Man things have been rough for me. Alas, it's my fault of course. Stupid and regrettable are decisions are my forte at this point and I'm gonna try and change that.

Watch the Documentary --> "The Pot Fillers"

(watch the Documentary first and then read this post).

Still don't regret The Broken post about me. I did go a little to far with being sad though.

Anyway, let's get into it.

The Best Smash Documentary you've never heard of.

The Pot Fillers - Premise

A documentary based off of the Tafokints Melee Science Episode called "The Pot Fillers" it follows the journey of 2 new players- Eamonn "Gudino" Keenan and Clyde "Fat Roscoe" Schwab traveling across the Chicagoland area for two weeks in hopes of improving their craft as they grind, practice, analyze, and perfect their skill in the game they love. Along the way, they learn what it takes to climb the ranks of the game, through improving tournament mentality to optimizing punishes and tech skill.

The Intro

The Start of the Documentary

The documentary starts out with Fat Roscoe and Gudino going inside a house. As they make their way inside, they quickly go to a room with a CRT, GameCube, and quickly sit down and start playing. After playing for a bit, the documentary transitions to Gudino and Fat Roscoe describing their first experience with Melee and what made them get into the competitive scene.

This intro is clean, crisp and well defined. First off, it helps paint a picture of the backstories of the players. This establishes their goals, motivations, and what drives them in Melee.

Gudino plays the game because of nostalgia.

Fat Roscoe plays the game because of his love of seeing himself improve at the Melee.

After this, the documentary makes a cut to what we can presume is our protagonists going to a tournament.

Now, we receive the classic story of what is Melee? How is it played? What's the goal of the game? How do you win?

Just think of the Smash Documentary explaining part about all the advanced techniques.

Fat Roscoe's and Gudino's Journey

Here I'll be covering the 5 tournaments Fat Roscoe and Gudino went to.

Tournament 1:

Fat Roscoe looses 2-0 to NoFluxes to go into losers'.

Gudino looses 2-1 to RoboticPhish to go into losers'.

Fat Roscoe beats Fredo 2-0 to go into losers' round 2.

Windy beats Fat Roscoe 2-0, Fat Roscoe is eliminated.

Gudino beats Lokovodo 2-0 to move onto losers' round 2.

K-Fed beats Gudino 2-0. Gudino is eliminated.

Both players essentially went 1-2 in bracket.

After each tourney both players are asked how they felt it went. This is great, as it captures the spirit of the average smash beginner and is a very easy question to relate too. Fat Roscoe and Gudino often cited a increase in confidence after each event, a good, typical response from most players. Also, Gudino comments on how he felt encouraged to explore and apply his newfound confidence in tournament.

Tournament 2:

Gudino and Fat Roscoe both go 0-2 this time.

Both players are disappointed and thought they could take a leap forward, but are instead pushed back. They take this in stride though, as both use it for motivation to keep improving at Melee.

Tournament 3:

Fat Roscoe goes 1-2. He looses to number 1 on the Chicago PR, Vro.

Gudino goes 2-2.

This tournament shows the progress both players have made in improving. Fat Roscoe runs it close versus Vro the first game he plays him. Gudino makes significant process too as he is the first of the duo to break even and Gudino also runs it close to Wyndy, a really good Marth main.

The reason this tournament is so well made in the documentary is because of the significant progress both players have made. Great moments are made here, as interviewing Gudino on the decisions he made during his set against Wyndy makes it feel like the set really meant something more. It's the slow build of a narrative here, as both players are getting good enough to develop compelling battles against top players in their local scene.

Tournament 4:

Fat Roscoe expresses newfound confidence in his ability as a player to do exactly what he wants with his character; he also feels more in control of the game. Gudino notices that he's doing things he's never done before and is seeing that his training in tech skill is paying off.

This is considered the training montage tournament and to be honest I would've liked to see some more footage from it.

Tournament 5

Both players again go 1-2 at the event. Something is different though. Gudino and Fat Roscoe both express confidence in being able to play against higher level opponents.

This performance is a metaphor in smash. The majority of players have rollercoaster results in the short term but usually end up gradually improving in the long run. It's like if I showed you the average of a rising stock- sure it's always getting higher but if I zoomed in you'd see a bunch of tiny bumps shooting up and down.

Interview- Aquos Interviews Fat Roscoe

Aquos= A

Fat Roscoe= FR

A: After this experience, how do you feel? Has this changed your perspective of Smash in anyway?

FR: Honestly, the month or so spent making the documentary was some of the most fun I've ever had in terms of getting better, going to tournaments and making the doc. I think it has definitely changed my perspective on Smash, and improvement in general. I feel I'm beginning to understand it in a way I never have before, while also beginning to understand how much I have to learn. I'm starting to see the expanding array of complex interactions it has, and while I know I'm really only scratching the surface, it's such an amazing game and I think one can appreciate it regardless what level one is playing on. I think that I'm also seeing how much I can improve was really cool — I always assumed that I would be bad, and even though I still really suck, I feel like I've gotten a lot better, which is satisfying.

A: What was the hardest part about filming this documentary? Were there any challenges you had to overcome in making this?

FR: I would say the hardest thing was just logistics. Getting too and from tournaments, practicing and interviewing while trying to put together such a production definitely wasn't easy, and I owe a ton to Gudino (eamonn) for being the one to really put in almost all of the editing/splicing/cutting work, though we revised the whole thing together.

A: You mention in the documentary that the Smash scene has special, unique qualities. What do you believe are those qualities?

FR: I think it's hard to put your finger on what exactly those special qualities are, which is what makes them so special and mysterious. I think it's something that's pretty individual — for some people it's nostalgia, for some people it's competition, for some people it's the mind games, and at the end of the day, it's just a damn fun game with little cartoon characters kicking the shit out of each other.

A: If you could only give one piece of advice for new smash players, what would it be?

FR: I would just say keep practicing and playing and having fun. It's pretty important to find a balance in serious, focused practice and fun, especially since realistically, while I wanna get better, I'm not trying to become in any way remotely professional. Every so often Gudino and I would just play falcon dittos or random matchups and laugh when grinding was getting too frustrating or tiring, and even seeing improvement in those while still feeling like it was ok to make mistakes ended up being really mentally rewarding. So my advice would be to have fun, while also improving and grinding — learn to find the fun in having new options, and seeing play improve, rather than just seeing wins and losses.

A: Finally, what are your and Gudino's goals as players?

FR: I can't really speak for Eamonn, but since we're both going to college, our goals will be pretty dependent on what our lives will be between work, and, since he's going to Kenyon as a swimmer, what our other interests will be. Personally, I want to keep practicing and improving, and let the interest grow naturally.

Interview Ends

What Makes "The Pot Fillers" Unique

A large part of the beauty of this documentary is how unique it is to all the other smash documentaries out there. From "The Smash Brothers" to Last Stock Legends videos as whole, the thing that makes this documentary special is the radical shift in perspective. There isn't a epic tale of Mang0 making a extraordinary losers' run but instead a tale of two average players just going to Melee tournaments trying to get better. This new narrative is fresh, and gives the documentary a homemade and very personal feel. The average viewer often is inspired by Westballz' insane Falco but is intimidated by the challenges it takes to get to his skill level. Here, I feel motivated to go out and grind Melee, to become better and not just go 0-2 in pools at my weekly. I can relate to Gudino and Fat Roscoe. I'm just a average 16-year old Falco main that goes to weeklies semi-consistently. I can't relate to Mang0, I'm not winning supermajors or being asked to sign autographs by eager fans. This is blue collar Melee, and there's nothing wrong with that. This documentary represents the heart and soul of the smash scene and it shows the daily struggle and grind of the average Melee player.

60 Frames vs The Pot Fillers

First off, what is 60 Frames?

Well, 60 Frames is about the 3 levels of smash players. The beginner, the rising star, and the professional (veteran). Kenji is the beginner, Squid is the rising star, and HugS is the professional. The documentary follows the 3 levels of players and the shows the varying differences between them.

In my opinion, this documentary captures what 60 Frames failed to do. In 60 Frames the low level beginner part of the documentary follows a Sheik main named Kenji. In 60 Frames Kenji's character development feels rushed and incomplete; on the contrary, The Pot Fillers gives about a half hour for just Fat Roscoe and Gudino to be themselves. They're allowed to give insight on their mentality, reflect on their wins and losses, and talk about their future plans. And this is over several tournaments. 60 Frames gives a little bit of Kenji's backstory and then has weird camera angles of Kenji's tournament matches. Kenji gets one tournament in 60 Frames. Also, a lot of Kenji's brief interviews feel scripted, as he doesn't sound very free flowing and natural. These flaws make me recommend watching "The Pot Fillers" for seeing the real depth of beginning players over watching "60 Frames". 60 Frames is good in its own right, but tries to do to much in too short amount of time. I found myself watching 60 Frames and saying "that's it" when it came to Kenji's screen time. The documentary clearly focuses more on Squid and HugS and there's nothing totally wrong with that, it just makes Kenji's part come across as incomplete.

Watch the Documentary --> "The Pot Fillers"

Watch the Documentary --> "60 Frames"

Follow @CyldeScwab1 on Twitter, the co-maker of this documentary.

I do not own any of this. All rights go to their respective owners. Please don't sue me.

Thanks a lot Gudino and Fat Roscoe (your interview responses were great) ! It was sick to cover this! :)

Aquos-

Signing out