The filmmakers behind the "What What (In The Butt)" viral video sensation are getting into the app making business with a new series of advice generators featuring offbeat celebrities.
Bobby Ciraldo and Andrew Swant, who found themselves in the news recently after filing a copyright infringement lawsuit against South Park Digital Studios and its parent companies for essentially recreating their popular music video for Samwell, have just released "Shaky Advice From Neil Hamburger."
Their newest iTunes app features the boozed up lounge comedian Neil Hamburger character played by Gregg Turkington, and it has been a hot seller on the iTunes App Store.
OnMilwaukee.com talked with Ciraldo about how a couple of filmmakers got into the app business and what it was like working with the greasy-haired cult comedian.
OnMilwaukee.com: How long have you been developing apps? Have you done any before the Hamburger app?
Bobby Ciraldo: We haven't been developing apps for very long, maybe a year or so, off and on. It started with "Shaky Advice from Samwell," which like our new app is like a Magic 8 Ball toy, only with funny video answers instead of the short text responses (e.g., "Answer unclear, try again").
OMC: Tell me a little about the app? How does it work and what's it all about?
Andrew Swant: When you're in a quandary and faced with an intractable dilemma, all you have to do is ask Neil Hamburger a yes/no question and then shake the phone for a few seconds. While the phone is shaking you'll hear ice clinking around in a glass (Neil Hamburger always has several cocktails going at once during his act) and the screen will become a swirling hypnosis spiral that assists in reading the user's mind. A magic chime will sound when your answer is ready, and Neil Hamburger will appear before a red curtain and offer his expert opinion on the question at hand. There are 30 unique video answers; 10 are positive, 10 are negative, and 10 are sort of ambiguous.
OMC: How do a couple of film guys get into making apps?
BC: We both have iPhones and were immediately struck by how cool and weird this new medium actually is. It's interactive. Mainstream video games are also interactive, but people's expectations are high due to the steep price tag. As far as expectations go, mobile phone apps are borderline disposable, they're impulse-buy entertainment. Since we're filmmakers, we tried to think of a simple app that could somehow feature video segments.
OMC: How did you get hooked up with Neil? Did you approach him with it? How'd it all come together?
AS: We originally contacted him through his agent when he agreed to be in our upcoming "Hamlet A.D.D." film. He plays Osric, a member of the royal court. After that we kept in touch and the last time we were in L.A. we asked him if he'd be interested in collaborating on an iPhone app. He liked the concept and wrote a bunch of answers suitable for yes/no questions. They were all hilarious, but in the end we had to narrow them down to the top 30. We shot with him in our green screen studio when he was in town on tour. He's super cool -- very professional and fun to work with.
OMC: Are you happy with how it all turned out? What kind of feedback have you got on it?
BC: The response has been great and the app is selling really well. It has a five-star rating in the iTunes App Store!
OMC: What was it like working with Neil?
AS: He has a special hair product that he uses when he's in character, but because of airport security being so strict he was worried he wouldn't be able to bring a sufficient amount on the plane, so he sent it to us though the U.S. Mail. We're longtime fans, so getting a package of Hamburger's hair product in the mail was quite an honor.
He's really good at improvising, so it was hard to keep from cracking up when we were shooting him. We messed up a couple takes because you could hear us laughing in the background.
It's hard to recognize him when he's not in costume. When we picked him up at his hotel, Bobby walked by him twice without knowing who he was!
OMC: Are you guys working on any other apps?
BC: We're planning on Shaky Advice becoming a long series of apps, each featuring interesting celebrity personalities. Right now there are only two: Samwell and Neil Hamburger, but hopefully the list will grow. We'd love to get some Shaky Advice from people like Mark Borchardt, William Shatner, Pee Wee Herman, Richard Simmons and Elvira. We're also considering some fictional public-domain "celebrities" like Santa Claus and maybe even Jesus.
