1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 1: hell Stuff Works in a love of all things tech, 5 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,280 Speaker 1: and it's time for another Friday classic episode of tech Stuff. 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: This episode is the first interview we ever did for 7 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: tech Stuff. Chris Pallette and I got the opportunity to 8 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: speak with Mr Bernie Burns of Rooster Teeth Productions, and uh, 9 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,160 Speaker 1: I had been a huge fan of Rooster Teeth leading 10 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: up to this interview, so my objectivity was probably at 11 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: an all time low, but I thought it would be 12 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: nice to revisit this classic episode, give you guys a 13 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:50,279 Speaker 1: chance to hear it in case you had not heard 14 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,840 Speaker 1: it back then, and I'll have more to say about 15 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 1: it toward the end, but for now, enjoy. So, guys, 16 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: this is a very special episode of tech Stuff, something 17 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: that we hope to do more of in the future. 18 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: We've got a special interview lined up with Mr Bernie 19 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: Burns of Rooster Teeth Productions. They are the company that 20 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,679 Speaker 1: make Red versus Blue. So we've got the interview ready 21 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: to go and we're going to insert it right here, 22 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: We've got Bernie Burns on the line. Bernie is the 23 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:22,039 Speaker 1: founder of Rooster Teeth Productions, the producers of the popular 24 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:24,759 Speaker 1: web series Red Versus Blue, among other things. Bernie, how 25 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: are you. I'm doing find Jonathan, how are you doing? 26 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:31,400 Speaker 1: I am I'm okay. Chris, how are you doing? Great? 27 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: Thanks for asking. You're welcome, Chris, and I want you 28 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: to be left out. So Bernie, I wanted to talk 29 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 1: to you. Really, you're a pioneer in web content, especially 30 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: when it comes to web videos and something beyond just 31 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: the the one hit wonder web videos that that we're 32 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: sort of the the earmark of internet video when it 33 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: first started to take off, And I kind of wanted 34 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: to talk to you about how you got into that 35 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: and the development of Rooster Teeth produce actions over time, 36 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: and where you're at today. So to start, you were 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: actually involved in creating content for the web before there 38 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: was even a Rooster Teeth, right, that's right, I mean 39 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: really back before video was even trually possible on the Internet. Um, 40 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: I mean you can download a I think one of 41 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: the first things video I was I ever downloaded from 42 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: the net was the first episode of South Park or 43 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,919 Speaker 1: what became South Park, and that was ten minutes short 44 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: that I think was eighty meigs and it was the 45 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: size of a postage stamp on the screen. But yeah, 46 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: I started off writing for video game sites. I started 47 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: writing off for writing for what we're called everything Nothing 48 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 1: sites where they were sort of like blogs, but there 49 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: were more articles. You know, A modern day equivalent would 50 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: be almost like Slate or The Escapist, where their articles 51 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: that are kind of thematic, but they could really be 52 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: about anything. So what led you into starting the whole 53 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: red versus Blue video phenomen non. Well, I was a 54 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: filmmaker and I live in Austin, Texas, and so in 55 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: college I built a non linear editor video capture device 56 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: that could capture. Back then it was VHS tapes, so 57 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: we transfer film to VHS and then we would capture 58 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,960 Speaker 1: the VHS and edited online. So then after making a 59 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,239 Speaker 1: couple of movies with some friends in Austin, uh, they 60 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: moved out to l A to start their entertainment careers. 61 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: I stayed in Austin because I had a very good 62 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:29,679 Speaker 1: tech job, and I was always just trying to find 63 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: ways to make uh, you know, films or make short 64 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: little videos. And I had all this equipment laying around, 65 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: and I thought, well, why don't I just take some 66 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: of these videos I'm producing and start putting them online. 67 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: Forget a way to do that, and so started encoding 68 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: them in quick time and dive x back then, and 69 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: we'll just upload them to a site. And I did 70 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: a few of those before I made the first episode 71 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: of Red Versus Blue and that immediately caught on. So 72 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: for for our listeners who may not be familiar with 73 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: Red Versus Blue, can you can you get sort of 74 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: a bird's eye view of what the series is and 75 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: and uh, you know the vehicle you use to create 76 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: the series? Sure, So what we do in a nutshell, uh, 77 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:17,040 Speaker 1: is we use the video game Halo uh to produce 78 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:21,280 Speaker 1: short comedic cartoons essentially, um, and we use the graphics 79 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: engine that's in Halo to do all of our animation. 80 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,239 Speaker 1: And probably the best way to describe it for something 81 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:29,920 Speaker 1: for someone who's never seen anything like it before, it's 82 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: almost like using the video game characters as virtual puppets. Um. 83 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: You know, we're not doing animation cell by cell or 84 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: you know, sitting down and plotting on all the character moves. 85 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: We're actually controlling them in real time. So it's a 86 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: little bit like animation, and it's a little bit like 87 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: live action shooting, and that we do takes, we do rehearsals, 88 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: and the performance that you're seeing is actually a recorded 89 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:55,800 Speaker 1: live performance by someone controlling the character in real time. 90 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 1: That's that's really a very clever way of creating films. 91 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: And of course we now call this mashinima, but back 92 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 1: then that term probably wasn't very much in use at 93 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,520 Speaker 1: the time you guys were first getting into Red versus Blue, Right, Yeah, 94 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: it's funny, we didn't know what it was called. We 95 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: didn't know this was the movement that people were doing 96 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: this kind of thing. So we thought we were brilliant 97 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,160 Speaker 1: and we had been invented this new technique of shooting, 98 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: and we were actually wondering what we're gonna call it, 99 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: and uh, we we got a phone call from Paul Marino, 100 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: who was the head of the Academy of Machinima, Arts 101 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: and Sciencests in New York, and you know, they said 102 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: they wanted us to come out and do a presentation 103 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 1: about Reversus Blue, and um, there was an awards ceremony 104 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: that they had been nominated for and yeah, that's how 105 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: we first found out about the word mishinima. Yeah, so 106 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 1: and you said that you were It took off almost immediately. 107 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 1: Was that like from episode one you immediately saw a 108 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:54,480 Speaker 1: real interest in this or did it take a few 109 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: before it started looking like you really had a hit 110 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: on your hands. No, it was pretty idiot. We put 111 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: up the we put up the first episode and we 112 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: along with it, we put up a p s A 113 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,159 Speaker 1: which was just the characters looking into the screen and 114 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: talking and um, we were doing jokes about it. Was 115 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: it was so long ago as weapons of mass destruction. Uh, 116 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:18,159 Speaker 1: this was back in two thousand and three, very very 117 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: timely at the time, was very very topical. Um and uh. 118 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: We were linked. The first episode of the series was 119 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:30,920 Speaker 1: linked on farc and slash dot and Penny Arcade, and 120 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:35,719 Speaker 1: so it went from three thousand views the first day 121 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: that we put up the episode to the next day 122 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: we had about fifteen thousand views on it. By the 123 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: time we put out the second video. Quarter of a 124 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: million people showed up the day of the first day 125 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: to watch the second video. And Yeah, by the end 126 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,119 Speaker 1: of the month, we were up to about seven hundred 127 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:58,040 Speaker 1: and fifty thousand viewers a week within within four weeks. 128 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 1: That's that's meteor. It was, it was, it was the 129 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: biggest problem for us was figuring out how to get 130 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,359 Speaker 1: it out there. Yeah, the bandwidth is shoes. Yeah, I 131 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: mean we were we were paying tons of money to 132 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,680 Speaker 1: deliver it because I mean, I'm sure you remember back 133 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: in the day, people would get banned with bills when 134 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: they would put up, you know, things on servers and 135 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,000 Speaker 1: then get a popular site. Um, And so we were 136 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to host what we're at 137 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: the time pretty massive files. I mean these were, you know, 138 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: seventy megabyte files people were downloading in you know, two 139 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: thousand and to two thousand and three. It was it 140 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 1: was hard to figure out how to stir all that. 141 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: And YouTube didn't exist at the time, so we couldn't 142 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: just throw it up on YouTube and hope for the best, 143 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: you know. I have I have a question, um about 144 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: what's your recording schedule? Look like, I mean, how many 145 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: of these how fast can you do one of these videos? 146 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 1: And and about how long does it take to uh, 147 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: you know, from beginning to end. When you're talking about 148 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: scripting and going through rehearsals and things like that how 149 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: long does that take. Well, we're a lot faster than 150 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: we used to be, just soon as we've been doing 151 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:56,680 Speaker 1: it for nine seasons that we're we're just going into 152 00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: season ten right now. But if you look at like 153 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: a pick Star movie and the Machinima what we produced 154 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 1: is not on the fidelity of of a picture movie. 155 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: We do more custom animation now. But um, the big 156 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: thing about machiniam is how efficient it is. So a 157 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: pictar movie might take a team of three to people 158 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: the course of three years. Um, we can produce five 159 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: minutes a week with about this is now just a 160 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: glacting voice actors who you have to have a different 161 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: actor for every character. But we can produce five minutes 162 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: a week with about three people. Uh, and that'll take 163 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: us about you know, thirty four hours to do that. 164 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:34,440 Speaker 1: So every year we put out of a full feature 165 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: on DVD and we can do that with production crew 166 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: of anywhere between you know, three to five people. Now 167 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: now that in later seasons we've been adding more custom 168 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: animation just because of Sinima got more popular, we found 169 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: we had to do more to stand out. And you know, 170 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: like anything, it's like if it stays the same it'll 171 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: it'll get stale. So we had to kind of evolved 172 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: the series while it was in place, and so now 173 00:08:58,040 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: we have a much bigger team. Now we have a 174 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: team of about twenty people that work on it, uh 175 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: and they do a lot of custom animations, some really 176 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 1: fun action scenes, fighting scenes, that kind of thing. So 177 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: when you guys were first exploring motion capture, UH, when 178 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 1: did you guys actually sit down and consciously make that decision? 179 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: And was that a huge challenge? Was it that or what? 180 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,960 Speaker 1: Was it surprisingly easy compared to everything else he had 181 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: been doing. Well, we we made one higher that made 182 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: it a lot easier, and that was Monty Home. I'm 183 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:32,120 Speaker 1: a big consumer of all things internet as well, so 184 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: I'm always online, always like looking at you know, online video. 185 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: I just I love it, and um, it's it's fun 186 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: to spot people who are doing cool new stuff. And 187 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 1: Montyon put up a video where he custom animated master 188 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:52,120 Speaker 1: Chief from Halo fighting Sammy's from Metroid and it was 189 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 1: the models were okay, in the texture okay, but the 190 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 1: animation was outrageously sophisticated and the choreography of what he 191 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:01,120 Speaker 1: was doing. And so we can't acted him, and we 192 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:03,320 Speaker 1: tried to work with them like two or three years 193 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: before we were finally able to hire him, and that 194 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:09,719 Speaker 1: was in season eight, and so we essentially built an 195 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: animation pipeline. That's he's the centerpiece of it. We built 196 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: it around him, essentially cool. Well, jumping back again back 197 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 1: to the early days, about how long did it did 198 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: it take before you realize that you actually had a 199 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: viable company on your hands? I mean, the show was 200 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 1: a hit, but there's a big difference between something that 201 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 1: ends up getting really viral on the internet and then 202 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: turning that into something that can actually sustain itself as 203 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: a business. Did that happen right away as well? Well, 204 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:40,199 Speaker 1: I mean it came in the sense that we all 205 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: of a sudden had these major expenses for That's what 206 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,920 Speaker 1: a great way to start a business, right Well, if 207 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:51,320 Speaker 1: you know, if there's a massive expense side of this, 208 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: then they're they're they're theoretically should be some kind of 209 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: revenue help service that I mean, there's there's obviously a 210 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: demand for this, so if you sit the demand will 211 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,120 Speaker 1: generate bills. Uh, we kind of see a little proactive 212 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 1: and figure a way to generate some revenue from it, 213 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:08,080 Speaker 1: and um, you know, I think there's a big opinion 214 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: that a common opinion. I should say that if you 215 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:14,120 Speaker 1: make something on the Internet and you get a ton 216 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: of views, um, that the ad companies just show up 217 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: like the ad trucks shows up in your driveway. It does. 218 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:25,000 Speaker 1: It doesn't work that way. Getting advertisers for content is 219 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 1: very hard, and it's always been hard. It was never 220 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,200 Speaker 1: it was never easy to do it on the internet. UM. 221 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: And there's a lot of places that will abstract that 222 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 1: for you now, a lot of a lot of video 223 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: services that will do that for you. But it's a 224 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:39,559 Speaker 1: very difficult process, and so we had to go through 225 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: and figure out a way to build a business model. UM. 226 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:46,199 Speaker 1: We actually built one that was based not on advertising, 227 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:49,199 Speaker 1: and we reran on that for five years. UM. We 228 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: just in merchandise, UM, premium memberships and DVD sales, and 229 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:55,439 Speaker 1: that's how we funded the company for the first five years. 230 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:58,200 Speaker 1: We never we never ran a single ad on anything. Uh. 231 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: For the first round of the show actually rings me 232 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,920 Speaker 1: to the question about the sponsorship the premium memberships that 233 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: you rant. I've been a fan of Red versus Blue 234 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:10,960 Speaker 1: since season one. Well, I've been following it since season one, 235 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,199 Speaker 1: and so I'm familiar with the idea of you became 236 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,560 Speaker 1: a premium member and you would get access to certain videos. 237 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: Sometimes you get access early, sometimes you get exclusive access, 238 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 1: and also for the first few seasons, I remember, you 239 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:26,319 Speaker 1: would even get the DVD at the end of the season, 240 00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:31,440 Speaker 1: which our premium member. Yeah. Yeah, so, uh so clearly 241 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: building a community was an important part of your business 242 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: model as well, right, and we built a community site 243 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:41,600 Speaker 1: to that. We knew that eventually the popularity of the 244 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: show would wane, or at the very least that people 245 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 1: watching the show, you know, the individuals would you know, 246 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:51,960 Speaker 1: say well, I can't watch something for you know, ten years. Um, 247 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: you know, people just naturally fall out, and so we 248 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 1: wanted to have something in place to hold people as 249 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: like our portion of the Internet, so the Peple would 250 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,240 Speaker 1: always know where they can find us. And when we 251 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 1: put new things out, it would be great to be 252 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: able to show it to people, to get that initial 253 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:07,839 Speaker 1: seed of a of a new project. And that's that 254 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 1: was probably one of the smartest things we did, was 255 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: making sure that we carved out our own portion of 256 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: the Internet. Yeah, it's it's still a very popular portal. 257 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:19,120 Speaker 1: I mean, if people want to go and check out 258 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: the you have several different your l's that all lead 259 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,839 Speaker 1: into this kind of uh hub really of all the 260 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,040 Speaker 1: different products Rooster Teeth does, because it's not just Red 261 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 1: Versus Blue, although we'll get into that in a little bit. 262 00:13:32,559 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: I did have another question about the tone of Red 263 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:38,680 Speaker 1: Versus Blue and the early seasons the Blood Gulch Chronicles 264 00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:40,839 Speaker 1: in particular, which is the first five seasons of Red 265 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: Versus Blue. Uh, it was it was almost exclusively comedic, 266 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: and then you began to experiment by inserting some more 267 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: dramatic elements into the storyline, sometimes with uh tertiary characters 268 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: who were not playing directly with your main cast. What time, 269 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: at what point did you decide to do that? Was 270 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: that something you had wanted to do from the big 271 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,840 Speaker 1: getting or as you were going, were you thinking, hey, 272 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 1: you know what, we could actually try something new here 273 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: and try and do almost like an action movie type 274 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:13,120 Speaker 1: script parallel to the comedic stuff we're doing on this 275 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: other side. Yeah, So it was essentially when it first started, essentially, 276 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: like somebody described it as stripes in Space, which I 277 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: think is a great way to describe it. It's just 278 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: just it's very lighthearted. It's a it's a military comedy 279 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: which which focuses on a lot of bureaucracy humor, which 280 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: I think crosses over a lot of industries, not just 281 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: you know, the military, but also business and school and 282 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: everything else. UM. I was always as a as a writer, 283 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 1: I was always writing though background threads so that the 284 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,080 Speaker 1: story could stay consistent. If you base it in a universe, 285 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: you know, then it seems more honest. And I was 286 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: doing all of that. And when we got towards the 287 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: end of the fifth season, UM, I was talking with 288 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: people about stories in the background that we're going that 289 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 1: audience members had picked up on. But I had this 290 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 1: whole fleshed out uh universe kind of behind the scenes, 291 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: and I was talking with somebody here about it, and 292 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:09,720 Speaker 1: I strive it all. Was writing on the white board 293 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 1: about all these things, and they said, maybe you should 294 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 1: show this to the audience, you know, I mean, maybe 295 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: you should, Maybe you should put this out there. And 296 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: I thought, yeah, maybe, maybe, you know, maybe we should. 297 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: It's it's it's interesting to us. And you know, our 298 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 1: philosophy here is, um if we make things that we like, 299 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:27,840 Speaker 1: we just have faith that there's enough people on the 300 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 1: internet that are like us that they'll like it too. 301 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: So yeah, it's just a natural evolution. Like I said, 302 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:35,360 Speaker 1: it's you know, we started off the very first episode 303 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:37,840 Speaker 1: of the very first season saying, all these guys, do 304 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: we stand around and talk? That's what they were doing 305 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 1: last week. That's what let't me doing five minutes from 306 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 1: now and for five seasons. You know, it's it works 307 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:48,160 Speaker 1: very well standing around and talking, but you really do 308 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: run the risk of becoming sale five years on the 309 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 1: internet is is like a it's like a glacier, you know, 310 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: it's it's like an eon. It seems like, um, so 311 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: that's the rise and fall of my space. Yeah, yeah, 312 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: and you know we talked about that to you, like 313 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: the when I was talking earlier about the carving out 314 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: your own space on the internet. It's like a lot 315 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: of people that today, you know, they don't do that. 316 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 1: There's a big opinion that the the web is dead 317 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:14,480 Speaker 1: and that you should just go all in on Facebook 318 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: or all in on YouTube or what you know, whatever 319 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: the darling uh site of the moment happens to be. 320 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: But I mean, we've been doing this for so long. 321 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 1: I remember when if we just spend all of our 322 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 1: time building up our Facebook or assuming are MySpace friends 323 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:29,520 Speaker 1: in two thousand three and two thousand four, we would 324 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,760 Speaker 1: I think, you know, um, you know, we're dealing with 325 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: rever or something like that. You know, it's just it's 326 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:41,200 Speaker 1: it's it's Twitter, Twitter follower accounts, and you know, Facebook 327 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 1: like seemed very important right now, but five years from 328 00:16:43,560 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: now they probably won't seem all that important. You have. 329 00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: The biggest shifts that I see right now are really 330 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: more platform shifts. So it's more like the emphasis now 331 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:57,360 Speaker 1: is on mobile as opposed to the desktop and laptop models, 332 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 1: which that makes more sense. I mean, that's an access thing, 333 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 1: not a not a you know, this is the particular 334 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:07,880 Speaker 1: website that's in vogue right now. Well, oh no, go ahead, 335 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: I'm sorry. No, it's crazy. It's crazy how much mobile 336 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:13,680 Speaker 1: has taken off. I mean, it's just it's just insane. Yes, yeah, 337 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:15,760 Speaker 1: we we talk about that all the time here at 338 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,720 Speaker 1: how Stuff works as well. I mean, it's it's completely 339 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:22,880 Speaker 1: changed the way that we create certain types of content. 340 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:26,679 Speaker 1: Because there are some kinds that are perfect for the 341 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: mobile platform, and that's just people love them. There are 342 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: other types that just don't quite fit as well. It's 343 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,600 Speaker 1: a real challenge to try and find the balance there. Fortunately, 344 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: I think web video is one of those that it 345 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:43,639 Speaker 1: transcends the platform you don't have, you don't have to 346 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:47,639 Speaker 1: worry about that as much. UM. Let me ask you 347 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,640 Speaker 1: also about some of the tricks you guys did working 348 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:55,920 Speaker 1: within the confines of a video game universe and actually 349 00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:00,000 Speaker 1: within the actual physics engine of the video game itself. Uh, 350 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 1: watching some of the behind the scenes stuff, I love 351 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: the idea that you guys got really creative were the 352 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 1: ways you shot the series, especially early on when there 353 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: weren't as many tools for you to use, tools that 354 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:15,119 Speaker 1: I think have been built into games like Halo because 355 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,719 Speaker 1: of the work you've done when they didn't exist back then. 356 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 1: You found really creative ways of getting around it. The 357 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: one I think of off the top of my head 358 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: is using a tank as a crane for crane shots, right. 359 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:30,680 Speaker 1: I mean that's goes back to how it's a lot 360 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,720 Speaker 1: like live action. It's like, we want to get a 361 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:35,159 Speaker 1: shot where we raised up, how do we do how 362 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: do we do that? Um? There wasn't any ability within 363 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:40,760 Speaker 1: the retail game to raise the camera above eye level. 364 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:43,359 Speaker 1: I mean the entire first three seasons of the show. 365 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,240 Speaker 1: You're seeing the entire show through another character's eyes that 366 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:49,959 Speaker 1: never appeared on screen. It's it's literally a camera man um. 367 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: And so we would walk him around in order to 368 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:54,719 Speaker 1: set up shots and to meet a camera. And so 369 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:56,440 Speaker 1: we thought, well, how can we do this? I thought, 370 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,159 Speaker 1: why don't we just put him on the end of 371 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: the barrel of the tank. Can just slowly raise the 372 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 1: tank barrel up, and sure enough, that allowed us to 373 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,640 Speaker 1: get a crane shot with it. Likewise, we would put 374 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: people on the tops of banshees and fly them around 375 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:12,320 Speaker 1: if we wanted to get a really high view of 376 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:15,320 Speaker 1: the cannon or something like that. Yeah, we had to 377 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:17,600 Speaker 1: be really creative. In a later season, one of the 378 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,159 Speaker 1: things we would also just employ like some of the 379 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,679 Speaker 1: oldest trips that there are in filmmaking. Um, we had 380 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: a character, a baby alien, so we need a small alien. Well, 381 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: you can't shrink a character in the game, so we 382 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,840 Speaker 1: would just do forced perspective where we would set the 383 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,239 Speaker 1: alien far back in the shot and because there's no 384 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:39,919 Speaker 1: depth of field in the game, it's an infinite focus. Um, 385 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:41,719 Speaker 1: we would just set up the scene so that one 386 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:43,359 Speaker 1: character is really far away and they just happened to 387 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:45,680 Speaker 1: look a lot smaller, and it worked perfectly. I mean 388 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:47,760 Speaker 1: it it's it's the illusion was great. It's see you know, 389 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 1: just like old things that used to do back in 390 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: the days when they would you know, shoot King Kong 391 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: and voyage the Moon. I imagine getting eyelines in this 392 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,600 Speaker 1: series is a bit of a challenge. It definitely is. 393 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: I mean there's nothing in the game where it's like 394 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:03,040 Speaker 1: everyone looks in the same direction, you know, And so 395 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: we're we're probably the best people in the world at 396 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:11,720 Speaker 1: playing Halo in a very specific way. Like ever, if 397 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:14,400 Speaker 1: you ever point us in a matchmaking game where all 398 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:16,199 Speaker 1: the players on the team have to look in the 399 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:18,640 Speaker 1: same direction or all run in the same line while 400 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: looking at their feet, we would we would kill at that. 401 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: So so yeah, if we ever created Days of our 402 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 1: Lives game within Halo, you guys will rock it. Yes, 403 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:35,800 Speaker 1: we would be the dramatic reaction team. Well, let's talk 404 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: about some of the other content that Rister Teeth produces. 405 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,639 Speaker 1: I mean, Red versus Blue is probably what got you 406 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 1: guys on the map for most people, but you do 407 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: a lot of other, uh things as well, including some 408 00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:50,320 Speaker 1: live action stuff. When did you guys decide to start 409 00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: producing live action shorts. Well that's our that's our background 410 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: is live action. And I mean we start off like 411 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,639 Speaker 1: I made a feature film. In college. I was a 412 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: computer science student, but I want to learn how to 413 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:04,600 Speaker 1: uh make films because that's from premedic computer science and 414 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 1: surprisingly not a lot of stuff transferred. So I had 415 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:09,879 Speaker 1: a bunch of I have like organic chemistry as a 416 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: as an elective on my transcript um and so I 417 00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 1: had a bunch of hours on campus where I was 418 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: trying to kill time, and I found the student run 419 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: TV station down there, t STV, and started meeting film 420 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:23,679 Speaker 1: students and wanting to get involved in video editing in 421 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,239 Speaker 1: film production. But I did not want to go and 422 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,560 Speaker 1: sit through um film classes. So I thought, you know what, 423 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,879 Speaker 1: Robert Darriguez just made El Mariachi at ut I went 424 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 1: to the University of Texas. He made elm Actually just 425 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 1: a few years ago, there was this idea that you 426 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: could just make an independent movie and set the world 427 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:41,560 Speaker 1: on fire. So I thought, why don't I just make 428 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 1: a feature film, uh, you know, spend ten thousand dollars 429 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: doing that as opposed to spending it in a classroom, 430 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: and then I'll probably know everything I need to know 431 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 1: about filmmaking by the time it's over. Well, that took 432 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: about eighteen months to get that done. You know, we 433 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,680 Speaker 1: we actually did shoot a feature on film on sixteen 434 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 1: millimeter film. That was a long process, but uh yeah, 435 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:03,359 Speaker 1: that's that's just how I got involved with it. And 436 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: I uh, um, you know it was it was worked 437 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 1: out pretty well. I mean, you know, I own a 438 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: production company and I don't have a degree in in 439 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,200 Speaker 1: any kind of entertainment. I have a computer science degree 440 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 1: that just hangs on my wall and I never use 441 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: Chris and I have more to say with Mr Burning 442 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: Burns of rooster Teeth, But before we do, let's take 443 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:29,439 Speaker 1: a quick break to thank our sponsor. So, who are 444 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: the writers on your on your staff? I know you 445 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:35,360 Speaker 1: write red versus blue, right, Yes, that's right, I write 446 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 1: versus blue. Uh. And you know the actors add a 447 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,480 Speaker 1: ton when they get in the booth. Uh. All the 448 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: actors know their characters so well now that they you know, 449 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: sometimes I'll just like have blanks that they can fill 450 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: in for ad libs, you know, where they add a 451 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 1: lot in as well. Uh. And then we have a 452 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:53,280 Speaker 1: team of writers upstairs, um that work on our shorts, 453 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,239 Speaker 1: and that's a that's a very collaborative effort. Um. They 454 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:57,800 Speaker 1: have a whole team like a writing room where they 455 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:00,639 Speaker 1: go in and pitch ideas and then they take them 456 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:02,479 Speaker 1: away and then come back with scripts and trade them 457 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:06,440 Speaker 1: off in new drafts. It's a it's a very fun process. Cool. Well, 458 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:10,200 Speaker 1: and we're pretty familiar with the writing process around here too. 459 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: It's not not this similar, although we of course write 460 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 1: articles and not not not scripts. But tell me about 461 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,760 Speaker 1: the Immersion series, which kind of married this video game 462 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:27,879 Speaker 1: and and live action short thing into an increasingly hilarious 463 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,080 Speaker 1: series of misadventures. Well, that was kind of fun. That 464 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:35,680 Speaker 1: was had this idea that we could take things from 465 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: video games and test them in real life. And I 466 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:40,960 Speaker 1: had the idea for a while and eventually I said, 467 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,720 Speaker 1: you know what, I should make one of these because 468 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: someone else is going to do this if we don't. 469 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 1: And that's a big thing on the internet. Man. It 470 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 1: seems like by the time you think of an idea, 471 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:51,879 Speaker 1: you should go look it up because somebody's probably already 472 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: done it, you know, if things move that fast. And 473 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 1: so this this idea, this probably gives you a good 474 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,919 Speaker 1: example of what the whole series was about when you 475 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,360 Speaker 1: play a Grand Theft auto game or one of those 476 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:08,640 Speaker 1: open world urban environment games, when you drive a car, 477 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: you drive from a third person perspective. Your your view 478 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,000 Speaker 1: of the car is behind the car, and that's not 479 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:16,359 Speaker 1: the way you drive a car in the real world. 480 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:18,760 Speaker 1: So we thought, okay, let's try that. Let's set up 481 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:22,280 Speaker 1: a car in real life that is a third person perspective. 482 00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:25,880 Speaker 1: So we blacked out the windshield safety first uh and 483 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,960 Speaker 1: blackout the entire cockpit, and then suspended a camera on 484 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: a rig behind the vehicle and then ran that down 485 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:33,960 Speaker 1: to a monitor that was on the dashboard of the car. 486 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 1: So you're in the car, driving it through a course 487 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: and you're looking at the car from behind, your views 488 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,800 Speaker 1: from behind the car. And we shot that episode. It 489 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:45,440 Speaker 1: took us about six hours to shoot the pilot um 490 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:47,560 Speaker 1: to the driving part of it, and then we spent 491 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,240 Speaker 1: another four hours out there afterwards because everyone in the 492 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 1: crew want to drive the car, which we had a 493 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,840 Speaker 1: blast doing it. It It was great. It reminds me there's 494 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 1: a guy there was a It was more of an 495 00:24:57,920 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: art project than anything else, but there was a guy 496 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,679 Speaker 1: who an MMO suit that did a sort of the 497 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:05,359 Speaker 1: same thing, but it was just a it was just 498 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,359 Speaker 1: a person in a in a suit where you have 499 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 1: a helmet that has a monitor built into it. There's 500 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: a rig that's uh that warned like a backpack that 501 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:17,199 Speaker 1: suspends the camera above and behind to give that that 502 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 1: MMO view of a character running around the world. So 503 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: the only view you had of yourself was as a 504 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:25,080 Speaker 1: third person. And of course they added spikes on the 505 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 1: helmet to give it that authentic MMO feel. And apparently 506 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 1: anyone who put this on would first spend the first 507 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 1: half hour struggling to interact with the world in a 508 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: way that wasn't going to feel like it was going 509 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,199 Speaker 1: to kill them because it was so weird to be 510 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 1: have an out of body experience like that. And then 511 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,119 Speaker 1: the next half hour was spent stomping around and swinging 512 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,440 Speaker 1: your arms around because you look like the incredible Hulk. 513 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: So yeah, walk up to people and ask them for quests, 514 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 1: right exactly, Yes, Yeah, that was yeah. No, there there 515 00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: are people who are still in therapy because of that. 516 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,600 Speaker 1: Are project. So if we did a funnel one like 517 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 1: that where we tested what it would be like to 518 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 1: be in a side scrolling environment where we had a 519 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: wireless rig that we can send a video signal to 520 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 1: to goggles that the person would wear, and we shot 521 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,560 Speaker 1: them from a ninety degree angle directly from their side. 522 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: And so we had like a Mario course that these 523 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:20,600 Speaker 1: guys had to navigate while only being able to see 524 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: themselves from the side. So what short straw that Gus 525 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:26,400 Speaker 1: and Jeff draw that they have to be in all 526 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: of these They drew the academic short straw. They should 527 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,399 Speaker 1: have just been better in school and they would have 528 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,160 Speaker 1: better career opportunities and they wouldn't have to be subjected 529 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 1: to all this terrible stuff. We we we got to the 530 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:40,880 Speaker 1: point whe we were torturing them. I think, I mean 531 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:42,920 Speaker 1: we we did this one thing where we tested video 532 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,120 Speaker 1: game foods. You know, when you're playing a video game 533 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:47,600 Speaker 1: and your character is hurt, if he eats a steak, 534 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: then he immediately feels better. I don't know what they 535 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,399 Speaker 1: think the healing properties of food are in video games. 536 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,240 Speaker 1: So we took him out. We did tell them this. 537 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 1: We took him out drinking until two in the morning 538 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,800 Speaker 1: and to celebrate something. It was all a ruse. And 539 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:01,600 Speaker 1: then the next day we showed up in the production 540 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:03,360 Speaker 1: crew at their house at five in the morning. They 541 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 1: just I mean they literally just gone to bed so 542 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,119 Speaker 1: they would woke up and they were just miserable, and 543 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 1: we just do like fed him food for about an 544 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 1: hour and a half, big hams and pizzas and strawberries. 545 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: Everything you see in a game that is supposed to 546 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 1: cure you. And let's put it this way, it did 547 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:22,359 Speaker 1: not cure them. Gess. To learn more, visit the Rooster 548 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 1: Teeth's website and you can watch all of these or 549 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:27,240 Speaker 1: get the DVDs if you want to be able to 550 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:31,400 Speaker 1: have them for posterity's sake. Uh well, let's also talk. 551 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:36,720 Speaker 1: There's another another project, Achievement Hunter, which is again hosted 552 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:40,719 Speaker 1: by Rooster Teeth, which is all about achievements on Xbox 553 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,160 Speaker 1: three sixty games, although you guys also cover other games 554 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:48,240 Speaker 1: occasionally as well. Right, yes, we cover It's the achievement 555 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:50,679 Speaker 1: focus does seem to make it seems although achievements are 556 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: bleeding into bobile games and Steam games as well. Um, 557 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:56,240 Speaker 1: it does seem to think it's like a three sixty 558 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:58,840 Speaker 1: um site, but no, they cover all different games like 559 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: they've been covering a lot of the Star Wars Old 560 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:05,080 Speaker 1: Republic MMO lately. But it's just it's a celebration of 561 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,639 Speaker 1: video game culture, which which we love. We love online 562 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:10,640 Speaker 1: culture and video game culture, and we're actually had holding 563 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: a convention uh in Austin this year rt X, which 564 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,439 Speaker 1: is the intersection of gaming and online culture. But schieven 565 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:21,320 Speaker 1: Hunter has been a huge, huge success. Um, it's just 566 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:23,520 Speaker 1: been It's something that you know, we kind of kicked 567 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:27,399 Speaker 1: around for a while of you know, recording actual gameplay 568 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: from our footage from gameplay video games and then commenting 569 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:34,679 Speaker 1: on it. And uh we Jeff Ramsey, who plays Griffin 570 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:36,879 Speaker 1: our Reverend Blue series, he ended up, he hited up 571 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: the project and he has just been. Man, it's been 572 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 1: an enormous thing. We're about to hit uh one billion 573 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 1: total views on YouTube across all of our videos and achievement. 574 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: Hunter has been a huge part of that. That is incredible. 575 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: And I also should have ad the the successive Rooster 576 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: Teeth has been truly phenomenal and that your effects. You know, 577 00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:00,479 Speaker 1: you guys talk about how you have absorbed video game culture, 578 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:03,000 Speaker 1: but you've also become part of it. I mean you 579 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:08,240 Speaker 1: several people from Rooster Teeth have been featured in games 580 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 1: as voiceover talent and other things. Can you talk a 581 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 1: little bit about some of those. You know, we actually 582 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 1: are trying to go through and compile a list of 583 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,280 Speaker 1: the places where Rischarchie's has been referenced to Rivers Blue 584 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: has been referenced um, just in most recently. Um, there's 585 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: a there's a reference in the World Warcraft expansion where 586 00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:30,320 Speaker 1: there's a I forget the name of the thing, but 587 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: it's essentially like a parody of Blood Gulch, And there's 588 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 1: a character in there that's based on griff um Uh 589 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,920 Speaker 1: in there. And then we just did a like a commentary, 590 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:43,600 Speaker 1: a bonus commentary for gun Stringer Twisted Pixel. And then 591 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,000 Speaker 1: we always it's funny things. We always send up been achievements, 592 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:48,240 Speaker 1: references and achievements, Like there's a lot of Red versus 593 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:52,480 Speaker 1: Blue referential achievements. Um, there's Wanting Gears of War. Um, 594 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 1: there's a dishwasher, Samurai dishwasher. They just put out a 595 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: new version of the game that has the Caboose is 596 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: Achievable system as part of the game. And the coolest 597 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: things ever is that we got to be voices in 598 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 1: Halo three. I mean that was that was an honor 599 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,320 Speaker 1: to actually participate in the game that we're obviously such 600 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: huge fans in and that's that's pretty incredible. It's like 601 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: a full circle right there. Well, when we started Reversus 602 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,560 Speaker 1: Blue me when you have your you know, your initial 603 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: meetings and you know you're talking about, well, what's the 604 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,560 Speaker 1: coolest thing that could happen? I mean, we thought the 605 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 1: coolest thing that could happen, by far was that we 606 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,440 Speaker 1: somehow get referenced in an actual Halo video game or 607 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: like some kind of east Rin because Bungee has always 608 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,800 Speaker 1: pretty put east Rings in their games. And getting getting 609 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:35,560 Speaker 1: to play marines and contribute, you know, contribute our voices 610 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,040 Speaker 1: to the game. That was just it was nuts. Yeah, 611 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,040 Speaker 1: it's fantastic that that that turned out that way, especially 612 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:43,520 Speaker 1: that Bungee ended up being such fans of your work, 613 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:46,960 Speaker 1: because if they had gone another way, especially when we 614 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,840 Speaker 1: see things like on tech stuff, we talked about a 615 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: lot of stuff like uh, intellectual property and patent wars 616 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,400 Speaker 1: and about this sort of litigious side to a lot 617 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,880 Speaker 1: of companies. Uh, it could have gone a totally different way. 618 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:01,440 Speaker 1: It could have been that one episode went up and 619 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:03,080 Speaker 1: then you've got to cease and desist and then no 620 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:07,120 Speaker 1: more opportunity. So I'm so glad that this was a 621 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 1: case where a company said, no, they're they're adding benefit 622 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: to what we do. We enjoy their work. We want 623 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:15,680 Speaker 1: to see them succeed. Well, I mean, I think that 624 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: would be what you're saying about the episode going up 625 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: and then it gets pulled out. I think a lot 626 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:22,320 Speaker 1: of people say that is the expectation of what would happen. Um, 627 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: And certainly that was in our minds as we were 628 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: doing it. And UM, you know, I can't speak for them, 629 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: you know, why they made the decisions they made, but 630 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, Microsoft took a look at it 631 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,760 Speaker 1: and said, you know, here's something that's innovative and creative, 632 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 1: and let's see what happens, you know. And that's that 633 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,160 Speaker 1: was the attitude they took, like, let's let's just go 634 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:44,520 Speaker 1: forward and see where this goes. And I met with 635 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,160 Speaker 1: them and told them, you know, here's the plans for 636 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:48,760 Speaker 1: what I want to do with it. More importantly, here's 637 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 1: what we're not trying to do. Um, you know, we're 638 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 1: just trying to have some fun and do something and 639 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 1: we're huge fans of Halo, and um, you know, let's 640 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,480 Speaker 1: see what happened turned into a three relationship and has 641 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 1: now turned into a tenny relationships. So I can't. I 642 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: cannot say enough good things about the risk that Microsoft 643 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,320 Speaker 1: took on us and how much that is mentor business, 644 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:12,120 Speaker 1: because they have been very open and and very cool, fantastic. Well, 645 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:15,120 Speaker 1: I I have just two more questions. Here's the second 646 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 1: to last one. This was one that was suggested by 647 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:22,240 Speaker 1: a follower of mine on Twitter. Um, how frequently are 648 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:25,560 Speaker 1: you mistaken as the guy who does the voice for Caboose? 649 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:31,760 Speaker 1: All all? It's so insulting. It's uh, yeah, Caboose is 650 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:35,160 Speaker 1: easily our most popular character, and uh, you know, it's 651 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: uh whenever we go to conventions, it's, oh, here's Vernie. 652 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 1: He plays the Uh he's the writer and director and 653 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,280 Speaker 1: created a show and plays the lead character because I 654 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:45,880 Speaker 1: write it. Of course I make myself lead character and like, hey, 655 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:50,640 Speaker 1: that's great. Where's Caboose? Yeah? And often it's like, it's 656 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,680 Speaker 1: not so much getting mistaken for Caboose, it's the it's 657 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 1: the raw disappointment that you see in people's faces when 658 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: they realize that you're not Caboose. That's when you had 659 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: the gut check as an artist. I um no, I 660 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,920 Speaker 1: I can sort of identify with that because a couple 661 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: of years ago, not so much now, but a couple 662 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,760 Speaker 1: of years ago, I bore a passing resemblance to Jamie 663 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:17,840 Speaker 1: Hyneman of MythBusters. I can see that now, you say that, Yeah, 664 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: I can see that. So yeah, I have different glasses now. 665 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:24,000 Speaker 1: The glasses apparently are what made it. But I had 666 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:26,960 Speaker 1: two people within the span of a week make that 667 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:30,680 Speaker 1: that comment to me. And Dragon Con, which some Rooster 668 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 1: Chief people have been to in the past. But Dragon 669 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:36,960 Speaker 1: Con here in Atlanta was hosting several members of the 670 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 1: build team from MythBusters as guests, and so I thought, oh, 671 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:43,680 Speaker 1: this will be fun. I'll go and buy a military beret, 672 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,000 Speaker 1: I'll wear an Oxford shirt, and I'll just show up 673 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 1: as Jamie. I'm clearly I'm clearly not Jamie, but that's 674 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:53,120 Speaker 1: gonna be my costume. And um. Then I discovered the 675 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:57,120 Speaker 1: joy and and and heartbreak of revealing to people that 676 00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:00,240 Speaker 1: I was not actually Jamie from MythBusters and see that 677 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:05,120 Speaker 1: moment of realization where they're their joy turned to disappointment. 678 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:10,560 Speaker 1: I actually disappointed an entire battalion of the first Stormtrooper 679 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,480 Speaker 1: Brigade that was you never want to pist off armored 680 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:16,880 Speaker 1: people with gunn no no, But it is funny to 681 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 1: watch them all like deflate. At the same time, it 682 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:22,680 Speaker 1: kind of made you feel like what it would have 683 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,800 Speaker 1: been like to be on Coruscant when they revealed that 684 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: the Death Star had exploded. Yeah, guys, all right, you 685 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,040 Speaker 1: know we had a good run. Um, so here's my 686 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:36,840 Speaker 1: last one. Are there any other projects that you're working 687 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:38,759 Speaker 1: on that you would like to talk about. We've talked 688 00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:41,120 Speaker 1: about the live action stuff and Red Versus Blue and 689 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:44,440 Speaker 1: rt X. Is there anything specific you would like to 690 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,040 Speaker 1: to mention to our listeners. Well, yeah, it's a crazy thing. Um, 691 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: it's it's it's pretty irreverent. Uh, it's a lot different 692 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:55,040 Speaker 1: tone than this interview even. But our podcast on that 693 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:58,120 Speaker 1: that's on iTunes is the Roster Chief podcast is actually 694 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:01,880 Speaker 1: turned into one of our biggest it um and I 695 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:03,920 Speaker 1: just love making it. We just talked about we just 696 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,400 Speaker 1: get on Mike and talk for an hour about you know, 697 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:08,920 Speaker 1: what's going on, you know with video games, what's going 698 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:11,200 Speaker 1: on with online culture, what's going on you know in 699 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:14,480 Speaker 1: curt events, and you know, and our interpretation of it, 700 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: which is basically our misunderstanding of it all. Uh, and 701 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:19,319 Speaker 1: it's just fun. It's just you know, working at Rooster Teeth. 702 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:21,839 Speaker 1: It's it's a bunch of friends working together and so um, 703 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:23,200 Speaker 1: it's fun to get on there for an hour and 704 00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:25,319 Speaker 1: just jaw with your buddies and um. You know, we're 705 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,360 Speaker 1: working on some ways to punch up the podcast and 706 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:31,200 Speaker 1: maybe change the way we delivered a little bit. Um. 707 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:34,560 Speaker 1: But we're really looking forward to this year to growing 708 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,200 Speaker 1: the podcast and also bringing people out to Austin July 709 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 1: seventh and eighth for r t X, which is our 710 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,719 Speaker 1: convention here. We're really excited about that. Fantastic And yes, 711 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: I am also a fan of your podcast. And I 712 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:50,000 Speaker 1: should mention that both the Rooster Teeth podcast and Tech 713 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:54,000 Speaker 1: Stuff we're mentioned as the rewind best of two thousand 714 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,560 Speaker 1: eleven on iTunes. Yeah, so we've got we've got that 715 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:00,480 Speaker 1: in common going for us. Yeah. The show that you 716 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:04,920 Speaker 1: guys do is is incredibly hilarious, especially if you can 717 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,960 Speaker 1: get one of the more clueless members of Rooster teach 718 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:14,120 Speaker 1: on like or or you know, or just Joel. If 719 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,920 Speaker 1: Joel's on there and and all you have to do 720 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:18,879 Speaker 1: is say one thing and you realize that he's gone 721 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:21,360 Speaker 1: off on a completely different tangent and he's really angry 722 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,000 Speaker 1: about it for no apparent reason. For no apparent reason, 723 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,239 Speaker 1: now you can see why he plays the voice of cabouse. Yes. 724 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,080 Speaker 1: Before we hear the rest of the interview with Mr 725 00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:41,800 Speaker 1: Bernie Burns, let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. Well, Bernie, 726 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:45,799 Speaker 1: this has been a great time. It's it's been one 727 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:47,680 Speaker 1: of those things I've always wanted to do. I've, like 728 00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:49,160 Speaker 1: I said, I've been a fan of the show from 729 00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:51,719 Speaker 1: season one and I'm glad we had this opportunity. And 730 00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:54,520 Speaker 1: we did do an episode on tech stuff about Mishinima. 731 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,760 Speaker 1: Uh oh, I guess that was one of our first episodes. 732 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:01,040 Speaker 1: We're coming up on episode four hundred before too long, 733 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:05,600 Speaker 1: so yeah, yeah, people are still listening. So this was 734 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: really and we we talked a lot about Red Versus 735 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:10,239 Speaker 1: Blue in our MISSIONEMA podcast, so this was really a 736 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:12,920 Speaker 1: thrill for me. Thank you so much for joining us, 737 00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:14,920 Speaker 1: and we really do appreciate it. Guys, if you have 738 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:18,160 Speaker 1: not checked out Rooster Teeth, I do recommend you go 739 00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 1: and look at their stuff, watch some Red Verses Blue, 740 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: watch some of their live action and uh and really 741 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:28,600 Speaker 1: pay attention because these guys have found a way before 742 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,920 Speaker 1: almost anyone else did to make new media work in 743 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:34,160 Speaker 1: a sustainable way and build a business out of it. 744 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:36,640 Speaker 1: And that that, to me, is probably the best story 745 00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:38,880 Speaker 1: out of all of this, is that not only do 746 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,720 Speaker 1: you guys create great content, but you found a way 747 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 1: to make that, you know, pay for itself and and 748 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:47,880 Speaker 1: to actually keep it going over time and not just 749 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 1: be Wow. That was incredible. I just wish they could 750 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:53,040 Speaker 1: have found a way to make it work. Yeah, you 751 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:55,239 Speaker 1: make it sounds so legitimate. I'm gonna record that and 752 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,440 Speaker 1: play back at dinner parties. All right, you have my 753 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:01,200 Speaker 1: permission to do that. That's fine, especially if you if 754 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:04,160 Speaker 1: you if you subscribe to text stuff, that would that 755 00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:06,720 Speaker 1: would help us out, because you know, every listener counts. 756 00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:09,760 Speaker 1: You got it all right? Awesome, Thank you so much, Bernie, 757 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:13,200 Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Out of I appreciated after having 758 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,719 Speaker 1: done that episode on Machinema a while back. It was 759 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:20,080 Speaker 1: nice to have the perspective of somebody who's really involved 760 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:22,560 Speaker 1: with it. Yeah, someone who's actually gone through and done it. 761 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:26,040 Speaker 1: It was that was a real thrill for me as well, 762 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,960 Speaker 1: just to hear about, you know, experimenting with this new 763 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:34,000 Speaker 1: form of media. Yeah, that's also very exciting. So guys, 764 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:36,719 Speaker 1: we're hoping we can do more of these, right, Yeah, 765 00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:38,359 Speaker 1: I was. I was really surprised. I just want to say, 766 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:40,719 Speaker 1: I was really surprised by how similar it was to 767 00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:44,520 Speaker 1: live action in some respects. Um, you know, of course 768 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:46,800 Speaker 1: they have to use tricks, or had to use tricks, 769 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,760 Speaker 1: especially in the beginning, but I was, I was surprised 770 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:52,440 Speaker 1: lining up shots and things like that. Yeah, this stuff 771 00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:53,920 Speaker 1: that you want to think about when you're playing a 772 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,319 Speaker 1: video game, like, oh yeah, we totally could tell a 773 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,000 Speaker 1: story like this. Well, if you don't have that that 774 00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:01,759 Speaker 1: background where you know how to line up shots and 775 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,439 Speaker 1: you know the importance of that kind of composition, then 776 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,960 Speaker 1: you might make something that's amusing, but you're not necessarily 777 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,120 Speaker 1: going to make something that's that's going to last a 778 00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:12,880 Speaker 1: long time. But these guys had not just the writing talent, 779 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:17,800 Speaker 1: but also the the technical talent to create a compelling 780 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:24,120 Speaker 1: looking shot using, let's be honest, very limited tools. I mean, 781 00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:26,120 Speaker 1: the video game is not designed to give you a 782 00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:29,040 Speaker 1: lot of flexibility, So hats off to them. And of 783 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,560 Speaker 1: course now a lot of those tools have been built 784 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:34,360 Speaker 1: into those video games so that you can have a 785 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,880 Speaker 1: free floating camera that has no limitations and you can 786 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,719 Speaker 1: put it anywhere you want, which now you've got more 787 00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:44,200 Speaker 1: options than any any live action director would have without 788 00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:46,480 Speaker 1: the use of of c g I. I hope you 789 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,920 Speaker 1: guys enjoyed that classic episode of tech Stuff, and thanks 790 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:53,040 Speaker 1: once again to Mr Bernie Burns for agreeing to be 791 00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:57,919 Speaker 1: our experimental guinea pig test subject with the first ever 792 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:02,680 Speaker 1: interview on text Stuff. It was intimidating to speak with him. 793 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:05,279 Speaker 1: I had such a huge fan of his I've had 794 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 1: the chance to meet him a couple of times since then. 795 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:11,759 Speaker 1: He's always been incredibly gracious and Rooster Teeth continues to 796 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:17,200 Speaker 1: make really interesting content, both in comedy and in other fields. Uh. 797 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:22,080 Speaker 1: They now encompass multiple companies that have been making online 798 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:27,239 Speaker 1: content for quite some time, and it ranges from the 799 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:30,919 Speaker 1: scripted comedies of things like Red Versus Blue, and then 800 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:35,440 Speaker 1: there's the anime series Ruby, which has become a real 801 00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:39,560 Speaker 1: phenomenon for Rooster Teeth, and then they have their unscripted 802 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:44,280 Speaker 1: stuff like Achievement Hunter, their various podcasts. So they're really 803 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:48,319 Speaker 1: a an online entertainment empire at this point. So if 804 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:50,840 Speaker 1: you're not familiar with them, check them out. They probably 805 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:53,640 Speaker 1: make something that you like and maybe one of their 806 00:40:53,719 --> 00:40:57,040 Speaker 1: lesser known series, or maybe you'll end up ending, you know, 807 00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:59,439 Speaker 1: watching the exact same stuff I watched week after week. 808 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:02,680 Speaker 1: I'm still a fan years later, So guys, thanks so 809 00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:05,680 Speaker 1: much for listening. If you have any suggestions for episodes 810 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:08,520 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff, send them in my way. Use the 811 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:11,760 Speaker 1: email address tech stuff at how stuff works dot com, 812 00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:13,840 Speaker 1: or draw me a line on Facebook or Twitter. The 813 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:17,040 Speaker 1: handle for both of those Text Stuff hs W. Don't 814 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:19,680 Speaker 1: forget to follow us on Instagram and I'll talk to 815 00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:28,360 Speaker 1: you again really soon. For more on this and thousands 816 00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:40,640 Speaker 1: of other topics, because it how stuff works dot com