Video games in general get a lot of negative criticism in mainstream media for all sorts of reasons. One thing, though, is that there are actually a lot of positive things happening in video game communities like the fighting game scene. What were some of these positive aspects you saw while filming, and did you want to get any of them across in the film?

One thing that I really wanted to make sure to get across in the film, even in the short cut, is the incredible diversity that you can find inside the scene. Scott Popular really says it best in the film when he talks about it (paraphrasing), despite your race, color or creed, it’s the skills that bring people together and form the relationships. I think that’s pretty amazing, for people from all walks of life, to play a competitive game, get really heated, then shake hands afterwards and talk about a great match and walk away friends. When I think about it, I don’t know very many communities that foster inclusion in that way. It may be hard, in some cases, for an outsider to break in to the scene initially because they don’t know anyone in the beginning and don’t have anyone to vouch for them (which is common in any social circle or community), but what’s so great about this community is it’s never for racial or religious reasons, or because of their background, all of that is put aside. I think that you can certainly see it throughout the film, but I wanted to make sure to discuss it in some way.

One thing I like about this whole film is that you yourself— you’re not really trying to etch out a career in game journalism or filmmaking or anything. You’re a graphic designer, and I think that helps make the film have a very clear and distinct presentation. Do you think your background helped or hindered you in the filmmaking process and in what ways did it do either?

My background as a designer certainly helped in many ways with the project. For the last few years I’ve been more heavily into motion design than print design, which gave me a good background to start the film. It helped with the technical aspects, making the transition from After Effects to Premiere Pro fairly simple, and it allowed me to easily learn a lot about aspect ratios, compression, codecs, and other video essentials that, although pretty mundane to most people, were essential for getting project out. As far as filming goes, I really feel that my background in design, learning fundamentals in composition, gestalt theory, depth of field (from motion design), cropping and color theory helped greatly. I have had no training at all, when it comes to actually filming, and it definitely shows in some cases. There are shots that I look at, that I really have to use and wonder what the hell I was thinking when I shot it like that.

As far as crafting the narrative of the story, I also think my background as a designer, more so a motion designer has helped with that. Learning to storyboard, think about campaigns, develop ideas for spots, working on narratively driven design such as books or music videos, have all helped inform me and ultimately help when crafting the narrative of the film. I did not work alone either, thankfully I had people with experience in film support me. My project advisor and a longtime professor of mine, Robin Lynch, is a very accomplished graphic designer, but she also created a documentary for her master’s degree. Her knowledge and guidance during the creation of the film was really invaluable, since I had really no experience in the field. A friend and filmmaker, Steve Levine, helped with more of the technical aspect of filming, and also some theory behind it. So I’m very grateful for the help I received, because I certainly couldn’t have created the film without that.

I’m not sure where this project will lead though, I’ve always been very passionate about gaming and interested in games journalism, the same for filmmaking, which is why I really enjoy this project so much. The project has definitely taken me on a different path than I originally thought I would take when I graduated from College.

What is the overall story in this film to you, at least so far? Were you trying to tell this focused tale about East versus West Coast, or were you just trying to sort of introduce new people and gamers to a scene they might not know much about?

Well, I think the story is a bit of all of that. Most importantly though, the film is about the main characters (and when I say characters, I mean it in the loosest sense, since these are real people) lives, and how Street Fighter and the scene influences them. The tournaments and East vs West are really a vehicle (at least in the short cut) to carry forth the stories of these players. So there are a lot of loose threads right now that need to be tied up with the feature length release, such as, what will Joe do in the future, who really is the best, East or West, will Ryan find success as a pro player? I tried my best to straddle the line between the hardcore fan base and the casual observer that would be interested in the film or documentaries in general, because my hope is that it does introduce new players to the scene, and it’s exciting enough to get people involved.

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