RocketJump Shorts
Heroes of the Storm – Firebat Reveal + Vancouver!
Earlier this month, Blizzard asked us to make a little trailer for the reveal of Firebat "Blaze" in Heroes of the Storm, so we drove up to the snow in Vancouver and did it!
We have one very simple goal here at RocketJump – we want to make webseries that are better than shows on TV or movies in theaters, and we want to involve you, our audience, in that process in a way that’s never been done before.
You know how pretty much every HBO show is better than anything else on television, or how every Pixar movie just blows everything else outta the water? We want to do that, but for the web.
Of course, we’re no HBO or Pixar, but you gotta have something to aim at, right?
We’re bummed out because we think webseries kinda suck right now. I almost cringe a little bit when I type that word out. Webseries. Blegh.
See, up until now, that word has meant barebones budgets, awful acting, and snoozeworthy storylines. Ask yourself how many times you watched something and thought “Well, that was pretty good… for a webseries…â€
That’s like saying “This painting is pretty well done… for a six-year old.†Odds are that painting blows.
There’s tons of reasons for that. A lot of people make a webseries with the hope of using it to springboard into a feature film deal or a television show. Or they think because it’s on the web, they can skimp on rewrites, or production design, or actors. In short, they don’t take the medium seriously.
We think that’s a mistake. Theater attendance is plummeting while Netflix and Hulu usage skyrockets. More and more people are spending more and more time online watching video. Now, more than ever, quality independently produced original content can flourish. It already is on television, and we think it can happen online too.
Basically, we’re as pumped as pufferfish over here.
There’s one thing that’s unique about online video – in the past, you needed middlemen – studios, theater chains, TV networks – in order to reach an audience. Not anymore. For the first time, the internet has enabled us, the content creators, to serve you, our audience, directly.
The webseries is a new medium, just like television was to movies, and just like movies were to stage plays. One of the coolest things about webseries is that they can be any length – a series might just be three five-minute episodes, or a hundred twenty-minute episodes. The length of a series is matched with the scope of the story.
At RocketJump, we want to bring you all of it – long, short, serious, funny – and all held to the highest of standards. We may stumble along the way, and you may not like every show we make, but in the end, we believe that great stories will endure, and great stories are born from the crucible of creative freedom.
And beyond just webseries, we want to do a whole lot more. Growing up, we could count on our small group of friends and family to watch the movies we made on DV cameras. Now, we can share what we do with all of you out there, and that’s incredible. We want to bring you behind the scenes )and we mean truly behind the scenes) of the creation and process of making movies. We want to involve you in that creation.
So in addition to webseries of all shapes and sizes, expect podcasts, blog posts, community events, live streams – I mean, look, we’re all basically grown up nerdy kids here so if it’s cool and fun, we’re probably into it.
The truth is, we don’t know what the world of entertainment will look like, but with your help, together we can shape what it becomes.
Rock on, Rocket Jumpers!
– The RocketJump Founders
p.s. We got super pumped and launched the site a bit early, so what you see right now is super mega under construction and being tweaked even as you read this, so stay tuned! Also we’re using the YouTube player for now, but we’re looking into getting our own video player that’ll let us add all the custom features (like selectable commentary tracks, alternate video versions, etc.)