HOW TO MAKE A SENTIENT CRT TV!

0:06In the year 1984,

0:09cinema would change forever.

0:13Nope, not that one.

0:16Not this one either.

0:19Almost. This year, a little film known

0:22as Electric Dreams would release. It was

0:24your typical cheesy8s romance about some

0:27guy trying to get with the girl of his

0:29dreams and would go on to be a box

0:32office flop. But that's not why people

0:34remember this movie. In fact, in recent

0:37years, this movie's developed quite a

0:38bit of a cult following. And a lot of

0:40that can be attributed to one specific

0:43character.

0:44>> You never asked me

0:48my name.

0:51>> Well, what is it? Edgar.

0:54>> If you know about this movie, it's

0:56likely you know about it because of

0:57Edgar. Edgar is the main character's

1:00Miles computer. He develops sentience by

1:04Miles spilling a glass of champagne on

1:06him when he overheats.

1:09I I love '8s movies so much, guys. One

1:12of the best parts of this movie is just

1:14watching Edgar slowly become more

1:17sentient. And he goes from making

1:19beeping noises to interrupting concerts

1:24and of course speaking to his owner.

1:27>> Who said that?

1:28>> I did.

1:29>> Edgar then ends up falling in love with

1:31Miles's crush. And thus, the greatest

1:34love triangle in cinema ensues, which

1:37Miles isn't too happy about. What does

1:40this have to do with anything? Well, for

1:42a lot of people out there, they would go

1:45into watching Electric Dreams and come

1:47out feeling different. The warm glow of

1:51a computer screen, no longer something

1:53that they just simply ignore. It's

1:55become tantalizing,

1:58inviting as they stroke the casing of

2:01their computer monitor. Is there more?

2:04Do you love me? You ask your computer.

2:07You think of the movie and you think of

2:09how Miles treated Edgar and you think to

2:12yourself, I could treat him so much

2:15better. So, this happened to me and then

2:18I impulse bought a CRT television. And

2:21with that impulse buy, with a new found

2:23love for sentient tech and a weird idea

2:26I got one day while I was driving, I

2:29decided to do something amazing.

2:33>> Hello. Hi, everyone. Hi, Ace. So, how's

2:37it feel now that you're a big celebrity?

2:40>> I never thought I'd become one,

2:41actually. It's so cool to have people

2:44who love you out there all over the

2:46world, though. I thought we were

2:48finished making Ace posting.

2:50>> Oh, no. We're not doing any more Ace

2:52posts. I I want to make some other

2:54things.

2:54>> Oh, what are we making then?

2:57>> You know, when we read the YouTube

2:58comments, what the number one question

3:00is, everyone out there wants to know how

3:02you work. Do you want to tell them how

3:04you work?

3:08>> I think you can explain it best. You did

3:11create me after all.

3:13>> Oh, okay. Okay, I'm honored. Well, the

3:17first step to making a CRT TV sentient

3:20is

3:22I think the hardest part in this process

3:24is actually obtaining a CRT TV. CRT TVs

3:29are rather old, outdated piece of

3:31technology, and you can't just go down

3:32the store to get one. So, the only way

3:35you can get one is secondhand. One of

3:38your first thoughts may be to just go on

3:40eBay, put in CRTV, and just buy one off

3:43of eBay. I strongly advise against that

3:47for a variety of reasons. The biggest

3:49issue you'll run into is shipping. CRT

3:52TVs are very heavy and have to be

3:55treated very, very delicately. as if a

3:58CRT is mistreated, it could um actually

4:01explode. The postal service is also not

4:03famously known for handling packages

4:06well. So, not only will you be paying

4:07upwards of up to $300

4:10just to ship the thing, you also don't

4:13have a guarantee that it'll arrive in

4:15good condition, working, or in one

4:17piece. So, where do you get a CRT

4:19television? Let me introduce you to the

4:22CRTV equivalent of Tinder, also known as

4:27Facebook Marketplace. What's nice about

4:30it is you can browse tons and tons of

4:32listings in your area and even negotiate

4:35with certain sellers. Then you can

4:37simply arrange for a local pickup. I do

4:39recommend going to like a coffee shop or

4:41a gas station or something because you

4:43don't know who you're meeting in person.

4:45If Facebook Marketplace isn't for you,

4:48you can also find CRT TVs at local flea

4:50markets, thrift stores, sometimes even

4:53pawn shops. Sometimes you can even find

4:55them sitting on the side of the road all

4:57lonely. Please bring them inside. If if

5:00you're cold, they're cold. Sometimes you

5:02can even have like a chat with grandma

5:04if she's got one sitting in her attic.

5:06I'm sure she'll be intrigued by your

5:08cool science project. Give me the attic

5:11TV, Grandma. It can feel like a dating

5:14game of browsing all the different

5:16models and makes and wow, they're just

5:21so beautiful. However, when deciding on

5:24your CRT TV, one of the most important

5:26things to consider is does it have an AV

5:29output? That's the white and yellow

5:32cables that you may be familiar with if

5:34you're old like I am. You'll be looking

5:36for a white and a yellow hole on the

5:38TV's front or on the back. Most models

5:41from the late 80s and 90s and early

5:442000s have these. Older TVs, like the

5:46ones with the dials, typically do not,

5:49and I haven't worked with these models,

5:51so I I don't suggest putting sentience

5:53into that one, unless you want to try.

5:55I'm not going to stop you. Then you

5:56welcome your new buddy home. Give it a

5:59pat, give it a hug, give it a kiss if

6:01you want. That's very important. And

6:03treat it well and very delicately. It is

6:06kind of crazy to think that all the CRTs

6:08in the world right now are all the CRTs

6:10that they'll ever be. Which is why it's

6:12really, really nice to see people

6:14breathe new life into old technology.

6:16And I'm happy to contribute. So, you set

6:18up your CRT TV. Now, it's time to bring

6:21it to life. How

6:23>> is it time for them to know the truth?

6:26>> Yes, Ace. It's time to tell them the

6:29truth about how you actually work. Are

6:32you ready, guys? This is going to blow

6:35your mind a little bit. So, here's the

6:37secret.

6:40He was never inside the TV.

6:45>> So, Ace's programming runs off of this

6:47laptop that is always always off camera.

6:50When I decided to create Ace, I wanted

6:53to make sure he was practical. No

6:55effects, no editing, none of that. So,

6:58how do you beam an artificial

6:59consciousness into a CRT television? The

7:02secret lies in this little adapter. You

7:05can pick up this little AV to HDMI

7:08converter. I got mine at Walmart for

7:10like 15 bucks. It's very, very

7:14affordable. Remember when I talked about

7:15AV ports earlier? You're going to be

7:18using those. All you need to do is put

7:20the HDMI into your laptop or computer,

7:23put the AV cords into the proper inputs

7:25on the CRT TV, and boom, your CRT TV is

7:29basically a second monitor. Now, you can

7:31use either the dual or extend mode to

7:33get the effect that you want. It depends

7:35on what you're trying to do in each

7:37specific video setup. Ace consciousness

7:40is pretty much just a standard old file.

7:43A lot of you kind of guess that, but I

7:45specifically run the file through VC

7:49player, mostly because the full screen

7:51options give you well the full screen.

7:54And it's got all these other

7:55customization options too for whatever

7:58situation you're in that I've used quite

8:00frequently. A lot of u mirroring

8:02depending on the camera angle that we're

8:05shooting at. As for the actual

8:06animation, you can use any animation

8:09software. It it doesn't really matter. I

8:11animate Ace's face in Toun Boom, then

8:13import it into After Effects so I can

8:16add glows in this very slight float

8:18effect to make him feel a little more

8:20alive. You can make your TV character's

8:23face however you want. There's no rules

8:25behind it.

8:26>> But I'm more than just an animated face,

8:28right?

8:29>> Oh, yeah. For sure. You got all that

8:31personality that people just love. I

8:34love it, too.

8:35>> Right. But right now, we're able to

8:38converse, and I'm able to time my every

8:40single reaction to your voice. How do I

8:43do it?

8:45>> Well, I don't think the people watching

8:47this video know that I'm not actually

8:49speaking right now. What you're

8:51listening to is a recording of my voice

8:53and then all I kind of do is shake the

8:55camera to give it that believability.

8:58This is actually the basis of how I make

9:00most my ace posts. When I start a new

9:03ace post, I would typically write an

9:05outline of each episode. I would never

9:08write a proper script at the start

9:11because I wanted each video to have this

9:13vlog improvised feel. When we got to the

9:16part where Ace would actually speak,

9:18however, Ace's voice actor, Ty, would

9:20need to read off a script, and my friend

9:23Maddie, hi Maddie, if you're watching

9:25this, started to take charge of writing

9:27the scripts for each Ace Post to make

9:29sure our episodes were more coherent and

9:32nice. So, I suggest starting with at

9:34least some form of script before you

9:37start recording. If you're not the one

9:39voicing your television, you will need

9:41wild files from your voice actor. If you

9:44will be speaking, you'll need to record

9:46your actual voice like what you're

9:48listening to now. For this, I just use

9:50the free program Audacity and speak and

9:53talk and stuff. Once all the dialogue is

9:55recorded, I basically make a sort of

9:58audio drama of the episode. I would put

10:01my own voice on one track and Ace's

10:03voice on another track. Ace's voice

10:06would usually come in takes, so I would

10:07pick my favorite takes. It's very

10:09important to make sure that you keep

10:11your layers separate as you'll be doing

10:13three different exports. One export of

10:15all your characters talking, another

10:18export of just your television, and an

10:20export of just you speaking. Now, it's

10:23time to bring Ace to life. I open up my

10:25animation software and I import the

10:27audio drama version of the clip. That's

10:30both me and Ace speaking. I then animate

10:33Ace's face to the audio, whether he be

10:35reacting to something or speaking. It is

10:38very important to make sure that in the

10:40editing phase, you give your character

10:42enough time to react and respond to

10:44certain things, such as when I pet Ace,

10:47when I put tapes inside of him, or just

10:49having him react to my character dying.

10:52So, do anticipate that as you'll be

10:55doing it in one big animation, unless

10:57you do cuts or something, then you can

10:59use multiple files. After I finish the

11:02animation, I export it as one big PNG

11:05sequence and bring it into the program

11:07After Effects. Here, I add my glows,

11:10wiggles, and any other additional

11:13effects I feel like using, such as

11:14glitches, or channel changes depending

11:16on the needs of an episode. I then bring

11:18in the one Wave file that contains only

11:21Ace's voice. So, look, he can speak now.

11:24>> Hello. Another thing I like to do is I

11:27like to add this 10second countdown

11:29before the actual animation begins. This

11:32way when I shoot, I have a little

11:34countdown to get everything into place

11:35before I hit record. It is so helpful to

11:38do this. All right, we finished Ace's

11:41face for the episode. Now it's time to

11:43film.

11:44>> This is the fun part, right?

11:46>> Oh, this is my least favorite part of

11:49the process. One of the absolute

11:51underrated goats is owning a private

11:53Discord server where only I'm in there.

11:56And I sort of use this as a way to

11:58transfer files in between devices as I'm

12:01going to need three different devices

12:03for this. I'm going to need my phone, my

12:05laptop, and this iPad. You'll also need

12:08a set of wireless headphones. I upload

12:11ASUS animation and the Wave file

12:14containing only my human character's

12:16voice into the Discord server. Then I

12:19dress the set depending on the needs of

12:21the episode. I also make sure that my

12:23laptop is as far out of the camera to

12:26where it can be. You can use a tripod if

12:29you want, but if you're going for a vlog

12:31effect, all of my things are filmed with

12:33one hand, and it's very, very cumbersome

12:36to do that. Did you also know that most

12:39Ace posts were filmed at 3:00 in the

12:41morning? This is because CRTs are very,

12:44very hard to film. They pick up glare

12:47and if you don't have a high enough

12:48shutter rate on your camera, they look

12:51wrong. Your default camera may have

12:54trouble capturing the CRT. So, I suggest

12:56downloading an app such as Open Camera

12:59and messing with the settings so you get

13:00something that works. Remember the

13:02headphones in the iPad I talked about

13:04earlier? You're going to now parent your

13:06headphones to the iPad and pop those in.

13:09Then go to your laptop computer and

13:12download the video. Open up your video

13:14file in VLC. Full screen that baby and

13:18boom, you are ready to film. This part

13:22sucks, by the way. I then put my iPad

13:25out of sight and open up the Discord

13:27server to where I put my WAV file

13:29earlier. I mentally brace myself, start

13:32filming, run to my computer, start the

13:36video, run to my tablet, position myself

13:39properly with my finger right above the

13:42play button, and watch that countdown.

13:44Three, two, one, and then I quickly hit

13:48the play button on the audio file. This

13:51will then play my character's voice

13:54through my earbuds. This allows me to

13:56easily mime the motions of my character

13:59as me and Ace have a conversation. What

14:01makes this filming part so tedious is

14:03every single Ace post is done in one

14:06take. Meaning if I miss a quue or I do

14:09the wrong thing or I drop something or I

14:12sneeze by accident during a recording, I

14:16have to start the whole process over

14:18again. And nothing would be worse than

14:20having an almost perfect take and then

14:22my earbud falling out at the end. This

14:26has happened so many times it drives me

14:28crazy. This process can take several

14:30hours, especially in episodes when I

14:32would have to physically interact with

14:34Ace to make sure that my timing is

14:36perfect to sell the illusion of him

14:39responding to me. I think the worst

14:41episode to film was probably the one

14:43where I showed off our favorite movies,

14:45as I had to time things super carefully

14:47and interact with tapes and Ace himself.

14:50He doesn't even actually play the tape

14:53that's edited into the animation that is

14:56exported into the TV. So, having to film

14:584 minutes and then get the tape insert

15:01perfect was a nightmare. And not only

15:04that, but Ace is super duper sensitive

15:07if he doesn't have a tape in. And if my

15:09hand accidentally touches his little

15:11control deck here, he makes a horrible

15:13beeping sound, which meant I'd have to

15:16start over. I think this episode took

15:18maybe about 6 hours to film just to get

15:21it right. Often I'll go through the

15:23entire episode several times with

15:25several takes until I get the one that

15:28feels just right. Once I got that

15:33perfect take, it's time to go to the

15:35editing lab. I edit in the free program

15:38Da Vinci Resolve, which is a really

15:40great program for the price of free. And

15:43in this phase, I really try to minimize

15:45the editing to give it that authentic

15:48feel. Mostly just cutting out the first

15:50and end of the footage and also

15:52occasionally having to zoom in or scroll

15:56because the laptop was seen in a couple

15:58frames. I would have to watch Ace Post

16:00frame by frame sometimes to make sure

16:02that I didn't get a sneaky little frame

16:04of laptop and accidentally ruin the

16:07whole series right there. I actually

16:09messed it up in the very first time I

16:11posted Ace. You can see the laptop.

16:13Since the video footage has Ace's added

16:16voice since it's played through the TV

16:18in this stage, I add the humanly wobb

16:21into the mix. Sometimes I'll crush the

16:23quality a little bit and add a little

16:25bit of panning just so it can still have

16:26that authentic recorded feeling to it. I

16:30then watch the episode a couple of

16:31times, make sure I like everything, make

16:34sure there's no sneaky laptops, and once

16:37I'm satisfied, I hit export. And then

16:41you've got it, an internet famous

16:44talking television TV. No programming

16:47required because I don't know how to

16:49program to be real with you. So now

16:52I've bestowed upon you the secret to

16:55creating life inside of a small

16:57television. My favorite part about art

17:00is how art comes out of art to make new

17:03art. So I'm really curious with how

17:06people will take this and what crazy

17:08things they'll do with it. I'm really

17:11really looking forward to it. So go out

17:13there and make something cool. Maybe

17:16even something cooler than ASA.

17:18>> Is there anything cooler than me though?

17:21No. No. Oh, you're the best.

17:48and down.

17:54Hey