ince World of Warcraft launched in 2004, the staff at Blizzard has watched enthusiastically as the community pushed movie making in Azeroth from an unexplored, unproven experiment to a broadly utilized and intricate craft, producing thousands of videos ranging across every type and genre. Opportunities such as BlizzCon and other movie contests challenged community artists to push the limits, and time and time again, players stepped up to the plate and delivered memorable works that turned heads not just in the Blizzard community, but in the digital filmmaking community as a whole. Short films produced using World of Warcraft have been shown at film festivals internationally, winning awards, garnering recognition, and reinforcing the notion that filmmaking in our virtual worlds is heading toward mainstream audiences. To nurture the advancement and growth of this young artistic community, this site has been established to provide resources and insight helpful to the ongoing development of cutting edge videos crafted from the World of Warcraft experience, and to say with resounding clarity: Blizzard is a fan of your works.

To start things off on the right foot, for the first time Blizzard has made available a guide for fair-use video creation: a new reference document which outlines the rules and guidelines that should be followed when crafting your videos. This is to help artists avoid "grey area" decisions for which there is no definitive answer out there for whether a course of action is permissible or not according to Blizzard.

Click here to view the Guide for Fair-Use video creation.

To ensure that outstanding videos receive the praise and exposure they deserve, we are currently working toward expanding this site to include hosting and exhibition of player-created videos, both old and new, which demonstrate extraordinary storytelling, editing, direction, sound design and/or originality. We would like to show both the audience and the artists the whole spectrum; that it doesn't always take the flashiest techniques to create a truly entertaining experience, while at the same time showing the more technically advanced films to provide inspiration and show what the art form is truly capable of achieving.

Whether you've never been exposed to Warcraft filmmaking before, or perhaps you've wanted to make a movie yourself but didn't know where to begin, or even if you have a few videos under your belt, this site is here to help! A new, dedicated forum for Warcraft filmmakers will be available soon, and our staff will be answering questions and providing advice to beginners and veterans alike. Frequently Asked Questions will be addressed in insightful articles as well as artist Q&A sessions, and frequent updates will keep the spotlight on the up and coming, as well as more contests and opportunities to get your movie seen!.

Looking forward, we hope this site will be a useful stepping stone for a unique artist community. There are already many resources available out there, from fellow artist blogs, to established video hosting sites. It is not our goal to replace these, but instead offer the community our feedback as well as information they may not be able to find anywhere but from the source. We are huge fans of our community's videos, and we admire the vast body of work you, the players, have created using our games as your paintbrush. It is our greatest hope that you will be inspired to create your own story, to enjoy filmmaking in the world of Azeroth, and experience the feeling of personal success and freedom that artistic expression can give. And who knows? Even first time movie makers have had their works go viral on the internet and found themselves with a million raving fans: The only way to find out is to get out there and start shooting!

Be sure to come back again soon, to learn, to mentor and help others, or just to be a part of the community as a whole, as we all benefit from every success story to come out of Azeroth, or any of the worlds in Blizzard's universe. So let's keep the movies coming!

View some Machinima Movies