"Ask ERB" Pete & Lloyd - Part 2

Here is Part 2 of the answers to the questions you posed us in 'Ask Erb'. 

Note: You can read through Part 1 here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/27842589 

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Which battles do you think had the best visuals? 

Lloyd: I think Gretzky vs. Hawk is super impressive and underrated.

Pete: Stevie Wonder vs Wonder Woman, Teddy vs Churchill and Bond vs Powers 

What was your favourite beat you used in an erb? 

Lloyd: Impossible to just list one. Here's three: Adam vs Eve, Ghost of Rich Dudes Present and Wallace vs. Washington

Pete: Vader vs Hitler Part 1. That beat still slams.

How long exactly did it take for Lloyd to figure out how to do Edison without slipping into Gates? 

Lloyd: Actually, those two were very different characters for me and I never had trouble mixing one up with the other.  

Pete: Ha ha, I don’t know, I didn’t direct that one, we were still working with Dave at that point. In the recording process, I don’t remember having that problem. I do remember - Lloyd came out of another room with the first verse and character pretty much complete. That’s rare. And it was awesome. 

What is your advice to noobs who are inspired by you, and want to follow in your footsteps? 

Pete: My main advice - work on your content and your craft, don’t worry about viewers or what people think until you KNOW you’re making good stuff. If you make a great piece of content, people will find it. Then they’ll want another one and that’s the really hard part.

Is it tough making the battles still feel dynamic without Andrew's 3D environments? 

Lloyd: Andrew is and was amazing and his backgrounds brought a whole new depth of reality to the videos. Every season we have new challenges and finding a way to make the battles work without him has been one of our biggest this year.  I gotta give it up to Josh and Javi who have been stepping up in a major way to make it work. 

Pete: Yes and no. It’s moved us into a different sort of movement - based around nulls and spinning on the X and Y axis instead of moving in depth on the Z. In some ways, it’s opened up editing to allow more abstract moves like we had in Season 1. But yeah, Andrew was a beast. His backgrounds were only a part of his immense skill set. And - for trivia - he had never used After Effects before working on ERB. He taught himself AE and Cinema 4D. Beast.

Are there any characters you feel like reusing? 

Lloyd: Sure. Beethoven could make a reappearance and Teddy Roosevelt.  

Pete: I always have fun daydreaming about Stephen Hawking coming back.

Who's been you favorite character to portray, and which performance would you say is your best? 

Lloyd:  Favorites to play have to be Teddy,  Al Capone and <sigh> Hitler. But I think Hannibal Lecter was my best performance and biggest stretch as an actor.

Pete: I had a surprising amount of fun with Cat in the Hat, maybe because it was just my voice pretty much normal, and I got to wear sunglasses. Honestly that’s probably it. Which performance is my best? I thiiiiiiiink Ivan the Terrible. I honestly forget it’s me. That’s a weird feeling to have while watching yourself.

Have you ever hit a creative roadblock, or do you worry about hitting that in the future? 

Lloyd: Yes, I hit roadblocks about every three days.  It happens so much now I don't really worry about it anymore cause I know it won't be my first or last. I just kinda put my head down and barrel my way through it.

Pete: Every single day. I go around them, over them, or through them. Accepting roadblocks as a regular part of the creative process is very important. Same as accepting technical problems as part of the production process. We will hit snags, bumps, blocks, and dead ends. By keeping the mind open, and the teamwork and collaboration flowing freely, those become pauses, jumping off points, turns, and learning experiences.

Lloyd - what's the bigger challenge, 1) being half naked all day for Adam Vs Eve or 2) being in that turtle suit for Artists vs TMNT? 

Lloyd:  Ninja Turtles hands down. Being half naked wasn’t difficult at all!

Lloyd - what is favorite Wolverine comic/story-line? 

Lloyd: No specific story-line but my favorite was Wolverine in those X-men the Animated Series 90’s cartoons.

What was Lloyd's favorite performance of Peter's all time? 

Lloyd: I think Jim Henson. He just completely transformed himself into the spirit of Henson and it was a beautiful thing.

What was Peter's favorite performance of Lloyd's? 

Pete: It has to be Hannibal Lecter!

Who inspires each of you in your creative endeavours? 

Lloyd: I own a comedy club so I get to see really talented people all the time. Sometimes stand ups, sometimes musicians, sometimes improvisers. Each week I usually see at least 3 or 4 live shows and i’m inspired every time.

Pete: Sometimes the characters we learn about offer a good deal of inspiration. Hard working group the most of them.

What was the hardest part of working on Zuck vs Musk after a 2 year break? 

Lloyd: The song. Specifically getting the voice of Elon Musk right...still not sure I did.

Pete: The voices in the recording process. It had been long time since we made any music at all, to jump into it in others’ voices was even clunkier.

Has becoming independent become a cause for you all interacting more with fans this season? 

Lloyd: 100% We have way more access now and being independent has made us totally retool the way our production works. Enrolling the audience has been a key part of this new phase of the project and opening up a little is a big part of that.

Pete: Yes, but not so much a cause - as a result. We’ve leaned into them as the support base of the series, where it used to be a big company.

How do you go about finding suggestions? Do you have dedicated times or just screen cap the ones you like as you see them? 

Lloyd: We’re always keeping our eyes open for good stuff on social media and in the comments. When we see something we like we file them away mentally and then when it’s time to talk match ups it’s pretty easy to go back and find them.

Pete: We listen to the internet and to each other and to ideas that just keep popping up in comments and looking good, or popping up once at the right time. This Patreon has been a great extension of the process of mining ideas.

Why does Pete not yell the intro anymore? 

Pete: Beats haven’t called for it I don’t think, but maybe I don’t like to shout as much at the moment.

If you had an unlimited budget, what would you create? 

Lloyd: The Millennium Falcon

Pete: A Dogfight scene - probably will anyway.

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Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. We will publish Part 3 of this Q/A sometime next week. And we will try to do more of these Q/A type posts throughout the year. [Look out for a post on Patreon and in the #ask-erb channel on Discord asking for questions]