When Coquitlam resident Kial Natale’s girlfriend proposed, he was reluctant to say yes, but now he’s glad he did.
What the filmmaker’s partner, director Melissa Dex Guzman, proposed was their first big project together for their company, Moon Ghost Productions: a documentary on e-sports gamers. Smash Forward: Growing the Vancouver Esports Scene had its premiere last week at The Gaming Stadium in Richmond, and can be viewed on Telus Optik TV On Demand ad the Telus Storyhive YouTube channel.
“It was all her idea,” said Natale in a phone interview with The Tri-City News. “I would have chosen something different to portray but I’m happy we did it because the [gaming] landscape is changing rapidly.”
Natale said Dex Guzman wanted to take a look at gamers because she grew up in Ontario playing Starcraft which had lots of females in the cast as well as playing the game. But when she moved west, the gender equality went with it, he said.
“It’s just something that struck us,” said Natale, 33.
The cinematographer, editor, animator and sketch comedian grew up in Flagstaff, Ariz. doing a lot of stop-motion animation. “Bringing an inanimate object to life I find fascinating.”
When Natale went looking for a film school, he chose Simon Fraser University because it seemed to “jibe with my sensibilities. Others weren’t independent enough. I didn’t want to be part of the [mainstream studio] circus.”
So, 12 years ago, he came north and has been living in Coquitlam for the last four. He has carved out a niche or two on YouTube and Twitter, where his handles are Megasteakman and that speaks to his quirky sense of humour. “I’m actually a vegetarian. I just thought it was a funny name,” said Natale, who at one time considered changing it but was convinced otherwise. “I was told it was memorable so I kept it.”
But while he was successful on YouTube, he felt the platform was “fickle” because its algorithms could bury content. And while many do it to make money, only the top few do well.
Although he’s not into competitive gaming, he does help create the animation for them working for Klei Entertainment, a game development studio in Vancouver.
“[Competitive gaming] influenced the art work I like and the aesthetic I aspire to,” he said. “People see gaming as just gaming, but there’s so many careers around video games that it’s quite an open field.”
While many are familiar with a lot of the activity’s big events and venues, it was the weekly ones where gamers toil long hours going from event to event on both sides of the border that intrigued them.
“We wanted to show the grassroots e-sports community,” said Natale. “What surprised me is hearing the stories from the female players. We heard just some terrible things about sexual harassment and abuse that we didn’t hear about in Canada. So hearing about what was happening in the States was pretty tragic.
“Overall, it is a positive documentary. It shows the sense of community and belonging.”
About 250 showed up for the premiere in Richmond.
“It was electric. The audience was so enthusiastic to see their heroes and themselves on TV,” said Natale.
Natale is looking forward to doing more gaming content and sketch comedy in the future. And, considering how well Straight Forward has done, he’ll be happy to listen to more proposals from his partner — film proposals.
