how he chooses to approach it in the long run, but it wasn't something I felt like engaging in. But by that point, the algorithm took a swing, and led me here. Liek a bridge, this now has me planning to see whitepine later today when I come back home. I hope it lives up to expectations.
Thank you for the kind words! I definitely agree that Parkour Civilization is a mixed bag, and that Evbo’s later works don’t do it for me, either- it’s why I tried to underscore the importance of his needing to prioritize that thematic consistency over focusing on the next “big idea” for the purposes of spectacle and sensationalism. Glad the algorithm led you here. Hope you enjoy Whitepine.
There's a scripted series in Russian, told in Minecraft, on TH-cam, about a apocalyptic world, it's somewhere in-between whitepine and parkour civilization The map was built using the voxel mod, and they have completely customized items/blocks for each interaction The author pays the actors and the builders actual salary and stuff They are actually doing it for a couple of years already I wander why a level of quality like that didn't reach the English TH-cam
A brilliant video, one thing holding this new wave of videos back, there are a lot more like Whitepine (Faces in the sky, 00 - The Fool, Ancient Debris, *self-plug alert*), is it being shelved as "Minecraft Roleplays" or worse Machinimas. We need a new name for this new wave of videos for it to grow on its own. My contendor for the name is "Minema" (Minecraft + Cinema). Its a very well-made video. Unlike other video essays on Minecraft content this video is such a fresh take. It gives a feeling of hope. That maybe Minecraft isnt dying at all, that maybe the golden age of Minecraft is yet to arrive.
agreed completely on the lack of name :( not to self promo also lol but i’m working on a minecraft cinematic horror series in a similar style of storytelling and it is sooo hard to be discovered, as there isn’t really an official search term / name that accurately describes this kind of art yet. i’m constantly trying to look for more series like that myself, but struggle to find many through search :( since whitepine, cinematic minecraft series as a genre are definitely in their beginning stages, so hopefully in the future it will be easier!!
FavreMySabre, in his video, "Why Minecraft Roleplays are dying" suggests the term "MCTV". I've actually already seen it starting to spread in the community, although admittedly not a lot in the circles I'm currently a part of. I like it not only because it's shorter, but because I'm concerned that "Minema" will be confused with "Machinimas" due to being close in spelling, which I don't think we are going for. I also feel like then it can include weekly uploads and not just putting sole focus on storytelling movies.
Minema is actually a mod that lets you record footage in Minecraft without losing frame rate (by slowing down the game). I don’t see anything wrong with using Machinimas as a term, since it’s literally a technical term. It’s a shame that Machinima, Inc. ruined the term. 😢
@@McHorsesCreations I did not know that, thanks for sharing! And yes, it is a good technical term sadly soured by Machinima, Inc. But MCTV is still shorter so could be easier for YT titles and it would then help include videos who don't use the Minema mod. So regardless of what others use, I'm still going to be biased to using "MCTV" instead.
@@McHorsesCreations The original name for anime was animēshon, movies were used to be called "photofilm" or "motion picture" when they first came out. My point is... words evolve. There are three reasons why I think Minema would work better, firstly machinima is too mouthy, then it's the bad rep associated with the name, Monster school and all those melodramatic high school shows. Lastly when we give something a new name, it marks a new beginning for that thing, a fresh start of sorts. It would create a separate niche for the Minecraft cinematic content. When people will search Minema they will get Minecraft Cinema.
19:47 this point is actually incredibly relevant to me right now, my friends and i recently watched the green mile together and it quickly became one of my all time favorite movies, but whenever i mention that my friends go “yea but its SOO LOOONG”, but i don’t think that counts as a “critique” because it effectively uses every second of that run time, a piece of media being long isn’t inherently a bad thing, it just has to justify that length
@@FrostbyteFreeman ok so i drafted a giant reply and it just didn't send, so tldr: I loved the visual direction of Whitepine, everything from the cinematography to the aspect ratio, but the story wasn't my cup of tea. One scene I love from Whitepine is the end of ep 1 where i think the show perfectly encapsulated what ivory was feeling in that moment and was a scene with nice buildup ur video gave me shivers at 35:25 with that line delivery And I recommend godis's video "Who Killed Minecraft Man" i think ud like it
Funny that I now look back at the Yogscast's Shadow of Israphel & adjacent series and recognise so clearly the dreamlike haze in which I understood what it actually was (or rather, didn't) at such a young age, and yet I can still sit here and be shocked to learn that Technoblade didn't exist carving out his own space on the periphery of the larger narrative but as an author. Because of course he was. I always felt like I was watching someone mess about while the larger thing went on but of course it was always central. Something incredibly moving about seeing that last example with its framing and consideration - I was involved as a writer for something momentarily intended to be staged in Minecraft once upon a time, and I never imagined it could look as clear or purposeful as it does there. I suppose my favourite would be another one from youth, the Jaffa Factory series, where maybe I was aware of its nature a little more but so interested in the technical side (and represented by the fact that almost all of them knew nothing either) that it didn't much matter.
Thanks so much for commenting, dude! Glad to hear that on a personal level my analysis was able to somewhat encapsulate your thoughts on the form- like I said, the tools to enable the utilization of Minecraft as a storytelling medium have become so much more sophisticated in the last few years alone, and yet the potential of the form has still remained largely untapped.
@@FrostbyteFreeman after having now gone to check out WhitePine 1, I can only now properly understand the need for a video highlighting exactly this. I spent the whole time unable to shift my eyes - how the feeling and atmosphere of any single moment has been achieved is remarkable. Great video & I'm really enjoying your return!
Dreamlike Haze is the most perfect definition I'd use to describe watching that series as a child, and in a way most of their map or lab gameplays. This is a truly fascinating outlook, honestly. God bless ya and Jesus loves ya, man, thank you for your comment
Brilliant video! My favorite is and will probably always be the early Dream SMP, but that is largely due to nostalgia. Good job at making an almost hour long Minecraft video while always having something important to say. Like you said, those are rare to come by.
HAHAHAHAHAHA thank you! I'm glad you thought my analysis here was somewhat salient, if nothing else, and that you picked up on the self-deprecating tone of that aside!
really surprised that there was no mention of the Yogscast, as far as I'm aware they were the first to make scripted Minecraft content, I still remember my friend telling me about Shadow of Israphel and him thinking it was an adventure map. The Tekkit series was also amazing, it was a combination of scripted and let's play, with basically every member of the Yogscast doing something in the world. I feel like the Blackrock Chronicles was such a crazy story at the time, Rythian and Zoey had very little contact with the main Jaffa crew and was as far as I'm aware entirely scripted. 2012 was an great time to be a Minecraft fan
Someone made a skyblock civilization movie, and I LOVE the fact that kids can grow up watching these incredible story videos. However, that skyblock video had some plotholes and infuriating moments which I won't get into... But as I watched and yelled at the screen, I realized, holy crap, I'm actually invested in this. They tricked me into enjoying scripted minecraft content!!!! But I guarantee there'll be more vids like that and I'm SO excited for them. I love how the future of mc yt content looks right now.
If you're talking about the one I think you're talking about then I get where you're coming from. Honestly, I think Joofy's long form vids are the definition of filler sometimes. He mostly shines in his shorter vids that mostly focus on him getting bullied and getting revenge or getting screwed over in the end. He's got so much potential that if he had Evbo_'s focus he would surpass him in no time. In the meantime, we at least always have joll and conk for peak fiction in minecraft storytelling.
I do think there's something to working within constraints. As long as it bends to the irony plague you're probably right about gameplay-based stories, but that's true for anything. Who wants a story its own author doesn't even believe in? To be honest I assumed there were lots of stories like Whitepine and I just didn't know about them because I wasn't looking. If Whitepine is really a new and rare concept it's depressing it took 15 years to get this far.
Oh, absolutely. I think you’re definitely right- don’t know if I articulated this well enough or not, but a big part of the charm of stories like Parkour Civilization is that it takes those constraints and hard-bakes them into the world in such a way that they no longer function like hard and fast restrictions. The irony plague is definitely a problem in storytelling and culture in general, though, not just Minecraft TH-cam stuff. And as for Whitepine, there’s definitely a lot more projects with a similar philosophy nowadays, and even back in the day I’m sure there were plenty of roleplay-driven stories that approached a similar level of quality. My main goal there, though, was to underscore how Ivory is pushing Minecraft to the brink as a filmmaking medium by using a lot of newly developed tools and mods that have really democratized the space and made it that much easier for stuff like Whitepine to be made in the first place. I personally think you’re right that the space hasn’t really come all that far yet in the grand scheme of things, but hey, long ways to go yet, yeah? Thanks for commenting.
This comment is gonna be a long one but I'd like to talk about two hugely successful Scripted Minecraft series from the past and how they nearly changed how stories were told in Minecraft. First is SamGladiator and the Yandere High School series, honestly some of the jokes in this series nowadays were definitely not for kids and at least the first season is rarely scripted. You talked about some of Unstable Universe being filler and I'd say Yandere High School has a lot of it which makes it difficult to rewatch. The enjoyment of Yandere High School largely comes from the natural funny interactions between Sam, Taurtis, Grian, and the rest of the characters. The eventual dissolution of those relationships eventually led to the series dying in later seasons though. The few story beats that did exist were actually pretty solid and made me feel emotion, at least as a kid. The biggest minecraft roleplay youtuber of all time to this day is Aphmau, I largely saw MyStreet season 1 as the footage showcase here but the way it and by extension the highschool MyStreet series evolved over time was very impressive as a viewer back then. The story took itself seriously, had character arcs, used animation, had amazing and changing settings (especially Season 2 and 4) and had long term arcs. It's not exactly my kind of genre nowadays but it feels like the highest minecraft roleplay was ever taken to its limits, at least before whitepine according to what you're saying about it. (I haven't seen it yet) Aphmau also started several other series but the issue from what I know is that they simply weren't as profitable, the stuff Aphmau was doing especially towards the end of MyStreet definitely required over a dozen people to work on things simultaneously, eventually Aphmau found success with far easier content and that's what's propelled her to her position today. I get why the change happened but as a viewer it felt like a void was left for storytelling in minecraft, which of course only intensified between 2017-2018. Because of this when Minecraft was revived the new standard for storytelling as you said was pretty much defined by the DreamSMP. I'm sure a few youtubers back then evolving in certain ways could've eventually lead to a far more thriving storytelling scene but that's in the past, at least now in the future there's a chance that Minecraft Storytelling can reach the peaks it once did, It's been nice to see people taking some aspects of Evbos Parkour Civilization serious at least. (also I'll just mention Slimecicles 100 days Zombie Apocalypse has pretty great storytelling as well) I had a ton of thoughts on this and now felt like the perfect time to get them out. Its great to see you return, some of your documentaries inspired me years ago and I'm glad they're back, I agree with this videos message and good luck to anyone who wants to make their own Minecraft stories. :)
Thanks so much for sharing such an incredibly detailed and thorough perspective on the tradition of Minecraft storytelling! I definitely agree that Yandere High and Aphmau cast a really long shadow in the genre- one of my major concerns with this video was that the lens of analogy through which I examined the history of scripted Minecraft content was that it was too reductive and not detailed/thorough enough. It means a lot to hear that even my older works were able to provide you with inspiration in some small form or fashion, and I appreciate the kind words more than you can ever know.
I really liked the analysis in this video. And so I'm also gonna tell ya about one of my favorite series which is a semi-scripted minecraft Let's Play series made by "MrLololoshka" and his team, it's a Russian channel with over 10 million subscribers, and they basically have been making a series of Let's Plays with over 500+ episodes for about 3-4 years now, it's a 1 global story that is basically made by a bunch of people for 1 person (the youtuber himself) to play and enjoy (and well, record and upload videos of it to the channel lol). MrLololoshka himself doesnt know the script so he's basically like us, the viewers but instead of watching he's the one to play and interact with the characters and environment in the story. It has english subtitles so i recommend checking it out, i have never seen anybody else make something simillar to his (their) content, so it is pretty special i would say, hah. To the people that read this comment, have a good day/night!
I absolutely love the Unstable Universe series, I’ve stayed up hours watching Parrots videos along with Wemmbu’s and Spoke’s as well. It’s super unrealistic for sure, but it tells an amazing story that I always want to know what happens in the end and what is gonna happen next. Btw it’s called Unstable Universe I believe because it has people from different sides of the Minecraft servers/smp’s
as a roleplayer, you learn to embrace the cringe, there are always people there who enjoy it the very, VERY, first Scripted SMP i can think of was when Cube SMP took a turn towards a roleplay way back when, with npcs placed around the place with some quests. Then it seemed to fade into obscurity till Dream SMP came around, and then more people were like "yeah i can do that" you are 100% correct here, it is about the performing arts, thats the way it always has been. Not sure how different it is typically but in my experience we have always simply been told how the story moves, true scripting is generally rare, it is just guided improv. I hope Whitepine gives attention to the smaller creators who have truly been treating Minecraft like the art it is, we have always been here, we have always been telling stories for the sake of telling stories. They've just been overshadowed and forgotten by the ultimate authority of the TH-cam algorithm. Yeah they may cringe, but its genuinely fun to do, its fun to see the small communities of only a few hundred cry over something you wrote, its fun to record and mess around the moment you've ended up off camera, its fun to sit there in a vc with the fellow writers with evil little schemes, it's fun to voice and make a character your own, and its fun to see the final piece we spent hours creating.
i get what you mean about embracing the cringe, I have my own smp with my friends, it isn't recorded or streamed, but is still so very important to our hearts. We roleplay in call, talk about our characters and lore, and yes, I often feel very geeky for it. but is genuinely so enjoyable for me and all of my friends. I used to actually have a streamed smp so I also understand that
@ one of the SMPs i started some people are dragons and everyone who decided to become dragon has fully embraced their inner Just A Lil Guy and it is the cutest thing ever
Yes! You get it! You actually got it! Thank you so much! Means a lot for someone to actually see what I was doing here with the multifaceted punchline ad appreciate it for what it is.
@@FrostbyteFreeman-.-You're welcome. I know what it's like to Set up something clever, multi-layered, and well thought out, only for no one to comment on it, and thus infer no one got it. They're honestly my favorite types of jokes. They don't normally make me burst out in laughter, but I like the thinky think.
This may be true, but calling Parrot and Evbo's works "bad" and "ugly" doesn't make sense. This isn't about the problem with scripted minecraft content. Its not about the problems with scripted Minecraft content, but about the untapped potential, and what it could be.
What defines a "scripted Minecraft content"? And does "scripted Minecraft content" mean the same as "scripted Minecraft story"? Based on the earlier parts of the video, it seems like a "scripted _Minecraft_ content" is an all-encompassing term that is defined as a _Minecraft_ recording that is purposefully directed, acted, and edited to tell a written work. Note that Minecraft is essential in defining this term. If we remove Minecraft from the equation then we'll just get "scripted content" which is even more general. With that information, I think that there's a very clear distinction between Whitepine and the other two works mentioned apart from "content" vs "art". Whitepine is a drama told using Minecraft as a medium that should be able to stand by its own, while the other two are works told as events (Unstable Universe) or an epic (Parkour Civilization) that happens in Minecraft, that cannot work without Minecraft. One is told _using_ Minecraft, the other two are told _in_ Minecraft. In terms of the definition I personally believe that Whitepine is the worst among the three mentioned "scripted Minecraft content" because it relies on Minecraft the least. This doesn't mean that Whitepine itself is a bad work, its just that categorizing it as a "scripted Minecraft content" is quite inappropriate since it should be able to stand by its own without Minecraft.
Of course! Went back through and added them to all my videos, haha. TH-cam makes it so unbelievably easy to do it now that there's genuinely no reason not to, and it's just better for the sake of accessibility.
This feels like it used to be better. Back in the day, proper filmmaking in video games was called machinimas. I feel like people are just looking in the wrong direction. As a child I used to watch a lot of machinima channels that did full on tv series (which I'd rather not mention here because uh... I definitely do not want to promote russian channels lol). Whitepine is by every single vibe and definition specifically a machinima.
@@AmberAugustReal Both personal discomfort on account of me being Ukrainian and because I do not trust most channels (and especially that channel in particular) to not want me dead.
keeping it so real, i clicked on this video expecting C-tier brainrot (mainly because most minecraft metacommentary videos are heavily drama-centric), but i'm halfway through and im blown away by how critically these stories are being analyzed. You're taking these thoughts ive had swirling as an unabashed Minecraft kid and distilling them in this academic thesis and i gotta applaud you for that. Approaching minecraft rp as an art and as legitimate storytelling is a step i really respect this video for taking. overall, this is turning out to be a sincerely well researched video essay, and it will be going into my list of recommendations. You've got some seriously good media literacy and video production skills. I like what you have to say! subscribing for brain nourishment 👍
HAHAHAHAHAHA thank you so much! In this endless sea of rot and mere consumption, being called a source of nourishment is the highest honor one can receive. I'm glad you found my analysis to be at least somewhat insightful, if nothing like this- kind words like these mean more than you can ever possibly know!
In my opinion, Parrot’s unstable series was really enjoyable to watch and I don’t see a problem with it. In fact, I don’t see a problem with scripted content in general. The problem for me only comes when the videos are not clear about it being scripted and fake elements of it. But overall, scripted content is really entertaining for me.
I wish I could get into unstable. It just feels so dragged out sometimes with big fights that go on forever with no one dying and that cycle repeating several times every half hour. Ironically, for me, if the server was life steal instead of hardcore then there might have been actual stakes because people could die and face consequences without it being the end of the line for them.
@@Flunium Lifesteal has higher inherent stakes because of the "ticking clock" pressure. As it is now, from what I saw unstable has lots of long, drawn out battles that end up in people running away 80% of the time instead of there being conclusive ends to the battles. This was especially visible when they were trying to break wifies out of prison and it gave the feeling that nobody could really actually die thus lowering stakes. In a life steal environment, there are more stakes because you can die AND suffer consequences for those deaths. Each death makes you weaker and can provide meaningful conclusions to fights that have repercussions later down the line for the heroes and villains which can force characters to make unique and interesting choices based on the resources they have to work with heartwise. Its essentially a way to add stakes to take advantage of the unique environment that minecraft provides through lifesteal instead of hardcore. One life to live can make plot armor suuuuuuper visible, but since this isn't real life you can take advantage of the unique gamemode to change the stakes and make it inherently more engaging to more people and open up unique writing opportunities that could only be accomplished in this format.
a German Minecraft TH-camr I've watched since I was a kid often made cinematic creations in Minecraft. Some were Minecraft stories he was telling, others were wholey original His name is HerrBergmann
i love cinematic "scripted" minecraft and i fully intend on creating something of my own. minecraft is just such an easy way to express a story, whitepine is a great example of that. another good example is Twisted Rainbow by FavreMySabre. while the story may not make much sense to people who hadn't watched its predecessor "the steve saga", it's still a very enjoyable series to watch and is pretty interesting to see how sabre developed his cinematic skills throughout the episodes, going from first person scripted content (something similar to parkour civilisation) to something resembling an anime.
Thanks for the comment and the recommendation. I appreciated getting to see your perspective on the matter of Minecraft storytelling, and I wish you the very best with your future storytelling endeavors!
I originally put on this video kinda ironically as background noise, to fall asleep to, but i couldn't stop myself from actually just listening to it. Once it was revealed that the ugly section was parkour civilisation, I was a little disappointed because I had this lingering feeling that whatever the good section was, it either didnt exist or this entire video was a long winded self promo of your own series of some sort. when the good section finally came around, I decided to pick up my phone again, and im so glad I did. That's all really. Thank you for making this surprisingly insightful video and keeping me up for an extra hour, or potentially a couple more if i can't resist the temptation to check out whitepine right now.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm happy you gave this video a chance as something a little more than just ironic background noise, and that you came around on it in the end. I'm also very happy to hear I was able to convince you to give Whitepine a chance, too! Hopefully I didn't keep you up too late.
Only thing I can see wrong with what you said about Whitepine is the difference between it being a Minecraft film, and a film WITHIN minecraft. Saying Whitepine is related to Minecraft is like saying that The Two Towers is an Arriflex 435 movie. It devalues the idea of it being just...a movie, by intrinsically tying it TO Minecraft, when its SO MUCH MORE than just that. I know that's kind of what you are saying, but the title reflects something ENTIRELY different. Whitepine is art made WITH Minecraft. Not in it. It uses the natural strengths and limitations to create genuine art.
I feel like there isn't that much of a distinction between saying "Whitepine is art made WITH Minecraft" and "Whitepine is art made IN" Minecraft- you're drawing out this very tenuous tension between our perspectives and contentions that doesn't actually exist, because I completely agree with you. An animated movie exists within the medium of animation; is it inaccurate to refer to Minecraft as a medium in a similar fashion? I don't think it is, anyways.
@@FrostbyteFreeman The way I see it, the difference is that unlike the other two, Whitepine has nothing to do conceptually with minecraft. It's a great story set within the framing of minecraft, but not much would change if you removed the "minecraft" part and replaced it with traditional animation. If you remove the "minecraft" from parkour civilization the whole concept falls apart.
@@FrostbyteFreeman The thing is, Minecraft itself is a fictional world with a set of rules. Basing your setting in Minecraft has the unique benefit of explaining away things like health, barrier blocks, not being able to climb up walls with yknow, your *arms*, etc. Using Minecraft as a medium is one thing, using Minecraft as a basis for your fictional world is another thing, and I think this is a meaningful distinction.
@svenkristensson6573 I don't really see the point in trying to rank how vital minecraft itself was in the telling of these stories, I would still say that minecraft is classifiable as its own medium whether the context of the game is used or not. Just like how the mediums of stop motion, 3d animation, and 2d animation all have their own strengths and limitations that you work with or around in telling a story, minecraft has its own set of strengths and weaknesses that sets it apart from these. There are insane minecraft builders that have stretched the game to its artistic limits that don't engage in other mediums of art, and you don't need to. Traditional art itself has hundreds of mediums that you can use independently or together, and that doesn't take away from the fact that those are all their own mediums in which art is made.
@@woomynation reminder that the thesis of the video is that whitepine is better than the other two *because* it ignores minecraft, and that's the context for this whole argument
I have never heard of whitepine until now, but holy hell. That montage of clips almost made me cry. Not because it was "just so moving" or whatever, but because it really shows the passion and care that people put forth through the screen, the cinematography, the builds. Not everyone can afford a film camera, not everyone can afford a game; But art doesnt have to be created through a traditional medium. And I think thats one of the most beautiful things ive ever heard... Even though its super cheesy. ;] PS: This was an interesting video, as an appreciator of film, art, and the greater human experience - Thank you.
I definitely think the reason White Pine is so popular is because of how slow and atmospheric it is, life is so quick and fast-paced these days, especially with social media. White Pine is sort of a reminder and a breath of fresh air for us that simple and quiet isn't always something to be afraid of. You feel alive while watching it.
Interestingly the Hungarian minecraft youtube community made a few, hour long movies using the game around 6-8 years ago. They even had a brief theatrical run in some smaller cinemas in the country. (they're still up on youtube on a channel titled MineCinema)
I dont know If you'll see this but I am so appreciative that you made this video. Filmmaking and art as a whole is one of my biggest passions and something that I love seeing the acknowledgement of the Minecraft machinima community (Films like Whitepine). Machinimas like this have been around for years and I've seen it inspire so many people, however I hate that people immediately reject this style of art being made in a video game and call it "cringe". So thank you for bringing this to the forefront and letting people know about this, there are so many machinimas that people are missing out on, and I hope they get more recognition.
There's kind of an interesting point with content SMP. After I started watching multiple creators perspectives I realised just how different a story could seem depending on perspective. At least some of that is definitely because of the constraints of content making and needing to act like you're the main character so you're video works well, but I think it's also (perhaps unintentionally) a pretty interesting example of how perspective shapes how we see events, which I think is well exemplified by the sentiment "in content SMP there are no heroes" which I often see in the community.
I think that's a pretty valid point! The Dream SMP was definitely the most extreme example of that protagonist-centric problem within the form, and Content SMP suffers from it to a much lesser extent, but I mentioned it (very briefly, and without much nuance mind you) simply to indicate that a new version of the same problem still exists to this day.
Thanks for putting me onto whitepine, I paused this video to binge it shortly after you started talking about it cause it seemed interesting, and wow that was so worth it.
No, thank you! I'm very honored you took my recommendation to heart- glad to hear you enjoyed the series so far! I've talked at considerable length about Whitepine, so if you couldn't tell already, it's a subject I share a serious passion for.
Parkour civilization is a good minecraft story Whitepine is a good story like if Parkour civilization was made live action you'd have so many questions like "why can they place chunks of materials, why can they store all these materials ect." If whitepine was made live action you wouldn't bat an eye... I think it's weird to compare them and say whitepine is "the good" cause it's a more conventional story and way of telling it
Yeah, I'd say it even makes Whitepine unappealing because it's hindered and abstracted by the form of Minecraft making the drama and emotion feel unclear and hollow. Whereas Parkour Civilization is born from the medium making it the perfect(and really only way) to tell the story.
I stopped my entire channel for a lot of the reasons you touched in this video. I felt like the videos I actually wanted to make would perform so poorly they were pointless so I would unlist them - yet idk, I guess this video inspired me a lot. Nobody should stop being creative simply because of the performance.
I'm sorry you felt compelled to abandon your creative aspirations simply because of algorithmic concerns. Even if your passion has faded and you no longer want to make videos, if nothing else, you owe it to yourself to let your work stand on its own two feet. I unlisted a lot of my old videos too, because I was embarrassed by their low quality, but when you create a thing, you let it go, and it belongs to the world. Your creations deserved a chance, and I'm sorry they didn't get one. Thank you for commenting, and I'm glad this video helped inspire you, at least a little.
I have a big dream of creating my own story through minecraft someday. Since i was a kid i would play the game and create narratives to my gameplays in head. Im commited to it but i dont really know where to start, plus i have some other issues, for example that english isnt my first language, and while actively talking i make mistakes. Im trying to figure that out, and i hope that one day ill manage to tell a story through this beloved game of mine! Besides, that was a really great video! I recently watched whitepine, and i was so so so much impressed by it so ill definitely come back for the video about it.
That's so cool! There's never been a better time to try your hand at storytelling through Minecraft, with so many new tools, mods, and creative capabilities within the game itself to accentuate your storytelling! The best way to begin is by beginning. Figure out the story you want to tell through your gameplay, and the rest can follow from there! Even if your English isn't perfect, and you can't perfectly recreate the ideas you have inside your head on the first try, who said your first try had to be perfect anyways? I wish you the best of luck with your creative endeavors, and thank you so much for sharing your dream with me!
Sure! Here's a corrected version of your text: When I heard that Efbo was now making a PvP Civilization, I started joking about how we should make a parody called Speedrun Civilization. But then, as I actually started writing it, I realized I wanted to take it seriously. I wanted to create a story worth telling, a story worth hearing. I hope I’ll be able to make this with my friends and that it doesn’t end up becoming just another unfinished project, because I genuinely want to make something good.
Really interesting analysis. I’m wondering what your thoughts were on quackity‘s last couple of dsmp lore streams because those felt really much closer to movies than the rest of the dsmp. Being fully pre recorded and with cinematic angles and stuff. Also the plot about Q teaching Slime how to be human in a way which revealed c!quackity’s warped world view and slimes apparently innocent questions gently poking holes in q‘s way of thinking. That shit was so good. They seem to be much closer to what the video says makes good scripted Minecraft content. Though maybe you haven’t watched them?? Which probably makes sense since by the time they came out the dsmp was definitely declining.
Yeah by around that point I was starting to become completely disconnected from Minecraft and the surrounding community entirely, as my very spotty upload history will show. That's a very interesting argument, though, and I did have some inkling of an idea that Quackity's lore streams were trending in a more cinematic direction. And while as an isolated example it's a very interesting case, within the broader context of the Dream SMP there's still the overarching problem of how it slots into everything else, I fear- stuff like that still runs the risk of getting lost in all the noise. Thanks for the comment, though, and for letting me know!
What a well crafted analysis video! I started watching, fearing that this was going to be one of those lackluster videos that didn’t offer any actual analysis, but BOY HOWDY I AM SO GLAD I'M WRONG! If I had to recommend a Minecraft scripted roleplay to get into, especially after the breath of fresh air that is Whitepine, I would highly recommend Azora by The Invisible Davis studios, in conjunction with Queen Kat Productions! It's a cinematic, original fantasy roleplay with high stakes, mysteries, and some mature themes all wrapped in its 8 episode run. Its on hiatus now, but Davis and Kat are revamping the series and may have more info on what it looks like soon!
Glad I was able to disprove your preconceived notions about my work, and that you found my analysis at least somewhat salient- that's a very kind compliment, and I appreciate it so much! I'll definitely take your recommendation into account, too, since I'm always on the lookout for more high quality storytelling within the form! Thanks again for leaving a comment, I really appreciated hearing your perspective and getting to see a little more about your tastes when it comes to Minecraft storytelling through the recommendation you gave!
Actually, there has been 'minecraft as a movie' for quite some time, it just apparently hasn't been as prominent in the english minecraft sphere. The biggest example I can give are the works of a german youtuber called "Herr Bergmann", but there are also others like "Excute" (also german, as I'm german myself and therefore only really encountered german channels). For english speaking channels, there is a channel called The1ToFear, which made a few very good looking mc movies Edit: well more like 'movies in minecraft'
What's really neat about this whole discussion is the literal origins of gaming content on the web. It was all just tutorials and gameplay montages, until machinima became a thing. Stuff like Red vs Blue revolutionized the scene by using games exactly as you described; as a means to tell a story. Hell, machinima itself is literally a portmanteau of "machine" and "cinema". It's truly ironic how content started straying away from that, just to start circling back
The lack of scripted whitepine-like (or better, with 3D, mods, custom models and such) content in english mcyt is devastating for me. I grew up watching countless series that grew and improved on each other in russian speaking mcyt and when abandoning it in 2021, when i fell into the dsmp pit, i realized that... there's nothing here. There is nothing on the english, international, mcyt that even barely matches the technical quality. Look up passerine adaptation to see what i mean. Or Крестоносец . I grew up on such content and i feel incredibly sad that there isn't much of it in English. I truly hope that people appreciate whitepine and see the possibility of Minecraft to create stories in a more "poetic" sort of way, artistic way.
i think unstable universe has improved SO MUCH over the time that it's been made, when i watched the first video of his on unstable, i enjoyed it, though didn't enjoy it as much as his older videos before he went to scripted content, and the views the video had reflects that most people probably thought the same. his 2nd video, though not perfect, i think was a great improvement. I loved watching it, though i would still only watch it at 30-60 minutes at a time, and looking back at it, it did lack a huge part that made it a story, and not just interesting and entertaining things only trying to be a scripted minecraft video. I think his most recent video changed that. it was definitely one of the best minecraft videos i have seen, and a HUGE improvement from the rest. it's crazy to me how much they've already improved in a few months. it's definitely not the quality of some big movie, but i think it's proof that there's been a consistent improvement in the videos over time. I think one of the things i love about unstable is that they stay to the base survival-mode of the game, it's interesting to me seeing them have creative concepts, while still sticking to the boundaries of what's possible in the actual game. I also don't quite understand the criticism for it sticking to that, because you could say the same for most things. if it's a negative to stick to Minecraft survival and be creative and tell stories in that, why isn't it a negative to stick to Minecraft as a whole?
While that’s very kind of you to say, Doppio, and I appreciate such high praise, the whole point of this video is that you can’t stop trying! Complacency is the biggest desease that plagues content creation! You have to try to get better and interact more critically with the art and entertainment you’re engaging with! Even I am not beyond scrutiny!
I feel like Parrot’s videos are like Hallmark movies for Minecraft players Like I appreciate the time and effort put into them, especially the builds, but they all feel tailor made to appease the algorithm and get as much views and watch time as possible I do hope to see them improve in their storytelling and whatnot though I’d love to watch more of Parrots videos once they become more than glorified background noise ^v^ (I swear that wasn’t meant to be an insult ;-;)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh, my sides. That first line absolutely decimated me. You're so right, and you should say it- I totally agree that there's a lot of undeniable craft and artistry poured into the builds and set-pieces, but it's the way those set pieces are employed within the broader context of the narrative that leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. The problem is in the execution, and I find the execution itself to be insipid and pandering. I didn't think this was insulting, I think it was exactly accurate and I completely concur. Thanks so much for a good laugh and a really great comment! I appreciate getting insight into your own perspective on the matter, too!
I love this video. This was where I really understood other people's perspective on their opinion about these tales. Out of all these parts, what stood out for me the most is your insight for parrot. As a person who hates cliff hangers, it felt like Parrot's stories were like something for me to watch before going to sleep. It's long in a way that it keeps me watching. I never knew if they were ever really connected; but once I realized it wasn't, there was nothing for me to hold on yet the CONTENT itself. I enjoyed the one where they were trying to find spoke, and the other one where they were stuck in proton, since it had the endings I didn't expect of. There was also another hour long story that was made by Planetlord and him. It was short yet entertaining like it should be. Parrot's stories were like "tales of the untold" from the dream smp, yet longer and dragged out. Parkour civilization really had progression, and went pretty well. As from what I know, Evbo has a new series called pvp civilization which is somehow similar to parkour civilization. Whitepine is a series of mystery, which was a new concept for me; looking at Ivory's film making and the music she composed already meant that she had what it took to be what she wanted to portray. Overall, this was a video that I truly agreed with. All of these works are amazing, having the passion to make these with a mind full of vivid ideas, and portraying these out of a blocky game.
Thank you so much for the comment and the kind words, I'm very happy to hear that you appreciated my perspective on the matter! And I totally agree with your analysis on Parrot's work, too- the quasi-episodic structure feels like narrative fence-sitting, and I just wish he'd pick a lane because a lot of the concepts and core ideas could be super compelling if he just honed his craft.
That's what I find most frustrating of all. The builds, concepts, and set pieces are very well crafted on a technical level. What I don't find as compelling is the execution, and the way these set pieces are employed within the narrative.
Personally I love ARGs But when I watch regular gameplay content (SMPs, singleplayer survival etc) I tend to enjoy partially-scripted work For example: SoupSoup is in a normal survival lets play, but he has an Axolotl named Gill who causes some chaos. Gill is the only scripted part of the series (besides ideas on what projects to do and when) and the Gill segments are some of the audience's favorite parts. Also, Hermitcraft s10, the snails. Grian and Gem saying "the snails just do stuff" 😂 its clearly not true, its 100% absolutely Grian and Gem doing the snail things But it all happens off-camera and its some of the very little content that is scripted in Hermitcraft (as far as I can tell anyway.)
Actually, another example from HC s10: Skizz doing minecraft sins (like leaving floating trees) and Tango popping in with a jumpscare like "HEY BUDDY, dont be that guy" 😂 Skizz shows bloopers of it, so we know its scripted, but its hilarious 😂
When the video brings the film nerd in you back from a year ago. I love when I find videos that were made by people with an understanding of the intricacies of film and especially what goes into a production. If I had the proper resources I would definitely be using minecraft to tell my stories, because its the perfect medium to express a story and also show your understanding of film creation. And I'm just going to end my comment by saying, I highly appreciate anyone who understands film composition and when people can tell someone else understands it because they applied it in their video, because it is not all that common to find people who can apply it well. People in my media class still have trouble applying it correctly and understanding some of the stuff we've been taught, which mostly made me realize even more that I'm advanced in learning because I grasp these concepts so quickly.
Filmmaking in Minecraft has become more accessible than ever thanks to an increasing variety of tools and mods- so long as you have the game and a device capable of running it, rendering, and editing, you can pretty much get started for free. Glad my analysis here spoke to your own passion for film, that's what I hoped to accomplish with this little back-to-back double feature I put out.
"but for how long they are they're painfully stagnant. and that, to me, is the real problem" "most people rejected his message. they hated jesus because he told them the truth" unstable has always been a huge can of worms for me. ive watched almost all of one video of it (the most secure prison escape one) and i was barely able to make it through it. the video was just painfully repetitive and almost seemed like it forgot to give any personality or goals to the characters (youre stronger than me for watching all the episodes for research holy moly). im super into the lifesteal/smp fandom (lurking, not actively posting) and unstable uni has always been pretty highly praised and loved and i felt like i was missing something. and i came in with such high expectations and was so ready to give it an honest shot. i was already a big fan of most of the creators that act in it. i was in such an easy position to like the series but it just fell so short and i was genuinely confused, mostly because of something that i didnt see mentioned that i felt like really has a place in the conversation: the search for the lost totem. its a fully, unabashedly scripted hour long film made by parrot and planetlord that predates unstable by about 4 months and it is wonderful. it was originally intended to be a series, but sadly got cancelled due to meta monetization issues make it unsustainable. its definitely a little rough around the edges but its so full of soul, effort, and can easily be called a work of art in the same way whitepine is. unstable feels like a regression and its so weird?? tsftlt is definitely one of the videos that are more "film that just so happens to be made in minecraft" than a more unstable-esque "film that is inseparably linked to its medium of minecraft" but in terms of just story (stuff like characterization, emotional effect, stakes, etc.) tsftlt is just... better? more engaging? endearingly earnest? why is unstable, which came after, markedly more boring and shallow? is it because of planetlords involvement? he hasnt made any more scripted films afaik. its clear parrot is capable of telling better stories, so why isnt he? the wasted potential is sad and im rooting for unstable to get better. i also think openly scripted "lore smps" should have been discussed (ex. kaboodle and showtime smp i think) i havent really watched a lot of them because they personally dont appeal to me but ive heard very high praise for them and the way theyre more performing arts livestream-based instead of multiple takes video-edited other scripted stuff is. also parkour civ sillies: you guys are actually taking it seriously? i mean genuine props to everyone who is because literary analysis is awesome but when i found it back last december i wrote it off as "funny-bad semi-satire on ya dystopia with a target audience of 9 year olds in minecraft" and i enjoyed it half-ironically as such. also im into 'real' technical mc parkour so seeing no inventories opened by the supposed champions and gods was really funny. more thoughts on minecraft storytelling in general: it is such a phenomenal medium of storytelling because it lowers the barrier to filmmaking entry by so much. one of the main appeals of scripted mc stuff is that a beginner with no resources but drive can come out of the gate swinging and instantly be able to create top level stuff in a way you cant with typical filmmaking because of budget restraints. it doesnt require thousands or millions of dollars in cgi to make a movie set in floating islands or a crew of tens with drones to get the aerial camera angles right or a professional tailor to sew every unique fantasy outfit idea. you can build anything you want in creative, you can just move your mouse in flashback/replay or make a skin in a few hours in a free program. small filmmakers arent restricted anymore and i just think thats wonderful. i dunno this is mostly just unfiltered yapping to hopefully boost this vid in the algorithm because it was fantastic and touched upon a lot of important stuff no one else has really considered before. hit the nail on the head with this one. great stuff have a good day
Gosh darn it, as an artist myself (not a TH-camr nor a content creator), this video reasoned with me a lot more than what I thought, even though I don't make Minecraft videos or anything like (although I do enjoy them a lot). Something I adore about these Minecraft content creators is their creativity when making stories, and the ways they use the medium of Minecraft to make it possible. It's just that a lot of time their potential is wasted or unexplored (Parkour Civilization 😔), perhaps because sometimes they haven't acquired the experience needed to make it, but I feel like that most of the time is just like what you said during the video, they are scared pushing further it's story because they don't want to be deemed as cringe by others due to the medium the use. Minecraft is a very powerful tool for storytelling with thousands of mods at its disposal and community people passionate about it, but I feel like the problem comes with how other people outside the community view it. Most of the time these people's only see these scripted or roleplay videos as something childish/cringe or something that only kids can enjoy it (exploiting it for that same reason and only viewing it as a tool for making money), therefore disregarding it's potential for art and filmmaking, and making the people who wants to use it that way be embarrassed for trying to make something serious out of it. But no matter how cringe a story is, as long as they put effort and passion towards it, I will alway enjoy it and support them, because as any other artistic person, we can always learn and improve our crafts. And to be honest I am very glad that there are other people who think like that as well, because Minecraft (as I stated previously) is an amazing tool for making up stories, and I'm so glad that there are people who aren't afraid to show their creations to the world through it! (Lmao sorry if something reads weird, english is not my first language and I didn't know how to explain my thoughts in a coherent way without making it sound weird xD)
I thought this comment was very articulate, and I'm glad this video resonated with you on such a deeply personal level! Thank you for your comment, and for sharing your passion for Minecraft as a storytelling medium with me, too! I appreciated the perspective.
@@FrostbyteFreeman It's a joke on how youtube video essays tend to jump to some far past concepts and tie them into what the video is about "To understand the culture of toilets, we need to go back to the prehistoric era." like stuff. I remember there being some parody video about this.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like cinematography and sincerity are Frost's main problems with scripted minecraft content. If being "constrained" by minecraft's mechanics is a bad thing then just watch something that isn't made in minecraft?
Yes, its a bit of a weird argument imo cus like for most audiences of scripted minecraft videos the whole appeal is that it happens IN the minecraft world. I dont necessarily see whitepine as being better than parkciv or unstable universe just bc it doesnt acknowledge that its made in a minecraft world. Idk. It might just be a matter of taste
Man, I put this video on in the background while making pancakes yet the ending has nearly made me cry. Bravo, what a fantastic video. I adore and applaud just how truly passionate you are about art and your words have truly resonated to me as an aspiring artist and story teller. Granted, I'm unsure if I'll be making stories in Minecraft any time soon but the way you speak and your commentary is so good that it applies to much more than just Minecraft (at least in my eyes). You have genuinely got me re-evaluating how I view art (well, more so just widened my horizons and made me consider new things i haven't before). My only complaint is that I wish you would've gone a bit more into detail on stuff like Parrot's videos and everything as whole because I am rather clueless on that area (only having really watched Parkour Civilisation and Dream SMP when I was younger). Advice I've been given is that it is typically best to write essays under the assumption the reader/viewer doesn't know what you're talking about because some people curious about the subject might be partially or completely clueless about the topic and will be left in some confusion, but nevertheless fantastic work. I will be looking forward to watching more of your, well, calling it "content" now would be somewhat insulting so let's call it what it is, art.
Thank you! I'm glad this video managed to elicit such a sincere emotional reaction from you, and that you found my commentary to be somewhat salient. Regarding the section on Unstable Universe and Parkour Civilization, I skipped over background on both because this essay was written *to the form itself,* hence the presumption that the subjects were already understood, but you're right that it was remiss of me not to provide a broader perspective. I'll try to do better next time.
Hi, Blockbuster mod and BBS mod creator here. It really sucks that you didn’t mention even once any machinimas... 😢 Like most of Herr Bergmann’s stuff are spectacles. Ethobot’s earliest videos are art. I would agree that a lot of machinimas aren’t to the level of art, but the same way there could be only one Whitepine.
Zeemyth is to me another amazing contender for scripted Minecraft content. Whilst he does lean into an ARG style in his videos, nonetheless, even without needing to analyse and decode any ciphers, riddles, or links, you can always still see An amazing story and amazing execution, all in Minecraft.
The funniest thing is that I literally just got done watching all of Parrot’s Unstable Universe videos last night. I started watching at the start of this week and binged all 25 hours. I, like you mentioned, was at first playing Minecraft while the videos were on in the background. It wasn’t until the end of the second video that I literally became utterly obsessed with the storyline. From that point forward, I watched every single second. To me, it felt as though it was honestly going way too fast because that’s how much I genuinely enjoyed it. You’re right though, it does definitely have its flaws. Some parts felt incredibly lacking and somewhat underdeveloped. Some things that were incredibly important were then never brought up again. It just kind of left holes in the story instead of feeling like everything is supposed to tie together. I love each arc in the story, but as you said, some things feel really drawn out and unnecessary. I also really like your point on the character vs content creator. I FEEL THE SAME WAY!!! It’s really difficult for me to view them differently because the characters aren’t super duper fleshed out or created specifically for the series. I do have to disagree about not knowing ANYTHING about the characters though. There’s definitely indirect characterization happening that genuinely does help show the personalities of each character every episode, even though it may be small at times. Idk, I am incredibly hyperfixated on it so I’m possibly overthinking every little detail. Anyway, it was very interesting hearing someone else’s drastically different views on the same series that I personally am currently crazy over. (So sorry if this didn’t make sense either. I am not a good writer, so getting how I feel into words is difficult. Sorry for the yap session lol.)
No need to apologize twice, or even once! I appreciated the comment, and it was good to read someone else's perspective, even (and perhaps especially) if it differs from my own. I'll gladly concede your point that there's some "incidental" characterization through character interactions in Unstable, but for *my* money, this incidental approach makes it hard to differentiate if the interactions are characterizing the content creator or the character they're playing. That's just me, though. Thanks again for the comment, and I appreciated the yapping!
Surprised to see no mention of Aphmau and her Mystreet/Minecraft Diaries series! I'd argue she set the blueprint and these SMPs deviated.. Edit: Got to your conclusion and saw some! I heavily encourage you to watch the Minecraft Diaries series and give your thoughts!
I'm more disappointed to see no one in the comments talk about her at all Because some of the things Aphmau did with Minecraft are actually incredible - they even have their own mods It makes it especially disappointing that they decided to fully animate the entire next (last?) season of MyStreet especially after not giving any updates for years Saying that as someone who really wanted to make Minecraft roleplay content *because* of MyStreet when I was younger
I very briefly mentioned her in the first chapter of the video during the course of the history lesson, and some of the MyStreet stuff makes an appearance there too! One of my biggest concerns with this script was that I didn't paint a detailed enough picture of the past to give appropriate context for Minecraft storytelling as a discipline, but I definitely agree that she and others like her were initially the ones setting the paradigm for the genre, a paradigm that eventually shifted to favor a different type of storytelling/content. Hopefully that contention still comes through in the video, though. Thanks again for the comment, and for the recommendation too!
this video was so beautifully made it had me tearing up man this in of itself is a form of art, the ability to evoke emotions with just simple words and thoughts about a silly block game.
Thank you for the kind words! I’m glad this video helped you come around on my point of view, and that it managed to evoke such an earnestly emotional reaction from you.
@@FrostbyteFreeman Well, the amount you like it is probably normal _considering how good it is._ I shared your video with a friend and, just off the thumbnail (before even watching it), they were like, "leave my white pine alone." It has to be good when even the quite kid jumps to prevent me from saying a word against it. Can't wait to watch it once my life settles down a bit.
@@lightning_11 When I said I liked Whitepine a normal amount I was moreso referring to the hour-long wall-to-wall yap session I devoted to the subject in the video after this one bahaha
When Minecraft is only used as an artform and the story doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Minecraft, then what's the reason to use Minecraft? The only one I can think of is ease of use. Making a full movie in Minecraft is far easier than filming and acting or animating. However, Minecraft looks significantly worse than making it the harder way. If someone is making a story that doesn't have anything to do with Minecraft, and they truly want to give it their all, then I could understand why they would rather use a different medium which looks way better.
I found your channel through your this is honestly the best minecraft video essay i have ever seen i found your channel through your 'bdubs is the goat video' and your videos are actually amazing and there is more room fore content like yours. Hope you keep making videos man, you deserve to go places. Also, can't wait to see your video on white pine you truly inspired me with this video
Thank you so much! That's seriously so kind of you to say- glad you found me from this most recent run, and that you've sincerely been enjoying my stuff! Praise this weighty means the world to me :)
I think a MASSIVE part of the future of minecraft storytelling is the mod flashback, you can genuine make some INSANELY good cinema stuff by using it. It's like replay mod but designed for making cinematic stuff
Absolutely! I didn't present this as clearly as I should have in the video, but Flashback and a lot of other recent tools developed for creatives working within Minecraft have made storytelling more easily accessible than ever, and it's only a matter of time to see if those tools actually get put to use.
![[TH] 2024 PMGC League | Survival Stage วันที่ 1 | PUBG MOBILE Global Championship](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FVFT-PFwU80/mqdefault.jpg)
39:58- In the words of Sam Reich, "I've been here the whole time."
everybody do the weenis
@@sonjahernandez8465 the wenis is a dance!
@@kaydacant Everybody is a genius who knows it in advance!!!
I think the rise and fall of scripted content for minecraft can best be summarized by a little series by a youtuber named 'dark corners' he had this super cool finding herobrine series, no microphone, all communication was done using on screen text, ominous and suspenful piano music being tastefully and sparsly used to add tension in the exploration of caves or the dark nights. And an editing style reminiscient of VHS and found footage... now look at it. He's a infl*encer. Basic, lifeless, a complete sell-out.
Holy crap, you need to watch the content smp finale, it is so good, like an actual movie, you should make a follow up dedicated to content smp it is so good
Men will do anything to talk about ancient rome
I’m more interested in New Rome, actually.
@@FrostbyteFreeman Times New Roman.
@@arr8762I’m more of a Sans Seriff Guy myself
How often?
@@KnightOfDark Arial for the win for me
My absolute favorite piece of scripted Minecraft media has to be "The Wifies Debunk" by Kenadian. It initially presents itself as another one of his regular debunk videos, in which he makes fun of a creator's escape room content and tries to prove that it's scripted, but creates a really fun and subversive story by the end. In my opinion, the way it uses its medium is incredibly creative and definitely worth watching.
I've seen that one! This is the sort of stuff I mentioned (albeit briefly) in the Parkour Civilization stuff where the game-y conventions of Minecraft are used in an interesting way to cultivate the creation of a wholly unique narrative. Totally agree with your perspective, thanks for sharing!
I was absolutely FLOORED by The Wifies Debunk. I'm so glad you mentioned it because, yeah, it's awesome
I too have seen it
“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”
Clown being in all three:
how does he have so much TIME TO BE IN ALL THESE HES EVERYWHERE
Literally lol
Networking skills at it's finest lol
Behind the good, the bad, and the ugly is simply a silly little guy. Everyone's a clown deep down.
Also, according to multiple theories, clown could potentially be the antagonist for white pine LOL
Parrot is telling a minecraft story. Evbo_ is telling a story that is grounded and told through minecraft. Whitepine is telling a story that happens to be expressed through minecraft.
basically yes
Evbo the goat 🐐
Ok I’m gonna be real the evbo writing is trash tier. Literally the same plot repeated 3 times over the course of an hour
I like Parrot more, especially being focused as a minecraft story. Evbo feels like reading a Manhua/Isekai story which is still cool though!
@@Tyhond parrots videos are good, I’m just not a big fan due to the fact that he tries to hide the fact that it’s scripted, and, at least in my opinion, takes away from unscripted smps like hermitcraft. Evbo on the other hand leans right into the scripted side and doesn’t hide it. At least that’s what I think, and you can think otherwise and that’s ok
"The problem with" has hit youtube harder than crack.
Fr its been everywhere
@cameroonkendrick6312 I'm seeing youtube comments using it. It's never gonna end 💀
@@averyhaferman3474the problem with that statement, is that your right.
The problem with "The problem with"
Time for "The problem with "The problem with" videos"
I personally think that Evbo choses to have his videos the way they are to tell a story that parodies minecraft content, I think this can be demonstrated through the titles alone. "Minecraft but I survive PARKOUR CIVILIZATION" is a clear spoof on the Minecraft but genre of content that was big a year or two ago, and so the format of the story acts to parody this sort of content in a similar way to how Analog Horror parodies and spoofs on weird old analog media.
my favourite scripted minecraft scene is "Minecraft, But It's Just A Burning Memory"
Its 4 minutes, it doesnt have any words, but it follows a script of events.
Please watch it, THAT is the minecraft scripted content i want
I just watched that
It hurt
In a good way
Just watched it, good 4 minute watch 👍
Oh yeah I remember watching that video when the whole dementia and the burning memory became whole meme, it's really good in the whole "show don't tell" format
I feel like a lot of The Caretaker's sonic work has been diluted in efficacy (not in isolation, but in use) within the modern memetic context on the internet, but at least here it was handled with some semblance of tact. Thanks for the recommendation and the comment!
garfilled w
The amount of mods that have been made that enable Minecraft as a storytelling medium is like we've never seen before. Camera utility mods, building mods, create, and so much more are just a few that have taken the game of Minecraft to the next level, and I hope we start to see that in the media that is made about Minecraft. Amazing video, great topic, keep up the good work man!
Totally agree! From what little time I've spent playing with it, Flashback is leagues ahead of other comparable mods in terms of its cinematic utility, and like I said in the video, the art of building is in the best place it's ever been too. We're only just beginning to scratch the surface of what's possible, and I hope to see more artists push against those boundaries. Glad you enjoyed the video, and thanks so much for the comment!
I've been using a cinematic Minecraft mod called Blockbuster for years, and a new edition called Blockbuster Studio is now available for 1.20.1!
@@ManaMouseYT "Blockbuster Studio is now available for 1.20.1"
i'm sorry wut. you can't just drop that bombshell on us with so causally!
I miss when scripted content used more mods. More than just Create at least. Every single scripted video is vanilla or vanilla+ now. But that’s just modding in general now I guess. Create is the only content mod.
@@ManaMouseYT*BBS mod 🙃
I'm three minutes in and this dude is talking about ancient Rome, I'm hooked.
Glad the classic Frostbyte Freeman tangent strategy was able to reel you in.
It's like Moon Channel promising a video on Korean gacha games, but first starting with half an hour of the origins of Korea and it's earliest cultural stems
It's not fair to compare Parkour Civilization with Whitepine, it's like you're comparing a theatrical performance with a movie. Whitepine utilizes elements of cinema (post-processing, lighting, camera control) while PC is a theatrical performance set within the game, treating the game just like theater treats the real world. There's nothing inherently artistically worse or "insincere" about fully accepting the confines of the game and performing within them-I see a profound beauty in how much people can tell in a relatively confined environment. Stories told wholly through the game as it is can be closer to us, because playing Minecraft is an experience we all share. Would you compare a solo piano piece with a fully produced electronic music track, arguing that the second one is better because it isn't restrained by its instruments?
Why are you surprised or disappointed that stories told through Minecraft primarily use symbols, devices and established concepts from Minecraft to drive the story? Whitepine uses aforementioned cinematic elements to tell its story, but obviously most scripted content isn't going to do that, because (good) lighting, camera work or post-processing aren't devices that the game offers you. There's no reason creators should constrain themselves to established real-life vehicles of storytelling. Limitations breed creativity.
I will say though, "content"ization of art is a plague, and I wish we'd get a Parkour Civilization that's art, not content, while also accepting the challenge of staying within the game's confines to tell its story.
You're drawing out this tenuous tension between our two contentions as if they're inherently incompatible- I don't think that's the case, since I actually agree with you. I said in the text of the video itself that between Whitepine and the other examples enumerated, my intention was to establish a "degree of difference," and it's exactly this. I don't think storytelling that embraces the confines of the game and actually attempts to use them in a creative way is *inherently* inferior to storytelling that uses Minecraft merely as an artistic medium. But the former is much more likely to be mere "content" than the latter, hence why for the purposes of this video I *construed* it as a subordinate iteration of the form.
@@FrostbyteFreeman yeah i can see how both whitepine and parkour civilisation have hardwork put into their separate aspects but its the vision and execution that leaves such a strong difference and the part where parkour civilisation could learn from whitepine is that hardwork needs an auteur or the most focus into translating it better (uniquely, creatively, emotionally)
so i totally agree, both can be compared in this matter
@@windy6587 PC learning from WP?
I think you're forgetting which one has more views buddy...
I fully agree with this comment. I cannot in good faith enjoy this video. And I actually agree with most of the video!. Not only is it using "art" as something of a status that must be earned rather than a right of anything that is created, (Real art is whatever you deem it to be.) but... to be honest? I think that I see Whitepine, at least in the small snippet I was shown, as being LESS sincere than what Parkour Civilization (or, my personal favorite creator in the field, Zeemyth) offers us. Can you prefer the more mature tone of Whitepine? Absolutely! But reserving the term "art" for something "mature" is so incredibly passe and it was not the end of this video that I was hoping for.
I think that to be truly genuine to yourself and your work is to embrace your limitations. A story that wants you to ignore it was made in Minecraft without purpose seems to go against that. Maybe my opinion will change, should I ever watch Whitepine. I do think there was a clear tension between the points, given how FrostbyteFreeman clearly sees one as far superior than the other. I don't really know what else to say other than "you literally called it the good, the bad, and the ugly." And both the bad and the ugly embraced their limitations, for better or worse. The video is literally called "*The Problem* With Scripted Minecraft Content." Ideally you want to isolate as many variables as possible when proving a point, because otherwise things like this get implied.
Also, I think that the part in the video trying to dunk on "content" is... certainly a choice, given how the video itself could be considered "content."
...Do check out Zeemyth, though. His SMP stuff is alright, but Bedrock.ZIP, Found Footage of a Player Being Followed, and the Farlands video are where it's at.
@@FrostbyteFreeman Thank you for replying! Good point, I must have not caught that during the duration of your video.
But yes, ultimately it is more common for storytelling within Minecraft's confines to end up as neatly packaged, sterilized "content" for TH-cam with a lesser degree of artistic intent. Hopefully this will change at some point. Personally, I'm a fan of some (not all of them, certainly) ARGs and horror-inspired webseries ran in Minecraft, most notably AlphaVer, one of whose core themes are the game's boundaries and limitations themselves.
i think the idea of clownpierce as pure evil, the final boss, could be done well. lord english from homestuck, death from puss in boots, heavy from emesis blue. the essence of death and brute force behind a shell of humanity. it works if the portrayal is evocative. regardless, i think clown's role in parkour civilization undermined the depth of his character, his straightforward villainous persona undermines the fact that he and evbo are the first two characters to share a love of parkour (some read this as a metaphor for a love of art), but his love is for parkour races, a form of parkour (or art) that is done with the purpose of killing. a good comparison is the boy and the heron, but it's different because the boy and the heron does not have a neutral artist as a foil.
MFW I get spoiled on emesis blue cuz I still didn't watch it 💀
This re-contextualization of Clown's role in Parkour Civ is actually quite salient- well done! Thanks for the comment.
HS mention
I GENUINELY JUMPED WHEN I READ FUCKING LORD ENGLISH, its like a jumpscare in text form
LE mention gave me psychic damage. That entire animation flashed before my eyes.
The ancient Rome bit reminded me of those clips of matpat going "Ancient pyramits have the symbols representing the stars of this particular constellation, Five nights at fredd-" lol
That was the general vibe I was going for! Glad you appreciated it, haha.
Clown would be that famous actor getting in all the movies playing the same character everytime until he perfects it lol
He wants to be the big scary villain so bad. Tbh i think he deserves it. Hes been building that persona since the start. That and naming urself "clownpierce" doesnt exactly scream silly whymsical peaceful player lol
he's like the rock lmfao
Naw... More like Willam Defoe (Goblin)
so what I heard is "youtubers need to play DnD on their free time and apply that logic to scripted content". The DM (writer) having a storyline with room for self-expression and improvisation, the players (smp members) learning to let everyone have their moment and letting the group itsefl be the main character and working to have a place for everyone without overlapping eachothers, experimenting with what would their character feel and do (letting yourself be wrapped up in your character without irony), having your character learn and evolve from their experiences... And sometimes you fail big time, have things have stakes. DnD man !
I think one of the greatest strengths of parkour civilization is that everything that's not cinematic (the youtuber narration and the first person and the title) is a deliberate choice to simplify the story. All of the characters are one-note: you have evbo, the audience insert, or characters with such an obvious name that they feel like placeholders at times (evbo's master friend, parkour villain, etc) and that's the point! Like you said, it's a fable told in the simplest and most digestible form in the minecraft youtube sphere. It's a deeper story that almost feels disguised as content rather than being content, meant to cast the widest net possible and then sit them down with a deeper, more complex story than they would have expected from the get-go. Every person who thought it would be cringe from the memes and trends (which is quite a lot of people from personal experience because I'm a big fan of the story and have shown it to plenty of people) ended up being captivated by it too. Parkour civilization is a story that is unabashedly not a film, and to call that a weakness just feels a bit off to me. Its choices may not be conventional for the kind of story it's trying to tell, but that's part of why it's become something of a cult classic. And that's pretty cool!
(also on the topic of seawatt, his role is a whole other can of worms but generally I do like him as a foil and think he's generally very effective as a character :D)
You mentioning that everyone in an SMP wants to be the main character made me think again about Techno's place in the DreamSMP. Because while he was like, a major character, you wouldn't call him the main character. That was always Tommy. But neither Techno nor his viewers wanted him to be a protagonist, we enjoyed him as an antagonist, a villain. Which isn't a role that most people would want (hell, Dream sure as heck didn't want it in the end), but Techno placed himself as always being at odds with anyone wanting to be a main character in that SMP, he was the destroyer of governments. The only "special" thing about him was that he was the single best player on the SMP, but did not have the ambition to use that fact to make himself the most important one.
Anyway I guess I should watch Whitepine sometime, I just haven't really gotten round to it.
That's another thing that made his tenure as head writer special- he was content to play a part in the broader story, even if it wasn't always the most favorable. Really excellent points being made here in this comment, and I definitely recommend Whitepine. Thanks for sharing your perspective with me!
While i do agree with most things you said, i can't say that technoblade didn't try to be a major character, he saw that everyone wanted to be as important as possible to get more content out of this golden egg laying goose we called the dreamsmp. He was no exception, instead of trying to become the main character, he took the second biggest role in the story which arguably outshined the main character spot in the end (which was likely the cause of everyone trying to become the MC)
I think the main antagonist is as big of a role as the main protagonist role. and thus i think they should both be considered as "Main characters"
So in the end, techno did become a main character, he just took a different approach, that gamble luckily ended up paying off amazingly.
@@just_dylan_official well yeah, that's what I wrote. That he was a major character, but didn't try to become the main character (protagonist) of the SMP, more like a really big and really scary boogeyman
@@just_dylan_official there's a difference between an important character and a main character. techno was important to the lore, but he didn't try to the lead part of every single story. he wasn't pushing himself to be included everywhere (which is what main character syndrome describes) - all he did was play a part of it. you can look at the SAD-ist Hog Hunt animatic as an example. this didn't Hugely affect the greater plot - it was just a series of understandable character decisions. they try to execute a major threat to their city, a different major threat comes to his aid (without his knowledge) with the intent to enlist his help in a shared goal, and then they Successfully do that.
I think the issue you mentioned where everyone in an SMP wants to be the main character is alleviated in [REDACTED] SMP. No one feels like the main character but they all feel like protagonists of their own story that is taking place at the same time as everyone else's. I personally would really recommend it. It's in my opinion the best scripted smp. Also if you like Minecraft art I recommend Zeemyth his stuff goes beyond traditional Minecraft content and elevates it to a form of art in a way that most others don't.
I think the format and spooks of his videos are contrived
@@alphabros5226 In what way? (No hate just curious as to why you think that)
@@dylratner Stuff like moments where his commentary is interrupted by in game moments as if he's reacting to them in real time, the logic of these being videos by a youtuber should be meaning he can control what the viewer sees via editing, the fact that in his getting lost in the mansion video he doesn't decide at one point to take a break from the computer or quit out of the world. Essentially, the narrative feels weird when juxtaposed with the fact that this is supposed to be in the same game we all play with our friends on the two week servers.
ok i might be dumb but which smp are u referring to 😭 (is it lifesteal?)
I went into this video fully expecting that Zeemyth would be an example for the „good“. I really liked the video, but still left disappointed.
IMO my biggest issue is this play between script and roleplay. people can feel when stuff are pre-scripted, and it makes it just awkward. the creators need to either go past the theatre line, fully script it, make it FEEL like a story, or go full DND mode, have one person who architect the story instead of playing in it, and a small cast of players who go on the adventure, act a pre chosen role, but given full freedom to act as they think fit the character, then when the story is done, maybe re-shoot some parts for the story's sake, but keep everything really natural, make it FEEL like you're watching a real DND adventure.
I mean part of the issue could be that a majority of these scripted stuff involves having characters that are literally more of a pastiche of their real life personality.
This is why my favourite minecraft smp is the life series smp. Theres usually no clear villian or hero, the winners win almost at random (thought there might be a little buy of scripting from preventing the same hermit from winning twice) and nothing is dramatized. The suspense and emotions come naturally, and because of that it actually suprises you. The audience is allowed to make their own story.
Edit: deleted my reply since it was refrencing something entirely diffrent. Soryy for the notif
@@Just_a_random_username was just reading through the comments and I just wanna point out that they probably mean the life series made by grian not the lifesteal ^^ I saw you said spoke and wanted to make sure you knew AJDJFJSKDJAA :3
@@ManceAdventures holy shit i am a ht1 npc. Ive watched both series literally when they both started for the first time and i didnt see the diference. Ig it would happen eventually with how long ive watched both but man i was so good at not mixing them up for so long
As a film studies student, the difference in parkour civilization and whitepine is fantastic and instantly noticeable, whitepine treats itself like an actual film with its use of cinematography instead of a minecraft movie where its all first perspective + some cinematic shots.
Sadly i don't ever think i'll watch it, not my kettle of fish or my short attention span, but i can certainly appreciate it aesthetically.
how are you holding up as someone studying film and having a short attention span? that must make your studies difficult for you, right?
@@getyoteladz3536 kinda, for Casablanca especially. You tune out for a second and you miss a chunk for the story. Luckily I have my notes
Stumbled across this video after it was posted by a friend in a discord I'm in. Genuinely great, refreshing, insightful analysis about the genre :)
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm very happy to hear that someone enjoyed this video enough to share it, and that you managed to get something out of it too!
32:51 its not really a retcon though. His origins were never revealed, and they were even foreshadowed in his vault
I think the retcon is the idea of parents being a thing. All other characters have said new players just spawn in. The idea that you can have parents does not fit that lore. It is possible that maybe Seawatt's parents merely adopted a brand new player and raised him as they were older, more experienced players, but it would be the only example of that happening in Parkour Civilization as no other family units are brought up. At the end of the day it's just a weird plot point that could have been just his friends dying in the layer instead of parents that brings up many questions about how it works.
@@anthonynguyen1289 yeah but at the end of the day every story will have SOME plot holes or mistakes and thats okay
@@SolitaryVirus48 but pk civ is popular and popular bad
-elitist
I want to address the importance of videos like this. I happened upon the Parkour Civilization videos by Evbo, watched the first and second movies back to back just yesterday, and I have more grievances about the second than I did the first. As a whole it was... Something. Something I did not expect to keep me watching or to find any real heart in. But I also decided to give one of his newer projects, the PVP civilization a gander, think it could be ok depending on how he chooses to approach it in the long run, but it wasn't something I felt like engaging in.
But by that point, the algorithm took a swing, and led me here.
Liek a bridge, this now has me planning to see whitepine later today when I come back home. I hope it lives up to expectations.
Thank you for the kind words! I definitely agree that Parkour Civilization is a mixed bag, and that Evbo’s later works don’t do it for me, either- it’s why I tried to underscore the importance of his needing to prioritize that thematic consistency over focusing on the next “big idea” for the purposes of spectacle and sensationalism. Glad the algorithm led you here. Hope you enjoy Whitepine.
There's a scripted series in Russian, told in Minecraft, on TH-cam, about a apocalyptic world, it's somewhere in-between whitepine and parkour civilization
The map was built using the voxel mod, and they have completely customized items/blocks for each interaction
The author pays the actors and the builders actual salary and stuff
They are actually doing it for a couple of years already
I wander why a level of quality like that didn't reach the English TH-cam
no way apocalyptic Minecraft story?? whats the name ??
(btw you can turn on auto translation in the video caption)
@M2607d "Бункер" from the channel "Дем" (translated to English as "Bunker" by "Dem")
@@someoneunknown6894 aight ill check out. Thank you !
I see Whitepine is a chapter in this video. Can't wait to get to that part and hear your thoughts on it.
That’s one of this video’s shorter segments in terms of actual stuff said- you’ll see why. Hopefully you appreciate my analysis regardless, though!
He proceeds to never tell anything, and I wanted to hear him describe it cuz I'm listening to the video and not watching 😭🙏
lmao
Im on my way too i cant(can) wait to get to that part
A brilliant video, one thing holding this new wave of videos back, there are a lot more like Whitepine (Faces in the sky, 00 - The Fool, Ancient Debris, *self-plug alert*), is it being shelved as "Minecraft Roleplays" or worse Machinimas.
We need a new name for this new wave of videos for it to grow on its own. My contendor for the name is "Minema" (Minecraft + Cinema).
Its a very well-made video. Unlike other video essays on Minecraft content this video is such a fresh take. It gives a feeling of hope. That maybe Minecraft isnt dying at all, that maybe the golden age of Minecraft is yet to arrive.
agreed completely on the lack of name :(
not to self promo also lol but i’m working on a minecraft cinematic horror series in a similar style of storytelling and it is sooo hard to be discovered, as there isn’t really an official search term / name that accurately describes this kind of art yet.
i’m constantly trying to look for more series like that myself, but struggle to find many through search :(
since whitepine, cinematic minecraft series as a genre are definitely in their beginning stages, so hopefully in the future it will be easier!!
FavreMySabre, in his video, "Why Minecraft Roleplays are dying" suggests the term "MCTV". I've actually already seen it starting to spread in the community, although admittedly not a lot in the circles I'm currently a part of. I like it not only because it's shorter, but because I'm concerned that "Minema" will be confused with "Machinimas" due to being close in spelling, which I don't think we are going for. I also feel like then it can include weekly uploads and not just putting sole focus on storytelling movies.
Minema is actually a mod that lets you record footage in Minecraft without losing frame rate (by slowing down the game). I don’t see anything wrong with using Machinimas as a term, since it’s literally a technical term. It’s a shame that Machinima, Inc. ruined the term. 😢
@@McHorsesCreations I did not know that, thanks for sharing! And yes, it is a good technical term sadly soured by Machinima, Inc.
But MCTV is still shorter so could be easier for YT titles and it would then help include videos who don't use the Minema mod. So regardless of what others use, I'm still going to be biased to using "MCTV" instead.
@@McHorsesCreations The original name for anime was animēshon, movies were used to be called "photofilm" or "motion picture" when they first came out. My point is... words evolve. There are three reasons why I think Minema would work better, firstly machinima is too mouthy, then it's the bad rep associated with the name, Monster school and all those melodramatic high school shows.
Lastly when we give something a new name, it marks a new beginning for that thing, a fresh start of sorts. It would create a separate niche for the Minecraft cinematic content. When people will search Minema they will get Minecraft Cinema.
19:47 this point is actually incredibly relevant to me right now, my friends and i recently watched the green mile together and it quickly became one of my all time favorite movies, but whenever i mention that my friends go “yea but its SOO LOOONG”, but i don’t think that counts as a “critique” because it effectively uses every second of that run time, a piece of media being long isn’t inherently a bad thing, it just has to justify that length
Thank you! I'm glad you were able to appreciate that particular point within the context of your own artistic experiences, if nothing else!
ok, this is a reminder for me to watch whitepine
It's so good. I seriously encourage you to give it the chance if it seems like your cup of tea.
you already watched it? if not. here a friendly reminder to do so.
@@Quinnjjgaming i did, but ty :)
I previously never knew about this. Watching now!
@@FrostbyteFreeman ok so i drafted a giant reply and it just didn't send, so tldr:
I loved the visual direction of Whitepine, everything from the cinematography to the aspect ratio, but the story wasn't my cup of tea. One scene I love from Whitepine is the end of ep 1 where i think the show perfectly encapsulated what ivory was feeling in that moment and was a scene with nice buildup
ur video gave me shivers at 35:25 with that line delivery
And I recommend godis's video "Who Killed Minecraft Man" i think ud like it
Funny that I now look back at the Yogscast's Shadow of Israphel & adjacent series and recognise so clearly the dreamlike haze in which I understood what it actually was (or rather, didn't) at such a young age, and yet I can still sit here and be shocked to learn that Technoblade didn't exist carving out his own space on the periphery of the larger narrative but as an author. Because of course he was. I always felt like I was watching someone mess about while the larger thing went on but of course it was always central.
Something incredibly moving about seeing that last example with its framing and consideration - I was involved as a writer for something momentarily intended to be staged in Minecraft once upon a time, and I never imagined it could look as clear or purposeful as it does there.
I suppose my favourite would be another one from youth, the Jaffa Factory series, where maybe I was aware of its nature a little more but so interested in the technical side (and represented by the fact that almost all of them knew nothing either) that it didn't much matter.
Thanks so much for commenting, dude! Glad to hear that on a personal level my analysis was able to somewhat encapsulate your thoughts on the form- like I said, the tools to enable the utilization of Minecraft as a storytelling medium have become so much more sophisticated in the last few years alone, and yet the potential of the form has still remained largely untapped.
@@FrostbyteFreeman after having now gone to check out WhitePine 1, I can only now properly understand the need for a video highlighting exactly this. I spent the whole time unable to shift my eyes - how the feeling and atmosphere of any single moment has been achieved is remarkable. Great video & I'm really enjoying your return!
Dreamlike Haze is the most perfect definition I'd use to describe watching that series as a child, and in a way most of their map or lab gameplays. This is a truly fascinating outlook, honestly. God bless ya and Jesus loves ya, man, thank you for your comment
Brilliant video! My favorite is and will probably always be the early Dream SMP, but that is largely due to nostalgia. Good job at making an almost hour long Minecraft video while always having something important to say. Like you said, those are rare to come by.
HAHAHAHAHAHA thank you! I'm glad you thought my analysis here was somewhat salient, if nothing else, and that you picked up on the self-deprecating tone of that aside!
really surprised that there was no mention of the Yogscast, as far as I'm aware they were the first to make scripted Minecraft content, I still remember my friend telling me about Shadow of Israphel and him thinking it was an adventure map. The Tekkit series was also amazing, it was a combination of scripted and let's play, with basically every member of the Yogscast doing something in the world. I feel like the Blackrock Chronicles was such a crazy story at the time, Rythian and Zoey had very little contact with the main Jaffa crew and was as far as I'm aware entirely scripted. 2012 was an great time to be a Minecraft fan
It's a crime that the Yogscast weren't an entire chapter in this video. Shadow of Israphel is one of the most influential Minecraft series ever made.
Someone made a skyblock civilization movie, and I LOVE the fact that kids can grow up watching these incredible story videos. However, that skyblock video had some plotholes and infuriating moments which I won't get into... But as I watched and yelled at the screen, I realized, holy crap, I'm actually invested in this. They tricked me into enjoying scripted minecraft content!!!! But I guarantee there'll be more vids like that and I'm SO excited for them. I love how the future of mc yt content looks right now.
I just searched it up and laughed when I realized it was made by someone who was actually close friends with Evbo
If you're talking about the one I think you're talking about then I get where you're coming from. Honestly, I think Joofy's long form vids are the definition of filler sometimes. He mostly shines in his shorter vids that mostly focus on him getting bullied and getting revenge or getting screwed over in the end. He's got so much potential that if he had Evbo_'s focus he would surpass him in no time. In the meantime, we at least always have joll and conk for peak fiction in minecraft storytelling.
Joofylooby!!
Freeman: Constantly says he's not trying to compare Minecraft movies to actual movies
Freeman: Constantly compares them to movies
I do think there's something to working within constraints. As long as it bends to the irony plague you're probably right about gameplay-based stories, but that's true for anything. Who wants a story its own author doesn't even believe in?
To be honest I assumed there were lots of stories like Whitepine and I just didn't know about them because I wasn't looking. If Whitepine is really a new and rare concept it's depressing it took 15 years to get this far.
Oh, absolutely. I think you’re definitely right- don’t know if I articulated this well enough or not, but a big part of the charm of stories like Parkour Civilization is that it takes those constraints and hard-bakes them into the world in such a way that they no longer function like hard and fast restrictions. The irony plague is definitely a problem in storytelling and culture in general, though, not just Minecraft TH-cam stuff. And as for Whitepine, there’s definitely a lot more projects with a similar philosophy nowadays, and even back in the day I’m sure there were plenty of roleplay-driven stories that approached a similar level of quality. My main goal there, though, was to underscore how Ivory is pushing Minecraft to the brink as a filmmaking medium by using a lot of newly developed tools and mods that have really democratized the space and made it that much easier for stuff like Whitepine to be made in the first place. I personally think you’re right that the space hasn’t really come all that far yet in the grand scheme of things, but hey, long ways to go yet, yeah? Thanks for commenting.
This comment is gonna be a long one but I'd like to talk about two hugely successful Scripted Minecraft series from the past and how they nearly changed how stories were told in Minecraft.
First is SamGladiator and the Yandere High School series, honestly some of the jokes in this series nowadays were definitely not for kids and at least the first season is rarely scripted. You talked about some of Unstable Universe being filler and I'd say Yandere High School has a lot of it which makes it difficult to rewatch. The enjoyment of Yandere High School largely comes from the natural funny interactions between Sam, Taurtis, Grian, and the rest of the characters. The eventual dissolution of those relationships eventually led to the series dying in later seasons though. The few story beats that did exist were actually pretty solid and made me feel emotion, at least as a kid.
The biggest minecraft roleplay youtuber of all time to this day is Aphmau, I largely saw MyStreet season 1 as the footage showcase here but the way it and by extension the highschool MyStreet series evolved over time was very impressive as a viewer back then. The story took itself seriously, had character arcs, used animation, had amazing and changing settings (especially Season 2 and 4) and had long term arcs. It's not exactly my kind of genre nowadays but it feels like the highest minecraft roleplay was ever taken to its limits, at least before whitepine according to what you're saying about it. (I haven't seen it yet) Aphmau also started several other series but the issue from what I know is that they simply weren't as profitable, the stuff Aphmau was doing especially towards the end of MyStreet definitely required over a dozen people to work on things simultaneously, eventually Aphmau found success with far easier content and that's what's propelled her to her position today. I get why the change happened but as a viewer it felt like a void was left for storytelling in minecraft, which of course only intensified between 2017-2018.
Because of this when Minecraft was revived the new standard for storytelling as you said was pretty much defined by the DreamSMP. I'm sure a few youtubers back then evolving in certain ways could've eventually lead to a far more thriving storytelling scene but that's in the past, at least now in the future there's a chance that Minecraft Storytelling can reach the peaks it once did, It's been nice to see people taking some aspects of Evbos Parkour Civilization serious at least. (also I'll just mention Slimecicles 100 days Zombie Apocalypse has pretty great storytelling as well)
I had a ton of thoughts on this and now felt like the perfect time to get them out. Its great to see you return, some of your documentaries inspired me years ago and I'm glad they're back, I agree with this videos message and good luck to anyone who wants to make their own Minecraft stories. :)
My GD pookie 💞
Thanks so much for sharing such an incredibly detailed and thorough perspective on the tradition of Minecraft storytelling! I definitely agree that Yandere High and Aphmau cast a really long shadow in the genre- one of my major concerns with this video was that the lens of analogy through which I examined the history of scripted Minecraft content was that it was too reductive and not detailed/thorough enough. It means a lot to hear that even my older works were able to provide you with inspiration in some small form or fashion, and I appreciate the kind words more than you can ever know.
samgladiator is a name i have not heard or thought about in years. i miss those days
I really liked the analysis in this video. And so I'm also gonna tell ya about one of my favorite series which is a semi-scripted minecraft Let's Play series made by "MrLololoshka" and his team, it's a Russian channel with over 10 million subscribers, and they basically have been making a series of Let's Plays with over 500+ episodes for about 3-4 years now, it's a 1 global story that is basically made by a bunch of people for 1 person (the youtuber himself) to play and enjoy (and well, record and upload videos of it to the channel lol). MrLololoshka himself doesnt know the script so he's basically like us, the viewers but instead of watching he's the one to play and interact with the characters and environment in the story. It has english subtitles so i recommend checking it out, i have never seen anybody else make something simillar to his (their) content, so it is pretty special i would say, hah.
To the people that read this comment, have a good day/night!
I absolutely love the Unstable Universe series, I’ve stayed up hours watching Parrots videos along with Wemmbu’s and Spoke’s as well. It’s super unrealistic for sure, but it tells an amazing story that I always want to know what happens in the end and what is gonna happen next. Btw it’s called Unstable Universe I believe because it has people from different sides of the Minecraft servers/smp’s
as a roleplayer, you learn to embrace the cringe, there are always people there who enjoy it
the very, VERY, first Scripted SMP i can think of was when Cube SMP took a turn towards a roleplay way back when, with npcs placed around the place with some quests. Then it seemed to fade into obscurity till Dream SMP came around, and then more people were like "yeah i can do that"
you are 100% correct here, it is about the performing arts, thats the way it always has been.
Not sure how different it is typically but in my experience we have always simply been told how the story moves, true scripting is generally rare, it is just guided improv.
I hope Whitepine gives attention to the smaller creators who have truly been treating Minecraft like the art it is, we have always been here, we have always been telling stories for the sake of telling stories. They've just been overshadowed and forgotten by the ultimate authority of the TH-cam algorithm.
Yeah they may cringe, but its genuinely fun to do, its fun to see the small communities of only a few hundred cry over something you wrote, its fun to record and mess around the moment you've ended up off camera, its fun to sit there in a vc with the fellow writers with evil little schemes, it's fun to voice and make a character your own, and its fun to see the final piece we spent hours creating.
i get what you mean about embracing the cringe, I have my own smp with my friends, it isn't recorded or streamed, but is still so very important to our hearts. We roleplay in call, talk about our characters and lore, and yes, I often feel very geeky for it. but is genuinely so enjoyable for me and all of my friends. I used to actually have a streamed smp so I also understand that
@ one of the SMPs i started some people are dragons and everyone who decided to become dragon has fully embraced their inner Just A Lil Guy and it is the cutest thing ever
@5:57-.-Knowing that this song is called "March of the Gladiators" really helps tie it all together. There are so many layers to this joke.
Yes! You get it! You actually got it! Thank you so much! Means a lot for someone to actually see what I was doing here with the multifaceted punchline ad appreciate it for what it is.
@@FrostbyteFreeman-.-You're welcome. I know what it's like to Set up something clever, multi-layered, and well thought out, only for no one to comment on it, and thus infer no one got it. They're honestly my favorite types of jokes. They don't normally make me burst out in laughter, but I like the thinky think.
This may be true, but calling Parrot and Evbo's works "bad" and "ugly" doesn't make sense. This isn't about the problem with scripted minecraft content. Its not about the problems with scripted Minecraft content, but about the untapped potential, and what it could be.
Yes it is, though? Illustrating the problems is the best way to demonstrate the potential. Also, I think maybe you're misrepresenting my analogy here.
Ye your right, ig I just thought you were being a bit harsh on parrot
@@FrostbyteFreeman I think you are being to harsh. Your points are valid but I think the wording could have ben nicer
"Is this content to be left on in the background while you play Minecraft yourself?" He says as I play minecraft.
@@ThornMu Boo. Caught you. I am inside of your walls.
What defines a "scripted Minecraft content"? And does "scripted Minecraft content" mean the same as "scripted Minecraft story"?
Based on the earlier parts of the video, it seems like a "scripted _Minecraft_ content" is an all-encompassing term that is defined as a _Minecraft_ recording that is purposefully directed, acted, and edited to tell a written work. Note that Minecraft is essential in defining this term. If we remove Minecraft from the equation then we'll just get "scripted content" which is even more general.
With that information, I think that there's a very clear distinction between Whitepine and the other two works mentioned apart from "content" vs "art". Whitepine is a drama told using Minecraft as a medium that should be able to stand by its own, while the other two are works told as events (Unstable Universe) or an epic (Parkour Civilization) that happens in Minecraft, that cannot work without Minecraft. One is told _using_ Minecraft, the other two are told _in_ Minecraft.
In terms of the definition I personally believe that Whitepine is the worst among the three mentioned "scripted Minecraft content" because it relies on Minecraft the least. This doesn't mean that Whitepine itself is a bad work, its just that categorizing it as a "scripted Minecraft content" is quite inappropriate since it should be able to stand by its own without Minecraft.
Tysm for actually caring about making subtitles!
Of course! Went back through and added them to all my videos, haha. TH-cam makes it so unbelievably easy to do it now that there's genuinely no reason not to, and it's just better for the sake of accessibility.
I grew up on minecraft roleplays, its the same as just watching show in my eyes. I can still feel emotion HEAVILY from this game
This feels like it used to be better. Back in the day, proper filmmaking in video games was called machinimas. I feel like people are just looking in the wrong direction. As a child I used to watch a lot of machinima channels that did full on tv series (which I'd rather not mention here because uh... I definitely do not want to promote russian channels lol). Whitepine is by every single vibe and definition specifically a machinima.
Why not promote Russian channels? It’s not like every Russian channel is part of the government 😭
@@AmberAugustReal Both personal discomfort on account of me being Ukrainian and because I do not trust most channels (and especially that channel in particular) to not want me dead.
keeping it so real, i clicked on this video expecting C-tier brainrot (mainly because most minecraft metacommentary videos are heavily drama-centric), but i'm halfway through and im blown away by how critically these stories are being analyzed. You're taking these thoughts ive had swirling as an unabashed Minecraft kid and distilling them in this academic thesis and i gotta applaud you for that. Approaching minecraft rp as an art and as legitimate storytelling is a step i really respect this video for taking.
overall, this is turning out to be a sincerely well researched video essay, and it will be going into my list of recommendations.
You've got some seriously good media literacy and video production skills. I like what you have to say! subscribing for brain nourishment 👍
HAHAHAHAHAHA thank you so much! In this endless sea of rot and mere consumption, being called a source of nourishment is the highest honor one can receive. I'm glad you found my analysis to be at least somewhat insightful, if nothing like this- kind words like these mean more than you can ever possibly know!
In my opinion, Parrot’s unstable series was really enjoyable to watch and I don’t see a problem with it. In fact, I don’t see a problem with scripted content in general. The problem for me only comes when the videos are not clear about it being scripted and fake elements of it. But overall, scripted content is really entertaining for me.
I wish I could get into unstable. It just feels so dragged out sometimes with big fights that go on forever with no one dying and that cycle repeating several times every half hour. Ironically, for me, if the server was life steal instead of hardcore then there might have been actual stakes because people could die and face consequences without it being the end of the line for them.
wdym?? hardcore has higher stakes then lifesteal because one you die, there’s no going back but in lifesteal you have multiple live
@@Flunium Lifesteal has higher inherent stakes because of the "ticking clock" pressure. As it is now, from what I saw unstable has lots of long, drawn out battles that end up in people running away 80% of the time instead of there being conclusive ends to the battles. This was especially visible when they were trying to break wifies out of prison and it gave the feeling that nobody could really actually die thus lowering stakes.
In a life steal environment, there are more stakes because you can die AND suffer consequences for those deaths. Each death makes you weaker and can provide meaningful conclusions to fights that have repercussions later down the line for the heroes and villains which can force characters to make unique and interesting choices based on the resources they have to work with heartwise.
Its essentially a way to add stakes to take advantage of the unique environment that minecraft provides through lifesteal instead of hardcore. One life to live can make plot armor suuuuuuper visible, but since this isn't real life you can take advantage of the unique gamemode to change the stakes and make it inherently more engaging to more people and open up unique writing opportunities that could only be accomplished in this format.
a German Minecraft TH-camr I've watched since I was a kid often made cinematic creations in Minecraft. Some were Minecraft stories he was telling, others were wholey original
His name is HerrBergmann
i love cinematic "scripted" minecraft and i fully intend on creating something of my own. minecraft is just such an easy way to express a story, whitepine is a great example of that. another good example is Twisted Rainbow by FavreMySabre. while the story may not make much sense to people who hadn't watched its predecessor "the steve saga", it's still a very enjoyable series to watch and is pretty interesting to see how sabre developed his cinematic skills throughout the episodes, going from first person scripted content (something similar to parkour civilisation) to something resembling an anime.
Thanks for the comment and the recommendation. I appreciated getting to see your perspective on the matter of Minecraft storytelling, and I wish you the very best with your future storytelling endeavors!
I originally put on this video kinda ironically as background noise, to fall asleep to, but i couldn't stop myself from actually just listening to it. Once it was revealed that the ugly section was parkour civilisation, I was a little disappointed because I had this lingering feeling that whatever the good section was, it either didnt exist or this entire video was a long winded self promo of your own series of some sort. when the good section finally came around, I decided to pick up my phone again, and im so glad I did. That's all really. Thank you for making this surprisingly insightful video and keeping me up for an extra hour, or potentially a couple more if i can't resist the temptation to check out whitepine right now.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm happy you gave this video a chance as something a little more than just ironic background noise, and that you came around on it in the end. I'm also very happy to hear I was able to convince you to give Whitepine a chance, too! Hopefully I didn't keep you up too late.
Only thing I can see wrong with what you said about Whitepine is the difference between it being a Minecraft film, and a film WITHIN minecraft.
Saying Whitepine is related to Minecraft is like saying that The Two Towers is an Arriflex 435 movie. It devalues the idea of it being just...a movie, by intrinsically tying it TO Minecraft, when its SO MUCH MORE than just that. I know that's kind of what you are saying, but the title reflects something ENTIRELY different.
Whitepine is art made WITH Minecraft. Not in it. It uses the natural strengths and limitations to create genuine art.
I feel like there isn't that much of a distinction between saying "Whitepine is art made WITH Minecraft" and "Whitepine is art made IN" Minecraft- you're drawing out this very tenuous tension between our perspectives and contentions that doesn't actually exist, because I completely agree with you. An animated movie exists within the medium of animation; is it inaccurate to refer to Minecraft as a medium in a similar fashion? I don't think it is, anyways.
@@FrostbyteFreeman The way I see it, the difference is that unlike the other two, Whitepine has nothing to do conceptually with minecraft. It's a great story set within the framing of minecraft, but not much would change if you removed the "minecraft" part and replaced it with traditional animation. If you remove the "minecraft" from parkour civilization the whole concept falls apart.
@@FrostbyteFreeman The thing is, Minecraft itself is a fictional world with a set of rules. Basing your setting in Minecraft has the unique benefit of explaining away things like health, barrier blocks, not being able to climb up walls with yknow, your *arms*, etc. Using Minecraft as a medium is one thing, using Minecraft as a basis for your fictional world is another thing, and I think this is a meaningful distinction.
@svenkristensson6573 I don't really see the point in trying to rank how vital minecraft itself was in the telling of these stories, I would still say that minecraft is classifiable as its own medium whether the context of the game is used or not. Just like how the mediums of stop motion, 3d animation, and 2d animation all have their own strengths and limitations that you work with or around in telling a story, minecraft has its own set of strengths and weaknesses that sets it apart from these. There are insane minecraft builders that have stretched the game to its artistic limits that don't engage in other mediums of art, and you don't need to. Traditional art itself has hundreds of mediums that you can use independently or together, and that doesn't take away from the fact that those are all their own mediums in which art is made.
@@woomynation reminder that the thesis of the video is that whitepine is better than the other two *because* it ignores minecraft, and that's the context for this whole argument
bro no parrot is so good
I have never heard of whitepine until now, but holy hell. That montage of clips almost made me cry. Not because it was "just so moving" or whatever, but because it really shows the passion and care that people put forth through the screen, the cinematography, the builds. Not everyone can afford a film camera, not everyone can afford a game; But art doesnt have to be created through a traditional medium. And I think thats one of the most beautiful things ive ever heard...
Even though its super cheesy. ;]
PS: This was an interesting video, as an appreciator of film, art, and the greater human experience - Thank you.
I definitely think the reason White Pine is so popular is because of how slow and atmospheric it is, life is so quick and fast-paced these days, especially with social media. White Pine is sort of a reminder and a breath of fresh air for us that simple and quiet isn't always something to be afraid of. You feel alive while watching it.
Interestingly the Hungarian minecraft youtube community made a few, hour long movies using the game around 6-8 years ago. They even had a brief theatrical run in some smaller cinemas in the country. (they're still up on youtube on a channel titled MineCinema)
Interesting! Never heard of it before, but it's really cool that they actually got a limited theatrical run... thanks so much for letting me know!
I dont know If you'll see this but I am so appreciative that you made this video.
Filmmaking and art as a whole is one of my biggest passions and something that I love seeing the acknowledgement of the Minecraft machinima community (Films like Whitepine). Machinimas like this have been around for years and I've seen it inspire so many people, however I hate that people immediately reject this style of art being made in a video game and call it "cringe". So thank you for bringing this to the forefront and letting people know about this, there are so many machinimas that people are missing out on, and I hope they get more recognition.
There's kind of an interesting point with content SMP. After I started watching multiple creators perspectives I realised just how different a story could seem depending on perspective. At least some of that is definitely because of the constraints of content making and needing to act like you're the main character so you're video works well, but I think it's also (perhaps unintentionally) a pretty interesting example of how perspective shapes how we see events, which I think is well exemplified by the sentiment "in content SMP there are no heroes" which I often see in the community.
I think that's a pretty valid point! The Dream SMP was definitely the most extreme example of that protagonist-centric problem within the form, and Content SMP suffers from it to a much lesser extent, but I mentioned it (very briefly, and without much nuance mind you) simply to indicate that a new version of the same problem still exists to this day.
@@FrostbyteFreeman Indeed.
Thanks for putting me onto whitepine, I paused this video to binge it shortly after you started talking about it cause it seemed interesting, and wow that was so worth it.
No, thank you! I'm very honored you took my recommendation to heart- glad to hear you enjoyed the series so far! I've talked at considerable length about Whitepine, so if you couldn't tell already, it's a subject I share a serious passion for.
Parkour civilization is a good minecraft story
Whitepine is a good story
like if Parkour civilization was made live action you'd have so many questions like "why can they place chunks of materials, why can they store all these materials ect."
If whitepine was made live action you wouldn't bat an eye... I think it's weird to compare them and say whitepine is "the good" cause it's a more conventional story and way of telling it
Yeah, I'd say it even makes Whitepine unappealing because it's hindered and abstracted by the form of Minecraft making the drama and emotion feel unclear and hollow. Whereas Parkour Civilization is born from the medium making it the perfect(and really only way) to tell the story.
I stopped my entire channel for a lot of the reasons you touched in this video. I felt like the videos I actually wanted to make would perform so poorly they were pointless so I would unlist them - yet idk, I guess this video inspired me a lot. Nobody should stop being creative simply because of the performance.
I'm sorry you felt compelled to abandon your creative aspirations simply because of algorithmic concerns. Even if your passion has faded and you no longer want to make videos, if nothing else, you owe it to yourself to let your work stand on its own two feet. I unlisted a lot of my old videos too, because I was embarrassed by their low quality, but when you create a thing, you let it go, and it belongs to the world. Your creations deserved a chance, and I'm sorry they didn't get one. Thank you for commenting, and I'm glad this video helped inspire you, at least a little.
I have a big dream of creating my own story through minecraft someday. Since i was a kid i would play the game and create narratives to my gameplays in head. Im commited to it but i dont really know where to start, plus i have some other issues, for example that english isnt my first language, and while actively talking i make mistakes. Im trying to figure that out, and i hope that one day ill manage to tell a story through this beloved game of mine!
Besides, that was a really great video! I recently watched whitepine, and i was so so so much impressed by it so ill definitely come back for the video about it.
That's so cool! There's never been a better time to try your hand at storytelling through Minecraft, with so many new tools, mods, and creative capabilities within the game itself to accentuate your storytelling! The best way to begin is by beginning. Figure out the story you want to tell through your gameplay, and the rest can follow from there! Even if your English isn't perfect, and you can't perfectly recreate the ideas you have inside your head on the first try, who said your first try had to be perfect anyways? I wish you the best of luck with your creative endeavors, and thank you so much for sharing your dream with me!
Sure! Here's a corrected version of your text:
When I heard that Efbo was now making a PvP Civilization, I started joking about how we should make a parody called Speedrun Civilization. But then, as I actually started writing it, I realized I wanted to take it seriously. I wanted to create a story worth telling, a story worth hearing. I hope I’ll be able to make this with my friends and that it doesn’t end up becoming just another unfinished project, because I genuinely want to make something good.
Really interesting analysis. I’m wondering what your thoughts were on quackity‘s last couple of dsmp lore streams because those felt really much closer to movies than the rest of the dsmp. Being fully pre recorded and with cinematic angles and stuff. Also the plot about Q teaching Slime how to be human in a way which revealed c!quackity’s warped world view and slimes apparently innocent questions gently poking holes in q‘s way of thinking. That shit was so good.
They seem to be much closer to what the video says makes good scripted Minecraft content.
Though maybe you haven’t watched them?? Which probably makes sense since by the time they came out the dsmp was definitely declining.
Yeah by around that point I was starting to become completely disconnected from Minecraft and the surrounding community entirely, as my very spotty upload history will show. That's a very interesting argument, though, and I did have some inkling of an idea that Quackity's lore streams were trending in a more cinematic direction. And while as an isolated example it's a very interesting case, within the broader context of the Dream SMP there's still the overarching problem of how it slots into everything else, I fear- stuff like that still runs the risk of getting lost in all the noise. Thanks for the comment, though, and for letting me know!
even though its scripted, i really like the content smp because its just scripted minecraft except for the fights
CONTENT SMP FAN SPOTTED
What a well crafted analysis video! I started watching, fearing that this was going to be one of those lackluster videos that didn’t offer any actual analysis, but BOY HOWDY I AM SO GLAD I'M WRONG!
If I had to recommend a Minecraft scripted roleplay to get into, especially after the breath of fresh air that is Whitepine, I would highly recommend Azora by The Invisible Davis studios, in conjunction with Queen Kat Productions! It's a cinematic, original fantasy roleplay with high stakes, mysteries, and some mature themes all wrapped in its 8 episode run. Its on hiatus now, but Davis and Kat are revamping the series and may have more info on what it looks like soon!
Glad I was able to disprove your preconceived notions about my work, and that you found my analysis at least somewhat salient- that's a very kind compliment, and I appreciate it so much! I'll definitely take your recommendation into account, too, since I'm always on the lookout for more high quality storytelling within the form! Thanks again for leaving a comment, I really appreciated hearing your perspective and getting to see a little more about your tastes when it comes to Minecraft storytelling through the recommendation you gave!
Actually, there has been 'minecraft as a movie' for quite some time, it just apparently hasn't been as prominent in the english minecraft sphere. The biggest example I can give are the works of a german youtuber called "Herr Bergmann", but there are also others like "Excute" (also german, as I'm german myself and therefore only really encountered german channels). For english speaking channels, there is a channel called The1ToFear, which made a few very good looking mc movies
Edit: well more like 'movies in minecraft'
This was surprisingly eye opening. I like the message of being sincere about the art you create.
Thank you! I'm glad you found my analysis somewhat salient, at least!
What's really neat about this whole discussion is the literal origins of gaming content on the web. It was all just tutorials and gameplay montages, until machinima became a thing. Stuff like Red vs Blue revolutionized the scene by using games exactly as you described; as a means to tell a story. Hell, machinima itself is literally a portmanteau of "machine" and "cinema". It's truly ironic how content started straying away from that, just to start circling back
The lack of scripted whitepine-like (or better, with 3D, mods, custom models and such) content in english mcyt is devastating for me. I grew up watching countless series that grew and improved on each other in russian speaking mcyt and when abandoning it in 2021, when i fell into the dsmp pit, i realized that... there's nothing here. There is nothing on the english, international, mcyt that even barely matches the technical quality.
Look up passerine adaptation to see what i mean. Or Крестоносец . I grew up on such content and i feel incredibly sad that there isn't much of it in English.
I truly hope that people appreciate whitepine and see the possibility of Minecraft to create stories in a more "poetic" sort of way, artistic way.
"parrot likes his spyglass. clown is evil." 😭
Tell me when I'm telling lies.
i think unstable universe has improved SO MUCH over the time that it's been made, when i watched the first video of his on unstable, i enjoyed it, though didn't enjoy it as much as his older videos before he went to scripted content, and the views the video had reflects that most people probably thought the same. his 2nd video, though not perfect, i think was a great improvement. I loved watching it, though i would still only watch it at 30-60 minutes at a time, and looking back at it, it did lack a huge part that made it a story, and not just interesting and entertaining things only trying to be a scripted minecraft video. I think his most recent video changed that. it was definitely one of the best minecraft videos i have seen, and a HUGE improvement from the rest. it's crazy to me how much they've already improved in a few months. it's definitely not the quality of some big movie, but i think it's proof that there's been a consistent improvement in the videos over time. I think one of the things i love about unstable is that they stay to the base survival-mode of the game, it's interesting to me seeing them have creative concepts, while still sticking to the boundaries of what's possible in the actual game. I also don't quite understand the criticism for it sticking to that, because you could say the same for most things. if it's a negative to stick to Minecraft survival and be creative and tell stories in that, why isn't it a negative to stick to Minecraft as a whole?
This is it. This is THE video. Everybody else can stop trying. We're never getting better than this.
While that’s very kind of you to say, Doppio, and I appreciate such high praise, the whole point of this video is that you can’t stop trying! Complacency is the biggest desease that plagues content creation! You have to try to get better and interact more critically with the art and entertainment you’re engaging with! Even I am not beyond scrutiny!
@@FrostbyteFreeman oh for sure, nothing is perfect, but this video essay is close
I feel like Parrot’s videos are like Hallmark movies for Minecraft players
Like I appreciate the time and effort put into them, especially the builds, but they all feel tailor made to appease the algorithm and get as much views and watch time as possible
I do hope to see them improve in their storytelling and whatnot though I’d love to watch more of Parrots videos once they become more than glorified background noise ^v^ (I swear that wasn’t meant to be an insult ;-;)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh, my sides. That first line absolutely decimated me. You're so right, and you should say it- I totally agree that there's a lot of undeniable craft and artistry poured into the builds and set-pieces, but it's the way those set pieces are employed within the broader context of the narrative that leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. The problem is in the execution, and I find the execution itself to be insipid and pandering. I didn't think this was insulting, I think it was exactly accurate and I completely concur. Thanks so much for a good laugh and a really great comment! I appreciate getting insight into your own perspective on the matter, too!
"It was written in parkour" is the best quote in history
I love this video. This was where I really understood other people's perspective on their opinion about these tales. Out of all these parts, what stood out for me the most is your insight for parrot. As a person who hates cliff hangers, it felt like Parrot's stories were like something for me to watch before going to sleep. It's long in a way that it keeps me watching. I never knew if they were ever really connected; but once I realized it wasn't, there was nothing for me to hold on yet the CONTENT itself. I enjoyed the one where they were trying to find spoke, and the other one where they were stuck in proton, since it had the endings I didn't expect of. There was also another hour long story that was made by Planetlord and him. It was short yet entertaining like it should be. Parrot's stories were like "tales of the untold" from the dream smp, yet longer and dragged out. Parkour civilization really had progression, and went pretty well. As from what I know, Evbo has a new series called pvp civilization which is somehow similar to parkour civilization. Whitepine is a series of mystery, which was a new concept for me; looking at Ivory's film making and the music she composed already meant that she had what it took to be what she wanted to portray. Overall, this was a video that I truly agreed with. All of these works are amazing, having the passion to make these with a mind full of vivid ideas, and portraying these out of a blocky game.
Thank you so much for the comment and the kind words, I'm very happy to hear that you appreciated my perspective on the matter! And I totally agree with your analysis on Parrot's work, too- the quasi-episodic structure feels like narrative fence-sitting, and I just wish he'd pick a lane because a lot of the concepts and core ideas could be super compelling if he just honed his craft.
I love listening to people talk at length about the niche stuff they are super passionate about.
This was a great video, keep on thinking too hard!
Thank you! I was going to do that anyways regardless of whether you told me to or not, though. Keep thinking too hard, that is.
About the unstable universe, i think that 3-4h videos is a bit much but the videos themselves are really entertaining.
That's what I find most frustrating of all. The builds, concepts, and set pieces are very well crafted on a technical level. What I don't find as compelling is the execution, and the way these set pieces are employed within the narrative.
Personally I love ARGs
But when I watch regular gameplay content (SMPs, singleplayer survival etc) I tend to enjoy partially-scripted work
For example: SoupSoup is in a normal survival lets play, but he has an Axolotl named Gill who causes some chaos. Gill is the only scripted part of the series (besides ideas on what projects to do and when) and the Gill segments are some of the audience's favorite parts.
Also, Hermitcraft s10, the snails. Grian and Gem saying "the snails just do stuff" 😂 its clearly not true, its 100% absolutely Grian and Gem doing the snail things
But it all happens off-camera and its some of the very little content that is scripted in Hermitcraft (as far as I can tell anyway.)
Actually, another example from HC s10:
Skizz doing minecraft sins (like leaving floating trees) and Tango popping in with a jumpscare like "HEY BUDDY, dont be that guy" 😂
Skizz shows bloopers of it, so we know its scripted, but its hilarious 😂
man now I want to make stories in minecraft
Glad you found this video inspiring! That's a very high honor.
When the video brings the film nerd in you back from a year ago. I love when I find videos that were made by people with an understanding of the intricacies of film and especially what goes into a production. If I had the proper resources I would definitely be using minecraft to tell my stories, because its the perfect medium to express a story and also show your understanding of film creation. And I'm just going to end my comment by saying, I highly appreciate anyone who understands film composition and when people can tell someone else understands it because they applied it in their video, because it is not all that common to find people who can apply it well. People in my media class still have trouble applying it correctly and understanding some of the stuff we've been taught, which mostly made me realize even more that I'm advanced in learning because I grasp these concepts so quickly.
Filmmaking in Minecraft has become more accessible than ever thanks to an increasing variety of tools and mods- so long as you have the game and a device capable of running it, rendering, and editing, you can pretty much get started for free. Glad my analysis here spoke to your own passion for film, that's what I hoped to accomplish with this little back-to-back double feature I put out.
16:20 VERY bold statement, really find it hard to imagine Minecraft rp videos being the first video game YT content to create art 😅
"but for how long they are they're painfully stagnant. and that, to me, is the real problem"
"most people rejected his message. they hated jesus because he told them the truth"
unstable has always been a huge can of worms for me. ive watched almost all of one video of it (the most secure prison escape one) and i was barely able to make it through it. the video was just painfully repetitive and almost seemed like it forgot to give any personality or goals to the characters (youre stronger than me for watching all the episodes for research holy moly). im super into the lifesteal/smp fandom (lurking, not actively posting) and unstable uni has always been pretty highly praised and loved and i felt like i was missing something. and i came in with such high expectations and was so ready to give it an honest shot. i was already a big fan of most of the creators that act in it. i was in such an easy position to like the series but it just fell so short and i was genuinely confused, mostly because of something that i didnt see mentioned that i felt like really has a place in the conversation: the search for the lost totem. its a fully, unabashedly scripted hour long film made by parrot and planetlord that predates unstable by about 4 months and it is wonderful. it was originally intended to be a series, but sadly got cancelled due to meta monetization issues make it unsustainable. its definitely a little rough around the edges but its so full of soul, effort, and can easily be called a work of art in the same way whitepine is. unstable feels like a regression and its so weird?? tsftlt is definitely one of the videos that are more "film that just so happens to be made in minecraft" than a more unstable-esque "film that is inseparably linked to its medium of minecraft" but in terms of just story (stuff like characterization, emotional effect, stakes, etc.) tsftlt is just... better? more engaging? endearingly earnest? why is unstable, which came after, markedly more boring and shallow? is it because of planetlords involvement? he hasnt made any more scripted films afaik. its clear parrot is capable of telling better stories, so why isnt he? the wasted potential is sad and im rooting for unstable to get better.
i also think openly scripted "lore smps" should have been discussed (ex. kaboodle and showtime smp i think) i havent really watched a lot of them because they personally dont appeal to me but ive heard very high praise for them and the way theyre more performing arts livestream-based instead of multiple takes video-edited other scripted stuff is.
also parkour civ sillies: you guys are actually taking it seriously? i mean genuine props to everyone who is because literary analysis is awesome but when i found it back last december i wrote it off as "funny-bad semi-satire on ya dystopia with a target audience of 9 year olds in minecraft" and i enjoyed it half-ironically as such. also im into 'real' technical mc parkour so seeing no inventories opened by the supposed champions and gods was really funny.
more thoughts on minecraft storytelling in general: it is such a phenomenal medium of storytelling because it lowers the barrier to filmmaking entry by so much. one of the main appeals of scripted mc stuff is that a beginner with no resources but drive can come out of the gate swinging and instantly be able to create top level stuff in a way you cant with typical filmmaking because of budget restraints. it doesnt require thousands or millions of dollars in cgi to make a movie set in floating islands or a crew of tens with drones to get the aerial camera angles right or a professional tailor to sew every unique fantasy outfit idea. you can build anything you want in creative, you can just move your mouse in flashback/replay or make a skin in a few hours in a free program. small filmmakers arent restricted anymore and i just think thats wonderful.
i dunno this is mostly just unfiltered yapping to hopefully boost this vid in the algorithm because it was fantastic and touched upon a lot of important stuff no one else has really considered before. hit the nail on the head with this one. great stuff have a good day
Gosh darn it, as an artist myself (not a TH-camr nor a content creator), this video reasoned with me a lot more than what I thought, even though I don't make Minecraft videos or anything like (although I do enjoy them a lot).
Something I adore about these Minecraft content creators is their creativity when making stories, and the ways they use the medium of Minecraft to make it possible. It's just that a lot of time their potential is wasted or unexplored (Parkour Civilization 😔), perhaps because sometimes they haven't acquired the experience needed to make it, but I feel like that most of the time is just like what you said during the video, they are scared pushing further it's story because they don't want to be deemed as cringe by others due to the medium the use.
Minecraft is a very powerful tool for storytelling with thousands of mods at its disposal and community people passionate about it, but I feel like the problem comes with how other people outside the community view it.
Most of the time these people's only see these scripted or roleplay videos as something childish/cringe or something that only kids can enjoy it (exploiting it for that same reason and only viewing it as a tool for making money), therefore disregarding it's potential for art and filmmaking, and making the people who wants to use it that way be embarrassed for trying to make something serious out of it.
But no matter how cringe a story is, as long as they put effort and passion towards it, I will alway enjoy it and support them, because as any other artistic person, we can always learn and improve our crafts. And to be honest I am very glad that there are other people who think like that as well, because Minecraft (as I stated previously) is an amazing tool for making up stories, and I'm so glad that there are people who aren't afraid to show their creations to the world through it!
(Lmao sorry if something reads weird, english is not my first language and I didn't know how to explain my thoughts in a coherent way without making it sound weird xD)
I thought this comment was very articulate, and I'm glad this video resonated with you on such a deeply personal level! Thank you for your comment, and for sharing your passion for Minecraft as a storytelling medium with me, too! I appreciated the perspective.
It wouldn't be a youtube essay if it didn't bring up ancient rome in a minecraft video
Is this a common thing? I had no idea.
@@FrostbyteFreeman It's a joke on how youtube video essays tend to jump to some far past concepts and tie them into what the video is about
"To understand the culture of toilets, we need to go back to the prehistoric era." like stuff. I remember there being some parody video about this.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like cinematography and sincerity are Frost's main problems with scripted minecraft content. If being "constrained" by minecraft's mechanics is a bad thing then just watch something that isn't made in minecraft?
Yes, its a bit of a weird argument imo cus like for most audiences of scripted minecraft videos the whole appeal is that it happens IN the minecraft world. I dont necessarily see whitepine as being better than parkciv or unstable universe just bc it doesnt acknowledge that its made in a minecraft world. Idk. It might just be a matter of taste
The whole video is spent yapping when he could've easily made it way shorter
Man, I put this video on in the background while making pancakes yet the ending has nearly made me cry. Bravo, what a fantastic video.
I adore and applaud just how truly passionate you are about art and your words have truly resonated to me as an aspiring artist and story teller. Granted, I'm unsure if I'll be making stories in Minecraft any time soon but the way you speak and your commentary is so good that it applies to much more than just Minecraft (at least in my eyes). You have genuinely got me re-evaluating how I view art (well, more so just widened my horizons and made me consider new things i haven't before).
My only complaint is that I wish you would've gone a bit more into detail on stuff like Parrot's videos and everything as whole because I am rather clueless on that area (only having really watched Parkour Civilisation and Dream SMP when I was younger). Advice I've been given is that it is typically best to write essays under the assumption the reader/viewer doesn't know what you're talking about because some people curious about the subject might be partially or completely clueless about the topic and will be left in some confusion, but nevertheless fantastic work. I will be looking forward to watching more of your, well, calling it "content" now would be somewhat insulting so let's call it what it is, art.
Thank you! I'm glad this video managed to elicit such a sincere emotional reaction from you, and that you found my commentary to be somewhat salient. Regarding the section on Unstable Universe and Parkour Civilization, I skipped over background on both because this essay was written *to the form itself,* hence the presumption that the subjects were already understood, but you're right that it was remiss of me not to provide a broader perspective. I'll try to do better next time.
I would like to say watch what you want. I like all three of these content, and it really depends on your style.
Hi, Blockbuster mod and BBS mod creator here. It really sucks that you didn’t mention even once any machinimas... 😢
Like most of Herr Bergmann’s stuff are spectacles. Ethobot’s earliest videos are art. I would agree that a lot of machinimas aren’t to the level of art, but the same way there could be only one Whitepine.
Zeemyth is to me another amazing contender for scripted Minecraft content. Whilst he does lean into an ARG style in his videos, nonetheless, even without needing to analyse and decode any ciphers, riddles, or links, you can always still see An amazing story and amazing execution, all in Minecraft.
exactly what i was thinking, next era of minecraft "big thing", minecraft films
I love he undertalr music at the end. Just chefs kiss making your genuine opinion on these just feel better. Sound choice can just do so much
This video is scripted
Nuh uh
The funniest thing is that I literally just got done watching all of Parrot’s Unstable Universe videos last night. I started watching at the start of this week and binged all 25 hours. I, like you mentioned, was at first playing Minecraft while the videos were on in the background. It wasn’t until the end of the second video that I literally became utterly obsessed with the storyline. From that point forward, I watched every single second. To me, it felt as though it was honestly going way too fast because that’s how much I genuinely enjoyed it. You’re right though, it does definitely have its flaws. Some parts felt incredibly lacking and somewhat underdeveloped. Some things that were incredibly important were then never brought up again. It just kind of left holes in the story instead of feeling like everything is supposed to tie together. I love each arc in the story, but as you said, some things feel really drawn out and unnecessary. I also really like your point on the character vs content creator. I FEEL THE SAME WAY!!! It’s really difficult for me to view them differently because the characters aren’t super duper fleshed out or created specifically for the series. I do have to disagree about not knowing ANYTHING about the characters though. There’s definitely indirect characterization happening that genuinely does help show the personalities of each character every episode, even though it may be small at times. Idk, I am incredibly hyperfixated on it so I’m possibly overthinking every little detail. Anyway, it was very interesting hearing someone else’s drastically different views on the same series that I personally am currently crazy over. (So sorry if this didn’t make sense either. I am not a good writer, so getting how I feel into words is difficult. Sorry for the yap session lol.)
No need to apologize twice, or even once! I appreciated the comment, and it was good to read someone else's perspective, even (and perhaps especially) if it differs from my own. I'll gladly concede your point that there's some "incidental" characterization through character interactions in Unstable, but for *my* money, this incidental approach makes it hard to differentiate if the interactions are characterizing the content creator or the character they're playing. That's just me, though. Thanks again for the comment, and I appreciated the yapping!
Surprised to see no mention of Aphmau and her Mystreet/Minecraft Diaries series! I'd argue she set the blueprint and these SMPs deviated..
Edit: Got to your conclusion and saw some! I heavily encourage you to watch the Minecraft Diaries series and give your thoughts!
I'm more disappointed to see no one in the comments talk about her at all
Because some of the things Aphmau did with Minecraft are actually incredible - they even have their own mods
It makes it especially disappointing that they decided to fully animate the entire next (last?) season of MyStreet especially after not giving any updates for years
Saying that as someone who really wanted to make Minecraft roleplay content *because* of MyStreet when I was younger
I very briefly mentioned her in the first chapter of the video during the course of the history lesson, and some of the MyStreet stuff makes an appearance there too! One of my biggest concerns with this script was that I didn't paint a detailed enough picture of the past to give appropriate context for Minecraft storytelling as a discipline, but I definitely agree that she and others like her were initially the ones setting the paradigm for the genre, a paradigm that eventually shifted to favor a different type of storytelling/content. Hopefully that contention still comes through in the video, though. Thanks again for the comment, and for the recommendation too!
this video was so beautifully made it had me tearing up man this in of itself is a form of art, the ability to evoke emotions with just simple words and thoughts about a silly block game.
Thank you for the kind words! I’m glad this video helped you come around on my point of view, and that it managed to evoke such an earnestly emotional reaction from you.
I'm almost angry that the TH-cam algorithm didn't tell me about Whitepine before you did. I really _really_ just can't trust this thing anymore.
Glad my ramblings here convinced you to give it a shot! I like Whitepine a normal amount, as I'm sure you can tell
@@FrostbyteFreeman Well, the amount you like it is probably normal _considering how good it is._
I shared your video with a friend and, just off the thumbnail (before even watching it), they were like, "leave my white pine alone." It has to be good when even the quite kid jumps to prevent me from saying a word against it.
Can't wait to watch it once my life settles down a bit.
@@lightning_11 When I said I liked Whitepine a normal amount I was moreso referring to the hour-long wall-to-wall yap session I devoted to the subject in the video after this one bahaha
When Minecraft is only used as an artform and the story doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Minecraft, then what's the reason to use Minecraft? The only one I can think of is ease of use. Making a full movie in Minecraft is far easier than filming and acting or animating. However, Minecraft looks significantly worse than making it the harder way. If someone is making a story that doesn't have anything to do with Minecraft, and they truly want to give it their all, then I could understand why they would rather use a different medium which looks way better.
I found your channel through your this is honestly the best minecraft video essay i have ever seen i found your channel through your 'bdubs is the goat video' and your videos are actually amazing and there is more room fore content like yours. Hope you keep making videos man, you deserve to go places.
Also, can't wait to see your video on white pine you truly inspired me with this video
Thank you so much! That's seriously so kind of you to say- glad you found me from this most recent run, and that you've sincerely been enjoying my stuff! Praise this weighty means the world to me :)
@@FrostbyteFreeman thanks man great to see a youtuber who isnt afraid to be earnest
I think a MASSIVE part of the future of minecraft storytelling is the mod flashback, you can genuine make some INSANELY good cinema stuff by using it. It's like replay mod but designed for making cinematic stuff
Absolutely! I didn't present this as clearly as I should have in the video, but Flashback and a lot of other recent tools developed for creatives working within Minecraft have made storytelling more easily accessible than ever, and it's only a matter of time to see if those tools actually get put to use.