Reviewerverse Free Press Returns From An Unscheduled Absence with ZenithWillRule!

Hello, all!  I’d like to apologize for the delay in getting interviews up.  I hate schedule slippage as much as the rest of the world, but sometimes life interrupts.  Anyway,  here’s ZenithWillRule!

Mehe:   Hello and Welcome to Reviewerverse Free Press!  Today, we’re talking with Zenith Will Rule!

Zenith:  Hi everybody! Happy to join you today.  This is the first time I’ve ever been interviewed for my work.

Mehe:  Well, we here at Reviewerverse Free Press are glad to do it!  Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Zenith: Well, I’m known around the Reviewaverse as Zenith and I am really a jack of all trades in many aspects.  It took me a while to come up with what I even wanted to review because I do so many things.  I am a writer, photographer, film student, and so much more.  It’s somewhat hard to choose what I love more because I love media so much really.

Zenith: In the end I decided to let that be my strength and become a Media reviewer. You could say its a bit like an anti-Spoony concept in a way.  He tears apart numerous different childhood memories where I talk about stuff that I like and try to showcase why Media either works or doesn’t work.

Mehe: Have you found that works a little better?

Zenith: ell, yes and not works better for me because I’m not shoehorned into one category.  You won’t find people asking me why I’m not reviewing horror or comics anymore because I just don’t have a category.  I make several different series based on things I like but I’m free and open to do whatever I want.

Zenith:  However, the main caveat to that is it is insanely hard to build an audience with this kind of subject.  People want to see the game reviewer or the movie buff or the anime specialist.  That’s what they generally gravitate towards and it took quite a long time to get the audience that I have now.

Mehe: But you have built a loyal fanbase with your approach.

Zenith: As of right now, I would say yes.  I have a steadily increasing view count and people who follow me on twitter to ask me questions about my next review subject. It’s not on a major scale but I’m rather blown away that I have a fanbase really.  It’s quite humbling.

Mehe:  So with no major focus how do you decide what to review?

Zenith:  Well, this wasn’t always the case.  When I started out I wanted to just review movies and I took a very Nostalgia Critic approach.  Needless to say, I hate that first video.  It’s the only one that I have set to private because I can’t watch it anymore.  However,  the negative reaction to my review of All Dogs Go To Heaven did give me an idea to branch out and try different things.  I went to a couple of movie premieres and interviewed people there.  Did reaction videos and recaps.  After that, I tried to do book reviews like Derek The Bard but I found that books are generally too long for a decent review on my part.  I transitioned to anime and manga from there because I know a lot more about that genre. From there, I just decided to do everything.  It can be kind of confusing trail to follow but I think once I made the transition to anime I had gotten the hang of video making enough to really figure out what I wanted and the approach that I was taking.

Mehe:  Where can people unfamiliar to you find you?

Zenith:  Well, recently I have become affiliated with numerous different websites.  I originated on Comic Book Therapy.com and they have been with me since the beginning.  I can’t thank them enough for hosting my work for this long.  After that I joined One Piece At A Time Blog and DVD20 Productions, the latter of which gave me my website. However, the main sites I am with right now are Nerdvice.com, Space Monkey Mafia Studios, Channel Zero, and Rosenhacker.com.  It’s a lot of support really but I have to say my two main are Nerdvice and Channel Zero.  They have really embraced me and my videos and have supported me the entire time.

Mehe:  We’ve been told that you have a pretty important project coming up, Those Who Fight!. Care to share a little bit about that?

Zenith: Ah, Those Who Fight!.  This is my favorite project that I am working on and simultaneously the most hated by those who bash on reviewers.  Those Who Fight! is a feature-length film that involves just about every review site and reviewer that I could get in contact with.  The trailers make it out to be a bit like the TGWTG anniversary films with more people but I assure you, these trailers are lies.  I wanted to get people interested in the project but the main thing that I want to stress about this is that it is a bit different.  I’m not going about this project in a normal way.  I guess you could call it a pastiche approach.  Every single cast member has complete creative control over their lines, their character, and the way they are represented in the film.  I just gave them a template of what the scene was about and they went from there.  It’s very much a community film and I’m trying to make my part as minimal as I can.  Another major inspiration for this project is the film Memento.  There will be some big twists in this and it will not, and I stress that not, be presented in a normal movie fashion.

Zenith:  I’m hoping to release it January of next year.  If all goes according to plan, it will be premiered at Magfest for all those attending the con.

Mehe:  So, of all your reviews, where would you recommend a new person start watching?

Zenith:  Well, I think where I first became watchable was in the Game Of The Week episodes.  That’s where Media Meltdown 2.0 officially begins for me.  However, I’m still not too big a fan of those because of the editing and my camera mic.  I would personally recommend watching at the beginning of History Of One Piece.  That was when I got my new mic and started my new approach.  Everything from that point on (Weekly Dose Of Awesome, Anime Observations) I consider MM 3.0 and my best work to date.  I have much better stage presence, better audio, and all around better confidence in my work.

Mehe:  What equipment do you use?

Zenith:   I use a Blue Yeti usb microphone and a Canon T3I video camera.  I generally find that on-board camera mics are rather sub-par  so I got the best quality video/picture camera that I could afford.  I capture audio and video at the same time and sync them up later in editing.  I used to suck at that but it gets much easier once you know how to zoom in and match the waveform.

Mehe: That sounds… tedious!

Zenith:  It can be but a little extra time can mean the difference between a good review and a great one.  That’s why I don’t generally set a schedule for myself.  I could make five reviews a week but they wouldn’t be up to my standard.  I make videos at my own pace and it works out better for me.

Mehe:  Sounds like you’ve got yourself a plan worked out.  Other than Those Who Fight!, have you got any upcoming projects planned that you’re excited about?

Zenith: Well, there are three major projects that I’m focused on that I’m rather excited about.  The first is a complete retrospective of Final Fantasy.  This includes the numbered entries, the side games, the games that aren’t technically Final Fantasy but have the FF name.  I’m covering it all from beginning to end as best I can.  I’ve been working on this idea since last november and I finally have everything set up for it.  Title cards, props, t-shirts, etcetera.  So I’m really pushing this one.

The second project is a continuation project based on popular demand.  See, I used to do podcasts in addition to my reviews and I hosted them on blip.  However, since blip refused to give producers with audio content advanced features, I had to remove my podcasts and other audio work.  Of these podcasts, my favorite (and the one with an actual legit fanbase) was the Disney Debate, where my friend and I would watch each Disney film in order (from live action to animated films) and discuss them.  Since podcasts are no longer feasible and my co-host left to pursue her own video work, I’m bringing this back as a video series called Project Disney.  Every Disney tv show, film, and product will be covered eventually.

The last is another I’ve been working on for a while but didn’t have enough knowledge to do.  I’m going to start doing Doctor Who reviews from the first doctor to the 11th, going serial by serial.  I tried this once before but the first episode was not my best work.  I didn’t know enough about the mythos or Britain in general to do such a project.  However, now that I’ve seen all of modern Doctor Who, I’m ready to begin again.

Mehe:  Speaking of Doctor Who, what fandoms would you place yourself in?

Zenith: I have so many it’s hard to name them all. I love Pokemon, Digimon, Power Rangers, Doctor Who, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic among others.

Mehe:  Another Brony! That begs the question: Who is best pony?

Zenith:  Yeah, I’m a bit of a brony.  I have a few favorites actually.  I love Pinkie Pie because there has never been an episode where she has failed to make me laugh.  She is random, unpredictable, and simply fun.  I like Rainbow Dash a lot too because she is a strong role model for young women.  She’s strong, brave, and 20% cooler than what girls have to look up to normally.  Last but not least, I love the Wonderbolts.  Their design is just plain cool (points to Wonderbolts hoodie featured in a review). The are basically Pegasus kings of the sky and I think that’s cool.

I do think that the fans blow the show out of proportion a lot but from my standpoint, Lauren Faust (creator of Foster’s Home and Powerpuff Girls) can do no wrong.  She made millions of kids love Powerpuff and that’s girly as hell.  She just makes gender blind creations that work because they’re great character pieces.  Nothing more, nothing less.  It’s not the best thing out there but for a kids show it’s damn good.

Mehe:  There’s been a lot of controversy as of the show direction starting with season three, can you comment on your opinion about that?

Zenith: Well, since Lauren left the show, the changes are very apparent.  There are fewer musical numbers and much more focus on the overarching plots than before.  I honestly think this is a good thing though.  The musical numbers are still generally good (on par with Phineas and Ferb) and the characters are advancing along the same path.  I’ve only seen half of the 3rd season at this point but what I saw is the same quality as before.  Now, I know about the whole Alicorn controversy too and I will say this. It’s been hinted at since season one.  It’s a natural evolution of the character and it’s not because they need a princess.  I think it’s a great development and people like to just hate on it for arbitrary reasons. The same reason why people hate Celestia.  Racism?  Really?  If you squint at it maybe.  People read to much into things.  I would say more but I may review the show at some point.  Well, I still like the show. If people want to complain about the growing pains, tell it to the original MLP which is unwatchable.

Mehe:  Well, Zenith, it’s been really awesome of you to allow us to spend some time with you tonight, but alas, all good interviews must come to an end.  Any parting words for the readers?

Zenith:  Thank you for reading this interview guys.  It’s been a pleasure and I hope you take a look at my little review show when you get a chance.  You may see something quite awesome if you take a look.  This is Zenithwillrule signing off.