DIGITISER
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ

BEHIND THE SCENES ON DIGITISER THE SHOW: EPISODE 5

10/12/2018

17 Comments

 
We're into the final stretch now. Next Sunday, Digitiser the Show comes to the end of its first run, and I think it's fair to say that over the course of the past five episodes we've come a long way. We've definitely established what the show is, won many of you over who weren't convinced by the first episode, and talked about old games - a lot. 

I'm immensely proud of this series. The amount of work it has taken is above and beyond what I could've predicted, but we delivered exactly what we promised. I'll save the real thankyous for next week, but a quick shout-out to Paul, Jenny, Octav1us and Larry, who are the glue which hold it all together on-screen.

You can't underestimate what a daunting prospect this must've been for them - to walk into a studio of people they barely knew, with immense pressure on them to be informative, funny, and professional. Jenny and Octav1us had never done anything remotely like this before, but you simply wouldn't know.

You're extremely exposed in a situation like that - especially in this day and age - where it's your face on screen. Putting yourself out there takes a huge amount of bravery. The fact that they overcame all that and performed not just adequately, but brilliantly, is genuinely humbling. I don't take it for granted.

Anyway... let's take a look behind-the-scenes of Episode 5.... BEWARE: SPOILERS!

Oh, and incidentally, if you're wondering where Episode 1 has gone to, I've taken it down temporarily so that we can fix the sound and frame-rate issues. It does mean we'll lose all those lovely views, but - let's face it - half of them were from wankers anyway. 
THE INTRO
Picture
Like you, I miss it whenever the intro doesn't end with Fat Sow, but I love that this is a chance for everyone to just chat a bit before we get properly into the episode. It's kind of the "establishing shot" of every episode, a chance to get to know everyone. 

A couple of people were worried early on that we had too many hosts, but I think it works well having two either side of me. Once again, my only slight regret - and I've said this before - is that had I known how good they'd be, I'd have made more use of the entire panel. 

Next week, however, redresses that balance somewhat...
THE MAN'S DADDY
Picture
The Man's Daddy is my favourite Digitiser character, and I knew if I got him into the show then I had to get him right. I toyed with commissioning the company who made Fat Sow to make us a Man's Daddy mask - and even drew up a sketch of what it'd look like. However, given how much Fat Sow cost, I knew it would be prohibitively expensive.

I thought about trying to make my own, but - while I can sort of wield a pencil and a paintbrush with a small degree of competency - I'm terrible at making anything in 3D. Whenever we had to make anything out of clay or wood at school, mine would end up looking like a failed clone embryo.

But anyway. I dunno why it took me so long to realise that a gas mask sort of looks quite a lot like The Man's Daddy, but there you have it. Then I just had to figure out how to do his voice. That was harder than the look in a lot of ways; anyone who's read his jokes has a different voice for him in their head, so I settled on not really giving him a voice, but a language all his own.

Which - laughter and all - is baby gibberish, chopped-up, and lowered by several pitches. 

​Incidentally, yes... that's me in the costume. We shot this in my living room last week. 
ASHENS RETURNS
Picture
Ashens returns! Though he never really went away. We had a bit of a crisis the morning we were due to shoot, when the Grandstand Light Games refused to work. I've no idea how, but the twin-pronged genius of Larry and Quang somehow managed to MacGyver a solution. 

The white board makes two appearances this episode, though it spent the rest of the series at the rear of the studio, with a schedule and timings written on it. Without that white board we'd have been buggered.
IT'S DAN MAHER!
Picture
Dan Maher first popped up on my radar years ago, when I read an interview with him discussing Inside Xbox - in which he name-checked Digitiser as an influence. I admit, I wasn't even aware of Inside Xbox, and by that point it was too late anyway.

​And somehow, I was completely unaware of Videogame Nation until people started telling me how good it had been... somewhat too late for me to see it. I've since caught up on the show online, and wish I'd been aware of it sooner.

Dan is a diamond of a gent, and a proper broadcaster. God knows what he made of our glorious shambles of a production, not least because he rocked up on the final day when we were all very, very, very tired, and scraping at the bottom of our adrenaline reserves...
PIXELTIONARY
Picture
Not only does this non-copyright-infringing game feature a return for DJ Slope, Imran Yusuf and Dan, but it gives a preview appearance of John Robertson - who's interviewed in full next week. His performance may give you a sense of just how orderly and calm that interview will be...

Also: it's Quang's first full on-screen appearance! I've said it many times, but without Quang on set, we'd have been in big trouble. Day after day, whenever there was a problem, he sorted it.

He's just one of the many unsung heroes on this series - which, belatedly, includes Scott MacDonald for his help grading and editing the episodes, and Chris Bullock, who taken over mixing her original sound, rather than risk me continuing to do a botch job of it. 
HEAD TO HEAD
Picture
This, like last week's debate, meant a lot to me. Ultimate really were something special in the 80s, and while I've nothing against Rare's output since - they've done a lot of great games, obviously - Ultimate just hit me in that sweet spot.

There wasn't another games studio whose games I would buy blind. It was the gaming equivalent of having a favourite band.

I enjoy the Head-to-Heads - primarily, because the entire panel get to be on screen and interact with one another - but if we do a second series, it's probably the segment that I'm going to try to rework to make it a little more dynamic. I also want us to get a bit deeper into some less obvious subject areas. A few of which I've already thought of...
SNIFF SONIC'S RINGS
Picture
This game was first conceived for the Digifest event we held at the Centre For Computing History a couple of years back. I knew it had potential, and that potential was realised by getting two people with over-sensitive gag reflexes to play it.

I honestly had no idea the game would go this way when I was planning it, but we shot it on day 2, and it was the moment that I knew the series was going to, potentially, be something special. 

The confluence of Eli as Sonic, Larry and Paul retching, the fact it was based around a video game - but done in a completely disrespectful way... my laughter is as much out of relief as anything. Up until this point, I knew that we were going to be okay.... but I was still worried that hadn't managed to capture something uniquely "us". This was where that changed. 

I think morale on set lifted hugely after this, and it pointed the way forwards for the rest of the shoot. 

And so... onto the big finale. I really, really love Episode 6. All the hosts play a part, there's a lovely, relaxed atmosphere, it feels like a proper finale - bringing together little running gags and moments from the entire series, and tying it all off in a pretty bow.

Plus, we bring back Mockety Moc for another outing - with a new line-up of guests and contestants.

​And if you thought the previous one was chaos... this is something else. 
17 Comments
Guru Larry link
10/12/2018 10:09:09 am

That smell was pure hell for me, I literally washed my hands a good 20 times that afternoon trying to get the smell off my fingers, it would just not go away.

I went on holiday the next week and could STILL smell it, ended up discovering the smell was stuck in my nose hairs, so had to shove a razor blade up my nose to remove the in order to desperately get rid of the stench!

But it was all worth it! :)

Reply
Guru Larry link
10/12/2018 10:11:08 am

Coincidentally, the company who makes those smells, their biggest customer is the US army, who order gallons of the stuff to make war surgeons training more authentic (people being disemboweled by bullets/shrapnel) etc.

Reply
Mr Biffo
10/12/2018 10:32:21 am

Whaaaaa??!?

MrPSB
10/12/2018 10:38:15 am

I wonder if they keep the same names and the army are ordering a hundred gallons of "Liquid Ass" or they give it a boring serial number :(

CJJC
10/12/2018 11:17:42 am

LIQUID 455

Guru Larry link
10/12/2018 11:26:49 am

Yeah, they were on an episode of "how it's made?" on the discovery channel a few weeks ago.

Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2EM48RzBDs

They make a barrel of the stuff each time in their barn, then siphon it into tiny bottles. But the US army will buy an entire barrel each time off them.

The-DPS
11/12/2018 04:46:06 am

That's a relief, I honestly thought somebody had been tasked with vomiting over one of those rings to create the smell, glad to hear they were synthetic! Thanks for putting on such a great show, Larry. As a man who also has a weak gag reflex, I salute you!

colincidence link
10/12/2018 11:27:15 am

excellent portrayal of The Man's Daddy; a star turn. He'll be hosting the Royal Variety Performance before you know it.

Reply
Johnny Blanchard link
10/12/2018 12:36:36 pm

It was a good show, if i'm honest not my favourite, but that's no bad thing. I wasn't particularly enamoured with the Sonic sketch, but I didn't hate it either.

In general I feel like you've got the format down pat.

Reply
Jim Leighton (Future World Darts Champion) x
10/12/2018 02:12:01 pm

I really liked this episode, I get that the different segments were filmed at different times, but this episode seemed a lot slicker and more polished (hopefully I haven't offended anyone by saying that). But can defo see this show being huge. I look forward to every Sunday night.

Reply
Dunc
10/12/2018 05:15:30 pm

Well I always saw the man's daddys face as more of a hockey mask but I'll let you off since, yknow you conceived of him and all. Does that make you the man's daddy daddy?

Reply
James Walker
10/12/2018 11:49:36 pm

USA!! USA!! USA!!!

Reply
Konstantinos
11/12/2018 08:06:20 am

Great episode! The cast looks like its gelling (is that written correctly? jelling maybe?) more and more. The people making the Sonic movie should also see this episode, perhaps there is time for a recast.

Reply
B3tan_Tyronne
11/12/2018 08:41:30 am

Do you know how long it has been for a series to leave me in tears of laughter by the end of it - bloody, thats how long!

I truly love what you have all have created and I do hope the considered `directors commentary` versions will be made. At least that way there would be yet another 6 episodes to look forward as well as *hopefully* series 2.

Reply
Nocturne
11/12/2018 11:18:09 am

I feel bad about it but both moments that have ended in massive amounts of discomfort, sonic's rings and nivvins pranny, have had me in tears laughing whilst also cringing. I'm relieved the smells were synthetic though!... not that it was any relief to Larry or Paul, the poor bastards.

Reply
Matt
11/12/2018 04:45:53 pm

The Man's Daddy is a true work of genius.
I could watch him all day.
The creepy baby way he says 'Answer' just creases me up.
Every. Single. Time.
Brilliant. Just... brilliant.

Reply
Robin
11/12/2018 11:01:56 pm

My only problem with The Man’s Daddy in Digitiser the Show is that there's no Man in Digitiser the Show (yet!) so whose Daddy is he? Or maybe I'm expecting too much logic...:-)

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings:


    Current Number Of Columns are = 2

    Expand Posts Area =

    Gap/Space Between Posts = 12px

    Blog Post Style = card

    Use of custom card colors instead of default colors = 1

    Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

    Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

    Picture
    Support Me on Ko-fi
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    RSS Feed Widget
    Picture

    Picture
    Tweets by @mrbiffo
    Picture
    Follow us on The Facebook

    Picture

    Archives

    December 2022
    May 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ