AJ Papa’s Blog

Rotten Potatoes … you know … it’s like Rotten Tomatoes except baring any legal copyright ramifications.

You know, I made the mistake one time of telling one of my colleagues at work that I was at a Street Fighter IV tournament over the weekend, and I could just see that look develop in her eye; you know that look I’m talking about, that one look in which you have just learned of an awkward hobby your coworker does off hours. I’m pretty sure she walked away thinking I was in a basement at my parents house playing Street Fighter IV with my friends all weekend. But what she didn’t understand, as well as most people, is that the Street Fighter IV and fighting game community have a rich and established history dating back to the early ’90s, along the way developing its own lingo, events, legends, rivalries and, most importantly, a sense of pride and community. So when I happen to stumble upon the trailer for I Got Next, I thought it captured quite well the essence of the fighting game subculture.

What started as a small senior project has now ballooned into a full length feature production that has been generating quite the buzz amongst Street Fighter IV enthusiast.

I so happen to run into Ian Cofino, the director of the documentary, at Street Fighter Bar Fights, and he graciously agreed to answer a few questions for an interview:

What inspired you to make a documentary about this particular subculture?

I’m currently in my final semester (juggling classes, my senior project and looking for a job) as a Graphic Designer at Purchase College, School of Art and Design. As graduating seniors, we are required to create a senior project for ourselves. I’m passionate about many things, but two things over almost anything else: motion design and video games, particularly fighting games. So the documentary started as a way to bring these two separate fields together. Originally, I intended for the project to be a short piece on the fighting scene in general, particularly on the east coast, considering the difficulty I would have getting around to other tournaments without any funding. The scope of the project changed when I drove to Virginia for Sinsation in February and really got time to interact and talk with players like Justin Wong, Joe Ciaramelli and Ryan Gutierrez. After meeting with these incredibly passionate players, they motivated me to create something much greater than I had originally intended.

I’m sure a lot of veterans in the fighting game community will liken your documentary to Bang the Machine. How is your documentary different?

That’s a good question, considering I have yet to see it. From my understanding talking to players who have been in the film and who have seen the film, Bang the Machine focused on the first US Street Fighter team to go to Japan to compete. My documentary has a broader discussion of the fighting scene in general, but it also has a narrative of East coast versus West coast, coming to a head at Evo this year and potentially culminating with the first SF4 team to go to Japan to compete, paralleling Bang the Machine. Bang the Machine also follows what I consider the first generation of competitive Street Fighter players — Mike Watson, Alex Valle, John Choi, etc. — while this documentary focuses more on the upcoming and established group of players from the second generation — Justin Wong, Ryan Gutierrez, Joe Ciaramelli, Mike Ross, among many others.

Do you intend this movie to be geared towards the mass audience — a sort of outside looking in perspective? Or perhaps a documentary more for the fighting game community audience?

Well, my hope is that this documentary will work on both levels, [having] a broad appeal, that everyone watching will be able to take something away from it, and, at the same time, I hope that it will give the core audience of competitive and casual fighting game players just what they want out of a documentary of this type.

You mention on your website that you plan to release the documentary for free. That is quite generous considering the economic situation and the amount, I’m sure, you spent out of pocket to produce this film.

The decision to release the documentary for free came from multiple places, but, first and foremost, I really wanted to give back to the community. I’m really working on a shoestring budget right now, so there is no lighting guy, no sound guy, no editor, no camera man, no art director or cinematographer, no producer, no director, and no designer. I’m basically taking on all those roles. So when I go to a tournament, I’ll handle the lighting as best I can (e.g. move the person I’m filming underneath a light) and act as cameraman, sound guy (shotgun mic on my camera) and interviewer. When I get back, I do all the editing and motion design work for the documentary. I try to cut costs as much as possible, and, if I can’t, I know it’s going to be worth it in the end. Otherwise, I would not be able to create the documentary if I had a crew with me or if I hired an editor or assistants. Recently some incredibly generous players have started to donate to the documentary through the link on the I Got Next website which will greatly help.

Did you expect that this relatively small college senior project of yours would balloon to a feature length production? How are you dealing with the exposure and excitement that your documentary is generating?

I definitely didn’t see this project being nearly as big as it has become when I first started it. It’s really overwhelming seeing the support that has come from the community and from people outside the community that are just highly anticipating the documentary. It’s been a great boost to my morale and has helped push me forward to complete the project.

In the event of the Zombie Apocolypse, what would be your ideal survival strategy?

Okay. So I’m a big fan of Walking Dead, written by Robert Kirkman, who does really spectacular work. So I’m gonna have to take a page out of his book. First and foremost: round up other survivors, you’re definitely not getting anywhere by yourself (as cool as that would be). Second, find some weapons to defend yourself against hordes of ravenous zombies (preferably weapons that are sharp, very sharp, or set fire to things). Next, find a prison or some place well fortified (must have food supplies!) and hunker down. Fourth, have good friends turn upon you in post-apocalyptic-induced psychosis. Fifth, join zombie hordes in terrorizing the nation, possibly/preferably the world.

And lastly, who do you play in Street Fighter 4?

Akuma and Fei Long.

Thanks Ian for taking the time to answer these questions. As stated in the interview, Ian is doing this all on his own dime! He can certainly use the help and support. So please, if you like what you see, go to his website and donate! I certainly wish Ian the best of luck Ian in producing and directing this film. I hope it turns out to be fine work of cinematography.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 10:43 pm and is filed under Interview, Rotten Potatoes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.