The Cult of the Masks

By Caitlin McCaul

The animation stills. This experimental film is hugely based on the QSMP Purgatory event, an event that lasted 2 weeks. In an event this long, what do I include?This post will explain some of the animation stills that I've drawn and have their stream counterpoints beside them. I will also explain any unusual shot types, compositions and focus settings in the stills.I've divided the stills into three categories, landscape stills which includes shots of the landscapes and bases, people stills which includes anything with a character in them, and filler stills which includes shots that don't fall into the other categories. I've also included a bit about the main characters that will be in the experimental film.

Characters

Team Bolas

Other Teams

Tubbo (Toby)
- Talkative, Awkward, Intelligent
- Has an ambitious view of live while allowing people to take things from his warehouses
- Leader of Soulfire (Blue Team)
- Family:
Godson: Chayanne
Goddaughter: TallulahBadBoyHalo (Bad/BBH)
- Mischievous, Kind, Protective
- Despite being a prankster, he's the go to babysitter on the server
- Family:
Adopted Daughter: Pomme
Adopted Son: DapperEtoiles
- Adventurous, Funny, Friendly
- A thrill seeking individual that strives to make other people's lives easier
- Leader of Green Ninjas (Green Team)
- Family:
Adopted Daughter: Pomme

Choosing The Name and Leader

Landscape Stills

The first shot I'll be diving into is the shot of the burning tree. This acacia tree was located on a mountain a few meters south of the team's starting base in a valley below. I believe the tree was burning throughout the event, often being used as a symbol of Team Bolas's sanity slowly burning away by the fans.In my still, I included the shack by the team's first base in the background as well as the mountains to the North. The darker spot to in the middle right of the frame is the deepslate (dark rock) surrounding the base. I chose a wide angle for the shot and to place the tree on the left hand side following the grid lines of the frame.

These stills stills depict the second base that Team Bolas made. There were a lot of reasons that the team decided to move, the main ones being the other teams knew where they were located and their things were getting stolen/destroyed.Foolish found a spot in the mountains North of the first base and lead the other team members there. This base is split into 4 areas; the storage area (top left panel), the ladder leading into the base from outside (bottom left panel), the enchanting room where the team upgraded their weapons and armour (bottom right panel), and the tea farm (top right panel).
The second still is the aftermath of the fight when BadBoyHalo of Blue Team (Team Soulfire) found the base and told the rest of his team. Resulting in the third move of Team Bolas.(I can't seem to find a screenshot of the enchanting room.)

Storage System

Entrance

Farm Area

People Stills

The still below depicts Team Bolas dancing around a campfire. The inspiration for this shot came from the team on Day 1 of Purgatory where they had enough of the server. While Philza was out exploring, the other 5 members were at their spawn losing their minds. BadBoyHalo was coming in and out to mess with the team, Green Team was floating around and even the island they lived on seemed to be against them.

The shot of the sword going into Philza's back came from an encounter with Green Team on Day 1. Before Team Bolas lost their minds, they were trying to complete the Global Tasks, tasks that were sent out to all the teams, where they have to gather items and turn them in at a building at the centre of the map. After turning the items in, Slimecicle and Philza were ambushed by Green Team. Slime died first, leaving Philza to be chased by Etoiles, Fit and Bagi. Etoiles ended up striking Philza down.

The shots below depict Day 8 of Purgatory. After the first event, The Green Ninjas were eliminated from the event, coming in third place. Philza and Tubbo had the chance to choose members from Green to join their team by rolling a dice to determined the order. The still below shows the room and Red Team sitting, waiting for the pickings to start. In the end, IronMouse, Maximus, Roier and Etoiles joined Team Bolas.

This shot of Philza standing over a body, more specifically BadBoyHalo's body, came from an ambush attack from Bad and Aypierre on Day 3. The scenario was Etoiles was messing around, wanting to chat to Team Bolas. Simultaneously, Aypierre and Bad came to get a kill on red for a quest. The two managed to kill BagheraJones but were defeated by Philza.I deliberately chose to have Philza out of focus in the shot as I wanted to the audience to be drawn to Bad's body.

The shot of Philza shaking hands with Tubbo was inspired by the ending of Purgatory. To win the event, the first leader to kill the other twice wins, it was best of three. Philza won both times meaning Team Bolas won Purgatory. There were no hard feelings between Philza and Tubbo after the fight with Philza carrying Tubbo to the escape ship after a bomb was detonated.

Filler Stills

The initial shot I used in the project is the logo of QSMP Purgatory, the eye of The Watcher. The eye symbolises the main antagonist of Purgatory, The Watcher. Any messages that was delivered to the members was done with this image in the background. The eye also symbolizes that the Watcher's always spying or viewing the players.

The shot of the mountains and the red smoke is the toxic gas. In QSMP Purgatory, there were disasters initiated by the admins. These disasters included earthquakes, acid rain, hunger, snowstorms and toxic gas. During the disaster, if someone fails to put the gas mask on, they suffocate and die. Team Bolas decided on Day 1 to always wear the gas masks constantly and began to pray that the disaster wheel chose toxic gas.The clip below is from the Egg Event during Purgatory. It shows the team and their reaction when the toxic gas was chosen. It also shows what the gas looked like in the game.

There's no stream counterpoint to this shot of the weapons rack. I included this in here to explain the details of the shot.The shot is set in the 2nd Bolas Base in the mountains. I decided to have each team member to have a different weapon. From the streams, I know Philza prefers a sword when fighting and BagheraJones was the first team member to use a chainsaw so I designed those weapons for those characters. For the others, I went through what weapons were in the game and what weapons were in the medieval era as those weapons were the easiest to make and craft with limited resources.For the bloody footprints on the ground, I thought of who killed the most people and who's weapon drew the most blood. Baghera's chainsaw would draw the most blood so she had the most bloody footprints. Cellbit had the most kills so I gave him the second biggest pool of blood. Finally, Philza had the second most amount of kills as he was protecting his teammates so he got the smallest pool.