WEBVTT - Episode 72: Angry Birds 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:13.560 Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode. Though very difficent. I 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.840 am your host, if you Waddy Way and sitting across 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:24.560 from me as own Danny Fernandez. I thought you were 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:27.680 going to say something now, Oh well I can, I can, 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:30.840 but you know, it seems so funny, fabulous, so wonderful. 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:32.920 I know it is. It is a mic drop, just 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:37.480 saying my own name, just saying my own name. Oh yeah, today, 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:39.440 it's gonna be a fun episode. We had quite a 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:45.160 fun time watching we did. It was a good time. 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.800 We were falling, you know, it was. It was a good, 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.120 good one. I thought you were going to pee your pants, 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.200 you were. We sat next to each other during this 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:57.360 film and it was I think it was oh a 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:00.280 one thirty Mattinee, which I highly recommend because they're also 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.520 a bunch of kids in there too, and listening to 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:05.600 them giggle, um like the person behind us, the girl 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.400 behind us, remember, oh my gosh, they just laugh at 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:14.199 also inappropriate Yeah yeah yeah, and they sing a hut experience. Yeah, 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:16.320 it was fun. It was fun. So today we are 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:20.480 talking about angry birds. We almost got it. We almost 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:22.720 didn't it. I don't know why I thought you should 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:26.360 try and say today we're joined by the director of 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:32.000 Angry Birds to throw up Van Orman. Thank you, yeah, thanks, yeah, 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.600 thank thank you for And you also played the seal, right, 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:41.039 did the seal? I did the worms and um the 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:45.840 dog most of the time. Okay, both of those killed you. 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:49.800 I remember your I love a good recurring bit. You know, 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.320 it's it's you know, it plays fun. And that poor 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:58.040 dog frozen. Oh my gosh. We yeah, we're going to 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:00.200 hop into the film because, honest to god, I was 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.960 surprised at the I mean, the humor was just so 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:06.400 some of it. I was like, these kids are gonna 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:07.960 watch this ten years from now and be like, what 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:13.920 it was the perfect recipe for kids film where it's like, 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:15.560 you know, a little something for some kids, a little 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.840 little little light something for the adults if you're paying attention. 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.520 And yeah, it's funny mentioned sitting next to the kids, 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:25.560 because when I watch it's so fun Like the first 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:27.480 half of the movie, the kids are like laughing all 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.880 the way through, and then I don't know, fourth the 0:02:30.000 --> 0:02:33.960 third of the way through, then the parents started, and 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:35.640 then that builds them. By the end of the movie, 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.960 you can't hear the kids at all anymore. Their parents 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.200 are laughing. It's such a good time. Um. But there 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.600 if I wanted to also talk about some of your 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.280 history before we get into the history of Angry Birds, 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.480 because you have such a ginormous is that a word? 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:55.079 Ginormous history. You were also the storyboard artist for Camp Laslow, 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.480 The power Puff Girls, The Grim Adventures a Billion Mandy. 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:02.359 This man has worked on essentially our childhood um of 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.880 everyone listening. Um. You were also the creator of the 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:10.720 Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. What drove you to wanting to 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.760 be an animation specifically, Well, I didn't have the Internet 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:16.200 when I was a kid, so I actually I had 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:19.160 no idea that you could have a job in animation. UM. 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:24.120 So like um Simpson's I came on UM when I 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.919 was like thirteen and and it was I loved it, 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:30.080 but I thought, oh, that's one guy. That's one guy 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:34.280 who got really lucky and got to make his own show. Um. 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.120 And then, uh, I don't know. I didn't know what 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:40.280 I was gonna do until I was twenty four. So, UM, 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.760 I stumbled into a job making video games. My friend 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:45.600 got a job and I was like, what, you can 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:50.480 have a job just doing cartoon stuff. UM. And so uh, 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.160 I went to cal Arts um because that's where you 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.480 went to school to do animation. Do you feel like 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:01.720 that's still the same today. Um. I think a lot 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.840 of the creative people out of the directors and show 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:07.520 creators and stuff do come out of Calerts because you 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:11.680 do UM. You get a pretty solid foundation there and 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.040 actually probably believe more than anything, it's just because it 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.920 already has that cloud. So when you get there, UM, 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.400 it's like, I'm not the best person I know at 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:26.479 arts anymore. Everyone is so good um, and and coming 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.960 into it so late and having no idea that existed 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.479 for me, it was like Hogwarts. It was like, oh 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.560 my gosh, this now everything makes sense why I'm a weirdo. 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:38.080 This is this is what you can do with it. 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:42.159 But but then you're really you push yourself because you 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.640 feel bad. You feel bad that everyone's so much better 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.839 than you at everything. Um. And everyone's better than you 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.640 at something no matter how good you are UM at CalArts, 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:56.080 so it really pushes you um to up your work 0:04:56.080 --> 0:05:00.040 ethic um. And you learn things from these people. You 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.599 learned like, oh people really laugh at that joke they do. Oh, 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.719 people really get bored when you make really self indulgent 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:11.599 student phones. So we aside from the Simpsons, were their 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.920 cartoons that you were really drawn to growing up that 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:18.919 you feel like influenced you. Um, Renan Stimpy was a 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.560 big and um yeah, I mean all of the cartoons. Um, 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:25.760 Smurfs was my favorite. I think Smurfs and Hemane. I 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:28.560 would probably have said to my friend's Hemane was my favorite, 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:33.840 but totally Smurfs. Was you give off a Smurfs vibe? 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:39.520 I can see that. Um yeah, So why don't we 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:41.960 just dive straight in if you didn't want to dive into. Yeah, 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.400 Angry Birds, let's get this nitty gritty out the way. 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.159 How we kick it all off with an explanation like? 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.120 The Angry Birds is a video game franchise created by 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.760 the Finnish company Rovio Entertainment. The series focus on multicolored 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.000 birds which try to save their eggs from green colored 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:00.200 pigs their enemies. Inspired by Crushed the Castle, the aim 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.800 has been praised for a successful commodation of fun gameplay, 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.040 comical style, and low prize. It's popularity led to many 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:09.920 spinoffs uh spinoff versions of Angry Birds created for PCs 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:13.640 and video game consoles, a market for merchandise featuring its characters, 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.520 a televis animated series, and a feature film by Chain 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:19.760 where two thousand and fourteen, there had been over two 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:24.000 billion downloads across all platforms, including both regular and special editions. 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:26.920 By July two thousand fifteen, the series games had been 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:32.320 downloaded more than three billion times Collection three for Builgon, 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:36.520 making it the most downloaded freemium game series of all time. 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:41.679 Eat That Fortnite. The original Angry Birds has been called 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.920 one of the most mainstream games out right now, one 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.000 of the great runaway hits of two thousand ten, and 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.480 the largest mobile apps successes the world has ever seen 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.040 so far. An animated feature film based on the series 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.160 was released by Columbia Pictures on the twenty of the 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.560 May and two thousand sixteen, and the first main series sequel, 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.640 Angry Birds to What It Do was Really East on 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:05.560 July two thousand fifteen. Is that I don't think that's right? 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:12.440 Is that right? Um? Now, when you're reading something, Oh 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.280 they're talking about the game, Okay, we're there, the game 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:19.640 Angry but you're like looking at your friend. Yeah, that 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.840 was wild. So the sequel to the game Angry Birds 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:26.280 two was released in July. I thought we went back 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:28.720 in time for a second. I was losing my mind. 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:32.200 There's something really cool. We had Sam Maggs, who is 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.720 a game developer on and ufer Insomniac Games, and she 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:37.600 was saying that she talks, she goes and she talks 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:41.480 to groups of of little girls about gaming and that um, 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:43.720 she'll be like, how many of you consider yourself a gamer? 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.440 And a lot of them won't raise their hands. And 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.880 she's like, but how many of you plays say Angry 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.080 Birds And they'll all raise their hands. And she was like, 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:53.520 then you're a gamer. That is a game that you're playing. 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.920 It's just so funny that people have in their head like, oh, 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.480 if it's not Fortnite, if it's not you know, World 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.320 of Warcraft or something like that, they don't consider it 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:03.760 a game. But she likes to say like, no, this 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:05.920 is a game. If you look like you have thoughts, 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.560 Oh no, no, I totally agree. And I just think 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.040 it's funny that people are like, oh, if I play 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.200 Angry Birds, I'm not a gamer because it's mechanics are 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:14.640 very similar to a game I used to play a 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:17.560 lot called gun Bound, where my gun bound Heads. It 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:20.520 was this old Naxon game where you were in these 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.640 little gun ships and you you used basically physics to 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.240 aim your shots and they would shoot across the map. 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:29.680 And it was based off of like an even older game. 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.000 But you can customize the ship, but that's kind of 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:35.360 the the same kind of a skeleton of angry birds 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.600 as you're aiming the shot to uh to hit it, 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:41.679 and you have different types of ammunition. So to me, 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:43.520 it's funny when it's like, oh no, I remember being 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.360 stand up late to one on the phone what my 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:50.120 friends were strategizing and like ganging up against people, and 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:53.360 like it's just a simpler like version that you can 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.319 just play on your phone. Yeah, mobile games are games. 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:58.880 They require a lot of skill and then people get 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:02.679 really good at them. The speakining you mentioned Fortnite, a 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.160 huge bass plays mobile a lot of the kids. And 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:07.400 that's what I think. I've said this on an earlier 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.480 episode is the great equalizer because like consoles run for 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:13.720 like what to three D bucks, a cell phone most 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:16.520 kids have it, so like if you if you have 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:20.280 a smartphone, you can play this like triple a game Fortnite, 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:23.040 which is why, like you know, everyone you know, everyone 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.520 feels some type of way. I remember when I talked 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.160 about the Diablo mobile game and a few of y'all 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:30.280 slid into the MS and we had, uh, you know, 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:34.840 some civilized conversation. Uh. But like mobile That's why I 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.920 like am excited by the idea of mobile games because 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.920 I called this five six years ago, back when Infinity 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:45.320 Infinity Blade came out for the iPhone. Uh. But that's 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:48.360 just my whole like aside on mobile gaming and like 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:51.480 it's growth and how much it's impacted like back when 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.679 Infinity Blade. Like the concept of cross platform you can 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.840 literally play Fortnite with someone on a PS four. That 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.319 is crazy. So now you're not you know, like if 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:03.160 you want to go way back when you're the kid 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:04.960 who didn't have the Genesis or the S and E 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.120 s and you couldn't play long, Nope, you have a 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.520 cell phone. You can play with your friends whose parents 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:11.400 were able to get him a PS four or an 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.960 Xbox one. You you're you include Like that is beautiful 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.720 in its own self. I did not realize that Angry 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:21.920 Birds was breaking down class and economic barriers by allowing 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:26.080 gameplay to everybody. That's really cool. You learn new things 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:27.880 on this podcast all the time. So I know that 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:30.120 you have kids. Were they playing Angry Birds? Like? How 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.800 are you? What was your first introduction to it before 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.240 you tapped onto this as a director. I'm sure that 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.480 you saw it or might have had it on your 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:42.360 phone or your kid's phones or um. To be totally honest, 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:44.840 I'd never played the game or watched the movie. That's 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.640 fine asked me to make this one, but I did 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:53.800 after the research. Yeah, I I Actually I'm not a 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:57.800 gamer at all. My first job was video games, and 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:01.600 I realized really quickly if I get into video games, 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:03.040 like I want to be good at it and I 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.840 will not stop um and it's not really what I 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.360 want to do with all of my time. Um uh. 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:11.679 So it was all or nothing, and I was like, 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:17.000 maybe I'll just not I'll make them. I'll play through 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.320 as much as I need to know, um to know 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.240 how it works. But UM, I think one reason that 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.040 I went into storytelling is I like the stories. I 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.600 like I like telling the stories. I like taling a tale. Um. 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:32.559 And in video games, something that's super cool about video games, 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:34.960 they say, like the golden rule of making the perfect 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.520 video game as it should take a minute to learn 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:41.480 in a lifetime to master UM. And so like you 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:43.840 suck them in quick and then you once you got 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.880 your hooks, and like they're they're just like trying to 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:51.320 reach a higher, unattainable level. And I think that's super cool. Um. 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.600 It's kind of similar to TV because you don't give 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.360 them too much UM and movies, though, you want to 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.600 wrap it up. You want to give them um uh 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:04.400 inclusive ending and make them feel like they accomplished something 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:06.120 and they gained something at the end of the day 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:09.679 and there's not more out there and have like this unsatisfied. 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:13.280 I gotta get right back into it. Um. And I 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.640 love that. I love that about TV and movies. UM. 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:21.560 I guess just the storytelling aspect of it. Yeah, yeah 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.240 in video games that that definitely has a overlap with 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.440 video games as well. I feel like, um and one 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.560 of the reasons why this was so successful, I feel 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.160 like people really latched onto the characters. Well it's funny 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:36.360 because yeah, like I feel like, you know, Anger Birds one, 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:40.800 you know kind of like wrote the wave of the 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:43.839 popularity of the game and too you know, And I'm 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.439 not just saying this because you're in here. I'd say 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:48.680 it if you weren't in here really kind of like 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:53.040 the improv term is heightening and and just like blowing 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:55.199 out the world. And it really did like flash out 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.960 these characters and like I think tackled some very interesting 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:02.240 themes and just the the aspect of like doing things 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.160 to too for because you want to be wanted and 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:09.000 not necessary, you know, and just like that was really 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:11.960 exciting and fun. Yeah. I think also an improv, it's 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.560 playing at the top of your intelligence, and I feel 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:16.840 like that's what the film did as well. Yeah, So 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:21.600 just wrapping up about the development. In early two thousand nine, 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.960 Rovio staff began reviewing proposals for potential games. One such 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.640 proposal came from senior game designer Jacko Lislo in form 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.720 of a simulated screenshot for youatweing some angry looking birds 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.680 with no visible legs or wings. While the picture gave 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:36.760 no clust to what type of game was being played, 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:39.240 I love that, just like taking it in. Like remember 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.280 that whoever first pitched um Mario, that would have just 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:46.560 been this plumber who has rescue a princess. Uh, stay 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:50.040 with me here, everybody again. It was after crushed the castle. 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:52.640 This is the funniest part to me. At the time, 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.760 the swine flew epidemic was also in the news, so 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.160 the staff made the birds enemies pigs as you do. 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.640 Um and Angry Birds was the studio's fifty second produced 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:05.720 game and its initial release, and like you said, it 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:11.200 did huge numbers here, m hmm yeah so yeah when 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:13.679 it first came out though, it didn't sell that many copies. 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.080 And it was after it was featured uh um. After 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:19.360 it was a featured app on the UK App Store 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:22.960 in February two, it quickly reached number one and it 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:25.520 blew up. It's funny how a little visibility, you know. 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:28.080 It was like this is tight, y'all, Like that's what 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.240 the app store was like, like, yo, don't sleep on this. 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.560 And being on the front page of Netflix, I feel like, um, 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:36.520 they always get that huge boost. I would not have 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:41.480 found ships Creak that way. Yeah, me neither. So good. 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.600 I've rewatched it so many times. Which which character do 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:52.120 you gravitate towards? Um? It started with David, He's such 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:54.880 a good character, and then slowly like um, I love 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.680 more and more Alexa and actually the mom who was 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:02.520 my least favorite character because I was like all right, yeah, yeah, 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.360 Moira her she's the most fascinating now. She just owns 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:09.200 like characters so much. It's amazing. I just love that 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:11.800 they let her take whatever risks she wants, Like if 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.280 she's she just like says like baby or whatever. She's 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:19.120 pronounces things how they shouldn't be pronounced. Um, there's like cool, 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.840 go with it. I love it. We have to take 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:24.920 a really quick break then we're going to jump into 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:35.000 the films of Angry Birds right after this. All right, 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:39.720 and well come back to Nerdificent. We're back and we're 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:43.840 going to jump right into the movies. Uh yeah, so 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:47.200 Angry Birds. The first movie was the Angry Birds movie, 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.880 also known simply as Angry Birds is released in the 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:55.240 UK as such, So the Plant because this is important 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.360 when we talk about two, yeah and one. It was 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.840 about a reclusive, temperamental, outcast bird named Red who lived 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:04.760 in a village called Bird Island with other flightless birds 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:09.040 who lead angerless lives. When his temper causes a premature 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.600 hatching of another bird's egg, he is sentenced to attend 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:15.000 an anger management class, the maximum penalty on the island. 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.720 Red's classmates Chuck, who is hyperactive and can move at 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:22.200 hyper Velosophy and Bomb, who can cause explosions with his 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:24.960 anger and fear, try to befriend him, but he avoids 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.640 them because he's angry. One day, a boat docks at 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.200 the island shore, damaging Red's house. The birds agreeded by 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.280 green colored pigs and their captain, Leonard, who claimed to 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:36.840 be peaceful explorers, bringing offerings of friendship. The pigs ingratiate 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:40.080 themselves with birds by introducing them to various innovations, notably 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.840 a giant slingshot, but begin to overwhelm the island with 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:46.640 their numbers. Red becomes suspicious. He recruits Chuck and Bomb 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.000 to find Mighty Eagle, the only flying burden island, who 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:52.280 has not been seen for many years. They find Mighty 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.240 Eagle on top of Bird Mountain, but he's overweight, self absorbed, 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.640 and leads the life of a slacker is not flowing years, 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.640 and refuses to help them. Red discovers that the pigs 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.800 planting dynamite around the island while other birds are distracted 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:05.600 with the rave party, but they arrived too late to 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.159 sound of warning. The pigs escape with the eggs and 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:12.280 activate the dynamite, destroying the village. The other birds apologize 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.399 to Read for not believing him. Under his leadership, they 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:16.920 organized an army and construct a boat from Rubble Fall 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:21.160 the Pigs to Pig Islands and the battle ensues. They 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:24.760 win and Red as a champion. He's a hero. He's 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.720 a hero. Yeah. So we had Jason Sadakis, Josh Gad, 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:31.119 Jenny McBride, Bill Hater, Maya, Rudolph, Peter Dingli just a 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:35.160 part of the cast. Um and uh then we hop 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:40.199 into Angry Birds too, and you so we had we 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:44.399 had all of the cast returning, right, Um, not most 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:50.159 of them. I wish that we had Keith McKinnon. She 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.680 is my hero, and boy, we had to make room 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.480 for some new characters and unfortunately she didn't come back, 0:17:57.520 --> 0:17:59.639 but I love her. Yeah. Yeah, So what was it 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:02.560 like to work with let's say, Jason as Read, I 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:05.640 mean taking on that role again. Um, it was amazing. 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.280 He's so smart. I mean, most of these actors you 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:11.399 think they're just reading scripts or whatever, but he is 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:15.920 so such a smart collaboratorator, such a great improv verb. So, um, 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.040 you throw him a line, he's never seen it before, 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:22.919 and he has like this catalog of funny lines that 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:27.160 serve the same purpose, but are like, oh man, that's better. Um, 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:29.879 um super good, super smart and and actually most of 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:34.800 this movie was very improv really. Yeah. So we we 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:39.280 didn't have writers for most of the movie, like for 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.560 a few months at the beginning and then a few 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:43.919 months like three fourths of the way through. UM. But 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.760 we treated it like like in TV UM we do 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:50.560 board story driven shows, UM where you have an outline 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:52.480 and we figured out like the backbone of the movie 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:54.840 and then we improv. So with the storyboard artist it 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.000 was a very yes and oh and then we could 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.040 do this this, then we could do this UM. And 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.200 with the actors we did the same thing. So we 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.439 and we tried a lot of ideas up front. We 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.920 had like you know, basic idea of what the movie was, 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:10.520 um and where we needed to get to, but we 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:12.240 did a lot of playing around with the actors and 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:14.360 with all of the artists. It was fun. Yeah. Yeah, 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.640 So that's what I wanted to say, is like, well, 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:20.840 so you know, Anger Birds one comes out, was there 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.600 anything from one that kind of like where that you 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:25.520 were like, okay, I want to take it this way, 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:29.159 Like how was the baton handed off to you on 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:32.600 the first movie they had. Their job was to sell 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:36.080 why they're why they're making a movie based on the game, 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.119 um and it's Angry Birds. It has to be about anger, 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.359 and that is such a hard thing to tackle, like 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:47.280 this is why anger is really good? Um, which maybe 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:51.720 it is, but it's still hard to do a story 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:57.199 about that. UM so uh So in this movie, we 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.000 didn't really have to do that. I mean, we could 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.119 delve deeper into his issues, but it's not just about 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:07.679 anger issues. And that was very nice um to just 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:10.000 be able to get into like more real emotions and 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:12.679 why he's vulnerable. And then as far as like this 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:17.560 storytelling that we got to explore on this movie, we 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:20.040 didn't have to have them enemies, And I think that's 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.520 that's really hard and I think it's hard to like 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.199 feel good about making this movie, Like, yeah, we were 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:28.560 justified hating these guys what they had to do in 0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:31.000 the first movie, and and this one we could like, Okay, 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:33.800 they hated each other at the end of the first movie. 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.880 Let's pare him up. Let's force them to work with 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.480 the people they don't I'm not people birds and pigs 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:42.800 that they didn't want to work with. Um and and 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:47.160 that's hard. Um. And it's hard even amongst Red's friends 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:51.320 and his friend's sister. Like he's got some issues, he's 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:56.080 got some trust issues to work out, and I think, UM, 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.720 working working on a movie, UM with a bunch of 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.359 other people. It was kind of the metaphor for working 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:08.080 on the movie. The movie Uh metaphor was also the 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.760 behind the scenes metaphor. It's it's definitely harder to work 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:15.639 with a bunch of other people and to collaborate, and 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:17.720 everyone has their own ideas that they're trying to cram 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:19.800 in there, um, and they don't know what you say. 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:26.720 There's too many hens in the henhouse. I did want 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:28.800 to say that kind of One of my favorite movies 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:32.720 is a Nightmare before Christmas, But like, essentially the messages 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:36.960 stay in your lane. I still think it's fabulous and 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:38.919 I love it. I love so many things about it. 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:40.600 But it's like at the end, people are like, so 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:47.720 don't venture out and try just do what you're good. UM, 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:49.880 So we did. It was so funny. If he leaned 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:51.840 over to me, was like, who is that? Uh? And 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:55.040 for Zada and it was Leslie Jones. Yeah, what was 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:57.240 it like getting to work with her? Um? It was amazing. 0:21:57.320 --> 0:21:59.960 She'd worked on one thing before an animation, and I've 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.240 think it wasn't the best experience for it was a 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:05.000 smaller role, and I think she came in like nervous, 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:07.400