Formal Analysis of “gen:Lock

Alex Drury
DST 3880W
Published in
5 min readOct 3, 2020

--

The animated series gen:Lock, made by Rooster Teeth Animation is a fully 3D animated show that was released in December of 2018. It was released primarily on their own private video site. This site is home to all of Rooster Teeth’s videos, across multiple different creative teams all housed under the same company. Their site, just called Rooster Teeth, is a large video entertainment platform that works much the same way as YouTube, only it acts as the home solely for Rooster Teeth content. When gen:Lock debuted both the first and second episodes were released at the same time. This was because the entire show, minus the pilot episode, was going to be exclusive to Rooster Teeth’s premium membership holders called First members. This show would not have been nearly as successful as it was, nor would it had even been possible to create if it weren’t for the development of the online platform and its capabilities for mass distribution and publicity.

The show gen:Lock follows a tried and true science fiction storyline, a battle between good and evil that just has to include mecha a few stories tall. Though in this world there is a global autocratic faction called the Union whose goal is to assimilate the entire global population into their ranks using whatever means. But in their way stands the Polity and its Vanguard, the last bastion of the free world. The story itself is focused on Julian Chase, a fighter pilot for the Polity. The show starts with the Union attack on New York as they deploy new nanotech weaponry that kills all organic life that it touches. In response to the Union invasion the Vanguard forces are deployed to attempt to push the Union out of New York, Julian Chase among them. As the battle rages a massive Union walker appears from seemingly nowhere and forces the Vanguard forces to retreat. In a last ditch effort to buy time for his allies to retreat, Chase deploys an EMP to neutralize the walker and the nanotech that it is deploying at point blank range. This works, but his fighter is shot down in the process, crashing into the streets of New York City.

From a storytelling standpoint gen:Lock takes a lot of it’s thematic elements from classic mecha anime such as the Gundam series. It’s a classic fight of good versus evil in a more modern setting while still having a flair of science fiction to keep it interesting. The weapons used by the Polity appear more utilitarian, as they are bulkier and more cumbersome as compared to the sleek and agile appearance of the Unions arsenals. The utilitarian appearance tends to err more on the “good” side of the story, as it is meant to be more relatable and realistic when compared to other design styles. This would make that faction more familiar to the viewer and make that faction seem more trustworthy in the story. This utilitarian design, especially with the original designs of the Polity’s Holons, gen:Lock’s mechas, draw heavily on the classic mecha anime I mentioned earlier.

gen:Lock using twos, making it appear at a lower frame rate

As for how the show was actually created, Rooster Teeth primarily used a program called Maya to model and animate the characters. They chose to animate the show in what is called “twos”, which means that there is a key every other frame is used rather than every frame. This gave the show a jerkier appearance, none of the movements were as smooth as we would expect something to look like in real life. They did this to evoke a 2D animation style in a 3D environment. The show is animated on twos during the slower scenes, but is animated on ones during the faster fight scenes to give it a smoother look. This is unlike Rooster Teeth’s other popular 3D animated show RWBY which is completely animated on ones. As for the program they used, Maya is commonly used in animation studios and is globally distributed through its creators, Autodesk, website. Autodesk has created a variety of programs from modeling and animation to electrical and mechanical engineering.

Whereas RWBY appears much smoother as it is animated on ones

Additionally a few of the voice actors, David Tennant in particular, were unable to go to Austin, Texas to do voice recordings. So in order to get his lines in the show the audio techs at Rooster Teeth had to set up remote recording sessions so that they could get Tennant’s lines while he was still in London. During these recording sessions Tennant was alone in his recording booth with the audio techs pulled up on Skype so that they could actively work together while he was recording his lines. Neither the global distribution of Autodesk’s software, nor the remote recording sessions would have been possible without modern technology and the advancement of the internet.

Rooster Teeth originally distributed gen:Lock on their home website and as I mentioned earlier the first episode was free but to watch the rest you had to be a First member. Eventually Rooster Teeth would go on to show all of gen:Lock on Adult Swim and HBO Max, but originally you had to have a premium membership on their website. This kind of web distribution became more popular after the rise and success of sites such as YouTube, a kind of entertainment source that had not been thought of until internet activity had become a regular thing. Eventually people and companies would start to capitalize on this online entertainment and start offering paid memberships that gave benefits to those who bought them. Rooster Teeth’s membership for example offers members access to exclusive shows like gen:Lock, the ability to watch new episodes a week earlier than those without, and a small discount in their online store. I myself have a few of these memberships, they have nearly become commonplace in modern society. This kind of entertainment and digital evolution would not have become reality if it weren’t for the creation and early development of the internet, the foundation of anything and everything online.

--

--