Local filmmaker takes on video game issues with new web series
By Cheryl Minns, Arts Editor
Epic Quest is a modern take on a hero’s journey where a video game character named Alys, a lower level barmaid, steps up to rescue her sister, Thea, from the evil King. In this web series, Alys is joined by Sevrin, an inexperienced Mage who keeps trying to prove his power, and other companions who assist her on the epic quest.
The series’ creator, Chelsea Goodman, developed the show’s concept for a class project in her third year in the Motion Picture Arts program at Capilano University. The assignment required students to look at various web series and answer the question, “What kind of web series would you make?”
“What I’m doing with Epic Quest is a fantasy story and a video game story but I’m blending it in a way that these fantasy warriors know they’re video game characters and know they live in a video game world, but they don’t know who created them and why life is like that,” she said.
Since the video game fantasy genre has been explored in other series, Goodman decided to take it to a new level in her web series by analyzing the issues in video games, such as gender stereotypes.
“I’m not just going to look at misrepresentation of female characters, I’m also going to look at how male characters are misrepresented and how they’re expected to act and look a certain way,” she said. “Things have to change. Maybe we can start that change, or at least make people aware of it.”
What started as a class project is currently evolving into a pilot episode for Goodman’s fourth-year development project, and soon will expand into a 10-episode season.
“If we can get season one done, distributed, well-known, and if we’re really successful, then probably two to three more seasons,” she said. “The world I’m creating in Epic Quest is huge and I could go up to five seasons. If we are really successful, maybe we might make a movie.”
While Goodman and her crew have use of the university’s facilities and equipment for the project, she and her producer, Jeff McAlpine, decided to raise funds through Kickstarter to support the production’s other needs, such as costumes, make-up, props, and distribution.
“Our ultimate goal is obviously to create it as a web series, but we don’t only want it to be online. We would love to have it on Netflix and iTunes,” she said, comparing the series to The Guild, which transitioned from online to Netflix.
The Kickstarter campaign has already raised over $1,800 from more than a dozen backers, reaching its $1,600 funding goal by the end of January. The campaign will finish on February 22.
“This is actually the second Kickstarter campaign I’ve ever done, so I’m not new to Kickstarter. I’ve done it and succeeded before,” Goodman said, referring to the campaign for her previous short film. “With the success of The Curse of Maggie Boon Kickstarter campaign, a lot of my previous backers are now donating to Epic Quest.”
The campaign rewards for backers were inspired by the rewards offered during the Maggie Boon campaign, which were popular among supporters. The lower donation levels offer a variety of Epic Quest goodies such as flair buttons, photographs from the shoot, the soundtrack, a signed script, a signed poster, and a digital download of the pilot episode. Higher donation levels feature the opportunity to get executive producer credit on the production, a visit to the set to meet the cast and crew, as well as the chance to take home a prop from the set.
“I wanted to make rewards that my audience would want and would proudly display on their wall. I have a graphic design background, so I was able to design most of the rewards,” she said. “People love any Executive Producer credit because then their name is in the movie. With all of our projects, we put them onto IMDb.com, so their credits are up there online with the film.”
To learn more about Epic Quest, check out EpicQuestSeries.com or follow the series on Facebook and Twitter. To support the production of the series’ pilot episode, check out the campaign at Kickstarter.com
