Felicia Day

Well guys, it’s pretty amazing to see Episode 1 of Season 4 FINALLY online! I really hope you enjoy it, it’s our longest first episode yet, and I gotta tell you it KILLED me I couldn’t get it under 5 minutes. Looking at it now, I probably could have cut some stuff, but I’m super happy with the final result, so editing to an arbitrary length is not the end-all be-all. If it works, it works

<br/><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.bing.com/videos/browse?mkt=en-us&#038;vid=&#038;from=LKVR5&#038;fg=sharenoembed');" href="http://www.bing.com/videos/browse?mkt=en-us&#038;vid=&#038;from=LKVR5&#038;fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Season 4 - Episode 1 - Epic Guilt">Video: Season 4 &#8211; Episode 1 &#8211; Epic Guilt</a>

A few things. If you’ll notice, the episode looks a bit different than usual. We shot this season on a different camera, the Canon Mark 5D, which I NEVER EVER WILL TRUST BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE A STILL CAMERA SO HOW IS IT TAKING VIDEO?! (/oldwomanrant). Honestly, the quality looks AMAZING, it’s in 1080p for the first time with the Guild (we were shooting 720p before) so it has a clarity to it that is pretty spiffy.

Story-wise, when I started this season, the thing I wanted to avoid most of all was the whole “Codex sneaking around with Fawkes behind everyone’s back and getting caught later in the season.” That seemed like the automatic go-to as a result of the cliffhanger, so I knew immediately that I would have Codex do the opposite and come clean at the top of the season. She’s a pretty guilt-ridden person (as am I, that part is a bit auto-biographical ). Everything else fell into place from there. Getting Codex into trouble this season was much easier because she’s definitely coming out of her shell a lot, her interactions with The Guild face-to-face are making her more assertive and more confident, so her point of view about things is much easier to write now.

In addition, I introduce the idea of a Guild Hall for the Guild, because, as an in-game activity, it is something that would theoretically bring the Guild TOGETHER, unlike last season when they were torn apart. But bar-none my favorite moment in the episode is Bladezz sneezing SO disgustingly on the kitchen grill. Sean Becker’s idea ladies and gentlemen. Thanks to Amalfi for letting us use their kitchen and cleaning up EXTREMELY WELL afterwards, that place is a great restaurant and had a very clean kitchen which we abused a little bit

Small side note: When you write something crazy like “Clara wears a goofy squid hat”, Kim Evey (my producer) can take care of it for you. She found a man who ACTUALLY MAKES SQUID HATS. So weird, but thanks Kim for making my “vision” a reality. Also thx Sean Becker for getting Clara to belt out that opening song, and making me write even MORE than what was in the script for her to sing. The opening shot is really really funny and well-done.

For more in-depth analysis of this episode (and ALL of them really) our show fan-podcast Knights of the Guild was on set for almost all of our filming, interviewing cast and crew about each episode. I believe they will upload a mini-cast with every episode (today’s goes up tonight@knightsoftheguild said), so check them out! We’re very lucky to have such amazing fans!

Lastly, Maureen Ryan over at the Chicago Tribune did a set visit and an in-depth article about me and The Guild that I’m really proud of. She’s a smart and insightful lady, and it’s an honor to be profiled by her. Check it out, and the accompanying article she did on Web Series Coming of Age.

Hope you enjoyed the episode! Next episode has some really funny stuff, I think Bladezz is kinda stealing the season, hehe

If you haven’t heard already, Season 4 of The Guild premieres on Xbox/MSN/Zune on July 13th, this Tuesday!  Eep, I can’t believe it’s here already!  We have a trailer that just went up over at Bing, please watch and see a bit of what’s in store!  We shot on the Canon Mark 5D, so those who have noticed it looks “prettier” are not wrong I guess.
<br/><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/season-4-trailer/y08waqri?fg=sharenoembed');" href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/season-4-trailer/y08waqri?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Season 4 - Trailer">Video: Season 4 &#8211; Trailer</a>

Also if you missed it, AutoTune the News made an AMAZING recap of Season 3, so you can refresh about where we left off. They did us a huge favor by doing this, so check out their channel on YouTube and see how brilliant they are!

Lastly, all our Comicon info was compiled by our Guild Media Guru Brian Kameoka, so click over to The Guild website to get all the times for activities we’re doing there. We’ll be signing in the booth every day and have DVDs and Tees and everything! And due to our immense overflow last year in a 500 seat room, we have a 1600 seat room this year, so PLEASE come see the panel and prove that a web series deserves just as big a room as TV shows and movies!
I absolutely promise you it will be worth it. That’s all I can say

Also, I’m doing a fantastic panel called “Girls Gone Geek” about women writing in Genre fiction.  There are some brilliant women on the panel, I’m very excited to be participating.  That panel is from 5-6pm on Friday.  More info can be found over at io9.

Ok, off to answer emails, it’s Friday night, what else would I be doing?

A few things. I had a FANTASTIC time at Farpoint Convention in Baltimore. I was so busy I only got to throw one snowball, but after being used to the giant cons like Comicon and Dragoncon, it was so fun meeting people in a smaller, more relaxed convention environment. I was so impressed, the organizers were stupendously welcoming, and I loved the fact that so many people had their kids involved in the convention. I also go to meet@osiramon, one of the Guild’s “Rejected Guild Applicants” from last season, which was a treat. Here we are at lunch:

Anyway, wonderful experience, I had a blast!

Biggest news in a while: Guild Season 3 DVD is out through Amazon CreateSpace today!

We added a lot of extra stuff to the DVD this season, it’s on 2 disks! It includes:
All the Season 3 episodes with “Play All” feature
2 commentary tracks
“Avatar” Video
BTS of “Avatar” Video, and cosplay segment on “How to Make Vork’s Sword”
“Axis of Anarchy” Interviews
“Rejected Guild Member” applications
And lots more!

It is Region-free and has optional English subtitling.
ALSO! You can order all the seasons in HD through AMAZON VOD for $6.99. Another way you can stream and enjoy the episodes. Please spread the word, we really appreciate it!!

And lastly, as a bonus to the DVD release,@GregAranowitz, the creator of the “Avatar” video weapons, filmed a “How to” video with ME in his studio on making Codex’s staff for his blog! It’s in three parts, the first part is up on his blog. You will quickly see I am not construction gifted, haha.

Hope you enjoy, back to writing!

The Guild Season 3 Finale was posted today! We MADE IT!

Streaming on Bing Video
Alt Streaming MSN Parallel Universe Site
Zune/Xbox Download (You can also view the episodes here through the Zune Software PC users)
And Episodes 8-12 Outtakes!

And if you need a place to catch up on all seasons, Bing Video has a nice place to watch them all in a beautiful organized fashion.

Episode 11

<br/><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-guild-episode-11-battle-royale/y0g5hgdl?fg=sharenoembed');" href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-guild-episode-11-battle-royale/y0g5hgdl?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="'The Guild' Episode 11: Battle Royale">Video: &#8216;The Guild&#8217; Episode 11: Battle Royale</a>

Episode 12

<br/><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-guild-episode-12-hero/y0lawenp?fg=sharenoembed');" href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-guild-episode-12-hero/y0lawenp?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="'The Guild' Episode 12: Hero">Video: &#8216;The Guild&#8217; Episode 12: Hero</a>

Gag reel for ep 9-12

<br/><a onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/season-3-gag-reel-episodes-9-12/y0vxw27s?fg=sharenoembed');" href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/season-3-gag-reel-episodes-9-12/y0vxw27s?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Season 3 - Gag Reel: Episodes 9-12">Video: Season 3 &#8211; Gag Reel: Episodes 9-12</a>

Well, what to say. I guess I’m surprised that director Sean Becker and DP John Schmidt survived this shoot. It was pretty insane to accomplish coverage of such complicated stuff and make sure it edited together properly and was fast and funny. In two days. They did an amazing job due to impeccable planning and storyboarding. We were lucky to have the local LA Zune House (a party location) to shoot in! Kim and I had attended a few parties there and thought “Wow, that’s a cool coincidence, can we pull some strings and not shoot in a janky cheap warehouse?!” Thank you all the Microsoft people it took to arrange it. Pretty much the best location to shoot at EVER since there was SOOOO much room. Production value through the nose that we couldn’t have accomplished any other way on our budget.

So the episodes. Two Guilds. Fifteen Actors. 20 Extras. What a nightmare, who thought of this storyline anyway?!?! Well, for episode 11 it is the finest frenzy we’ve ever done. I was determined to give everyone a grace note in one of these episodes, and I think everyone got wrapped up pretty well. There were, frankly, too many storylines going on this season, but out of necessity I made them work, because I couldn’t think of any other way to do the season. I think for season 4 there will be a more streamlined story on my writing part, but due to the chaotic nature of this season’s storyline I’m really happy with how it turned out.

An aside: I know when the episode goes up on any World of Warcraft site the main comment will be, “A PRIEST survives 2 on one with DPS characters?!? STUPID!” Well, whatever. Artistic license and this isn’t WOW. I always picture Codex running and hiding, and then stunning Tink and Fawkes a lot. I feel like she’d be good at evasion as a player.

It was a joke with me and Sean when I was writing the season, “What’s gonna be the Special Effect Shot in episode 12?” Well, I hadn’t planned one, but just because he was joking around I came up with the Codex/Cyd conversation. And I like it so much. They say you never change unless YOU want to change, and to get Cyd to grow a spine she looks inside herself. Or inside her monitor. Because, at heart, I believe we are a piece of our avatars online, whether actual or aspirational. Ok, I’ll stop being semi-deep now. Another reason was the costumes were expensive and it was another reason to use mine, LOL.

In episode 12 I also love…*SPOILER*

…the arc of Wil’s character and mine culminating into the season cliffhanger. When I wrote that down I giggled with GLEE. And coincidentally it was the first scene we shot, with a skeleton crew to prevent anyone knowing what would happen. Well, we always have a skeleton crew, but whatever. I wanted to keep it a big surprise. When I was planning the season I wanted to avoid a romance arc for Codex since she already did that with the stunt guy last season. I kept wanting to hook these two up though, I didn’t massage it to happen, I wrote it because it made sense. Every time I read the script through that transition from Zaboo and me to that last scene made me laugh. I’m so excited to see people reacting the same way! When I rewote the season (the MANY times) I kept trying to sprinkle sexual tension between them, but make it very subtle and not a give-away.

Another scene that I like is the Riley/Venom kiss. The line, “That’s a hell of a long kiss,” was so lame but made me and Sean laugh a lot, so we kept it in. Script-wise I originally planned that Riley grabbed and kissed ME, but as I was writing I felt like Riley’s nature and Venom’s nature would suit each other. I could see these two having a good relationship actually. Well, “good” is widely interpretable. Above all I wanted Zaboo to step up and get HIMSELF out of the mess of this relationship. I didn’t want Codex saving him, and I wanted that moment before Fawkes steps in between them at the very end to have a sense of possibility, because they’ve grown alone they might be able to be actual friends together. Oops.

What else, the cool conversation between Bruiser and Bladezz, Clara being pregnant, Zaboo’s hashtag #sweetburns, there are so many moments that we had so much fun with. All in all I’m so proud of the season, I feel like we stepped it up on every level. Our cast and crew this season were fantastic, thank you each and every one. And thanks to you guys for watching and commenting. It’s what we do this stuff for.

We have lots of DVD extras that are being processed now, S3 DVD to be early next year. I’m working on the comic (the art is looking AMAZING, so exciting) and hopefully I’ll have time for more blogging about non-Guild stuff for a bit. I know I need a bit of a creative break because I’ve been downloading history books of World War I and enrolling in trapeze classes. I guess the strange stuff I do to shake my creative boredom can only go to more inspiration!