6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park

6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park (2011)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fun documentary with the title referring to how long it takes the South Park group to come up with their ideas, write the dialogue, do the animation and get the finish product on the air. I think it goes without saying but this is mainly going to appeal to South Park fans, although I'm someone who hasn't watched the shows in ages yet it still kept me entertained and reminded me what a funny show it actually is. I really enjoyed seeing all of the behind the scenes stuff that's gone over as it really lets you in to see how tough the job actually is. Some of the best stuff happens in the writer's room where they discuss how for every one great idea they have a hundred bad ones. We see how they come up with the ideas, work them out and how they ultimately decide on whether or not to use them. From here we see the vocal work that has to be done and then of course there's the animation. The episode the guys are working on here is the one where Cartman keeps saying his mother is "screwing" him. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are both interviewed throughout the process and we also get a brief history of how the show started and their trip to the Oscars.

This documentary is pretty much exactly what it says: a look inside the studio and how a small group of dedicated people are able to bring a cartoon to your home each week with only days to go from scratch to screen.

My biggest disappointment is the length of this thing. Clearly it was designed to fit within an hour of television, but I would think they could have put more for those who did not watch the original run (I saw it on Netflix, for example). There was not much discussion of the movies these guys made, and how films like "Cannibal the Musical" fit into the story of Parker and Stone.

That aside, I think it was a good peak at how these guys work, and it is interesting to see Bill Hader in on the fun, too. I knew some episodes were made last minute, but I was not aware that the show consistently worked that way. It is an amazing feat.

This picks up Matt & Trey's return to the studios in which they have less than one week to come up, write and have ready the first episode of the fifteenth South Park series following their return from writing and opening the musical "Book of Mormon"

For anyone not already aware, the entire process of writing a live theatre production like that isn't just draining beyond belief it's also entirely different - almost polar opposites of that involved with writing a 22 minute animated comedy. Not only that they came back with no literal clue what to even use for writing so even getting back into that mindset is an achievement in itself let alone putting an entire episode together ready to air in just six days.

The cameras are allowed briefly to record Matt & Trey with the other writers bouncing around ideas which is not a place anyone is or has been allowed to venture before. As Matt says and another writer agrees, it's a very vulnerable place to be throwing out ideas most of which will be rejected and maybe two or three out of every 100 even making it into further conversation but the culture within the studios and especially amongst the team is one that means they feel able to expose themselves and not worry about ridicule and being ripped on for an idea that's dire.

It was interesting to hear amongst the many topics, ideas and suggestions thrown out casually, one that Matt mentioned which was something he read about NCAA / basketball players making others a small fortune for their efforts but whose own Mothers weren't even paid to go see them play at any of the games (which would later be the 5th episode "Crack Baby Athletic Association") . Seeing hidden camera footage of Trey pacing full circles around the writers room like an injured animal trying to think up ideas gives an even greater sense of the stress, anxiety and incredible pressure they're under and have been subjecting to themselves for over 20yrs.

It gives you new found and full respect to the animation and sound / editing team who get extra tense and worried when there's not much noise and laughing from the writers room because the writing and voice recording is done first and then handed over to the animators. The amount of absolute belly laughing inside the sound booth whilst they are recording must be a nightmare for the sound guys to edit and cut out all the sniggering and wheezing from Matt & Trey's mic and al the while, Anne Garafino (God love her) has to take the initial ideas and intentions they have for each episode and run it by the legal standards making sure it's allowed to air.

Anne is such a sweet, gentle natured soul and although obviously not by any stretch easily offended or a prude given how long she has been working with Matt & Trey, it's still funny to hear her talk and make the phone call to run the initial ideas by their legal standards people and include what type of detail will be included i.e. The scenes showing characters with their mouth sewn to someone's arsehole and how much crap will be visible.

For me personally, at just shy of 45mins long it felt like too much time was spent covering older ground and recapping the origins of South Park and generally going back over well trudged ground. I wouldn't have thought this would appeal to many other than existing and well established fans most of whom would know this already.

The other minor gripe is that I got the distinct impression Matt & Trey weren't entirely 100% comfortable or keen to have even filmed this which I know they're fiercely private and guarded about anyway so it seemed an odd thing they would allow the cameras to follow them. I understand that entirely and would have preferred they weren't asked to give interviews on camera or if the cameras had stuck solely to a fly on the wall footage (as seen when Trey is pacing the writers room) or better still, scratched that and focused more on the animation / general creative team and how they work day to day.

I dunno there's just always something really uncomfortable in any interviews with Matt & Trey where you know they've been asked to sit just so, have really crap generic questions put forward or asked to do impressions and they oblige because they're such professionals but you can feel the awkwardness and sympathise.

Would love to have just seen how the team works from when they get back the recording and start the animation process to match. Would also love to see more of Anne at work if not an entire documentary dedicated to her job being "Oh God no... I have to people call up and try explaining this??"

A definite one South Park fans will love for sure though.

Why I saw this just now is something I can't explain to myself. I was actually watching some youtube and ended finding little bits of it, dealing with the way Trey Parker does the voice of Cartman – this got my attention as I don't think I've seen him doing that before (aside of that funny bit from BASEketball in which he turns into Cartman). Later, I found the clip of Trey doing some voice work together with Bill Hader. I did know Hader (yes *the* Bill Hader from SUPERBAD) was working for SOUTH PARK but watching the actual thing with him and Trey just laughing hard made me think something like "wait a minute, why I haven't seen this documentary? I even own the damn thing on Blu-Ray!"

What "6 Days to Air" offers is a look at how the first Season 15 episode ("HUMANCENTiPAD") got made. Also, we have stuff dealing with the story of the show. Is worth pointing out that hard-core fans of the show will find some great and unique material even from the bits with well-known stuff like the story behind "The Spirit of Christmas" or the going-to-the- Academy-Awards-with-dresses-and-on-acid anecdote. The rest of it, well, it's clearly priceless material – is seeing with your own eyes everything you have heard or read before; I mean, is seeing how Trey Parker and Matt Stone come up with pretty much everything (6 days before the airing, certainly) and their ability to basically hear an idea and immediately start to think with Cartman or Kyle's mind to create the dialog. Bill Hader has the dream job of being a writer who does basically nothing aside of laughing hysterically thanks to the whole making of a SOUTH PARK show. And you'll laugh hard too!

*Watched it on 09 September, 2012

I think the main reason why South Park will never be among one of the top ten animated programs of all time is because it's a show that centers around crudeness, vulgarity, and very controversial subject matter. Shows like The Simpsons overshadow South Park because of the fact that a show like that is on network TV and it's more family-orientated. South Park is and always will be in its own world.

The Making of South Park: 6 Days to Air is a special that is definitely overdue and under-stayed. This is a forty minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of the show and how everything is done in six days. During the summer and winter seasons the creators take a much needed break, while in the fall and spring seasons the animators, writers, and directors work hectically to try and put together seven or more episodes.

I always wondered why the creators don't work during the months the show is off the air. Then I figured it out; if they worked during the months the show was off the air and created episodes that centered around pop culture things set in the month of, say, June, then by the time they aired in October they'd be outdated because surely new tabloids have come out by then.

During the spring season many running jokes about actor Charlie Sheen surfaced since he was hogging the public light, and making himself out to be one of the biggest goofballs on Television. But in recent months his popularity has simmered and now no one even references his many catchphrases. Imagine if South Park made an episode about him during the June months and aired it in the months of October. It would be so outdated and old ratings might be hurting.

That's why, I believe, the show has such a strict week schedule. Every episode is created within six days, hence the title. Trey Parker and Matt Stone state that they spend so much time in the writing room before giving the idea to the animators for them to quickly animate and create it. The two also state that if they come up with some cockamamie idea (IE: people bouncing on their over-sized testicles) the animators need to find out how to make that happen. Nonetheless in a six day period.

The stress is sometimes unbearable, and the turnout isn't pleasing all the time. Trey Parker states that more often than not he is disappointed when the episode is finished, but can't hold onto it for a day more. It has to be turned in. He said that if he delayed some episodes he could be working for several more weeks to perfect it to his personal standards. And who's to say that the episode would even please him? 6 Days to Air shows the production of the episode "HUMANCENTiPAD," which was the season premiere for the show's fifteenth season. The episode is one giant joke about the lengthy and repetitive "Terms of Use" policy iTunes makes you agree to every few months. The joke is that everyone reads it except Kyle, and Kyle learns he has agreed to a very disgusting, inhumane project by Apple.

One thing the special should've included more of was the voice acting by Parker and Stone. Somehow, it's hilarious to see two grown men, one voicing a Chinese guy who is about to have diarrhea and the other voicing a young boy who is about to have a very unpleasant experience. The way they bounce back in forth, voicing almost all the male characters in the show is creative and nothing but sheer enjoyment.

I think it's because we (a) never see Parker and Stone together on camera and (b) we never really get a good look on how South Park is made. 6 Days to Air only scratches the surface on how the show is crafted, and at forty minutes, how much can you truly show and say? This is the first South Park documentary made since Going' Down to South Park in the early nineties. Maybe in another ten years we'll get a near two hour documentary with more extensive scenes of an episode's creation and more scenes involving the animators discuss the stress and frustration of working on such a show.

What we get is very good, and a long overdue project. But the result is it's under-stayed and leaves much more to be desired. There has to be more to the writing and animating process we see. Maybe next time we'll detour a bit and talk to both creators about their reactions on their films BASEketball and Team America: World Police. There is so much more to these creators than we see on this special. It seems they just don't want to show it.

Starring: Trey Parker and Matt Stone.