It’s the end of the semester!
I can’t believe how quickly it’s gone! Despite always having the timeline, I assumed that there would be more time to write about different aspects of media! I focused a lot on the online world and reality tv (which, in all honesty, I don’t watch that much! RuPaul’s Drag Race is the only show I really keep up to date with). But there’s so much more I wish I could have written about!
May as well do a summary now…
EUROVISION
Francesco Gabbani: The TRUE Winner of Eurovision 2017 I don’t care what the entirety of Europe has to say about it! I am a Eurovision addict! One of my goals in life is to work on Eurovision, in some form. Preferably, I’d like to be one of the commentators (because then I get to watch AND meet everyone AND get paid for all of it!) but I would give anything to be a part of it! I am also, not quite an expert, but an extremely informed fan. My favourite assessment task across all classes this semester was a research essay for Music in Pop Culture, in which I got the opportunity to write 2000 words about the intricacies of authenticity within the competition. There’s so much possibility in this topic! Online culture changing the results of the competition (best seen in 2014 with Conchita Wurst winning, despite barely being a fan favourite), Australia’s recent involvement in the competition (especially this year, in which we came 9th overall, 4th in jury votes, but only received 2 points from the public audience (the highest amount of points possible to receive through televoting was over 400)), or the internet’s ability to turn a hero to a villain in an instant (seen with this year’s winner, Salvador Sobral, after his comments after his victory about the culture of music within the competition). Even an analysis on how Ell & Nikki won in 2011 even though everybody agrees (and I mean everybody) that they did not deserve the win at all (the reason is cheating and Azerbaijan is famous for it, they did it again in 2016 why are they still allowed to compete???).
I wish I made this blog just about Eurovision. I wish I made every blog about Eurovision…
You know, I shouldn’t have started with Eurovision, because now I can’t remember anything else that I want to talk about. If I remember, I may update this blog, but otherwise
A major news story recently is YouTube changing it’s community advertising standards, due to companies not wanting their products advertised on videos that were, essentially, hate speech. That’s understandable. However, YouTube took this to an extreme level.
First, YouTube released a new ‘restricted’ mode, in which content that was deemed ‘unethical’ or ‘immoral’ was hidden completely. This caused controversy when LGBT YouTubers had content hidden that included words in the title such as ‘Gay’, ‘Lesbian’, ‘Bisexual’, and ‘Trans’, even when other videos on their channels were not restricted discussed sex and violence.
YouTube has since responded to these complaints, stating that their automated system may have accidentally blocked some content that was unintended to be blocked, however there are still some strange videos being restricted, such as a Tegan and Sara music video with nothing sexual or about sexuality featured, while songs that are explicitly about sex are still being blocked.
Recently, these changes have started to affect not only which videos are seen, but which YouTuber’s make money. Many YouTuber’s create content for their living, and rely on the funds that are made from advertising revenue. By slashing these funds, many YouTuber’s are having to create fundraising pages on websites such as Patreon, and are having to cut back on the content they are producing. This happened with one of my favourite wrestling promotions (I know), WhatCulture Pro Wrestling, or WCPW.
WhatCulture was originally a pop culture website (specializing in ‘listicles’), and gained a majority of their fans when they started posting content about wrestling. They began their own wrestling promotion in May 2016, and have gained a major following, featuring well known wrestlers such as American Olympian Kurt Angle, Cody Rhodes, Alberto del Rio (now Alberto el Patron), Eric Bischoff, Rey Mysterio, and Matt Hardy. They have also debuted unknown wrestlers, who have since become part of the main roster of the most well known wrestling promotion, WWE.
However, under the new YouTube advertising system, wrestling as a whole is now classified as violence and the advertising funds going towards wrestling videos have been severely cut, to the point where WCPW has had to cancel their weekly YouTube shows.
This creates a major issue, not only for the company who are now losing money, but also for the employees of WCPW. Wrestlers of smaller promotions work on a show-by-show basis, meaning that when shows get cut, they get less money. And because there is only so much wrestling that can be put into one show, there will always be wrestlers who miss out, and the company is more likely to go for the higher selling names. That means that, while wrestlers like Joe Hendry and Martin Kirby may still be able to make ends meet, lesser known, or lesser established, wrestlers in the promotion will have to find other jobs if they want to continue working for WCPW, or move to another, non-online promotion.
The issue with this issue is the use of censorship. It is understandable (sort of, not so much in the LGBT situation) for parents to want to hide certain content that may be confusing or dangerous to children, so that they have the ability to explain to them what they are watching. However, this censorship is having serious affects on content creators who rely on advertising revenue. This rise in censorship was started based on a rise in hate speech on YouTube, but the wrong people are being taken down. Even when researching this topic, I saw videos titled ‘The Left Gets A Taste Of It’s Own Medicine: LGBT Videos Taken Down’. There are now hate speech videos that are encouraging YouTube censorship. That is the opposite of what they were supposed to do!
Advertisers have a lot of power when it comes to censorship. But there have always been issues with censorship itself. We used to see censorship used to hide the voices of women, of POCs, and of the LGBT community, and while we are still apparently seeing this today, a majority of censorship is used to remove the voices of those who are preaching hatred, such as videos supporting Nazism. In a world that is now user-driven, is it fair to try to censor anyone, even if certain voices are causing violence and hatred?
I think yes, but I can see why it’s controversial and difficult to maintain.
We’re going to be doing a bit of a throwback this week!
Last year, as a part of my Diploma of Screen and Media, I had to complete a course on audio design. A majority of the work I’d done thus far was for live audio. I had done (so many, like, too many) audio set ups, with microphones and speakers, for live gigs. I’d also used a mixing desk on live performances and recordings. I’d also had some experience as a mic technician and had a professional gig as an audio designer/technician/other stuff for Victorian Youth Theatre’s 2015 production of Babe: The Sheep Pig.
But last year… everything changed. We had to become sound designers for film, tv, and audio books. One of the designs was a hypothetical design for a short film we were making at the time. One of the designs was re-dubbing all of the audio for a scene in Game of Thrones, which I would upload if it weren’t for copyright issues. You’re missing out though. I forgot to get actors so all the characters have my voice at different pitches it’s ridiculous.
The final task was creating an audio book for children. This was different in that we would be designing the sound for another student to put together.
This is what I ended up making…
(Please don’t laugh)
What I learned through this process… -HIRE ACTORS! WHY DO YOU KEEP ON NOT HIRING ACTORS? YOUR VOICE SOUNDS THE SAME FOR EVERY CHARACTER AND ALSO SILLY! YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE TO PAY THEM! HIRE ACTORS!!! -You are allowed to disagree with the designer, and offer other ideas. For example: when the narration says that a duck hatches out of an egg, and the designer wants a sound of an egg dropping rather than cracking, try correcting them
-Blending audio is your friend. Every time the story stops for a duck quack, a fairy dies
-When one sound is significantly louder than the others, that is a problem. This is a children’s storybook, not a horror film
-Multiple takes are your friend. In my defense, this was at the end of the year when no one cared anymore, but would it have killed me to rerecord some of the earlier lines so that there weren’t awkward cuts?
-I was better than I remember.
At the beginning of the semester, Brian told us that we would look back at the work we do and think ‘Wow, that was pretty good’, even if when we made it, we thought it was the worst thing ever made. We all thought that was a stretch, but it’s true. The beginning of this piece is shaky, but the last minute or so is actually pretty good (even the swan honks. It is not my fault they sound like that). The audio is blended together well, the storytelling gets better, and even my character voices get better.
I guess Brian was right. I can’t wait to think that I’ve done so far for Media 1 is good.
BRINGING BACK MY BOY JOHN OLIVER!
John makes a lot of content like this one, where he makes the public aware of the lack of media literacy skills and attempts to re-wire their thought processes about certain stories in the media. One of my favourite pieces he has done thus far is about the media reporting on scientific articles without reading the actual study, leading to clickbait articles such as “Eating a box of chocolate a day may cure cancer” and “Is your cat actually trying to kill you?” that people appear to actually believe (or at least use to excuse eating a box of chocolate a day, which is something that should not need an excuse in the first place.)
I’ve touched on this quite a bit in past initiative posts, but one of the major issues with media literacy is that we now have the ability to choose what we believe. Our distrust in media sources means that we now actively seek out alternative information, which can be great when you see headlines like “Eating a box of chocolate a day may cure cancer”, but becomes problematic when people begin seeking alternative ideas to “14 reasons racism is bad”. Because of the widespread and open nature of the internet, you could have the most wild, out there opinions, and still find someone to agree that Bigfoot DID in fact rig the last Australian election from a remote area of Slovakia.
That would be fine if it were small/strange things like that, but overconfidence in our skills are causing serious problems. Our media literacy is creating real differences in political outcomes and, as our reading discussed, causing real people to be harmed.
Black Mirror explores the evolution of technology, and how it can be used to harm real people. In the example above, a twitter poll is created, asking users to vote for which public figure they want dead. At the end of the week, the person at the top of the poll dies suddenly. It looks at a similar kind of media literacy, in which the online, anonymous community are allowed to spread their views and have their voices be heard, causing real harm to come to those chosen.
(There is another episode similar to this one in which a group of anonymous hackers torture a bunch of pedophiles, but that was too positive a use of media literacy for this bleak look at society in my opinion)
I don’t think we’re going to have a solution to this problem. As much as there are good people, like John Oliver, and good shows, like Black Mirror, shining a light on these issues, there are still people who profit off of the exploitation of the masses. Until they are brought down, we will continue down the Black Mirror rabbit hole of horrible things, and it is highly unlikely they will be brought down. Not until there’s some mass illness that is spread through houses with more than 3 levels and unused but aesthetically pleasing tennis courts.
Media studies are bleak. I’m waiting for an opportunity to discuss the movie Clueless, or Eurovision. Then media studies will be slightly happier.
Guess who love’s reality TV enough to talk about it twice in one semesters blogs!!!
When someone wins a competitive reality TV show, the thought is that they will be the most famous, the most loved, the most respected competitor that season. So often, though, that is not the case.
I will be looking at RuPaul’s Drag Race (because it is the reality show who’s contestants I follow most post-show), however this phenomenon is also seen on Masterchef (with Poh getting her own TV shows after not winning the grand prize), Project Runway (Santino Rice is often a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race which is the best consolation prize), and The Bachelor (with the non-winning fan favourite often getting their own season of The Bachelor/ette).
I will be looking at the winner’s success vs the fan favourite’s success through the seasons…
SEASON ONE WINNER: Bebe Zahara Benet FAN FAVOURITE: It’s difficult to say. This season is very underground, I was lucky to watch when it first came out as the season was soon lost and it is very difficult for the new fandom to find this season online. I would say Nina Flowers or Ongina or even Shannel, but they’re all still underground.
SEASON TWO WINNER: Tyra Sanchez: has released a single, but the fandom does not like her due to telling a fan of the show to kill themself on Twitter, fairly underground FAN FAVOURITES: Shangela: left episode 1, fan favourite due to following season
Raven: competed on All Stars 1 and placed as runner up, co-hosts Fashion Photo Ru-View on Youtube, make up icon
Jujubee: competed on All Stars 1 and placed as 4th
Tatianna: competed on All Stars 2 and placed as 6th (elimination seen by fans as unjust), has a single out
Pandora Boxx: competed on All Stars 1 and was first eliminated, has 6 singles, hosted Drag Race recap show Drag Center
SEASON 3 WINNER: Raja: co-host of Fashion Photo Ru-View on YouTube, has 4 singles, considered one of the fan favourites FAN FAVOURITES: Shangela: main character in film Hurricane Bianca, has appeared in Glee, Community, Bones, and Dance Moms, has 2 singles
Manila Luzon: competed on All Stars 1 and was 3rd eliminated (although speculation among fans and contestants that this was rigged), has 4 singles
Carmen Carrera: trans activist, appeared on What Would You Do? and Cake Boss (however this episode received criticism from Carmen after her appearance was made into a joke against trans people), very critical of the transphobia shown on Rupaul’s Drag Race which has lost her favor among many fans
SEASON 4 WINNER: Sharon Needles: considered one of the fan favourites, horror host for show Fierce, has 2 albums and 7 singles, has an official day named after her in hometown Pittsburgh, formed the Haus of Haunt drag troupe FAN FAVOURITES: Chad Michaels: Competed on and won All Stars 1, has appeared in Jane the Virgin, 2 Broke Girls, Kath and Kim, Top Gear, and film Bamboo Shark as Cher or a Cher impersonator
Latrice Royale: competed on All Stars 1 and was 3rd eliminated (although speculation among fans and contestants that this was rigged), has 1 EP and 1 single, appeared in off-broadway production Mister Act
Willam: had previously appeared in many TV shows and films, famously disqualified from RuPaul’s Drag Race, main character in Hurricane Bianca, hosts multiple YouTube shows, has 2 albums and 23 singles, released a book, was a part of DWV and American Apparel Ad Girls (or AAA Girls)
SEASON 5 WINNER: Jinkx Monsoon: narcolepsy advocate, has 2 albums and 7 singles, has been a part of many musicals (including leading characters in Hairspray and Hedwig and the Angry Itch), was a part of web documentary Drag Becomes Him FAN FAVOURITES: Alaska Thunderfuck: competed on All Stars 2 and won, has 2 albums and has 16 singles, co-host of Bro’Laska on YouTube, played Frank-n-Furter in Rocky Horror Picture Show production, a part of American Apparel Ad Girls (or AAA Girls), formed the Haus of Haunt drag troupe
Detox Icunt: competed on All Stars 2 and was runner up, has 7 singles, was a part of DWV, has appeared in many music videos for songs by Rhianna and Ke$ha
Alyssa Edwards: competed on All stars 2 and was a lovely 5th alternate, host of Alyssa’s Secret on YouTube, appeared in Hurricane Bianca, opened dance studio Beyond Belief, formed House of Edwards drag troupe, drag mother to multiple previous and future competitors
SEASON 6 WINNER: Bianca del Rio:considered a fan favourite, was the inspiration and leading character in Hurricane Bianca, host of Really Queen? on YouTube, has headlined two comedy tours FAN FAVOURITES: Adore Delano: had previously competed in American Idol, competed in All Stars 2 and dropped out in the second episode, has 2 albums and 13 singles
BenDeLaCreme: Headlines touring burlesque shows Terminally Delightful and Cosmos
SEASON 7 WINNER: Violet Chachki: has 1 EP and 2 singles, part of Dita Von Teese’s burlesque show Art Of The Teese FAN FAVOURITES: Katya Zamolodchikova: competed on All Stars 2 and was runner up, hosts multiple shows on YouTube including Unhhh, Drag 101, RuFlections, RuGrets, and Total RuCall
Trixie Mattel: has 1 album, 1 EP, and 2 singles, hosts Unhhh on YouTube, hosts comedy show Ages Three and Up, appeared in American Horror Story: Roanoke
Miss Fame: has 1 album and 3 singles, hosts Painted By Fame on YouTube
SEASON 8 WINNER: Bob the Drag Queen: has 1 single, has appeared in 1 pilot series, considered one of the fan favourites, has met me FAN FAVOURITES: Kim Chi: hosts M.U.G on YouTube
Naomi Smalls: hosts M.U.G on YouTube
Thorgy Thor: nothing of note yet, hopes to create own orchestra
So what does this all mean? Do the fan favourites have more successful careers than the winners of reality TV?
Honestly, this data isn’t the best. While it may seem that Willam or Alaska are the most successful queens due to their immense amount of work, my lists disregard many drag shows and other hometown successes. It also mostly focuses on their careers after Rupaul’s Drag Race. Many people would consider Raven and Raja or Trixie and Katya the most successful due to their YouTube series and absolute favouritism among fans. However this is all subjective. Queens from season 8 may end up being the most successful, but haven’t had time to create the same resume’s as the previous competitors.
Moral?
Don’t spend an hour and 1000 words talking about a subject if you haven’t figured out exactly what you’re trying to say.
Wall-E is one of my favourite movies of all time. It’s possibly the bleakest Pixar film but you don’t even notice because look how cute that robot is. All it wants is to be loved.
Are we already anthropomorphizing (is this a word?) robots? Plenty of scientists believe that AI will not be a threat to us, but plenty of scientists think that they will doom us all.
At what point does a robot go from a robot to a being?
People are already being careful about what they say online about machines, just in case robots take over one day. But what would cause them to do that? If we program a robot with AI, does it have free reign or is it merely perceived as free reign? At what point do robots develop emotions? Or will robots never develop ‘true’ emotions, and merely behave as though they have emotions due to their programming?
I do not have anywhere near enough knowledge to talk about this anymore. All I know is that Hollywood thinks that AI will either be developed by humans to kill us all or develop after being our slaves (eg the “You pass butter” scene from Rick and Morty) and kill us all or, in the case of Wall-E, be super nice even though we destroyed the world.
This weeks lecture was cancelled. Makes me feel kind of bad for missing last weeks lecture.
The reading this week was… confusing… The point, for me, was about the treatment of animals and how we humanize them for entertainment but then remove any sense of emotion in order to not feel bad about the treatment of animals in the meat industry or so we can hunt them for fun.
The treatment of animals can be directly linked to the film industry. Jaws, for example, caused a surge of people fishing, and specifically hunting sharks. Since the film came out, some species of shark populations have dropped by between 50%-90%.
The film Bee Movie (yeah I know) is about a bee’s passionate cries for humans to stop taking and selling honey, yet the film is full of factual errors. This includes basic information, such as you can’t pollinate a flower with the pollen from a different species of flower. The film also makes beekeepers out to be evil, working bee’s to death to make a profit. The truth is actually the opposite: without beekeepers, bee’s would die out very soon. We have not yet seen the results of this films factual errors, but given it’s recent meme-ification, it is definitely one that will be sticking around.
Cannibal Holocaust murdered animals for the sake of ‘real entertainment’ and no one should ever watch this film.
In Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha series, one of the first stories told is that of an old man. He is starving as he walks through the desert. He collapses, and a bear, a fox, and a rabbit find him. They bring him water, and then go to find him food. The bear brings him a fish. The fox brings him some berries. But the rabbit comes back empty handed. The bear and the fox scald him. The rabbit tells the man to build a fire, and once the fire is going, the rabbit tells him that he will throw himself on the fire so that the man can eat him. He does so, and the man becomes enlightened, helping the rabbit reach the heavens.
The old man is brahmin, or teacher, the highest caste in Hindu society. One of his students later meets a young boy who is able to transfer his soul into the body of animals around him, named Tatta. One day, the student asks Tatta to deliver a message to brahmin in the space of a day. He asks Tatta to use his power to become as many animals as it takes, as this message is to save the life of a young boy. Tatta is forced to kill many animal’s through exhaustion in the process of getting the letter to brahmin. Brahmin scalds the student for seeing an animal’s life as less than a humans, and (through his heavenly powers) forces the student to live his life as a beast until he finds the one who is chosen to lead the world.
These stories are from the first book, but the anthology is full of similar stories of man and beast being one. In my opinion, and I think the opinion of the person who wrote this weeks reading (although it is hazy, I’m still not sure if any of this is relevant) we need more stories like the one’s in Buddha and less like the ones in Jaws or even Bee Movie.
One of the biggest mediums to emerge since the dawn of YouTube is video blogging, or ‘vlogging’. It is pointing a camera at your life, and inviting your friends, your friend’s friends, and possibly millions of other people to watch and assess.
A lot of people who are unaccustomed to the new forms of technology and information spreading will demand people understand it’s evils. Every day, a new article comes out condemning parents for letting their children watch Danisnotonfire, or telling teenagers they will be poor if they enter the vlogging world, or explaining why Zoella is inherently un-feminist. But these people have failed to see the potential good that comes from vlogging. That good is education.
This series, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, is a modern take on the classic novel Pride and Prejudice. It is filmed in vlog form, often filmed in Lizzie’s bedroom, and has the lead character explain what is happening in her life. Through the vlogs, we meet her family, her friends, possible enemies, and eventually Mr Darcy. It takes the more classic elements, such as Mr Wickham and Lydia eloping and the disgrace it could bring to the Bennet family, and put a modern twist on them, such as Lydia and Mr Wickham making a sex tape, which Mr Wickham then plans to make public. You can even interact with the series, as a real subscription website to be sent Lydia and Mr Wickham’s sex tape was created by the producers as the show was being released, in which you could enter your email to receive updates from Mr Wickham leading up to the release of the tape. The website was taken down when Mr Darcy bought the company that owned the website in the show.
This series was a contemporary take on the life of playwright Oscar Wilde. It was set in Melbourne, and took some liberties with the characters (for example, changing one of the character’s genders) but overall told a true to life story of his life. This show takes inspiration from The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, and serves the same educational abilities.
(Also check out my friend Sam playing Bosie!)
While fictional vlogging is one way that young people can learn about classic literature, there are many other factions of education that should, and have, been explored.
The Slow Mo Guys have one of the most popular YouTube channels, with over 9 million subscribers. While many of their videos are for fun (Gavin throwing a soccer ball at Dan’s head, for example), many of their videos show the chemical reactions we miss out on in every day life, and there are often scientific explanations for what we are seeing. They also give a lot of information about the camera’s they use and how they use them.
Crash course is all about history and science education, and while it’s not a vlog per se, it is created by the VlogBrothers, a pair of YouTubers who’s original channel has a lot of educational content.
(Hank Green, one of the VlogBrothers, also helped create the Lizzie Bennet Diaries.)
There are many other vlogging channels set up for learning, from Pemberly Digital, to SciShow, the world of YouTube helps to educate the masses in ways that teachers maybe don’t. Rather than relying on reading and studying from text, these shows often imagery and language that the youth audience understands.
If you can, look past the incredibly awkward excitement that a segment about our entire country was featured on American TV and watch one of the greatest interviewers currently popularized (in my opinion).
John Oliver is an incredibly influential media producer. Originally a comedian, he got his big break working on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. From there, he was able to start his own late night talk show, Last Week Tonight, which deals with different news stories and political/economic issues in America. His segments on Last Week Tonight have been credited in changing court rulings, legislation, and regulations in the US, a effect known as ‘The John Oliver Effect’. His show has caused surges in donations to charities mentioned (such as The Society of Women Engineers) and clips from his show go viral often, with his Donald Drumpf segment reaching 85 million views within a month, the highest in HBO’s history. This success is owed in no small part to his ability to interview, and weave those interviews into stories.
The above segment about gun control in the US vs in Australia was incredibly popular when it came out in 2013. Oliver was able to use his interview skills to get the soundbite ‘whoop-de-doo’ from the ‘villain’ of the piece, Philip van Cleave, in response to Australia’s gun violence declining significantly as a direct result of gun control. Towards the end of the interview, Oliver was even able to get van Cleave to accidentally agree with Oliver’s argument.
This style of confrontational, bias interview was made incredibly popular by The Daily Show with John Stewart. Oliver was not the only one who enacted change via his interviews. Aasif Mandvi, another correspondent on the show, performed an interview with Don Yelton about voter ID laws. During this interview, Don Yelton made many blatantly racist statements, and this interview resulted in his resignation.
John Oliver, however, has been one of the most successful of The Daily Show’s correspondents, alongside Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee and Trevor Noah. As mentioned previously, his show has been incredibly influential and a great part of this is attested to his ability to interview, and who he is willing to interview,sometimes without the permission of HBO. One such interview took place in Russia with controversial whistle-blower, Edward Snowden, about government surveillance. Oliver used his skills as an interviewer to both get Snowden to admit that turning over the NSA documents without reading them all was a mistake, and explain to the viewers what different factions of the NSA do by putting it in terms the audience would understand.
(Interview starts at 13:30)
In today’s society, news can be incredibly difficult to understand. As we are being constantly bombarded with information through social media, television, radio, and printed news sources, it can be difficult to understand the root of an issue, or even what the issue is. John Oliver is, in my opinion, one of the greatest interviewers of all time as he is able to take an interviewee’s words and spin it into a digestible story that can be understood by everyone. He is also unafraid of taking a hard stance with even the kindest man on Earth, the Dalai Lama, about the issues surrounding his reincarnation and what his death could mean for the Tibetan people.
Overall, he gets his point across in interviews. He knows his audience, and how to help the general public understand what someone is saying, and he is not afraid to press his interviewees to get answers to difficult questions.
This week’s reading and lecture was about not following your passion because you’ll hate it and, because I hate this concept so much, I’ve decided to focus on people who prove the opposite for this weeks initiative post.
Red vs Blue is an online video show created by Michael ‘Burnie’ Burns, Gustavo Sorola, and Geoff Ramsay. It was started in 2003, being made in the spare room of Burnie’s house. All three creators were already successful in other full time jobs when they decided to enter into the video production industry.
The first episode they ever uploaded reached a massive audience, receiving 20,000 downloads in the first day. The animation style is ‘Machinima’, where the creators use games and other computer graphics to make a show or film. The base for Red vs Blue is the game Halo. Red vs Blue, despite not being the first machinima show, is cited as being the first success of the genre, and they became pioneers of this industry,
Eventually, the original creators (which also included Matt Hullum and Joel Heywood) decided to leave their jobs to pursue this new passion. They started a company called Rooster Teeth, which is today one of the biggest online video production companies in the world. They have many other online shows such as RWBY, Day 5, and Immersion, but have also created a feature film (Lazer Team), games (both video and board), podcasts, and expo’s. The company has grown so large that they have major divisions that are famous in their own right under them, such as Achievement Hunter and Funhaus.
Red vs Blue has continued to this day. It is the longest running internet show, with 14 seasons and 5 mini-series. They have been nominated for and won multiple awards.
Obviously, this took a lot of hard work, and there are many instances of the original founders talking about how tiring it was going to work all day and then spending all night working on the show.
This being said…
Not bad for some guys who dropped their successful careers to follow their passion.
