7th time around the looking back series, we'll look back at SSU's premiére video,
Restart.
This video, released in 2008, came as a real shocker to many, because this was a brand new crew with mostly unknown stunters around GTAS. Great combination and variety of stunts, superb editing and a guest starring by DeathCobra are among the things that make this video stand out. I won't talk too much about it, as for this episode we got a special double interview between veteran SSU member
MtS and a former SSU member, regarded by many as the icon of SSU for a long time,
Plani.
[SSU]RestartWhile you're enjoying the video, feel free to read through this long
MtS/Plani interview:
PtR: "SSU is a crew that appeared pretty much outta nowhere and immediately imposed themselves on the SA scene with this first video, a great surprise to everyone who didn't know of this crew before. Tell me about the events leading up to the release: Were you just a group of brazilian stunters that all enjoyed the art of stunting, or is there a wider history behind the inception of SSU?"
MtS: "All members from Restart were previously in the Pro Stunters crew (which was also called NFS because we changed the name since there was another PS (Poison Stunters)). We had some fights inside PS, and the crew died. After this, CrusTy and ReapeR were finishing their duo (they were in NFS also), and they decided to create a crew and invited FLeX who brought some old PS members into the crew. In PS we all started stunting just for fun and stuff, we never knew that it would grow to become a crew like it is today, but we had some awesome feedback from Brazillian SA-MP players which also gave us more motivation for stunting."
Plani: "As MtS said the crew was all made of "old Brazilian stunters" that had at least 1 year of experience in stunting. I was the "new guy". When ReapeR told me about NFS i thought "I have to learn this stuff!" and i started practicing. I made 3 auditions to enter the crew. I made it on the 3rd try and happily I managed to be in this amazing video."
PtR: "Thank you for your detailed answers. I'd like to know a little more of the background info on this video though. How long did it take to stunt for it? Was it a smooth or a slow process in your opinion?"
MtS: "Well, the stunting wasn't too slow because we already had some stunts from our old PS video (which never got released), but the editing process was slow. It took a few months, because Franco usually runs late in his projects, but he did a great work and he improved a lot. CrusTy was the only one who didn't land anything, dunno why, he just wasn't so excited about stunting anymore i guess."
Plani: "From what I remember the video took a lot of time to be finished. The stunting process wasn't really a problem, but I remember that in the process we had some fights and stuff and that slowed down the progress a little bit. And Franco took a loooot of time to edit! A funny story behind it is that Franco disappeared like a week before the video release and everybody was pissed off. One day he posted a message to everybody's MSN that said ''21:00'' and got offline. Nobody understood it, but that night the mystery was revealed .At exactly 21:00 Franco appeared out of nowhere with the video uploaded and released it."
PtR: "Interesting anegdote there João. Let's go to the actual video - as all videos start with an intro, let's start from there. The intro was very well performed but the story behind it didn't seem that clear to me - could you guys describe the idea?"
MtS: "The idea is like, 1 scientist finds some stunters, then he kidnaps one of them and clones him, then these stunter-clones are supposed to be SSU, which just got created. It looked offensive for me because i have a twin brother. =/"
Plani: "The idea was exactly what MtS said. Actually, making the intro was the best part of this video for me."
PtR: "Plani, I've been reading through the Restart thread and I noticed you mentioning it's the first SA video you participated in - I doubt a lot of stunters can say their first video was like that. Now, looking back on it, how did you feel when the video was released?"
Plani: "I felt really honoured. My stunts weren't that good but people enjoyed them i think. Aproxx, for example, mentioned that he liked my stuff and that was a great motivation for me at the time, as he was a huge influence for me."
PtR: "And as for you MtS, many people (including me) have pointed you out as the standout stunter of this video alongside Franco. Did you enjoy reading all those reviews about your stuff, and do you agree? Which stunts would you single out?"
MtS: "Well, i really loved to read them of course, lots of people commented about my stuff, and Franco definitely owned with his iBSM's, but my stuff wasn't the best in my opinion because two of them were just luck and one was old. I guess the stunts I liked the most were Plani's NRG wallride to precision, XeRoX's drop bump (because of the creativity involved) and Franco's iBSM to precision at SF airport tower because of the difficulty, Franco really spent a long time trying that stunt and landed it in the best way possible."
PtR: "One of the things which make this video particularly interesting is DeathCobra's participation as a guest - given that none of you were terribly active on GTAS, how did you convince him to send one stunt over?"
MtS: "I actually talked to him, I just asked if he wanted to join as guest and he said yes and sent two stunts, but due to the slow pace of the editing he released one before the video, so Franco just took the other one."
Plani: "What MtS said."
PtR: "Another thing singled out by a lot of reviewers is the editing and the music. Given the amount of time Franco always takes for his releases, was the end product satisfactory? Do you think he showed your stunts in a good light?"
MtS: "Well, it took a lot of time, but it was worth it in my opinion because he did an amazing job and surprised us a lot, I liked the way he showed my stunts, couldn't imagine them edited in another way."
Plani: "For that time the editing was awesome (and still is). I think that Franco really brought fresh air to GTAS editing, as his style is really unique. Despite some minor errors (mostly because of inexperience in my opinion), the final product was fantastic! It's very impressive from a guy that basically came out of nowhere, it shows that he is really talented."
PtR: "It was a long wait after this video to see another major release by SSU. The crew was "clinically dead" for a very long period. Which chain of events was responsible for this hiatus?"
MtS: "We let a lot of guys in, and some of them were a little suspicious modding-wise. Nobody in the crew had good experience to recognize modders, and with lots of members, there were some internal fights which lead to division of members, it really couldn't have ended up well."
Plani: "Basically, we started to accept every audition that showed off a 'decent' level of stunting. The result was a lot of random modders in the crew, which resulted in a lot of problems inside the crew. Eventually, me and ReapeR created ''Unbroken Empire'' (That crew had an impressive lineup for that time, with guys like TurBo, Damster, Must_Die, FlatHead...) and MtS and FLeX joined Destroying borders. That was the time when the crew got on a big hiatus."
PtR: "And, to wrap this interview up - SSU seems like a really nice and stable crew at the moment, regularly producing stunning videos. Do you see it being a hard contender for the crew of the year award this year? How long do you see it lasting?"
MtS: "Well, maybe we can, it depends. SSU has recently acquired a lot of new awesome members like Jeff, Shifftee, Ktulu; combined with the other ones who were in before, the crew is really making effort for creating awesome videos and I'm expecting some incredible stuff in the future.
Plani: "As their #1 fan i have to say that SSU is one of the best crews at the moment in GTAS. With the amazing stunters that joined them lately, they are one of the biggest favourites for winning the ''Crew of the year'' award! Obviously there are other really good crews out there (WH <3) and it's gonna be a great and fun match to see who will win it in the end!"
PtR: "Thanks for the interview guys."
