An Interview with Richie Roberts and PhatTony from PhatDog Studios PT 1

I had the pleasure to have Richie Roberts and PhatTony come into the tavern and answer more than a few questions about abridging content, more to come in part 2 next week!!

Show these guys some love!!

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https://www.youtube.com/@PhatDogStudios

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patreon.com/PhatDogStudios

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Oh boy, oh boy, where did the tavern end up today? Guys, I kid you not right now, right? I'm looking out the window and I'm seeing the same cloud copied all the way out into the distance, and underneath is the same apple tree with the same three apples. Oh, I feel like I'm in a simulation made by an AI. I need to figure this one out as we get through this, but either way, I'm gonna go ahead, open up the tavern, and see if we can make our way out of here.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Hell hello. Holy shit, this building appeared out of nowhere. Dude, Tony, did you know about this? Like I thought I thought we paid, I thought we paid like our YouTube dues this month. Why are we getting random taverns showing up? Ooh, dang.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

You know, it just wouldn't be Fat Dog. It just, you know, it wouldn't be something with us if there wasn't a technical difficulty.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Wait. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Are you guys Fat Tony and Richie Roberts from Fat Dog Studios? Oh shit. They know us. Run! No, no, please don't leave. I got I got drinks. I'll take an ale.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Absolutely. What what brings you guys here today?

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Apparently a building matrix.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Yeah, a building appeared out of nowhere. Curiosity. Okay. You guys have seen Doctor Who, right? Actually, no. Uh okay, so I don't know if I would classify this as a telephone booth so much as well. I I know the TARDIS is more than just a telephone booth. Okay. It's more like the house from John Constantine.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Very, very similar, yes. Uh multidimensional travel. We go wherever, whenever we're needed here, and we run on the power of Sprigg and DD magic. So everyone's welcome at the coffee shop. All the drinks are free. All I ask is for a good conversation.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

But yeah, let me go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Tell me twice, I'm already behind the bar. Get back here.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Who said you could be back there?

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Whatever you do, stay out of the back room. I already had somebody go back there, and that wasn't good for us.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

Oh no, no, I've already learned not to mess with the backrooms.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

But shoot, why are you guys here? Let me ask. What is your guys' story? Like Oh, um.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

That's a bit of a loaded question.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yeah, we're we're cut we're just a bunch of chuckleheads that like uh making silly content on the internet. That's that's well.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Let me ask you guys this, because loaded question, I get that, but you guys are the heads of Fat Dog Studio, basically, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Sure. We're we're I I would say at this point, without going into too much detail, uh we're kind of like the two middle heads in a multi-headed hydro.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Yeah, yeah, I would say that's that's pretty accurate.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Yeah, that's pretty that's that's the that's the that's the most accurate way I could describe it. Because we've got see, we try to tell people this publicly, but I don't think it's completely sunk in.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Yeah. That's to the point where it's it's like guys, guys, guys, you have to realize there are different teams.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

There are different teams that work on different projects. Uh when it comes to like our main shared abridged log horizon abridged universe kind of thing, that's that's typically a uh me. Like I'm I I kind of like joke that I'm like the keeper of the continuity. Like I I have the book of like, okay, here are the things you can't do because like we can't mess with the continuity, you know. Uh or like here's things that it's cool to do, you know. It's it's like that. I'm the keeper of the records of like that abridged universe, which has a lot of different episodes in it. Um they don't have to reference each other, but uh, if they are part of it, there are certain rules to abide, and I I feel like that's partially my duty, or just to be like the I I'm the creative head, essentially.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

And the the funny part is too was I I still remember the day that Richie pitched that idea to me where it was the you know, hey, we want to have like an o uh you know uh continuity within the abridged universe. Connected abridged universe, whatever the hell, uh that emphasis phrase. And it it was it made me laugh because we actually had already done that with our very first abridged uh um series and sequel to it back in Fat Dog's Infanity.

SPEAKER_04 4:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

So it just it was just kind of a a funny coincidence how that ended up working out.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Yeah. Yeah. The the funny part is I came in in like 2016, so it's it's been almost 10 years since it I think around April, because of Tiba, is when I came in, because that's when we got started with things. And uh over time, more responsibility. I I I took on more responsibility to the point that I just kind of ended up here. So through his own volition, mind you. Through his own volition. It wasn't it wasn't it wasn't intentional to start with, but it was like it was pull my arm as I walk towards you, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

Uh you you yeah, I mean, I would more so say it like he's the guy that walks into the room spinning his arms in a circle, and if you get hit, it's your own fault.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Ooh. And while I do it, I will blame as many people as I have to, so long as I am not one of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Now you guys have both directed your own series, correct? Yeah. So for each of you, what is the most important aspect when it comes to directing your series?

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Do you mean like just like everyday uh when like an everyday kind of directing thing, or like when we are coming up with like a new series?

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Um, I mean, I think a little bit of both. So like when you're trying to think of your new uh projects, what is the most important thing you're considering? But then also while you're uh running the project and you're going through the whole process, what's that thing that you're focusing on when you direct?

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Um so it it depends. It depends on a lot of the a lot of the projects that I direct, I also wrote to. So I have a pretty clear vision of like where things were when I wrote the script and where I wanted to go, so I can kind of see or hear it in my head. Uh but if I'm but if I'm not the one that uh wrote the script, I want to make sure that I have like the writer's perspective of things kind of like in my head. So the the most important thing to do when you're directing, and directing is more than just like interacting with the actors to get the takes that you want and stuff like that. Like you're there for the whole process. You are there for the pre-production, you are there for production, you're there for the editing and everything. So like these these episodes, these episodes can take a long time, and I know that people are like, oh my god, well, it takes so long when you used to pump out like a new episode every couple months. And I'm like, Yeah. Back when our editors were in school and could do that because they had more free time. Now they have jobs and lives and things like that, and you know, we have to pay them, so that takes a while more. Uh, but it's like uh I saw a comment uh in the on the outtakes for Overlord, which came out like uh last week, and it said, Where's my uh shield hero and all caps, and I just wanted to I I wanted so bad to reply back, it's not yours.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Like I mean, it's I it's flattering to get comments. It's it does not it is kind of flattering when you get those comments.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

But like I see it, I see it, and all I can hear is being comments screamed at an all cast. It does not belong to you. Um you didn't you didn't spend hours pouring blood, sweat, and tears over uh over any of these series. Nothing about Fat Dog has given you an ulcer. You shut up. Um so That's not herbally either. No, that's not. That's that that's happened. Um but I think the most important thing when I'm directing is to understand two key factors. Number one, the vision of what we want the scope of the episode to be. Whether it's a one-shot or whether it's the next episode in a series or uh whatever. It's you need to know what the overall scope of the story you're trying to tell is. What shots you want, all those things. And then second, and this is very important. I know a lot of directors who uh like to micromanage. Hell, I know some directors that learned editing because they wanted it done their specific way, and they and and it's it's fine, it's fine that you want things done a specific way because you have a vision, but also don't don't be too hard-headed. You there's a certain amount of flexibility that you need to have, which is why and this is just my style. I can only speak for myself when it comes to the recording process, but my style is to have like three or four takes with a character where we get where I get like what I want from from like the line or the scene or the moment that we're that we're in. I get the take that I want that I need that I feel best represents the um the scene that we're recording for. And then I like to leave and and they can take the they can take it up on their own or not, but uh I like to leave a couple of takes, like a take or two, for the actor to just play with and interpret how how they envision it, because there's been plenty of times, and it's humbling, where I've had a vision in my head of what the scene is supposed to be. And that's that's a thing. I think supposed to be needs to get out of some people's heads. What what something is supposed to be can be left for the commenters on YouTube who are offended by everything. But uh I like letting a lot of my actors play with like their interpretation of a line or give me something, because you're either gonna get something incredibly funny that you can put in bloopers later, or you're gonna get something that you didn't think of that kind of changes the dynamic of a scene or enhances it and makes it better. So yeah, uh I've learned I've learned that I don't have all the answers, and it's okay for me not to have all the answers, and to uh to get input from other places and be happy with it. So yeah, those are the two things that uh you have to put your trust in other people. And there's there's a certain amount of that that as a director I feel like you're gonna have to just sit back and let other people do their thing.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

The irony of it is, you know, as as a director, sometimes you just gotta let go of the ranks.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yeah. Yeah. You're uh but also you have to know when to rein people in and pull them, uh hold it tight as well. Like you it's a weird dichotomy.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Uh it definitely sounds like it's uh like any management role where you gotta be able to let your team do what they can do, but at the same point, the team is still expected to do the work that you would be able to perform.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Right. And and I know there are people thinking, like listening to this, oh my god, you guys do silly anime parodies on the internet, it's not that deep. Yes and no. Like, if I don't take my work seriously, how why should I expect anyone else to? You know, if I'm gonna turn in a half-assed job as a director, then that just gives actors the impression that they can do a lazy performance and it's like whatever. It's like, oh yeah, I did this recording, it took me like a couple minutes, and then whatever. You don't care. If I I think one of the things, especially with like uh with Overlord, uh, because we had a lot of outside voices, people who hadn't worked with us in Fat Dog before, uh, who we would sit down and yeah, we would we would, you know, we'd we'd shoot the shit or uh chill out for a little bit before or after and just talk about a little bit of stuff. Sometimes we'd talk about like, you know, some of the similarities in our uh industries and stuff like that, but like our level of professionalism and like our dedication to our work and our passion for what we're doing, that bleeds over into our actors, especially first-time actors with us. They're like, Oh, okay. And sometimes that can be intimidating. I think Tony, you can attest to this. Some we've had some new people that felt like a little intimidated because they're like they come over and they're like, Oh my god, this is all so professional. And we're like, dude, just we're just chill people, dude. We're just like, yeah, actor, director, but like we're we're we're three idiots in a call just having fun, you know?

SPEAKER_02 14:23

I mean, well, I mean, it is it is uh kind of funny to have that sort of um for lack of a better term, kind of disconnect because a lot of people that haven't worked with us in the past, like they come in here, uh there there's kind of that different side of the coin where they will come in and think, oh, okay, so you know, it's just a bunch of it, you know, it's a bunch of you know guys making silly internet parodies, and then they're surprised at the level of profession.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah, that that we're serious and that we're professional, and that they'll we'll sit down and we'll sit down and talk with them. Okay, have you looked over the script? And it's like, okay, cool. If you have, you haven't. Like we'll go through a little bit of stuff with the script, we'll explain some more about the characters and stuff. And with uh we've had people that work in different aspects of the voiceover industry, or they're interested in getting into the voiceover industry, and we're like, all right, cool, here's a couple of things, and we'll sit them down and we'll talk with newer people about how our approach is, and we're like, hey, not everybody does this, it's okay. Uh, but this is how we do it. You can honestly think of us as like an an easing you into kind of uh voiceover uh as an act, you know? So there's a little bit of that.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

But speaking of like voice actors, if you have somebody who's aspiring to try and become one, do you guys have any tips for them? Any way to like try and get into that world? Because in a lot of ways, sometimes it does feel a little exclusive if you don't know the way to do it.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Man, we have been asked this question so many times. Uh Tony, do we do we know the answers verbatim at this point or or what? Like I feel like we do.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

The the biggest thing that uh so okay, so experience is definitely something that you know is gonna trump most. Um you gotta get out of your own head, right? Um you know, if uh using just kind of like the original people to start yelling, you know, in the early days you could hear the they there would be whisper screaming, you know, not actually like yeah, right? It's it sounds it's yeah, it sounds silly.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

It's so true, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

But that's what it was, you know, and and it was it it took it took a while for people to kind of get comfortable for lack of a better term in their own skin um with with doing voiceover. And so that's just you know, you just you gotta practice, you get into it. Um it can be just as simple as doing silly voices while you're in the shower or or driving uh to work. You know, it's get comfortable with what you can do and your own voice specifically, because no one can do you better than you. Yeah, that's true. The sooner you realize that and own it, the sooner director, like the sooner you will do better and directors will take this. Um having said that, um, you know, if you're going for like the professional, like straight in professional work and not like getting your feet wet with like fan doves and abridging, then um I guess it kind of depends. Like if you're going in for character work, uh you're gonna need to be in a very specific location, typically Texas, Florida, or California.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Yeah, so true.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

But if you're looking for just like commercial work, I mean you can honestly do it anyway.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Um Yeah, you can.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

And and the best the best way to you know kind of get your feet wet in that is it is a very kind of exclusive kind of you know, there is unfortunately. And that's just the nature of the of the business. You need to make yourself a known quantity.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Also, indie gaming can also be done remotely as well. A lot of indie gaming voiceover.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

I had not I had not thought.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Ooh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Um you can go into any kind of experience with voiceover as somebody who's new, but once you get into something like the experience.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

I will say, I will say there's three very key things that you need if you're starting out. Um, you need a good mic. And by good mic, yeah, good mic. You need a treated zone. Uh where you record is just as important as what you record on. Now, you don't have to break the bank to get a good mic. Uh hell, for a long period of time, I was recording on a Yeti mic, but because I had my area padded out and treated, everybody thought I was on an XLR mic, and I wasn't. Um I was just on a like a blue Yeti. It's one of those plug-and-play kind of deals. And you can get that for reasonably about $75 to $100. Now I know that's a lot of money to some people, especially if you're on a budget, but when you're talking about purchasing microphones, that's actually on the low end. And that's the low end of professional level micro.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

Yeah, that's that's bargain bin, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yeah, that's bar that's bargain bin. Like most podcasts are done on shore or road, and those are like several hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

One of our actors, and I'm I'm not gonna say who, but one uh one of our actors has several thousand plus dollar marks. Several.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Yeah, several. Um, yeah, voiceover, voiceover is straight up their profession. And also keep in mind, guys, if you're thinking, oh, well, I'm trying to get into professional work, why would I want to do uh like a silly abridged or fan-up? Well, the thing is a lot of voice actors like cut their teeth doing online voiceover work. Um, so there's several people who and I'm not gonna name names, I'm not trying to get anybody in trouble uh with their careers, but like there are several people that we know that have done like abridged work or voiced in fan parodies and fan dubs before they like really had a breakout uh role, and they do anime and video game voice work and stuff. Like multiple people who grew up on this. Um so yeah, and and some of it's not exactly it's not exactly a secret. The community pretty much knows because we all grew up with this stuff.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

But yeah, it's it's an open secret, and at the moment, just because the quote unquote old guard is still the ones making decisions, it has to remain a quote unquote secret.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Open secret, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Yeah, once once, you know, these fossils and I will not apologize, get out of power, um it will be much less of a for lack of a better term, taboo.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

And even then, I feel like that's too strong of a but going back to the uh going back to the three things. So the first is a good a good quality mic. The second is getting a good recording space, and there are ways to do that on the cheap. But um I'll tell you that yeah, a moving blanket, you can go to like um like a Lowe's or a home depot or order a moving blanket online. Uh they're usually about like 20 bucks, but a moving blanket is really good. If you've got if you've got a somewhat decent enough closet that you can put like your microphone in and kind of like close the door. Also, acoustic foam is actually pretty cheap online. You can find a good amount of acoustic foam for pretty short. Yeah. Uh I will say a closet's a really good place to do it, especially if you have carpet in your closet. And the more clothes and like thick blankets or things like that that you have in there, the better, because it'll help with like muffling the sound. It won't bounce off the walls and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

To be fair, I'm as a uh insulator too. I can uh let you guys know uh dense pack cellulose in the wall. That is one of the best sound insulators you can get. Um and for just a closet wall or even a small room, you could probably do that for about under a grand with current prices, at least in Arizona. So like it's like consider if it's if it's a space that you know you want to record in.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

I think if we're just counting if we're just counting the stuff I got specifically for my recording booth, which is basically my closet. I think in total it cost me probably like forty bucks to treat my room. Because it was like twenty-something bucks for extra acoustic foam, and then twenty bucks for a moving blanket, and then behind me it's nothing but clothes, like it's just a wall of clothes hanging up. So yeah, it's pretty it's pretty well sound treated. Uh I got lucky it was already carpeted. But uh but yeah, and then third, of course, is editing software. Uh I can tell you right now, that's probably the cheapest of all of them because Audacity is free. You can download Audacity for free, you can record and edit. Um but there's and there's tutorials all over the place. If you get an XLR type mic, you're gonna need to also get a um oh god, um, what's the audio? The the little audio box that goes into that you plug your XLR into and then it goes to the computer. I forget what it's called right now. There's a term for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's right when I need the word that it disappears, you know? Oh, isn't that how it always happens? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Audio interface. Thank goodness. Brain, why are you so slow? You're fast on everything else except when I need a specific word. Sounds like you need another cup of ale.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Let me go ahead and pour that for you.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

I like four shots of espresso, man. Dang. Um but but yeah, uh an audio interface. If you get an XLR mic, you're gonna need an audio interface. There's good, decent ones. Uh I would also reach out to the voiceover community. Like it it's pretty tight-knit, but we the voiceover community is pretty uh is pretty good with uh like sharing information and interacting with each other. So we're good like that. Um but yeah, we we're happy to share. We don't there are some people who like to gatekeep, but they're usually not the voice actors, they're like the directors, and there's again, they're tied to kind of like the old guard. A lot of the newer and younger generations, my generation and younger, are uh definitely more accepting and just like we're just happy to have more people who are doing the things that we do. But there are other things that I would put out to first-time people, like just because you can do impressions doesn't mean that you can voice act, and so many people get a little too focused on the voice part and not enough on the acting part. And I'm gonna bring up something uh something new, uh something more recent. It's gonna date probably the rec it's gonna date when we came into the tavern, but uh Resident Evil 9, uh Requiem. The actress that plays Grace is so freaking good. Like how she conveys terror and anxiety, not just in her voice, but like the little breaths and everything that she does, and and so even when uh because I had I was playing my I was playing through my first time and I was streaming and um a sound alert went off. Somebody did one of the audio alerts for emotional damage, so I'm here, Stephen He. Emotional damage, and it pulled me out of a cutscene. Yeah, it pulled me out of a cutscene, and I had to go and turn them off and everything, and I was like, Yeah, please don't do that. It's it's my first playthrough. If it's on uh another playthrough, cool, no problem. I've already experienced it, we're good. But um, but like it took me all of three seconds as soon as I started the cutscene back up to immediately get pulled right back into the moment, be emotionally connected and invested all over again, and that is a very, very good performance, and that's kind of what we are looking for and hoping to emulate. You want to be able to act. I know a lot of voiceover actors who do this work professionally, and they do a lot of theater, they do a lot of improv, they they like they stay acting. I mean, there's a lot of voice actors that also do audio work and direct and stuff too, but they like the acting is the crap, like their craft is acting, and they love doing that. And so that's that's a thing I would uh recommend towards anyone wanting to get into voiceover. Uh my thing is fall in love with acting, it's just another form of acting. So fall in love with it, man.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

Yep. And on on the topic of um impersonation, unless someone is specifically asking for an impersonation, don't do it.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

Yeah, it's it's best not to. A lot of the time.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

And it brings me back to what I said earlier. Nobody can do you better than you.

unknown 28:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

So quick side question. How many times have you guys had a Mosico ex-impersonator come up?

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Uh Mosako, not so much, I don't think. Really? Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

Because I feel like ghosts mostly mostly taka.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Really? Yeah, it's a lot of people, a lot of people do taka. I mean, when we're when we're dicking around behind the scenes, we quote a bridge series from other people uh at each other all the time, and of course, Dragon Ball Z Abrids is a huge one.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

I feel like anyone who watches a bridge does it.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

It's paranormal life for us. Well, you gotta realize that when with a bridge stuff, it's our everyday life for us. So we're we're we're doing it and back and forth, and we're friends, so of course we'll do stupid shit like that, and I'm not gonna do it here, but like uh I have like a semi-perfect, or I'm sorry, not semi-perfect, but uh imperfect cell lines that I quote, and I like when I quote them, I do that voice. So instead of saying, Well, good for you, you're wrong, I'll do it kind of in that voice. But I mean, we we put on the voices and we we exaggerate to the mannerisms that they use. It's not us necessarily trying to impersonate Taka so much as just impersonate the mannerisms of the characters and stuff. And that's and as somebody that got to work with Taka, I I'm really humbled by like his uh his like range and his ability to quickly pick up on things and just go. Yeah, dude, we had yeah. It's it's always it's always really nice when you get like a a seasoned person in in the booth with you. I've worked with several people who are both new and I've worked with people who are veterans who've been running around doing silly voice work like this for a long time, and it's it's always a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Yeah, he's actually um he did some recording. He some uh Taka did? Yeah, I'm not gonna say who he's voicing, but uh he's gonna be in the Dragon Ball Dino.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

Oh I'm so glad, dude. That's so cool. Yeah, I'm glad you finally got your chance to uh sit in with Taka for a recording session, because when I when I was doing the stuff for Konosuda, you came in at the tail end.

SPEAKER_04 30:29

Yeah, I was gonna say that.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

You were you were at the tail end of that. Like we had more or less finished recording and we were just chatting and stuff, and you came in.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

No, but uh Oh, sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

I was gonna say just talking on like the idea of like hey, some veteran abridgers, I know you guys have been a bridge-in for the last 10 years. Um more than that. 20 years, okay. So I came in 10 years ago. I have a two-fold question for the both of you. Now, would you say it's easier to make abridged content with the more modern art styles and animation or the older art styles and animation? As well as was it easier to work on projects 10, 15 years ago when there wasn't as much expectation on what makes a good abridged project?

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Um 100%.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Yeah, no, if um uh no as as somebody who as somebody who doesn't do the video editing side but talks with the video editors constantly, uh the number one thing I'm hearing is like the higher the quality of the animation, the harder it is to m to like uh make the flaps look natural and stuff. So like older quality animation is actually better for that. So yeah, it and and when you're making like changes to the environment and stuff like that, like it's harder to do that. Like the amount of bitching I have heard about how good the like fans will praise the quality of animation and solo leveling, but when you have to go in and abridge it, the the amount of like moments that I've had like in a video editor complain about like the the animation is too good, it's making this like when we change something, it's making it way too obvious, and I'm like, oh shit. So yeah, it it is what it is, you know. That's why we had to that's why we had to do like one of the first things that we realized when we were getting around to episode two of Solo Leveling of Bridged, uh, was that we had to hire an outside artist and an outside animator specifically for the system screen. Uh, because we were gonna have we were gonna have the system screen pop up and say stuff that does not exist in the anime, and so we had to have something similar to the system screen window that was like partially transparent, but also like if you've if you've seen solo leveling, you know that like it has lines and stuff in it that like move and light up and things like that. And there's like all this stuff going in, and so when you look at it, you're like you're seeing these scenes, and you're going, oh shit, these animators, they're really making it where we can't just take something and like put our own words over it because like you can't just loop it because there's not a good spot to loop just like that movement animation. So, like, yeah, sometimes the higher quality the animation, the more of a pain in the butt it is for uh for those of us who are trying to change it around, and also like you you can have an idea in your head when you're writing this stuff or directing it, and then when you see the visuals for it, pardon me. When you see the visuals for it, that's when you realize, oh, well, uh this this footage doesn't quite match. We need to go and do pickups for that. And that brings me up to uh a thing I was talking about in slime 10. They uh I got the take I wanted from the actor for this uh for this character that's showing up for uh slime 10. And this is the beginning of season two of Slime, by the way. Uh so that's what we're covering there. And like the line was good, the delivery was good, it was no fault on their part. It's just that when I look at the footage, the the line that was delivered doesn't match like the level of energy that is on screen, so we have to go back and like get a new take of that so that it matches like what's on screen. And you know, and that happens sometimes. It just you know you can shrug it off if it's not a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

I suppose too, because two of your uh more recent projects that have been coming out have been the Overlord and the Spider Abridged.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

And yeah, both I mean Spider was uh I'm sorry. No, no, no, you're good. Uh Spider was Spider was very interesting because a lot of it was internal monologue.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Now I know both shows happen to use CGI fairly heavily. So as you guys continue to abridge these projects, what are your thoughts about having to abridge CGI animation?

SPEAKER_00 35:26

It is tougher when you get into like the CGI 3D animation stuff. Um, I remember it because uh Explodacy uh was the video editor for the spider episode. And he when we got to the part where the different Kumokos uh show up and they're like, Oh, yeah. I also there are three memes now. Hi, hi, hi. If you pay attention, you'll notice that the flaps don't match with the timing of the highs, and that's because he can't, he's like, I can't do anything to fix this, we just have to roll with it. And that's it was one of those times where as a director you have to give up on certain things. Like there are some things like I could try fighting it and like, but it was like a two-minute episode. It wasn't like it wasn't like, oh, I'm trying to make high cinema or whatever, and it was for like a silly throwaway gag thing. So I was like, you know, in the end, does it bother me? Yes. It does it matter in the overall scheme of things for this for this short. Not really, no. I was like, all right, well then, yeah, toss it. I mean, the funny thing is, like, the spider community uh came in, like the the community for Kumodesu uh came in and they they left their comments and stuff and they were largely I don't think anybody commented on that. It was largely about like the like the jokes that we made uh about the the series itself, like you know, oh yeah, the all all my other classmates got teleported here, but who cares about that? Because the story is all about me. And you know, and a lot of people commented on that. They were like, yeah, it should have been all Kumako. And I'm like, yeah, that's kind of cool. But um be that, and then with Overlord, we haven't really got to like the full-on CG stuff. I think the was it Tony correct me if I'm wrong, I think the Death Knights in scene six is probably the closest we've gotten to the CG stuff in season one.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Yeah, I think um Overlord's been really good about it in that they the side of things for discussing guts.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Yeah, uh for the most part, I think we haven't really run into like some heavy CG. Also, when when you're doing like with Overlord where we're taking like an entire season and squishing it into one big episode, there's a lot of stuff that we can cut out. So if we don't want to use any of the CG stuff because it's gonna be like annoying, we can we can scrub those scenes. Like we we cut so many episodes entire episodes out of our abridged of Overlord season one. Because they just didn't we didn't need those episodes, they didn't match with the flow of the of the script we were writing. And I remember when when we were scripting it, because again, you got two of the three writers of Overlord here. Uh Darkon was our third writer. And when we were sitting down writing it, I remember like we were looking over it, because Tony, you were screen sharing the uh the episodes, and we were kind of looking over it just to get a general idea of like, okay, what w here's the idea that we have. Does this episode cover this? And blah blah blah, yada yada. And we were going over it to try and keep a refresher on so that we kind of could see what we wanted to mess with. And and we got to like certain episodes and we're like, do we even need to use this episode? And so we we toss a lot of those out. So there's always that possibility that we don't have to use the CG animation. Uh, if we can if we can avoid it, we probably would. That's that's that's the point I guess I was trying to make.

SPEAKER_02 39:26

It's you know, I I've got I've got a history of like, I don't like this arc. Let's blow up the fucking island.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Basically, that's that's our closing but I think we got time for one more question for you guys. But okay, obviously the conversation's gonna continue. All our lovely listeners are gonna have to wait until next week as we continue on with more questions. I think next week I have plenty of questions about some of these projects coming up, so make sure y'all tune in. But what I'm curious before we all close out tonight is what aspect of making these projects has been the most challenging, in your opinion? Copyright? That was quick, Tony. I feel like you have a few things to say on that.

SPEAKER_00 40:19

We do. We'll you'll have to get to the next episode. That's a whole pick that's a whole essay of conversations. We could write a thesis on that.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Alright, so next episode, we will start with copyright issues and going into some of the further projects. But guys, please let my viewers know where can they support you, where can they find you.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

Oh, um our YouTube channel, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Yeah, YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

Like, comment, subscribe, help us fight the algorithm because it uh it YouTube does its damnedest to keep us from not only getting to new people, but from our own subscribers. To this day, we are still getting comments of people saying they didn't know we finished Log Horizon.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

Literally, literally had somebody leave a comment on Overlord. When did you guys finish Log Horizon? I was like, what episode have you been up to? And they're like, six, and I'm like, that's only half of the series. Can't they just get the playlists? There are 12 episodes. They can't, yeah, they can, but like the thing is a lot of the times I think they're uh they're watching so many different channels that they kind of don't know or they don't see that we're doing stuff. So like it's it's for for a channel that has a hundred uh over a hundred thousand subscribers, we get remarkably small viewer counts.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

It's on a on on a if if a video hits K, I count that as and that's half of our trapper count.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

Yeah, yeah. Hey guys, if you can do me a favor, hop over at Fat Dog, show them some love. Go check out their different projects. There's one for just about anything you're looking for. Honestly, I do recommend my DD nerds to Fat Dog for Krusty stuff. Because I'm sorry, y'all did crusty well.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

That was that was a lot of fun. Yeah, d20 production. Yeah. I I uh I especially like also don't forget Nountsu, dude. Nountsuku did a DD campaign and it was our Goblin Slayer.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

Oh, hey, yeah, and that's that's in your uh Log Horizon playlist.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

Like literally, it's the Log Horizon, yeah, it's the Log Horizon gang plays uh DD, and that DD session is Goblin Slayer, which is really funny.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Go show these guys some love, help them with the algorithm. Trust me, it's worth it. I love uh Shield Hero. I've just started watching their solo leveling, and Overlord was a riot. I have a few questions about that next episode.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

Oh, we'll get into that. And if they if anybody wants to help us out uh further, we have a Patreon uh you can go and check out as well.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

All of our videos all the links will be down there. Please show them the love from this channel. But with all that being said, typically our outros are a little idea of the weather in your area and what your name is. So do you guys want to go ahead and start off our outros?

SPEAKER_02 43:25

Go ahead, Richie.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

Oh, I I'm Richie. It's raining here.

SPEAKER_02 43:33

Uh yeah. Uh I'm Tony and it's um I guess clear skies. It's it's a nice day for the first of March.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

Why did why did my head immediately go to Family Guy, the weather guy, and family guy? It's raining! Thank you, Ollie.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

And from a very chilly Arizona, my name's Danny with our Tavern Talks, and that's another chow.