Shimshon BTS video

hi my name is Ali bernath we are here with the directors and creators of shimshin we have some questions that we are going to ask what's so special about shimshin why would you use them for the video because shimshen is the coolest story in Jewish history he is a real Jewish superhero and he gives off a very nice message that is relatable to kids nowadays so he's the writer so what sweet is able to do is to take out certain points of certain messages that shimshan stood for or that we were trying to convey or that Hashem was trying to convey to shimshen and pull those out and make them realistic to everybody who's there and Sue's job besides writing what the story because I'm sure lots of kids had their ready tell the story but the video tries to do more than just tell the story is convey a message and explain what the story of Simpson was rather than just the story but there is a lesson that we could learn from and the message from shimshine was a message of how any talent you have is from Hashem did you play kugalach as a kid and for me I played a lot I still play of course I mean did you play Coco as a kid it was never good at the hand coordination I I never was very good at it one of my favorite moments in creating shim Shin was trying to explain to the animators how Google app works and there's this great video that SV had to like he's on the floor and like creating this juggling case we actually um we were so fascinated by it you know that it's a really ancient game is very old it's uh I didn't know that either yeah it's one of the oldest games it's from when I was a kid yeah in the 80s and that's exactly that's how old it is it's ancient look at us I I still play kogalak I still play kogalaka with my kids really yeah I remember like thinking about in my head there's going to be like this Championship it's gonna look so amazing and so real so it's amazing to see it actually like happening one of the things that was interesting was coca-lock has normally played on the floor but they put it on a table it makes the game much harder oh really it does it also limits your for example when you're playing Bridges it limits how far you could push kogel how long does it take it depends on the length of the of the film right so shimshan was something like 40 minutes something like that 30 to 40 minutes so that took uh I would say it takes me a week to pull off five pages something like that but but then there's rewrites but then there's rewrites so the way it works is one page per minute typically that you'll be on a video right but how long does it take you to write a page well so it doesn't though the way the writing works is in the beginning they're structuring you want first of all you start off you wanna you wanna decide on a message whether that if it's if it's a story not like shimshan where you're coming up with it out of your own mind you begin with that message anytime you're writing a story because you want it to be more than just something you watch of someone crossing the street you want it to have meaning um and and uh but with shim shine I had a look in the story and sit down for a while and and I discuss with many people what is the main message of shim shine what what could come out of it and different people had different ideas and eventually it closed it it settled on a very soon what would another message of Simpson be that you shouldn't get your hair too long yeah what is with the braided hair yeah yeah yeah no sir not a good idea no I'm not I'm not a fan of it you could if you don't want people to start up with you you become a nazia yeah yeah I all right so how long does it take a month two months three months so in a case of shim shine it took probably four months three four months something like that from beginning because that includes structuring character creation and and then writing and then making sure that I had it yeah it changes and stuff yeah all right it's a long time what's your favorite part of the video I'm I'm really really happy with um some of the voices that I did and it's funny because sometimes when you create a voice in your mind so when I'm making a voice in my head I have to actually picture that person and I have to actually give that person a whole dynamic and and and motions that the person really exists in my head and so there's no question in my mind that waleet was one of the greatest voice acting things that I've ever done I am so happy with how it came out and seeing it in the final product of shimshin when I finally saw it was just really something special I disagree actually I think your Creator's voice was that second the drunk guard and that's my favorite part we were in the studio and he told the guard there's this guard he's called in the scripted junk guard no he's called he was just Tara called guard number two or something yeah oh that's right he's called drug guard two and we didn't have anyone to do it so it seems like you know so a few people tried it and it just didn't work and then she was like why don't you try it I'm like okay fine whatever I'll just go up there and try can you sing Happy Birthday in Wally's voice okay let's try this okay okay okay I have to by the way I have to like picture him in my head in order to get the voice day to you I was gonna say you need to laugh I know I was waiting because that is that is the Walid signature yeah and by the way and that is like he is he has those really funny hand things and you know you're going to get the answer from shimshin can you explain what a juggling Kaif is a juggling coiff is uh you have well suppose there's one there's there's a kuggle here and a second Google so you throw the first one up while that one's in the air you juggle by throwing the second one and then you would catch the first one and you have to catch kind of a claw the second one that's the so it's kind of like a Juggle it is oh you have to juggle it you have to actually juggle that's probably why I was never gonna cook a lot okay but oh that's probably why we are really good at cooking and by the way both of them have that in comments zombie ants we both juggle yeah yeah so you should not be allowed to play if you're a juggler or you should already have like a certain Advantage it should be ordered Majors exactly like you go right to like the 15th trailer you have to play with your toes right yeah yeah is Mr Dubrow named after anybody yeah who's Mr Duro Mr Dubrow I actually voice him he's he's the old man and he's named after my grandfather can you do the Mr Dubrow voice Mister do bro I try to make my voice shaky and old oh right he is my grandfather get me a ramp my grandfather Jack Dubrow was a World War II veteran he served in the Canadian military where he met my grandmother and what did he need the ramp is this a real story years later he met a child a child who had lost his and he but he needed a ramp he needed a ramp right and he got a ramp we're not even sure if this is a true story or not because I know Jack I remember him so I know he really existed he really existed he did not need a ramp this was a family production really in terms of audio right your mother was the image was the was the Bubby no not the boss it was Sarah she was a magical she was yeah she was this magical kind of the person who takes them back in time that was amazing because Usher right she was the one who like never passed away so that there was like that magical element to her that that's why her name is Sarah right and it was really special because she just recently passed away it was nice to to hear her voice yeah why why was the fox named at the end of the video they had such a good time he wanted to cling to something into in the past I you know in his experience and his story I chose matintee really just because it's a silly sounding name it didn't work having Walid I it wouldn't work calling the the fox shimshine or one of the Jewish names right so I thought it has to be one of the pushy names and calling it Delilah wouldn't work so mutanti just sounded right where did you get the push T names from um that is actually there's a story there so I wanted to get I wanted to get everything as factual as possible so uh with with this film the um I did a ton of research in all the different mid-russia and I went to I went to the library in Montreal pulled out tons of sparm I started off with mayam lawyers but then it took off from there and uh but when it came to plushny I don't know much about polish the history so I went into a deep dive there most of it online but some of it I again went to the library um and I wanted polish the names I wanted them to be actual names from that time and I came across somewhere online some some scientific paper where someone had studied all these names and that's where yeah yeah I had to pay a subscription to read this paper it was all about Philistine names and I I found waleet and it just sounded like the bad guy that it would be called Walid although if with our pronunciation it would probably be valid right there's no were but then I would have done him all the plushy names hold on a second while diet wasn't really his name but there is no source that says a name for any of the Pledge Dimensions there's no in the Simpson story and Tanakh I can't think of anywhere where it might say a plushty we know that there I believe that their Idol was dugon but I'm not sure if that's actually in the text that may have been midrashic something that was interesting though that that that what was accurate was that archaeologists found the a seal that they believe may have been shimshan seal and that was in there it's a man battling a lion and a seal that's a logo yes the logo that actually seal actually they believe if I can really be frank that was my favorite part what I love the way that that kind of whole like beginning um clearly comes together with the music and the feel and the logo and that seal it's really special right that was really great why was shimshin's hair braided so it was braided according to a medrich I don't remember which one uh maybe when I was edited right could be written right down here it could be written you see it right here right you know see the thing right there do you have notes on this somewhere yeah yeah so it was braided it was braided I remember it was it a three or a sixth grade you actually asked me because the animators wanted to know if it was in fact braided or not so I had a look again that's how I no but one of the interesting things about that is with the animation is that for you know the animators originally did chimchin like as like the superhero and then like we had to go back remember that we had to go back and make him limp right where was that where was that where's that I actually that the whole the limping that's that that's very I think even Rashi brings down that matter-ish of of how he limped uh and it's and it plays a big part of the story as to why wouldn't beneathon follow this really strong cool guy and it could be because he's he's walking around in a limp he doesn't look like someone you would follow but but that's real the the sound guy had this pad so we wanted to create his footsteps um we wanted to create his footsteps being uneven and so all the footsteps are actually my fingers going boom boom boom boom boom boom what a lot of people don't realize is that every single sound that you hear on that video someone had to make it right like it doesn't just happen you don't just like have a sound that sound had to be created because the real animated characters don't make any sounds right why did shimshin have to carry the gate all the way up that mountain that's a good question yeah I don't know if he had to carry it all the way up that mountain it was sending a message I was sending a message that I he walked into the city he picked up the gate walked right into enemy territory what he's doing is he's goading the enemy he's saying I'm still around and you cannot do anything stop me did they lock the gate is that why he they locked the gate after him they locked the gate when he was going inside the city yeah yeah no but part of it is he is lame on both legs not only is he carrying this massive gate but with this with with a weird gate right jit he's walking walking in a weird uh you know he's limping all the way and it's something like I forget the exact distance it might be 50 I don't know I myself yeah it was from have rain all the way it's basically from Gaza to covering which is why were you so many different voices in Egyptian because he's the most talented person who does voices and imitation of people and stuff like that yeah that's that's exactly it you could have probably done all the voices of the entire but he was nice enough to let other people do it right now yeah it couldn't we had to find some other people most of them what does it take to make a 3D animation so a 3D animation is it's it's it's complicated and takes a long time um so it requires a team of people to really come together and work together in putting together all the different parts that 3D animation requires so usually when you do 2D animation there's usually the person that draws the characters and then the person that animates it with 3D there's a lot of steps in between from the person that creates the model of the person to the person that maybe will rig the model which means give him hands and make him movable to the person that will create the textures or the lighting and then create the buildings and the environments all that gets done not with drawing but almost like a model and then once that's in the computer then then you can start animating and moving things around and lip syncing and then after that [Music] um you render to give an example an animator instead of just drawing a shoe he actually creates something on computer that can be turned can look like this shoe this has a different texture and different feel and different movement than this right so and the same thing this this has different movement let's let's try for example if I smack it over his head let's see what are you really holding a 3D animation yeah no but this could be a 3D animation it could the the idea being once so that's only the shoe and then you create an entire person and you have how everything moves and you try to make it as natural as possible and that takes time every movement when a person is going to walk to have that their shoe moves and that this flops around that takes time what were your favorite parts of the making the video for me it was Avi tansky who was who played shim shine and he was brilliant uh the first time he stepped in front of that mic and he just he embodied shim shine and he does it really sounds like a real superhero who is powerful strong and yet also has that quality of being a little lonely he was able to capture shimshan better than it was it was beautiful it was beautiful yeah did a really good job what a lot of people don't realize is even more important than the visuals the audio is such an important part of an animation is having really good audio with really good and very realistic feel to it yeah I would say my favorite part of creating shimshin was when shimshin pushes down the pillars and he says you know in my head I knew the song from doshurin so I kept thinking in my head when we end off we're going to end off almost on a sad note because dies in the rubble but he he did he did so much and his and his legacy and the fact that the Piston were afraid of him for so long after and he was such a powerful force that it sounds funny to say that but that adding that little part at the end was like for me the icing on the cake that it ends off with such a like on such a high that for me was the most exciting part so often I think about that three love shim Shin Like It's a real feel like it's from the most depth the deepest part of us of his being you see his whole soul really coming into it and avitatsuki did an amazing job just embodying like you really feel at that moment at the end where like that Philo that's Hashem that's shimshin that's a perfect moment like what we imagine in the ELA should be like and maybe another message could be Chula right he does a full a full chumma to the point where you realize yeah you feel that but he realizes that wow I I messed up or I I I got lost in my own message and I didn't fully trust in Hashem and he asks one more time to to and and Hashem gives him that um you know the the the I don't know if it's called mahila but he he grants him that one more time that um it's amazing yeah what is your favorite for me when Sophie and I wrote young Abram 15 years ago knowing that there's a there's a reality that when I when I read it I don't have that imagination and now you can see the the shape it come to life the story comes to life and you that is it's just such a great joy for me as a as a parent as a as a as a rebe as a teacher to be able to say look now this is the story and there's something real and you can picture it in your minds and you can experience that and I want to tell you the truth I have learned the story of shimshin my whole life but there's so many things I think about with the story of shimsha now that I never thought about before because of this but that's meant four months by finding the message well the message I didn't spend four months uh finding the message seven years he spent seven years no the message was a good week or two and once I figured it out it was then about structuring it and building it in a way that the message is delivered right so there's there's a there's a story going on outside of two kids who go back in time and need to find their way back but then inside there's a story of also a kid who who lost his zadies and he believed that that was his you know they were the reason why he was so good and he needs to recognize that it has nothing to do with items with physical items right it's Hashem right what is the research done on shimshin what's the research done the research um so it starts off with the Miami layers because that's a compilation of many mid-russian and it's easy I go through it in English and I I take notes handwritten a very small I have a whole bunch of papers um I have a character's um no but I have I have um I have characters notes so for example shim Shin was was lame I'm not going to put that in the story lame meaning maybe with disability is a disability yeah it's a disability where he was unable to unable to walk straight yeah so his both his legs were not um you know he wasn't walking as so when I find that I put it on under character that this is about shim shine when I find something let's say um uh that I find that that in archeology this is not mid-russic but I find I also do research trying to find archaeological or or stuff from you know know that that other people have found about about the story so when I find that we mentioned the um when I found the stamp that was something that I would file under visuals right because there's there's visuals that that is a specific visual so suppose I mean this isn't there but if it would say the size of the gate I would write down the size of the gate has to be this if it said how tall shimsham was it would have to I would write it down and then there's the story itself so they go into kind of three separate papers and and and it starts off with the ma'am layers but then I go to the Jewish public library in Montreal and they have a full bookshelf of different mid-russium and I pull out um I I just pull them off the shelf all of them and I go through the story uh um through each one I'll go through members I'll go through town you know I'll go through the uh well Metro shrava meters you know I'll go through all the mid Russian that are on um on that story how much more information do you get from madrasium than you do from the actual story in Tanakh depends on the story let's say for this one for this one a lot a lot more well no not that much because the story is is basically there the story is straightforward in shimshin in tanak and I encourage everyone to really read it in the Tanakh and you'll see you'll be able to see that there are bits and pieces that are added but young avram doesn't exist in the entire Tyra there is nothing about so using that as an example yeah it was almost Russian when we wrote Leon avram it was all madrasia yeah I mean we have remember we had lists and lists of madrasion we basically took each medicine we had to write we wrote it out as a line on a papers just to have typed it up I filed something yeah what about the jokes where are those from the Jokes which measures are those from the jokes and as a follow-up to that what like are you making any other videos the initial idea was to to create this into some sort of Series where and and that was heim's idea and it's a brilliant one where um and the idea is going to be to go through many stories from Jewish history um particularly through the Tanakh era and just after it um where and to have children um going through some sort of Crisis some something is that that they they face a challenge and they need to go back in time to learn from our heroes from outside our the people who you know in Tanakh or or in that area and then come back and apply it and actually learn from it and and in that way the viewers also learn that lesson and that's the idea so next yeah so next up is isabi but not just the story of Hanukkah Hanukkah has a message TV is going to figure out what that message is just like if this the just like he figured out what the message was for sure because besides learning it as a story or as a history of what happened there's also it's a it's something that we have to take and learn from and messages that we have to learn and when I work also just mentioned something that I think is so important you know when and and sweet you can speak of this also and I'll speak for myself and maybe behind you as well I wasn't the best kid in Yeshiva but I had this dream as a kid that one day that we would be able to make videos that were as good as some of the things the videos that are out there in in the world that that were for from people yeah but for from kids and like this is a dream and to see this actually come alive and and just be real and finally be on the screen it's just really special the truth is we're very grateful to you for creating that and along with that you don't realize that but but you're you're you're you're leading a revolution in not just a revolution and there's education that comes with it and and that I'm I'm extremely grateful that you're that that you're doing it even if I wasn't writing it I would be grateful but I think yeah thank you but it only happens with a good team only happens with good guys I couldn't I could you know it's one thing to have an idea and then another thing to have great guys that can thank you for joining us for this behind the scenes look of shimtion