Break a Leg

It's a Channukah miracle! The new Channukah video is up and ready for your loving. Yes, the word zombie might be mentioned a few times. Vlad wrote this one, and they're kind of an unhealthy obsession of his.

Enjoy!

And, as per usual:

YouTube comments/ratings/subscribings make us feel the love like no other: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV3pUHpvMfw

But, you know, keep telling us what you think here, too. Basically, just shout it out to the world!

-Yuri

A lot of you asked for this, and we've finally done it.

You can now register your name for the site, login, and post as yourself. It's a joyous occasion, truly.

The register and login link is on the right side. If you haven't registered yet, you can click this word. Or these words. Oh god.

Enjoy, guys!

-Yuri

While at the NewTeeVee Conference, Justin made a good observation, saying -- "It kind of feels like it's a frat house, and while we're guests at that frat house, no one really knows who we are." Or why we didn't bring any beer.

Generally, we didn't mind. We can't really compare ourselves to anyone, even Goodnight Burbank -- a good show -- isn't really like Break a Leg. In fact, most of the internet video community is either vlogging, people talking about vlogging, people satirizing vlogging, or people just talking to a camera -- which, really, is vlogging. Or flogging, as Larry would say.

Everyone vlogs and flogs and no one makes any money -- or they do, but not a lot. And then we hear things like, "There's no money in internet video." My theory is that there's no money in internet video because there's no quality in internet video. In other words, most of internet video is horrendous.

The current community prides itself for not being like regular TV. And so it has created a funny community where everyone knows each other and holds gatherings like the Winnies, and pats themselves on the back, but really, we're promoting sub-par material.

Okay, before I get lynched -- I'm not saying everything out there made by independent creators is sub-par. I'm just saying that everyone pats each other on the back and doesn't push their cohorts into making something better or different. So what happens? Sub-par material. Okay, maybe I was saying that.

It's a funny time. Because it feels like the independent creators are stubbornly holding on to making cheap, easy things that look, well, not so good by, say, professional standards, while professionals try to make their own professional videos look hip and bad, so that the internet loves them (I'm looking at you, Quarterlife.)

When people ask me what I watch online, I have a really hard time answering. Honestly? I watch Space Wasters -- which is a local San Francisco show that's generally just starting up (I'll write a blog on them soon) and it's, I think, really funny and a lot better than a lot of stuff that's out on the internet. Can it get better? Of course. It can have better sound, sharper cuts, etc. But the same can be said about Break a Leg -- and both we and I'm sure, Space Wasters, try to improve on each episode.

And that's really what I'm getting at. It feels like no one is trying to improve. Every idea is: "OKAY SO THERE'S THIS WEBCAM." or, "I'm going to make a mock news show... on my webcam." Someone, for the love of God, just buy a damned camera.

Until the community stops patting itself on the back and rallies together saying -- you know what? Let's stop complimenting one another on how cheaply made our show is. Let's actually work hard on creating interesting characters, plots, stories -- art.   

Am I saying Break a Leg is an example of what I'm saying? I think I'm saying that. And if you, for a moment, think I'm arrogant for saying so -- well, you may be right. But the fact that Justin has to pencil in his girlfriend for a date or that we have to sneak a few hours here and there to relax and play a video game once in a while shows that we're dedicated to this quality thing. Because we're dedicated to this entertainment thing. Because we've been raised to believe that mediocrity is not acceptable. Because, once everyone realizes it -- the future of the internet isn't thousands of vlogs or hundreds of sleepy kittens, it's interesting, well-put together entertainment that can make you laugh, cry and sit rapt in front of your screen, waiting for the next installment of whatever you're watching to come out.

If only we can get there already.

-Yuri

Addendum: Two things.

One, I'm not really speaking to your general YouTuber or any of you guys that are just making videos to be part of a community, to talk, to have fun, etc. That's not at all who I'm speaking to. In fact, I think it's great that the Internet provides that kind of access and I support it wholeheartedly. I'm talking about the people who dedicate themselves to creating internet shows, specifically, to entertain audiences. I feel they have a certain obligation to push themselves to get better and grow in everything they do.

Secondly, I definitely like more than one show online. I'm a big fan of Joey and David, Robb's show, Life from the Inside is good, a lot of For Your Imagination shows are unique and fun (and I'm not just saying that because they're our marketing guys -- I honestly mean that. Plus, they're our marketing guys!)

Thirdly, I love the word addendum. I don't even think I know how to pronounce it, but boy, is it pretty.

**NOTE: The chat is back in the Boards section. Still fiddling with it, but feel free to play.

---

I haven't done this before, so I figured I'd give it a try.

Last weekend was a fairly busy one in regards to shooting, we had to do a lot in a very short amount of time while everything went wrong. I'll try and tell you about it without revealing too much of the next episode.

Friday: Woke up. Oh yes, we woke up. Everyone had to take work off on Friday, by everyone I mean: Daniel (Claudio/Humphrey), Drew (Goat Legs), Flynn (Larry), Dashiell (oh, you know who he is), Justin (you know who he is too) and Nick (Tech 1).

The plans were these: we needed to shoot 6 scenes in 3 locations that were spread out all over the city. Drew had to leave by 4.

You know what? Let's rewind.

Thursday: As we're planning for the shoot, I get a call, first in the day of Thursday from a character I can't reveal. He was supposed to shoot friday as well -- he can't make it. Dammit, we have to reorganize the scenes, but it's okay -- we have a lot to shoot, one scene lost doesn't hurt us too much. Then Flynn calls and says he can't make it until 1 pm on Friday, giving us 3 hours to shoot 5 scenes -- this, by the way, is really, really hard.

Back to...

Friday: Since Daniel's up for it, we decide we'll shoot a conversation with him at 9:30 am and then go to the main shoot at 1 pm. We shoot LoobTube and, by 12:30, rush over to meet Drew at the alloted shooting location.

We sit at a cafe and wait for an hour for everyone to show up. This is both irritating and nice as we hardly ever get to bond with our actors. Usually, the bonding is, "No, that was a bad take." Or, "Okay, let's try this again, only do it well." Or, "No, Chad, Jennifer can't have a sword." So, it's nice to just sit at a cafe for an hour and chat.

But we're wasting precious time. So we decide to start shooting a car scene that Flynn is in (he's the only one who hasn't shown up yet) by shooting all the angles that he's not in. If you're new to filmmaking, that's how it works. First you film Person A, then you film Person B, then, ideally, you shoot some kind of wideshot of both. Sometimes you do over-the-shoulder shots (you see Person A from behind Person B) -- but in a car situation, it's not really possible.

So, they drive off and film everyone and get back just as Flynn arrives. He's grumpy but loveable -- which is Flynn's usual state of mind. We shoot his part of the car scene then rush to the next location -- a little post office that's letting us shoot inside.

Except we can't shoot there anymore, because it's their busy time and we need to do something hilariously awful in there. Damn. Now we lost two scenes.

We rush over to the last location and here we finally get lucky. The weather is perfect (misty, creepy fog) we shoot in a fantastic location and the scenes are short, fun and turn out really well. We get Drew out of there a bit after 4 (sorry, Drew!) and happily go relax.

Sunday: Sunday is a hard day. We have to build a set (I won't tell you what), work with two new actors (I won't tell you why) and do all this in 4-5 hours.

Sunday, 3 am. We get home after hanging out with a good friend of ours, Michael Goode (Pogo #2) who is a fantastic filmmaker as well (helps us on shoots quite a bit). He's leaving to backpack through South America for quite a bit, so we spend a good amount of time relaxing, hanging out and laughing about horrible things.

At 3 AM we get back to Justin/Dashiell/Daniela's place (oh yes, they all live together), Justin looks at the footage from the Conversation and says -- we have to reshoot all of Yuri's angle.

Why, you ask? Because our lens was dirty. You can't see it on Daniel's angle, but when it's on me (David), the sun was hitting the lens hard and making it look like I was trapped in the middle of a dust storm.

Dashiell and I are tired and refuse to shoot. Justin hits us where it hurts, "Oh, did we stop caring about quality?" ...so we give in.

We wake up at 10 am, rush to the Bridge (which is luckily nearby), and film my angle while a friend of ours reads Daniel's side of it (Tacho, from the Halloween minisode).

Then we rush madly to Home Depot, which is a good 20-30 minutes away, buy wood and glue, drive back to the shooting location and build a set in -- I'm not kidding -- an hour. Our two actors arrive and both do a great job.

We somehow finish at a decent hour and go get some dinner and play a game of pool to unwind -- thinking that editing the conversation really shouldn't take so long.

But, we were forgetting what quality Nazi's we are.

We got back at around 12. We got back at 12 and, because we wanted to make it as good as possible, stayed up until 4:30 am to finish up.

And then slept. Glorious, glorious sleep. But not a lot -- because Justin and Dashiell had to get up at 8 am to go to work (I work at home, ha ha!)

---

That's our schedule. A desperate attempt to balance some kind of social life so we could survive while shooting and editing wildly. It's hard, it's tiring and it's often frustrating -- but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Well, I would. With, you know, money.

If you guys like this blog, let me know -- I'll do more of these as we shoot.

-Yuri

From the mind of Mr. Drew Lanning [Jimmy "Goat Legs" Scotch] to Mr. Tim Goodman -- SF Gate TV Critic:

Timtimtimtimtimtimtimtimtimtimtimintmtimtimtimtimtim. Tim.

Look here, Tim. There's a writer's strike going on, and you're a television critic. Unless you want to be writing about unscripted television (I refuse to call it reality) nine times a week come January you'll read this letter with an open mind. I can only imagine that writing about unscripted TV fare is only marginally preferable to wondering what caliber pistol to shove into your mouth the next time you hear the Survivor theme.

I love television. I know I don't love television as much as you do, but I dearly love TV. I spend countless hours each day trying to instill the same feeling for my erstwhile babysitter in my two-year-old. Countless. Hours.

Have you ever watched a show on television that you realize, maybe not all at once, but somehow gradually-- or shit, whatever, maybe all at once. Anyway, you come to realize that this show, this very show you're watching right now, is the reason television was invented? Not literally the reason of course, I'm not implying you're an idiot, but, I mean, you know what I mean?

I'm not necessarily saying Break A Leg is that show (it can be, one day), I'm not.

But Tim, Timmy, neither is Project Runway. Or 24. Or Pushing Daisies.

Okay, maybe Pushies Daisies. And Damages. And The Riches. But you like all of those shows and talk about them, a lot. Especially Runway. Seriously man, what's going on with you and Project Runway?

What's my point? Good question. Good, good question.

Damn that's a good question.

Tim, I'm not the brightest guy in the world. I'm the brightest guy on Break A Leg, but that ain't sayin' a lot. I get up in the morning, go to work, come home and wash the dishes like any average schmuck, then somehow scrape together the energy for a long day of shooting with the incredible cast and crew (trivia fact: 100% overlap between cast and crew) of Break A Leg.

Also like any average schmuck, I have a dream. My dream is to quit my stinking job. I've found a better stinking job, but that job right now pays in kosher dogs. In order to get it to pay in money, we need viewers. To get viewers, we need exposure.

Tim, you are that exposure.

I'm not even asking you to like the show. I'm just asking you watch it. If you like it, great, shout it from the roof of the Chronicle building. Better yet, write about it in your column, or even on your blog.

Oh and Tim, if you don't like it, enjoy Project Runway.