COLT MCANLIS: Ow. [BLEEP] dude.
One of the characteristics that makes "Compressor Head"
successful, I think, is really that dynamic range
between the two of us.
Ow. [BLEEP] dude.
Can we try that again?
Do we want to do that one again?
BRIAN GRADY: Sure. "Compressor Head"
is a universe of knowledge.
COLT MCANLIS: It was my way of trying
to rekindle a love for this lost computer science art.
So here's the tricky part with arithmetic compression.
Why the hell does it work?
Even if you're a PhD in computer science,
you really aren't taught these core fundamental algorithms
of compression.
BRIAN GRADY: I never was.
COLT MCANLIS: How would you teach the most complex thing
possible to a three-year-old?
Well, you wouldn't do it with a computer,
you wouldn't do it with a diagram.
You would put blocks and sticky tape and really bright colors
to show them things moving in space.
And I said, well, if that's how I would teach
a three-year-old arithmetic compression, obviously,
it would work on a programmer.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
Huh.
I remember when we pitched it the first time internally.
We were like, we want to do this crazy thing
where we talk about compression and we use Play-Doh.
Oh right.
And just deadpan from everybody we pitched it to.
They're like, I don't-- why?
We shot a prototype but we didn't
tell anybody we were shooting a prototype,
and then we just handed the video to people,
and it kind of went viral internally, if you remember.
All of a sudden, my boss's boss's boss saw it,
and they were like, yeah, this is great.
We want more.
Then all of a sudden, overnight, everyone
wanted "Compressor Head."
There's something in this video series just for you.
It really was Brian's vision to do
a show that was different than what we'd done before.
It was the rules of "Compressor Head."
BRIAN GRADY: You can't walk in with any props in your hand,
and everything that you use has to come from the room.
At Google, there's this place called
the garage that is made to develop
community and collaboration.
We found out that we could go into this room.
We could use it like a studio.
There were so many possibilities.
It had so much junk in it for us to make things out
of that we could actually go on set with Colt's ideas
and make stuff that represented them pretty much in real time
right before we started shooting.
COLT MCANLIS: Part of the mania of "Compressor Head"
is literally about the fact that none of us
know what we're doing until five minutes beforehand
and the fact that all of us on the shoot, all of us around it
just have to be OK with that, literally.
BRIAN GRADY: The lighting guy doesn't like it.
COLT MCANLIS: The two ended up creating
the Burrows-Wheeler transform algorithm.
For me, the magic was really meeting Mike Burrows
or, as he prefers to be called on the internet, Mike
[BLEEP] Burrows.
BRIAN GRADY: That's what he goes by.
COLT MCANLIS: Mike's the co-inventor
of Burrows-Wheeler transform, and he works here at Google.
Charming man, but you talk to him
about the invention of Burrows-Wheeler transform,
and you realize it should be the stuff of cinema.
This story is so amazing and dynamic,
and you're just like, why does no one know about this?
Why is this not published?
Why is this not on the Wikipedia page, for god's sake?
Just getting a chance to meet someone who was a part of that,
I kind of fan boy-ed out a little bit.
I got red.
One time, he caught his finger in that.
It was actually pretty funny.
You know what was number two for me?
BRIAN GRADY: Hm?
COLT MCANLIS: Magnus.
MAGNUS HYTTSTEN: Yeah, man.
Let's do it.
COLT MCANLIS: All right.
Ready?
BRIAN GRADY: Magnus.
COLT MCANLIS: The power of Magnus in that scene.
MAGNUS HYTTSTEN: Aw, yeah.
COLT MCANLIS: If you keep up with the Play Service's What's
New videos, Magnus is the guy who does them,
and Magnus's energy is just so higher than any of us
can even get close to.
And then number three was Joanna.
JOANNA SMITH: I want you to go and do your job
and tell them exactly how to succeed with compression.
COLT MCANLIS: Joanna did a fantastic job.
She really didn't have to act in that role.
She really does hate me that much,
and she hates what I do that much, that it was perfect.
We've got to talk about the dynamic arithmetic--
JOANNA SMITH: Some of us have real work to do.
BRIAN GRADY: She has so little respect for you.
COLT MCANLIS: She does.
So anyway, we're trying a bunch of different things.
Tell us what you like.
We did season two because I could not
walk through a conference without people stopping
me and asking for more.
That's why we do these things is for developers out there.
And so if the developers want more
and we hear them wanting more, we'll
do season three in a heartbeat.
The best thing about working with Brian that really
humbles me is his patience.
I mean, to have some crazy bald guy running around, here's
all this crazy stuff, and iterating back and forth
between you and I about the movement
in the shot and the direction, and then someone who actually
has a background in film actually being patient with all
the craziness that I bring to the table
and the last minute-ness.
That thing makes this magic happen.
The mania kind of makes it magical in that regard,
and Brian's ability to manifest that and make it happen
is really cool.
BRIAN GRADY: I enjoy every moment of it.
COLT MCANLIS: Well, it's the cursing, really, that
brings us together as a team.
BRIAN GRADY: The dirty talk.
If I was going to work with one of the guys here,
this would be the guy that would go do something crazy with me,
and I wanted to do something crazy.
He is known to make everybody a little bit better than they
were, and I feel like that's happened to me as well.
I've learned more about compression than I ever
thought I'd want to.
It's really the most fun I think I've had at work.
COLT MCANLIS: We get it done.
BRIAN GRADY: We get it done.
COLT MCANLIS: Fist bump.
Boom.
My name is Colt McAnlis, and this is "Compressor Head."