Sponsors vs Freeloaders, also called SvF, is a fan-created video series by people who donated money to the web series Red vs Blue.
The series was started in May of 2004 in response to an overwhelming amount of freeloaders on the forums who were complaining that they were entitled to more of their fair-share of the videos that were only released to the paying sponsors.
The production of the first video was entirely coordinated from one message board thread at the Red vs Blue forums, after which it was released to a positive reception, with some opposition.
History
The idea for SvF was started in the sponsors forum for Red vs Blue by a user known as Quasar as a joke in which some sponsors would make a video to depict the fictional fight between those who had sponsored Red vs Blue versus those who did not sponsor.
That was later refined to the struggle between the sponsors and those who wanted the benefits of sponsoring without paying for them, and resorted to Piracy.
Initial Criticism
When the project was first being produced, it received very harsh criticism from other sponsors.
Many of them assumed that it would not get off the ground. One member even pledged that he would dance on the driveways of the cast and crew for a week if they ever released a video.
This promise was never fulfilled.
Pre-Production
With only a vague idea in place for SvF, there was a long delay in getting the first episode into production.
This was primarily due to an initial lack of coordination and direction.
Eventually, a user known as "GameFreak" suggested the idea of doing a PSA, and the man who has risen to the status as the Producer and Director of the series, "Sevenar", created a script that depicted this fictitious struggle in PSA form.
With a tentative script in place, the focus shifted to casting the epic PSA.
Casting
As soon as the first script was given a warm reception, the issue of casting immediately came up.
By this time the discussion thread had blossomed to be so big, as well as fast-moving, that only parties who were genuinely interested in the project had been able to keep up with it.
The problem of recording dialogue was solved with a user knows as "skyman8081" posting a link for the potential cast to download the Free Software application Audacity using the Ogg Vorbis audio codec.
This allowed the users to record with a consistent audio quality and record for longer than 60 seconds, a limitation of Windows Sound Recorder, the previous application that had been used.
With this base for audio recording, several people started sending in Ogg Vorbis audition files for their respective parts.
One user in particular, "Katyara", the first female to become involved with SvF was a professional voice actress, and her ability to do great dialogue caused a new scene to be written into the script, to make fun of a common Internet stereotype, in which it is believed that most of the people who use the Internet are nerds who have no life, and thus, still have their virginity.
All of the other roles were filled by interested personnel who were able to keep track of the production, and had voices that would be suitable for the video.
With the cast in place, the crew now had a bigger challenge, to be able to film this machinimated piece.
Production
Even though the audio portion of the video was secure, an even bigger problem that faced the crew was that of visual production.
Red vs Blue was filmed using the process of machinima, and it was decided early on that a tribute video would also be a Halo based machinima as well.
Unfortunately, problems soon arose in production.
- There would always the a gun and Heads Up Display visible
- any information on a characters death, or any information conveyed by one person in the shoot, would be overlaid onto the screen of all the participants, including the camera, making communication all but impossible.
- There would be severe issues with network latency due to running an internet game
- And there was the probability that an anonymous person would enter the shoot and cause havoc for the crew.
All these problems were eventually solved for the production of the videos to work.
For the problem of the overlaid information and HUD a mod was eventually made by a user named Darklink that would remove the HUD and any overlaid text on the screen.
A voice chat application, TeamSpeak , was used to allow verbal communication during shoots, and to allow the actors to read lines while shooting to give each other something to react off of.
And the issue of lag and disruptions was solved by placing a password on the server, and only distributing it to crew-members who were on a fast connection.
With those problems solved, the production was going at a steady pace, and soon, there was enough footage for a rough cut to be made.
Post-Production
With most of the principle footage "in the can", the process of editing was started.
Shortly afterwards, a rough cut was screened to the crew, and feedback was given on the surprisingly few number of errors and problems with the video.
However, fixing those changes was not the only thing added to the final release.
Two new scenes were added to the final, and public release of the film. One was a fictitious advertisement for a truck rally at Blood Gulch, called "Warthog Motor Madness", which became the most popular section of the video.
The other addition was a scene in which "Kazzap", the one who promised to dance on the crews collective driveways for a week, introduced the video and congratulated the crew on getting to that point.
Very few members of the crew actually knew about those added scenes.
Other added parts included a revised credits and a disclaimer that explained the target of the video.
With the video done, it was finally time to it to be released.
Release
Now that the video was completed, it was finally able to be released to the public by a user named Paintball aka the Disclaimer reader.
It was initially released only to those who had sponsored Red vs Blue and later to the rest of the Red vs Blue fans, in an effort to conserve bandwidth.
The fictitious advertisement was the most popular part of the video, and most people took the message in good taste.
There were few who did not notice the disclaimer, or otherwise paid it no heed, and were offended by the video, citing that it had made fun of them for being poor.
After explaining the intent of the video, and the purpose of the disclaimer, those viewers realized that they had merely mis-understood the video, and that it was not aimed at them.
Aftermath
After the successful release of the first one, immediately, people were clamoring for more videos, given that the subtitle of the video was "Episode 1: Enough is Enough".
In fact, the second video was already in pre-production.
However, there ended up with being 3 scripts for the second episode of Sponsors vs Freeloaders, creating an internal production race.
Episode Two
The second video to be released, showed the freeloaders stealing the "HiRes vault key" from the sponsors, before eventually re-taking said Key.
This video was more prominent in its use of mods in the story. Whereas in the first episode, the mods were simply use to aide production, this one used several mods to tell the story.
The flag had been re-textured to have the text "Red vs Blue HiRes Vault Key", several vehicles that were normally not available in Halo's Multiplayer Mode, and to add a nuclear bomb into the story, as a way of exacting revenge on the freeloaders who had initially stolen the vault key.
Written and directed by Laird & Yaksha.
Episode Four
The third video that was released was titled "Episode 4", due to the fact that the third episode had stalled during production.
This video made fun of common gender stereotypes by changing the roles commonly associated with each gender. It also had a parody commercial for "Spartan" brand condoms.
Written and directed by Sevenar.
Episode Three
The actual episode three of the series expanded the character relationships and showed the conversion of a freeloader becoming a sponsor of the series. The 3-minute love scene was particularly difficult to render until the SvF team imported character models from the Playboy Mansion Game. The script for this was one of the Episode 2 scripts that were being considered.
Original script by Zimmy, reworked by Sevenar.
Directed by Yaksha.
Karma PSA
Although the first episode was in most respects, a Public Service Announcement, this was the first official PSA done by the SvF crew.
This PSA was given high regard for its humorous explanation of the Red vs Blue karma system, from the point of view of a freeloader.
Screenplay: BCCurtis
Director: Yaksha
Christmas 2004 PSA
This was originally a generic parody of gun safety videos, but pressed into service as the Christmas 2004 PSA due to the fact that there are few other models in the game that could be given as presents. Various Freeloaders meet their demise in gun-related mishaps, and the video ends on a shot of the Official SvF Christmas Tree: several Sponsors in green armor standing in the lone tree by Red Base, holding overloaded Plasma Pistols and festooned with Needler projectiles and Plasma Grenades.
Original script by DiMono
Screen adaptation written and directed by Sevenar.
Episode Five
With this episode, "A Matter of Balance", SvF ventured out into new territory, namely, a cohesive plot, recurring characters, and an emphasis on drama rather than comedy. The first of a six-part story arc subtitled "Flamewar", Episode 5 deals with the arrival of a third faction, the non-Sponsors, marked by their purple armor, a mysterious villain known only as Active Camo Man, and the death of one of the main characters.
Written by Sevenar
Directed and Edited by Yaksha.
Characters
There are several recurring characters in SvF, all of them are the internet aliases of the people who portray them.
PsiMatrix
Line Producer and general orator of the series, he was the one who introduced the first video.
Armor Color: Cyan
Preferred Weapon: Plasma Rifle
Zatch
Whipping Boy of the series, and most popular character, he is always trying to ask Katyara out, with little success
Armor Color: Teal
Preferred Weapon: Sniper Rifle
Laird
The first character to have been portrayed as both a freeloader and sponsor, has had a plasma grenade stuck to his face twice during the closing credits.
Armor Color: Brown
Preferred Weapon: Flamethrower
Katyara
The first female in the series, and the only professional cast-member.
Always is hit on by the guys from both sides and she always shoots them down. Has an extreme distaste for idiocy, stupidity, and Zatch.
Armor Color: Maroon/Blue
Preferred Weapon: Rocket Launcher
Yorkky
First appears as a freeloader in episode 2. Has somewhat of a commanding role over them, until she ends up defecting to the sponsors in episode 3. Proficient with heavy weapons
Armor Color: Pink
Preferred Weapon: Pistol
Sevenar/Prophet
The head guy of SvF, is portrayed as perpetually hammered (as The Prophet in Episode 3), as well as a hard working procrastinator. He also provides the voices of several bit parts, including Hillbilly Freeloader, Idiot Sniper, Indian Freeloader, and the Warthog Motor Madness announcer. There is some debate over whether the two characters are actually the same person.
Armor Color: White
Preferred Weapon: Rocket Launcher
Yaksha
Host of the SvF website, he playes a freeloading pirate who is always trying to get the videos via less than legal means, voice is a typical pirate, with a number of "Yarrrh"s in it.
Armor Color: Red
Preferred Weapon: Pistol
Celebrity Voice Talent
In several episodes, a voice can be heard giving SvF wrap-arounds for information, this voice is George Lowe , who plays the voice of Space Ghost on the TV show "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast". This is currently the most famous person to work on SvF.
The crew got Lowe to do voice work when the Executive Producer, "Sevenar", happened to be visiting Dragon Con in Atlanta, and met George Lowe there. Sevenar discussed SvF with him, and Mr. Lowe graciously agreed to do a small amount of voice work for a nominal fee to cover the cost of studio time. The SvF Crew hopes they can work with Mr. Lowe again in the future.
Web Links
Sponsors vs Freeloaders website
Red vs Blue
