JoshuaKazemi
Austin, Texas
Joined May 2015
Member #1,834,730
Posts
Anybody else nostalgia diving??
Martian Manhunter vs Silver Surfer | Writer/Director Notes
I really loved the Silver Surfer animated series as a kid. I don’t know if it’s a particularly good show haha but I loved it all the same. And a buddy of mine in high school heard that I loved it and he showed up the next day with the first issue of Silver Surfer: Requiem for me. It was my first ever comic book. It was awesome of him. And what an issue to start with. So dramatic! I just loved how this chrome naked alien on a surfboard is simultaneously this epic philosopher with immense powers. He’s both at the same time and I think walking that tightrope is the fun of comics.
And of course, I really love the Justice League animated series too. For me, those are some definitive portrayals of those characters. I remember having so many conversations in college with friends about how well that show depicts Superman and Martian Manhunter, as these insanely powerful beings that oftentimes need to hold back, use their minds, and/or grapple with their powers. So interesting while still being really fun. I drew a lot from the show for J’onn.
Liam pitched a lot of really cool ideas for this episode. He pitched having J’onn say his wife’s name as his last word. He also really liked the idea of J’onn as a detective, which ultimately led us to the noir opening and I latched on to the detective angle and really liked the idea of starting the fight with a mystery to be solved. But maybe most importantly of all, Liam reminded me to include Chocos lol
I wrote the first draft of this script and came to the first review and was like, “Okay guys, this fight ends with a big Surfer monologue, we’re gonna cut it cause I know we can’t do that, but I just had to write it. It only makes sense for his character.” And thankfully they not only liked it but pitched ways we could make it work. I’m so thankful I wrote it anyway and that this team is so good at working on their feet and adapting all of these different styles week to week. We really got to do something fun and different with this one because of it.
The team was so excited to throw in a ton of references to the Silver Surfer NES game. Which is so great cause that game really means a lot for a lot of people, on and off the team. I feel like for many, that game is what you think of when you think of the Silver Surfer. The only thing is that you don’t necessarily want to reference it just for the sake of referencing it. You want it to make sense and feel organic. And I’m really happy with everything we managed to make room for.
Gotta say, after working on two episodes with Parker, I really love his style and what he brings to the show. He strikes such a good balance of flare. It’s fun to watch without being overwhelming or distracting. In the world of YouTube/experimental/info-tainment/video essay, I personally feel like you can easily overdo it with motion graphics and stuff but Parker (and DJ) maintain a healthy level and understanding of the tried and true editing fundamentals. It makes for really exciting edits I think.
Paul Guyet, our Silver Surfer. Man. To say he did an incredible job in this episode would be such an understatement. He had the voice and the character down. We did the monologue a few times in the VO session and I got goosebumps. Literally. I think there was a moment where I legit forgot to respond to one of his takes because I was so in awe haha which sounds kind of crazy but I just love these characters and Paul's performance. And Kamran Nikhad, I love working with this guy! He brings so much tangible energy to Death Battle. I love his take on Martian Manhunter and I'm so glad he had a sizable presence in the episode, considering the fact that his character doesn't get a big monologue. Both of these guys brought their A-game and I'm so grateful for it.
I feel like the sprite/animation in this episode is so fantastic that it almost goes without saying. I mean, Moro with that incredible dragon sequence, Zach with another great hand-drawn death, Gus with so many great shots of Surfer on his board, and Annie had so many incredible shots throughout like the shot of the Surfer’s line: “Enough!” in the office. But every shot in this fight also needed a lot of visual effects work in post. They made everything look, just so fantastic. As much as it would have been cool to see the whole fight in that noir style, I think it was important to see beautiful cosmic imagery. That’s too important for these guys. The vizpost team really helped us make a gorgeous fight.
Jan with the amazing host anims throughout! The script actually called for Surfer-Boomstick to have a bad spray tan. Picture like an orange Boomstick with a streaky, runny spray tan but Jan tweaked it to him being horribly sun-burnt, glasses tan and all, and that was so much better and so much funnier. That's what it always should have been.
Origin did such a great job with these sprites. I was a little nervous about it going in but only because this script called for a lot of very specific sprite variations and poses. I just thought it was too much, like Sad Surfer from the NES game, Norrin, John Jones, True Martian form, etc. And of course Origin crushed it like he always does. We were all so excited when those came in and we could get started on anim. Such an important first step in the process.
With this episode, I’m all wrapped for the season! I was thrilled with my episodes this year and was so excited to work on them. I’m very proud of how they turned out and how they were received. I literally couldn’t have done it without our amazing team of producers, Maggie and Erin, and our fearless showrunner, Ben. I’m so grateful to Ben for this episode. It was a dream matchup of mine and he handed me the keys and really helped me strike the right balance for so many elements of this episode.
Thanks for watching, everyone! Sincerely. Here’s to the rest of this amazing season and to many more!
Stitch vs Rocket | Director Notes
The ultimate goal for this episode was to have people smiling the entire time. They're such fun characters and both so beloved. Even with some of the sadder, even darker, elements of their stories, in my opinion it just makes them more lovable. The darker moments make the bright spots shine even brighter. And I think that translated into the fight: the more cartoony bits could be very silly and fun, almost like Wile E. Coyote moments (like Stitch looking to camera before the rocket goes off) and then the more serious moments could be grounded and brutal as they need to be. Chad and Ben said it best in the commentary. These characters are perfect for Death Battle.
We had a lot of fun with the forest montage. It just made so much sense to have a montage considering how musical these characters are but also because their movies feature great ones as well. We pulled heavily from Rocket planting traps for the Ravagers in GotG Vol 2 and I pulled heavily in my shot list from the montage in Lilo & Stitch where Lilo is trying to introduce Hawaiian/Human culture to Stitch. So, we definitely hung a lot of our hats on that moment and I think we nailed it if I do say so myself.
I mentioned this in the commentary but I really do love these specific characters a lot and when we were planning for this season last year there was a moment where this episode's director was undecided. So I specifically asked Erin, our amazing producer, if I could direct this one. I think I said it would be "a dream" to direct this one. lol And they let me do it!
We gotta talk about the score. Aaron did such an amazing job. Literally, I had no notes for him when he submitted the track. We had talked a lot about it in the kick off and I had a lot of ideas but honestly, he just understood the assignment. It was perfect on arrival. And not easy I'm guessing! He mentioned that the temp track (Pretty Girl by Bo Diddley), which we had specifically timed a lot of the moments to, wasn't recorded to a metronome. So the timing of the track itself was all over the place. It works as a piece of music, it's awesome, but it was a big hurdle Aaron had to jump over. But in the end, he nailed it, obviously. It's also the Death Battle debut of his vocals. Amazing right? The perfect vibe for this fight.
How about our amazing voice actors for this episode right? Jeff Schine as Rocket...I mean...what? How is his Rocket voice so good? I was blown away by his audition and I was so glad he had a good amount of lines in this fight. And then Delton Engle-Sorrell as Stitch??? I couldn't believe it. It was SO good. We were just looking for more efforts and alts for him at the end of his session. I was just like, we need more Stitch in this episode! Thankfully, Liam wrote in that audio drama ending with Stitch interrupting Wiz to declare himself the winner.
This was my first episode to work with our new editor, Parker, and man, was it awesome. I told him this on Friday but I truly never got tired of watching the cuts of this episode as they were taking shape. You gotta understand that when you work on a show like this, you end up watching the episode a million times. So it's natural for it to feel like work every once in a while. But this time, it never did. He picked such great music for the character rundowns and really figured out how to make it feel energetic and lively. Just a fun watch every time.
One of my only contributions to the script (Liam wrote another great one so he didn't need much from me, if anything at all) was the line about him worming his way into other Disney properties. I mentioned this in the commentary but I feel like it was one of the first and clearest signs of marketing working on me as a kid. I saw those ads and was just SOLD on Stitch as a character immediately. I ran out to see the movie as soon as I could convince my mom to take me. So I really wanted to include it in the episode because I figured if that meant a lot to me, it probably meant a lot to other people watching. It's what I would want to see in the episode if I wasn't making it. And then I think it set us up really well for that ending.
It was really fun to have GotG Vol 3 come out while we were making this. Caleb saw the movie opening weekend and immediately slacked us about how they approached Rocket's origin story. And we were already going back and forth a lot. Listen to the commentary to hear how fired up Ben and Chad got about it. They both really love Rocket, so it was heated, in a good, classic, Death Battle way.
So one day while working on this specific episode, I hear my dog barking its head off. Which is kinda unusual. She's more of a growler when she sees someone walk by our windows or something. So I get up to check on her and what do I see but A FREAKING REAL LIVE RACCOON ON OUR PORCH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY! It was crazy. A whole new meaning to the Death Battle curse. And believe it or not, there is so much more to the raccoon story. A story for Cast perhaps...
One really great thing about the production of this episode was how many people spoke up about how much fun they were having. It just made me so happy to know people were enjoying the work. A lot of people from the audio team even mentioned that this was one of their favorite fights in general. Ugh, so great! One of our Viz Post artists, Autumn Elizondo, even reached out to suggest that Stitch should drag the ice cream across his tongue at the end because that's what he does in the movie. And Luis and I were like, OF COURSE! That's an amazing idea. I think that just speaks to how much fun we were having. We all felt encouraged to add a lot of fun details.
Speaking of details...anyone catch all of the easter eggs??? Maybe check back in a few episodes...WINK WINK
I love the RT Podcast. In June of 2017, I was coming back from a run or something, I was listening to the podcast, I walked into our kitchen, took my headphones off and said to my wife, "I want to work at Rooster Teeth so badly. I'm gonna do it." I just decided in that moment that I wanted to work there. I was hired by August of that same year. The stars just aligned for me for some reason.
It's crazy to flash forward all of these years to now, the end of an era. I'm so grateful to this show and how listening/watching a group of creative people every week inspired me to go out and make stuff, in the city I love. Thanks, RTP.
P.S. I've tweeted in the past about how I used to watch them tape when I first got hired cause I was just so excited to be there: https://twitter.com/JoshuaKazemi/status/1277740845869993986
Writer/Director Notes for Ant-Man vs Atom | Spoilers ahead!
We’re…we’re back?! No way! We have missed this show y’all. I mean, we never stopped working on it obviously but a huge part of this show is…all of you. The community that gathers around these episodes is an integral part of it. So after several long months of being away, it’s finally starting to feel like DB again. All of that to say, I’m so glad we’re back and I can’t wait for y’all to see this season!
I think I mentioned this maybe on the podcast but this is the first time I wrote AND directed a Death Battle. I wrote a handful of episodes before I ever directed one and then spent a couple of seasons just directing, which was a great way to focus on the new role. But I was very happy to write an episode again and see how different the process is directing an episode you wrote. It’s that much more rewarding. And I hope y’all liked it cause I got another writer/director combo coming up this season!
Ummmmmmm can you believe this is DJ’s first episode to edit? Cause it certainly doesn’t LOOK OR FEEL THAT WAY! It’s wild! He did such a fantastic job and clearly has so much raw talent. I’m so glad he’s joined the editorial team. This was a lot of fun to put together and I’m confident that y’all haven't seen anything yet. Look out for his cuts!
I talked about this in the commentary, so look out for that too, but I really wanted to lean into how passionate and obsessed these two characters are about their work, their science. So there’s lots of fun facts about ants and white dwarfs throughout the episode. But my favorite two ant facts appear as “tabs” but they look a little different because they are panels pulled straight from Tales to Astonish #35, Ant-Man’s origin. Within that issue there are straight up ant facts throughout. I thought that was too perfect for a Death Battle on Ant-Man, so we had to include it.
This is also the first episode we recorded the host voice over in person…in SO LONG! It was such a blast to be back in person in the studio. The energy was so exciting and we really started the session with that buzz and I think you can feel it in the final episode. We had a blast and I’m so happy everyone gets to see a glimpse into that with the return of bloopers! ... very soon!
Let’s talk about that killing blow and the amazing job Zack did. He worked on that shot for weeks and really poured so much time, attention, and care into it. I mean, you can see that on screen for sure. It was so good, our notes were basically just about continuity and we were like deadlines be darned, keep going!!! I’ve seen such a positive reception to it so far and that’s 100% Zack. Tip your animators, people.
Gavin Hammon as Ant-Man and Chris Okawa as Atom. That’s it. That’s the note. NO but seriously, how great did these guys sound? They obviously crushed it. I was not expecting we’d have someone audition with such a stellar young Michael Douglas-y vibe like Gavin did. I was so excited when I heard it. But imo, casting for DB is more than finding a voice match, you gotta find someone who can also deliver the goods. Like not just a voice but a performance. They gotta act! And I feel like Chris really shined there too along with Gavin. I felt like his audition showcased a little more of what he was specifically bringing to the table and I just felt that fit for Atom so well – a guy who is constantly bringing his goods to situations and solving insane problems. All of that to say, I was really confident in these guys and was so pleased with the final product.
One thing I definitely wanted to touch on was Hank’s struggle with his mental health. And we all wanted to make sure that we treat it with respect. A lot of web shows in the past have joked about it and we didn’t want to do that. It was a tough tightrope to walk because we wanted to be honest about it but at the same time, the show is Death Battle and it’s not the time or place to stop the episode and give mental health the spotlight it truly deserves. I think we struck the right balance of acknowledging that issue for Hank in an earnest way but still having his rundown feel like a triumphant hero’s rundown. And that’s really the big reason I wanted to touch on it because it can be both. You can be a hero and you can be struggling with something. I think it’s cool and important to recognize that.
Now, let’s briefly talk about the butt stuff. LOL. There was a legit pressure I think I put on myself to address it in some way in the episode. We talked about actually leaning into the meme and fully going for it but I’m so pleased with where we landed. Our version of blowing up someone from the inside out with Hank’s ants was so much more creatively fulfilling and then in the recap, I had a full on scientific explanation for how the butt thing wouldn’t actually work and Ben was just like, we should just joke about it. Like gross, Wiz, why are you even suggesting that? And that made us all really laugh.
And now the thing you’ve all been waiting for, ant-puns that didn’t make the cut. Mostly just more names for Hank’s ants. ChANTs the Rapper, Phil CollANTS, Carlos SantANTa, John Carpenter Ant, and Lauryn Ant Hill.
WELCOME BACK CHAMPIONS!