10 Reasons Rooster Teeth Is The Best Production Company Ever

With a 7 million+ following, four of the most viewed Youtube channels and just now the most crowdfunded sci-fi film ever, Rooster Teeth really are kind of a big deal.

10 Reasons Rooster Teeth Is The Best Production Company Ever

Renowned online for their crude comedy and commitment to proud geekery with over 50 different in-house video series, including viral simulations, short films, gaming tournaments, Achievement Hunter and even their own hit anime production RWBY, Rooster Teeth have inspired thousands of companies and internet identities beyond comprehension. Now, taking on a new frontier to create their own theatrical feature film, Lazer Team, let's take a look back at 10 (out of a potential 100) reasons why Rooster Teeth is the best production company ever made...

#1. Red Vs. Blue: The World's Longest Running Webisode Series

Based on the acclaimed Halo video game franchise, Red Vs. Blue has successfully ran for over 12 years, following the daily struggles of two undermining teams who are stranded in the galaxy's least war-torn area: a box canyon. With an abundance of crass, swear words and dry humor packed inside each 3 - 5 minute episode, it is not hard to believe why this award-winning series has become one of the most inspirational and defining production hits of today's market.

Considered "pioneers of the field" by Machinima CEO, Allen DeBevoise, the comedic game enthusiasts created an instant cult following, totaling 1 million views by their third episode -- an ironically hefty success back then due to video hosting costs -- and have since produced over 200 episodes, with seasons distributed by brands such as Hulu and Blip, with new episodes for Season 12 being premiered right now on their website.

#2. Apple Switch Ad Parody: The Pre-Youtube Viral Sensation

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In a time before online video platforms existed, producers and publishers alike had to pay to have videos encoded directly into specific website pages -- a hard endeavor for swift media sharing by today's standards. However in 2002, Rooster Teeth founders Burnie Burns and Gustavo Sorola created a satirical advert through their hobby-centric website, Drunk Gamers, in response to Apple's Mac campaign at the time, which snowballed it's way around the internet in 24 hours unlike anything seen before via email.

Burnie Burns noted this was a pivotal moment for the gang's belief in internet content, being made before Rooster Teeth even existed. Drunk Gamers ended after a few months, and it was only when Computer Gaming World Magazine asked to include the Mac parody ad in their monthly promotional CD-ROM that the Austin tech heads decided to create Rooster Teeth as a new name for people to follow -- this is what drove RVB's first episode to be made and the rest is history.

#3. The Gauntlet: The Greatest Episodic Gaming Tournament

In partnership with media platform Blip, Rooster Teeth offered thousands of fans and general gamers alike the opportunity to win $10,000 by surviving rigorous waves of auditions, challenges and battles across ten episodes at the Rooster Teeth Studios. It received a heavy following and proved once again that the company is as diverse as it is consistent for new media.

After such great success online, a second season was made in 2013 with a twist to the tournament format: instead of just community members battling each other, this time they were pitted against employees of Rooster Teeth itself, Achievement Hunter and a team of internet celebrities (Greg Miller of IGN, Freddie Wong of Rocket Jump and VGHS, Adam Kovic of Machinima, and iJustine), all with a higher production value and reach as evident in the first episode below:

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#4. The Slow-Mo Guys: Explosive Frame-Rate Heaven

Started by cinematographer Gavin Free (Top Gear, Planet Earth, Hot Fuzz) in 2010 whilst living in the UK, The Slow Mo Guys channel has raked in a total of nearly 400,000,000 views and has appeared on international television including The Tonight Show for its mesmerizing videos. Gavin was one of the first ever operators of slow motion cameras in the UK and worked on multiple film, TV and music video productions before making the viral hit channel.

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With explosions of guns, buildings, paint and watermelons -- not to forget their affinity for giving tech hardware a week of sledgehammers -- you will soon come to love how the SMG revolution is what granted Gavin a USA visa to join Rooster Teeth after years of being a RVB fan and collaborator, with Rooster Teeth in-turn distributing and co-producing his videos.

#5. TV Commercials: Microsoft, EA & Trolling Dallas Clark

Rooster Teeth are well-known across the gaming community as comedians at heart, being one of the first American production companies to use sarcasm and dry wit as key components for their entire 5 season catalogue of comedy short films. This and their cult following attracted the attention of game developers to produce niche market adverts, promoting key titles like Halo, Mass Effect, Mortal Kombat and more.

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When commissioned for a string of Madden NFL 2007 ads on TV, American football professional Dallas Clark expressed offense of his portrayal in one of the commercials, so the guys decided to reply with a director's cut that won gaming audiences the world over for their sharp wit and impressive animation capabilities (not to forget the fact that Dallas Clark is awesome).

#6. Immersion: Hilarious Simulations Based On Iconic Games

Being a company whereby its community has a passion for gaming, a 2 season production called Immersion was made to test the most iconic aspects of video games in live-action simulations. Using a variety of rigging systems, virtual reality headsets (think Oculus Rift) and stunt extras, the RT gang put their own employees through hilarious tests that we are all too adjusted to on a 2D plane. Episodes feature driving in the 3rd person perspective, online troll distractions, the miraculous healing powers of food, and running with a side-on platform view like Mario as shown below:

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#7. Monty Oum: The Legend Behind Haloid & Dead Fantasy

A drop-out from high school who then taught himself to choreograph, design and animate what are considered two of the greatest game mash-ups to have ever existed. Originally posted on the game community website GameTrailers, Haloid -- an action short featuring Halo's esteemed Master Chief and Metroid hero Samus -- became an instant success and was shortly followed by an other action series called Dead Fantasy, both being widely revered for their advanced animation prowess even by today's standards, all made by one person.

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Within two months of Haloid being released, Monty was contracted by developers Midway Games and Namco Games before meeting Burnie Burns at a comic convention in 2009 and later joined Rooster Teeth, with the above video excerpt of Red Vs. Blue demonstrating exactly what Monty brings to the table and why he earned the title of creator / lead animator for the recent anime series, RWBY.

#8. Gavin Or Google: The Funniest Test of Human Stupidity

Albert Einstein once said, "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe". Well, this show perfectly illustrates that famous quote. We've all had our fair share of face palms whilst watching trivial quiz TV, and you get to relive the feelings of frustration and hilarity on a whole new level with this mini-game that spawned from one of Rooster Teeth's video podcasts.

The rule is simple: Burnie gives three words to Gavin and three words to Google, and whatever comes up afterwards, the other podcast guests must figure who asked what. It may appear simple at first glance, but what Gavin and Google share is an infinity of deluded, misconstrued and straight-up backwards questions that are nearly impossible to keep a straight face at.

Examples include: 'Is a blind person more scared at night?', 'Do homeless people understand knock-knock jokes?' and 'How do dogs know when to stop growing?'. The worst thing of it all: you will love Gavin for it.

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#9. Grifball: The Most Infamous Gametype Throughout The Halo Franchise

Despite being one of the most popular game modes on Halo 3, Halo Reach and Halo 4, not too many people know how it come about. It's origin lays in an episode of Red Vs. Blue, whereby one of the characters (Sarge, voiced by CEO Matt Hullum) goes off on a nostalgic trail of dialogue whilst playing a sadistic game in attempt to kill his subordinate. The character exudes, "This is the best game since Grifball".

It was a quote so fondly phrased by viewers that Burnie Burns created it as a custom game mode on Halo 3; an American football hybrid with swords and giant hammers. It was a gametype played so much by fans, that Bungie decided to make it an official selection for everyone and has since featured in every title.

That's right, fans of a video game made a reference so popular that it became a part of the source. See Rooster Teeth's commissioned video demonstrating the addictive game mode here:

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#10. Lazer Team: The Big-Scale Feature Film That You Can Be A Part Of

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Lazer Team: a sci-fi feature film that has currently raised nearly two million dollars in crowdfunding via an IndieGogo campaign, smashing its initial $600,000 target in the first day. It is the first theatrical attempt from the Austin-based, internet-faced production house after 12 years of content. Being a company that started out with its employer base as half filmmakers--half computer technicians, Rooster Teeth is now finally returning to their root ambitions that most likely made them (for most readers) the biggest production company you've never heard of.

Company CEO and co-founder, Matt Hullum, has personally been involved in multiple high-budget productions as a VFX Production Manager at Warner Brothers Studio and voice actor on titles like Halo 3 & 4. This, and the rest of the 80+ staff in Austin who come from both professionally creative backgrounds and the community itself, provides great hope for what is already a monumental task.

Join the family!

With the fundraising campaign ending this Sunday, Lazer Team is a project not to just keep your eyes on, but one to get involved with and help make happen right here.