The Smash Brothers

The Smash Brothers

Poster for the film depicting the players profiled in the series.
Directed by Travis Beauchamp
Screenplay by Travis Beauchamp
Music by "Juicy Fruit" by Huw Williams
Production
company
East Point Pictures
Running time
 4 hr 18 min
Language English
Budget US$12,000

The Smash Brothers is a 2013 nine part documentary series written and directed by Travis 'Samox' Beauchamp.[1] The documentary series examines the history of the competitive Super Smash Bros. community, in particular the game Super Smash Bros. Melee and its top eight players, including Jason Zimmerman, Juan Debiedma, Joseph Marquez, PC Chris, and Ken Hoang. The film also features extensive commentary from other community figures including Chris "Wife" Fabiszak, Wynton "Prog" Smith, Kashan "Chillindude" Khan, and Lillian "Milktea" Wei. The series was crowdfunded through Kickstarter.[2] Episodes of the series has received a combined 4 million views on YouTube.[3] The film had a total budget of US$12,000.[4]

Plot Overview

The documentary is split into nine parts, with each part except the first and the last profiling a notable Melee player.

Part 1 - "Show Me Your Moves": Introduction to the documentary and overview of competitive Melee.

Part 2 - "No Johns": Follows the career of Christopher "Azen" McMullen.

Part 3 - "Don't Get Hit": Follows the career of Isai "Isai" Alvarado

Part 4 - "The King of Smash": Follows the career of Ken "Ken" Hoang

Part 5 - "Revolution": Follows the career of Chris "PC Chris" Szygiel

Part 6 - "Paper Cuts": Follows the career of Daniel "KoreanDJ" Jung

Part 7 - "The Robot": Follows the career of Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman

Part 8 - "The Natural": Follows the careers of both Joseph "Mango" Marquez and Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma. There is also a short section on women, gays, and minorities in the Smash community.

Part 9 - "Game!": Describes Nintendo's decision to block Evolution Championship Series streaming

Development

Beauchamp played Smash Bros. from an early age, and was inspired to create the documentary series after learning about the lives of professional players.[5][6] The pilot episode was shot in the summer of 2011.[7] The documentary took over two years to make. Beauchamp quit his job to work on it full time.[8] Beauchamp was able to interview all of the players he profiled in the series except for Azen.[9]

Reception

The documentary series was well received by fans and game critics alike who praised its high production value, unusual for most fan films.[10][11][12]

The documentary has been credited with leading to a renewed interest in competitive Melee tournaments.[13] Due to the success of the series, Samox has announced a spin-off episode revolving around Swedish smasher, Adam Lindgren, which is expected to be released 2015.

References

  1. ↑ Travis Beauchamp (2013-10-11). "Documentary". East Point Pictures. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  2. ↑ Travis Beauchamp (2014-05-12). "The Smash Brothers: Armada". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  3. ↑ "EastPointPictures". YouTube. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  4. ↑ "Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". Reddit Smash Bros.
  5. ↑ "-samox- comments on Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". reddit.
  6. ↑ "-samox- comments on Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". reddit.
  7. ↑ "-samox- comments on Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". reddit.
  8. ↑ "-samox- comments on Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". reddit.
  9. ↑ "-samox- comments on Hello all, Samox here - creator of The Smash Brothers documentary mini-series - AMA!". reddit.
  10. ↑ Patrick Howell O'Neill (2013-10-17). "'The Smash Brothers' might be the best eSports documentary of all time". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  11. ↑ Hernandez, Patricia (2013-10-16). "A Fascinating Look At The World's Best Super Smash Bros. Players". Kotaku. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  12. ↑ Landon Robinson (2013-10-15). "This Super Smash Bros. Melee Documentary Rocks". insidegamingdaily.com. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  13. ↑ Magdaleno, Alex (4 May 2014). "How a YouTube Documentary Gave New Life to a Nintendo Classic". Mashable. Retrieved 2015-01-29.

External links