- All right so, I'm making a this video because I realize
a lot of you have no idea,
where I work,
or probably even what I do for a job.
So I'm gonna show you inside the studio today,
inside my company, meet some of the team,
as well as show you some of the secrets of the magic,
all right,
not all the secrets.
I can't show you these.
Unfortunately I can't,
over there,
Like legally we're not,
but I'll show you everything else, so,
lets go.
(funky music)
Shoom!
When you walk in, this is the front lobby,
there's nothing here because,
we're not designers,
we're film makers.
But, when you walk into this studio,
you're given two options,
really three.
You can walk through that door,
which is what most people do,
or you can look at this blue door,
or the red door and decide
which one you wanna go through.
For now, lets go through the,
the main entrance.
(whoosh)
So, this is like the common room of the studio,
where generally we'll do team meetings,
or people may eat lunch, hang out,
this is kind of just a pass way to,
either the bathrooms, or the snacks.
So the studio warehouse is broken up into office spaces,
where people can actually get work done,
and then the production section in the main warehouse.
Let me show you the most important areas in this main hub.
(whoosh)
This is one of my favorite areas because,
obviously there's snacks.
(whoosh)
If you wanna know a real secret,
the reason I wear hats is so I can fix my hair.
Contrary to popular belief,
I do not wear hats because I wanna look young forever,
you know I do wanna look young,
but I'm actually half asian, so,
don't have to worry about that.
My favorite part about this studio,
is working with such talented people.
We've got people on the team like,
illustrators,
mirch, composers,
coders, production coordinators,
prop makers,
project managers,
comic book artists,
animators,
- Hi - You're not
supposed to say anything
- Game designers,
writers, more writers,
camera people, producers,
manakins,
watch your self, I'm married.
(upbeat music)
So, this is a really fun room.
This is the art room where we craft a lot of fun miniatures,
or props that you see in the videos like this,
we've got a little area of miniatures,
lets see if you recognize any of these.
Hundreds and hundreds of shoes here,
mini luggage,
couch,
popcorn kernels,
omens,
mini chairs,
beds,
cute mini lamps,
fake glasses of wine,
a rotting, I hope this isn't real,
it's for a short about parrots.
Coming up very soon.
Lets head in the warehouse.
My buddy who works in this office
makes some of the most amazing cat videos,
for the internet.
lets go meet him.
This is Arron, from Arron's animals, and this is the star,
Prince Michael.
- Meow.
(slow upbeat music)
- This is the play area,
or you could call it the work out area,
because when you play a Nerf game,
you are drenching and sweat.
I'm not gonna show you the full tour of the Nerf space,
because I've got a video on that.
So you can click, somewhere over here.
Play is a really important part of the creative process.
So starting a little Nerf battle during the day is,
something we do often.
I, will show you one of my favorite features,
of the fortress.
It's the zip line.
Hey Kyle, can you come film the zip line part?
This is Kyle, he's gonna film.
This could be sketchy.
Have you done this? Is this broken?
- No, they said don't do it.
- Who said?
- Ah, everybody, and Ryan.
- Oh
Oh doggy, here we go.
Woo hoo!,
Oh
snap!
Coming fast.
Oops!
Dude, that is kind of sketchy.
Hey, a Kyle, can I get a ladder?
This is where the art team,
does a lot of the manufacturing,
of the props and the construction,
and, actually they have a massive collection of wood,
I'm gonna show you that.
It actually looks like a junk pole.
Generally you come out here,
if you're looking for something,
You're gonna find it.
It's gonna take some digging.
This back area is where we store our props,
we have shelves on shelves,
full of everything from chairs to couches.
You might be wondering why this is blocked out.
I can't show you that, that is completely top secret.
Eventually you'll find out what it is.
This is where we are starting to store,
our merch that's coming in.
You know if it doesn't sell out,
I'm gonna be stuck with a life time supply of shirts.
This is where we keep most of our tiny props.
I a,
unfortunately I can't show over here,
over there,
legally we are not allowed to show all this stuff.
But, I wish you could see it,
ah! It's so cool, Um.
Lets go on the roof.
All right this is, one of my favorite places at the studio.
The first time I came up here when we rented the building,
almost peed my pants, cause this is freaking high.
I thought we could just chill, and a,
have a little heart to heart up here.
I am excited about the internet space.
A lot of you probably don't even know my story
about how I got started on the internet making these videos.
You know I've always loved film making
since I was seven years old, Kind of knew from watching
these movies, that I wanted to make them for other people.
That's what, is always been my heart in creating is like,
creating for the audience, creating for you guys.
Creating to see peoples reaction. Like
(high screech sound) Aw! That sound.
I just wanted some peace and quiet, but there's actually
(train horn)
We moved into this studio.
We didn't realized,
we where right next to the train tracks.
I grew up in Portland Oregon,
I applied to a film school down here in Los Angeles,
got a rejection letter but I was like,
you know I'm still gonna go down to the school
to do the General Ed.
So I came down to (mumbles) university.
And during that first year, out of curiosity
and a little bit of boredom,
wanting to put my energy into something
I created a YouTube channel.
This is 2007,
2008.
This first YouTube channel that I had only probably had
about forty or fifty thousand followers.
I didn't have a way to monetize on YouTube at the time.
So I went and created these DVD courses
that where like eight to ten hours long,
and I was shipping them from my dorm room.
And I actually paid off
all of my university with that money.
I never got an outside job,
and by the time I graduated,
I was still on YouTube.
And to me, this was gonna be my job for the rest of my life,
and then I got really lucky,
and everyone kind of has their lucky breaks multiple times
often through out their career,
and mine was my first lucky break I mean,
for some reason,
from the beginning,
I've never seen a platform grow like that.
I post my first vine, it gets a hundred thousand re-vines.
I'm still trying to figure out what the heck is a re-vine.
I'm grabbing my room mates,
other creative people in the house that I was living in
with nine other guys.
I'm grabbing them going like,
hey help me film this video,
or help me write this idea.
I need, help right now, you need to hold the camera
cause we are making magic at such a fast pace.
We were making these videos out of a garage
that we were renting,
and eventually we were like,
you know, we don't have enough space in here to create,
slash, there's cockroaches and rats and it's disgusting.
And I remember at the time
there was a big leep of faith for me, I was like.
I'm gonna,
rent a house.
Committing for a year long lease absolutely freaked me out.
But, it's really neat seeing the journey here, because.
We did not get our safety deposit back on the house.
And we knew after we had team members putting desks,
in the entrance, right next to the front door,
in the kitchen, and then eventually
getting ready to go the laundry room, we're like,
this isn't okay. We need space.
And we took a nother leap of faith.
Saying, I think we can afford rent on a warehouse,
so that's where we are now.
And I never want to take this for granted,
cause it can all go away any day,
you never know, an out rhythm changes, and yeah.
I think there are no guarantees in life.
I love creators, that's why I'm thinking in the new year,
I would love to figure out a way to,
I don't know if it's incubate,
or just mentor creators,
and we have a lot of space,
we have fifteen thousand square feet.
And we are growing our team here,
but we're not using all the space.
So, I'm thinking about opening up a couple of offices,
just small space, and allowing, two or three, very small,
either individual YouTubers,
or a team of like, two.
Who have just started to figure out there thing.
I mean, I want these to be people that,
you know they're going somewhere,
they just haven't figured out all the steps,
and hopefully by being here with us,
they can get a mentorship to figure out,
and skip a lot of this stuff we had to spend time learning.
If that sounds at all interesting to you,
and you're a creator and that resonates, and you're like,
I actually do just need help with the production.
I'm not saying we're gonna do it for you,
I'm saying, we have a lot of gear,
we have a lot of space,
and I'm not asking for a percent of your business.
I want you to just be able to know that you can access us,
cause I have found that even though I'm introvert,
and I love creating by myself a lot of the times.
I found that, there's so much power in people.
That you've gotta reach out, and ask questions.
You know I'm just spit balling here almost on camera,
I probably shouldn't. I'm gonna have,
peep my team watches me like,
what, we are incubating people?
Intabating?
Incubating?
Hey, there's Keyzhong.
I'm gonna cut it off here,
because it was super good hanging out with you guys.
I gotta get my two kids fed, read, and bed.
And, um,
and, the wife,
fed as well.
Cause I'm bring home the bacon.
Videos here, subscribe here.
Peace.
Oh!
I need to work out more.
(Soft flute music)