As a gaming community, what were the things that inspired you to start a documentary specifically about the fighting game scene? Was it the people or the games or something else?

The documentary really came out of my love for fighting games and motion design; I was looking for a way to combine the two for my senior project. Although the film initially started because of the games, it evolved and changed drastically because of the community. After going to a few tournaments and seeing the dedication the players had the scope and focus of the project started to change. I was starting to meet people and make friends within the community, which really informed the direction of the film, and shifted it from a 10 minute informational piece to a full blown documentary showcasing these people’s lives.

The environment itself, the crowds of people going nuts when someone wins or loses, is what really drew me in. Was that something you strived to really get across on camera when filming this, because it seems an important element of the film?

The energy, tension and excitement during tournaments, at arcades or even your own home when something amazing happens or when two players have a really great match is definitely something that I made sure to capture and try my best to document accurately. The tension right before an explosion of emotion from a player or crowd, the roaring of the crowd as your friend or your state/arcade/coast representative wins is something really amazing and unites a large group of people in a shared experience, even if it’s for a short time. So I really wanted to try and give the viewer a sense of what that tournament hype is like, since it’s so integral to the aura of the scene.

You certainly showcased a lot of the different personalities in these top players. Guys like Gootecks and Justin Wong are pretty dynamic guys, and they all play for different reasons. Were they difficult to get on camera and interview? They seemed like they were pretty enthusiastic about it all.

The best part about the scene is everyone’s enthusiasm, passion, and inclusiveness. Everyone is very genuine, I had no trouble when trying to film Ryan, Justin, Joe, Mike or anyone else for that matter. It was much easier filming at tournaments with everyone in one spot, but anyone I contacted to film outside of a tournament went out of their way to fit me in to their schedules. The hardest part really was on my end, trying to coordinate filming with a full final semester of studio classes while I was in college.

I heard that you were going to do a long cut that featured EVO 2009 as well, which is a huge undertaking in itself, but what is the goal of the EVO footage? Is that sort of going to be the climax of the long cut of the film?

I don’t want to give away too much, I hope people will have some things to look forward and speculate about as the project advances, but the footage from EVO will play a large role in the second half of the film. The feature length cut of the film will also feature more than just EVO, although EVO will be a central focus towards the end of the film.

I want to give a huge, huge thanks to Ian for taking the time out of his busy schedule (he was only a week away from filming EVO at the time of this interview) to give me some fantastic answers. Support Ian and watch I Got Next: The Short Cut at the film’s website where you can download it free through torrents or streaming.

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