It's been six months since an eight minute showreel called Mortal Kombat: Rebirth sent speculative shockwaves throughout the online gaming community and MK fanbase [full story].
Reinventing the successful fighting franchise without authorized association; [MK: Rebirth] was actually one of many examples of independent productions borrowing from well known intellectual properties -- a practice used commonly to demonstrate, or practice, skills and techniques within familiar creative parameters. Just in time for the silly season, a new player has entered the demo arena to offer a decidedly lighter take on the MK property, a loving parody presented as a festive mock commercial.
Frosty Kristmas was directed by Manny Nickpour for his Netherlands based company, Hadoken Productions. The scene, filmed in a single night, was inspired by behind-the-scenes peeks at sequences from the 1997 platformer, Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, as well as staple techniques of 1970s genre cinema. Nickpour is no stranger to filming Mortal Kombat, either.
A longtime fan of the series, he created a stir in 2008 with the release of two fake teaser trailers designed to recapture the mystique of the series ahead of what would eventually be announced as Mortal Kombat versus DC Universe.
Some years ago I was disappointed that the whole Mortal Kombat feeling was gone. I made two fake [teaser trailers] and never talked about it... Maybe it was not so nice to do, but it pumped up the whole MK feeling that was almost lost on the internet sites. I'm sorry if I shocked people with it. I did it with good intention.
I'm glad to see that Mortal Kombat is going back to its roots. Ever since I saw the first arcade version of MK1, me, and almost everyone I knew, became a MK fan all the way. Boys or girls, [it] didn't matter you know. Friends at school telling lies about a made up special move or fatality, then all of a sudden the teacher comes in between and doesn't know what the hell the kids are talking about. Or [lending] a friend your MK game and getting it back the next year because of all stupid reasons.
The Darker, Reinvented and Look to La Luna fake trailers created a lot of excitement and confusion within an information vacuum. This time, efforts have been more forthcoming with the nature of the material, and focused on a complete concept. Lengths taken to create the finished video before Christmas reveal the dedication these fans have to the brand, as well as their aspirations for connecting with NetherRealm Studios.
The "Frosty-Commercial" was made on the 23rd of December 2010 in Amsterdam at 3 O'clock in the morning by me, one other friend and the guy who got freezed. All the motion (camera shaking/movements) in the camera was done later in post because I was paying attention [to] the camera, and playing the character Sub-Zero at the same time. Later there was the editing and visual effects that I did. The audio was done by Azad Aslani as we communicated via internet from Amsterdam (the Netherlands) to Leipzig (Germany). Everything was actually done in the same night because we wanted it to be on internet before Christmas.
We surely would love to do other digital shorts, with more time, budget, support and also with other characters beside the stereotypical characters Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
Many thanks go out to Manny Nickpour (aka;
