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There is more information available on this subject at Rooster Teeth Productions on the English Wikipedia. |
Rooster Teeth Productions is a production group that specializes in the creation of machinima, or films created using real-time, interactive engines from computer and video games. They are best known for the creation of Red vs. Blue which led to the creation of Reconstruction, the miniseries Relocated and Recreation. The name originates from a common insult in Red vs. Blue, "cockbite." As such, the company logo consists of a silhouette of a rooster and a wind-up chattering teeth toy.
Further connection with the Halo series comes from the Achievement Hunter part of the company, which focusses on gaming. Several of their series, such as Fails of the Weak and Achievement HORSE are centered around the Halo games, although lately other games have been used with these concepts as well. The Halo games are also featured in several other Achievement Hunter shows.
History
While attending the University of Austin at Texas in 1997, students Matt Hullum and Burnie Burns worked with actor Joel Heyman to produce an independent film, The Schedule. The film had limited success and Burns began working at a local communications company, while Hullum and Heyman continued seeking filmography work in Los Angeles. While in Austin, Burns met Geoff Ramsey, Gus Sorola, Jason Saldaña, and Dan Godwin. In 2003, the five formed drunkgamers.com, a video game review website in which the five would review games while drunk in an attempt to get free video games. The group extensively played Halo: Combat Evolved and in a multiplayer match, they discussed if the Warthog looked like a puma. This led to the creation of Red vs. Blue, a machinima series created with the Combat Evolved engine that was intended to last for six to eight episodes. Hullum and Heyman were contacted to work on the series with them. However, while drunkgamers.com was successful to some degree, the website ended shortly after the first episode of Red vs. Blue aired.[1]
However, Red vs. Blue's success led to the creation of Rooster Teeth. The series is still active as of 2014 and has received recognition and support from its large fan base and even Bungie Studios. In 2006, Rooster Teeth Productions formed its own webcomic series, Rooster Teeth Comics. The strip portrays the staff members in humorous situations often relating to real life events in the lives of the staff, or other widely recognized current events. It is drawn by Luke McKay, a Rooster Teeth employee, and written by Griffon Ramsey, the wife of Geoff Ramsey. The series was discontinued on August 20, 2011.[2]
In 2006, Geoff Ramsey formed Achievement Hunter after realizing that there was a lack of Xbox 360 achievement guides. Achievement Hunter was received with very positive reviews and has since created numerous Halo-related series with the website. In late 2007, Rooster Teeth created a Halo 3 multiplayer gametype called Grifball, played on the maps Foundry and Sandbox. Bungie has included the gametype in Double EXP Weekends in Halo 3. Rooster Teeth has organized an official Grifball league.
Projects
Halo based
Red vs. Blue
- The Blood Gulch Chronicles
- Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles - The original series composed of five seasons.
- Red vs. Blue: Out of Mind - A miniseries in between Season 4 and Season 5 of The Blood Gulch Chronicles.
- The Recollection
- Red vs. Blue: Recovery One - Taking place after Out of Mind, this miniseries sets up Reconstruction and the Recollection story arc.
- Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction - A sequel series taking place after The Blood Gulch Chronicles and Recovery One. This begins the three season Recollection story arc.
- Red vs. Blue: Relocated - A miniseries that takes place between Reconstruction and Recreation.
- Red vs. Blue: Recreation - The series set up by Relocated.
- Red vs. Blue: Revelation - The series that conclusion the Recollection story arc.
- Project Freelancer
- Red vs. Blue: Season 9 - A sequel and prequel series that tells the events after the Recollection story arc, as prior to The Blood Gulch Chronicles story arc.
- Red vs. Blue: MIA - A miniseries follow the Reds and Blues as they search for Grif, who is missing.
- Red vs. Blue: Where There's a Will, There's a Wall - A miniseries relating to the Reds attempting to find out what is behind the wall in Hemorrhage, while the Blues receive a Falcon transport as a shipment and what they plan to do with it.
- Red vs. Blue: Season 10 - A continuation from the two separate plot parts of Season 9, with Church now out of the memory unit and the Freelancer back story approaches closer to events that lead to the Blood Gulch Chronicles and Recollections.
- Chorus Saga
- Red vs. Blue: Season 11 - A sequel series that takes place sometime after the present-day events of Season 10, and follows the adventures of the Reds and Blues after their ship crash lands in an unknown location.
- Red vs. Blue: Season 12 - Following the previous season, Tucker, Grif, Caboose, and Simmons join the New Republic to rescue the captured Reds and Blues.
Grifball
Non-Halo based
Live action
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Achievement Hunter
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Trivia
Miscellaneous
- Several of the Rooster Teeth employees, notably the voice actors of main cast of Red vs. Blue, were featured in the Halo 3 level Crow's Nest, in which two Marines are seen arguing over a password. The voices vary depending on difficulty.[3]
- On Bungie Day 2010, two months before the launch of Halo: Reach, Rooster Teeth released a Red vs. Blue short featuring the characters of the Machinima previewing Hemorrhage, the Reach remake of the original Halo: Combat Evolved multiplayer map Blood Gulch.
- Jen Taylor, Cortana's and Catherine Halsey's voice actress, was the narrator in the first episode of RWBY.[4]
References
- In the Halo 2 multiplayer map Turf, there are two soda machines referencing the Rooster Teeth logo. One has a picture of a rooster with a blue silhouette on it, and the other has teeth with a red and green silhouette. One of them is near the tent and the other is in the "warehouse", the room with the swing doors. This Easter Egg was referenced in the Red vs. Blue season five DVD in which Church shows Doc the logo. Despite Church's many hints to Doc, the latter never gets it and just thinks that it says "Soda pop".
- In Halo: Reach, some of the soldiers names in the Fireteam mechanic are the names of some Rooster Teeth employees.