[VoxMSI.Rogue]

This morning The Filming Archon released their official trailer for the feature length documentary 'Keyboard Athletes' which they have been filming during 2012.

The film follows Starcraft II and Super Street Fighter IV players from around New Zealand as they try and go pro in their games and the challenges that arise along the way.

Our very own NvJazBas, fray`Petraeus and Fresco all feature heavily in the documentary and I took a moment to find out a little bit more from The Filming Archon's Ashley Pitman and Vanja Bisic.

What have been the challenges in filming 'Keyboard Athletes' so far?

Ashley: The biggest challenge is fitting my personal time table to everyone else’s (especially the talent). One thing which looms over my head is trying to make the best product for the community, and to be able to do that seems like a massive hurdle or "challenge" to me personally. Other than that things have been going very smoothly and I’m excited myself (this being my first feature) to see the end product up on the big screen and shown in front of our community and hopefully many more around the world.

Vanja: Personally I think it has been finance. I’m a full-time student so all my income is used on living and this documentary. We made a PledgeMe (NZ version of Kickstarter) at the beginning of the year and raised $2000 NZD which got used up very quickly. We missed filming Petraeus when he went to France and played Stephano and we really wish we could have filmed him. Some of our SF4 players also went to Shadowloo Showdown In Australia and I missed out on WCS Australia because we only had enough for one of us to go. We were also in talks with people to go film the WCS global finals and film Glade and Mafia but it didn’t happen unfortunately and I really wish I could have gone.

Tell us about some of the moments you have experienced while filming, the emotion, the drama, the wins and the losses?

Ashley: Some of the best experiences I have been in whilst filming was the WCS Australia event. For me that was an amazing experience to see the power of true emotion from the crew over there, nerd chills! Closer to home though would have been seeing one of our featured players (not to name names) break down after one of his matches. Though its hard to say one specific event or moment since each experiance is so unquie, everyone expresses themselfves differenetly and thats what I love so much about being able to film this doco!

Vanja: I think learning about each of the players on deep level where they are more than just a username really gives emotion to any game I watch. I know how much they have trained, how much they want to win and how much it will mean to them. Sometimes it is hard to film and focus when you are caught up in the moment.

Who was your favourite player to follow in 'Keyboard Athletes' and why?

Ashley: Favorite player, that’s hard to say once again! Though I would have to say spending a lot of time with Pet is always a laugh. I still remember the best quote he ever said was "I baneling busted his soul", I was in tears!

Vanja: I like to follow them all really. I can connect to the StarCraft players because I play it at a competitive level and have been watching StarCraft: Brood War since 2005. I love to see how our players such as Petraeus and JazBas compete with top players from around the world and really show that even us as such a small and isolated country with really terrible internet are able to take games off top names given the right opportunity. I can connect to the fighting games players because I can appreciate the hours of endless work they put in repeating the same action over and over and the mind games that go on.

Why the strong focus on Super Street Fighter IV and Starcraft II?

Vanja: We originally just focused on StarCraft because we are both very familiar with the scene and the game but as we explored the different eSports in New Zealand the SF4/Marvel community is the most similar and most interesting one to film. They are both the most dominant communities as well the FPS scene is New Zealand is pretty much dead and the few teams that remain don’t want to be filmed which is very puzzling you would think you would want the free exposure. Dota 2 was not out/big when we started or we would have covered it as well.

What are your plans for the release of the documentary?

Ideally Mid to late 2013.

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Shoutouts to: Everyone involved in the film and that has helped out in one or another, the NZ/Australia SC2/fighting gaming communities, Tt eSports (Chris Mayo Smith), BarcraftNZ, Blizzard ANZ (PJ in particular), Team Iris, TVNZ and anyone else I am forgetting!

You Tube

You Tube

Quick Comments

	nirvAnA:	nice!!
	Bash:	sickest trailer