Inside MrBeast's "Billion Dollar" Movie (featuring Sticks)

0:00It's fun to like hijack a Mr. Beast video and turn it into a movie. This looks like if Mr. Beast and Severance had a baby. What's it like directing Jimmy? Directing Mr. Beast to be subtle? Like, what? He's the most outlandish guy. Did you guys have any disagreements with Jimmy on set? Hey, we're Styx. And we're breaking down our biggest video ever that we made with Mr. Beast. I'm gonna show you all the little details, the behind-the-scenes, the VFX shots. The mistakes. So this is one of our bigger VFX shots. We had to make him look like he was falling, so we put him up on this conveyor belt. If we just shoot them in front of this gray pillar, We can change everything else.

0:34What did you guys do to make this look so cinematic? There's a filmmaking technique that every YouTuber should know about. I like how you guys respect the rules of YouTube and then break them. This actually isn't Jimmy. That's a double. Get the camera. Shoot it right now. Shots fired. You're calling out Hershey's. Oh! This is the part that Mr. Beast was most afraid of us pulling off.

1:03I think it's one of our best interviews yet. We get into their crazy journey as YouTubers, how they ended up making videos with Mark Rober, Ryan Trahan, and now MrBeast, and so much more. And if you're already subscribed, then go to ythackpack.com to get our free YouTube hack pack with all our best tips, tools, and templates to grow on YouTube today. From our intro and thumbnail templates to our 100 viral ideas for any niche, we constantly update our hack pack as we interview more creators so you have their latest and greatest for free. All right, now back to the video. All right, guys, I'm so excited.

1:32What are we about to break down? So this is the movie we made for Mr. Beast's brand new Feastables chocolate milk. Yeah, this is your biggest production yet. Our biggest production yet. So let's jump into the BTS. You can ask us anything. Amazing. Let's go. This is a one billion dollar chocolate factory, the most expensive chocolate factory in the world. And I was invited for an exclusive tour of the inside of it. So as a peace offering, I brought an unreleased Feastables product. Let's go check it out. Jimmy, how did we get in? I thought you talked to a guy. I did talk to a guy. Door's not opening.

2:03Let me in! Well, bang on the door. I did! Okay, so this actually doesn't look like a movie just yet. We wanted to start this out looking identical to a Mr. Beast video. And if we did our job right, then you would have been tricked by the Mr. Beast 2 channel. You clicked on for a$1 billion Chocolate Factory tour, and it turned into this epic movie. I like how you guys respect the rules of YouTube, but then break them. Like you did with Ryan Trahan's Joyride movie. Yeah, I mean, like starting out in his room, but it's really a set. Yeah, exactly. It's fun to like hijack a Mr. Beastman video and turn it into a movie.

2:39Hello?

2:43Is anyone here?

2:49The first thing to notice is this actually isn't Jimmy. That's a double that we searched really hard. We've gotten pretty good at getting doppelgangers for creators. So we found this guy who's 6 '5 and looks like Jimmy from behind. Got it. We actually got a haircut from Jimmy's barber to make sure he looks exactly like Jimmy. Jimmy's so spread thin along across so many shoots. So we didn't have much of Jimmy's time to work with, so we thought this would be a great way to maximize the shoot. And just so people know, now we're switching to look at a behind-the-scenes shot that you guys are sharing with us, not many people have seen.

3:22So this is not Jimmy here. What did you guys replace this tennis ball with again? It helps create a 3d space so you can recreate the room and it looks like the dimensions are accurate Huh, it starts out here as a perspective trick And then as we zoom out you see that it was all just a scam an illusion Wow, you're realizing real time with Jimmy. This place is fake

3:49What is going on here? Okay, so we put the blue screen just so we see Jimmy alone. Yeah But we had to make him look like he was falling, so we put him up on this conveyor belt and had him wailing his hands. We also had someone in the background flapping his shirt and his hair so it looks like the wind. We did a dolly pullout, so the camera's on rails, and we dollied out, so it looks like he's falling away from the camera. Wow. So hopefully, with all these effects, it'll look like he's actually falling through a trapdoor. Hmm. Very cool. That's not Jimmy. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? And he deliberately kind of shows.

4:28Yeah. He said if you're going to look anyway, look away from the camera.

4:34Jimmy's getting up. Okay, now it's Jimmy. That's the real Jimmy. Wait, so tell me about this set because this looks like if Mr. Beast and Severance had a baby. This would be this video. Yeah. Like what is going on here? It looks very bland and small. Tell me about how you designed this. This was the perfect room. It was a tiny cube in one of Jimmy's studios. And so we painted the walls. It used to be green. We got new carpet and we brought in these specific chairs to give you this very weird feeling like he's in some spooky waiting room and he has no clue where he is. So I think it gives you like that very off-kilter feel.

5:15Yeah.

5:32Now this looks like a crazy setup or a crazy room, but really this is like two flat walls with pipes built into them, and it's not actually a whole pipe room. So we just shot it from this profile angle. We built these pipe walls that could kind of shift into any configuration we wanted so we can create any set that we need Oh interesting so that helps like this scene for example We can just put these pipe walls behind him and create like this hallway without having to Yeah, it made it very versatile so like we could create different spaces within this one room Oh, these are just like sections that you can move around.

6:04Yeah, so on wheels. Oh wow So anytime you need to show the warehouse. Yeah, you had a background. Yeah, cool Scanning. Access denied.

6:23Wait, you're calling out Hershey's. Oh! We didn't say that. I said it, not them. Why would you think that? It's representative of the big chocolate industry. But, yeah, so Jimmy sees his chocolate, and what do you think Mr. Beast would do? Would he eat chocolate? Oh, we've seen it. Oh, heat, the feastables. Feastables. Exactly, every day of the week.

6:48That was a fun shot, like tilting down, tilting back up. Uniform detected. Open mouth. What? Chocolate consumed. Access granted.

7:05I mean, this is just a crazy production. How much does this cost to make? This is like a 200k production. Wow. So a lot of resources went to making this look so good on camera. Yeah. And we wanted to make sure it felt like that as well. Yeah. Like everything was a set you guys created from scratch? Yeah. Yes, we helped from the Beast team. Yeah, we actually got to work with the Beast team. Yeah. So they... Jimmy gave us his awesome builders and then we designed it all. And it was like a fun collaboration with them building it all. It's crazy how fast they work and how much they're able to help with like these last minute builds.

7:38Yeah. And how long did it take? Like I saw you guys put together storyboards for a lot of the scenes, like script, like how long did it take to put together? It was probably like a few weeks of planning and scripting. And then within like two weeks, we went from like nothing to the whole set built. Wow. And then one set shooting. So about a month total. Yeah. Hello?

8:03Can you spot the cameo from the Styx boys? Oh, is that you guys? Yeah, we were thinking, this shot looks a bit empty. It needs something in the middle. So we put on the costumes ourselves and got into place. We're like, we get our own cameo. That's perfect. It's actually interesting. How much stuff changes from your storyboards and your script to the actual production? Like little stuff like that. Is that out of the ordinary or you guys are very by the book? We're pretty locked in on what the vision is. So we try and stick to the vision. Yeah. We like the storyboards and the script. But it's always fun like this.

8:35Maybe 20 % of the time we get spontaneous and put something into the shot. Come up with a brand new shot. But we've found that when we don't come prepared with a shot list from the beginning of the script to the end, it can get so messy on set. There's so many moving pieces and details we need to nail. And we'll show some of your storyboards. I was really impressed just seeing them before and now seeing them after. I mean, Lucas draws all of them. It's pretty impressive. That's incredible. I was told by some guy I'd be getting a tour.

9:10Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, all right, excuse me. Hey, I need my briefcase. Let go of me. Why would you even need that? Yeah. Oh, got it. Oh, no.

9:34There's no other way in. Jimmy's toast. Uh, should we go get help? We're not doing anything until we get further instruction from Jimmy. Oh, how loyal? I see what you're trying to do. What? You're hoping Jimmy's dead. What a horrible thing to say. Oh, he's definitely dead. Why would I be hoping that? I mean, we're all thinking the same thing. The question is, how do we settle this like responsible adults? Settle what? Who gets Jimmy's channel? Oh! Oh! That's good. I mean, we could 1v1 for it. Just don't tell Carl or Tariq. So this massive chocolate factory, We actually shot in front of another building.

10:06Wait, let's put that on screen. Yeah. Okay, so yeah. So wow, this looks very different. Yeah, this is not a chocolate factory. Yeah. But we thought if we just shoot them in front of this gray pillar, we can change everything else pretty easy. Got it. Wow, movie magic. Yeah. And the boys did really good too. Yeah. Their acting was... They always bring good levity to it. The CEO would like to have a work. All right, chill, chill, chill. Okay. All right, boys. Hello, Mr. Donaldson. We hope you enjoyed your complimentary chocolate on arrival. Are you the guy that I spoke to? Yes, I'm the guy. I think there's a misunderstanding.

10:45I was supposed to be, you know, getting a tour. There is no misunderstanding, Jimmy. We are well aware of what you've been doing. You've become, in recent years, quite the chocolatier. But the truth is, you have a lot to learn. Our company has been in the chocolate business for nearly 200 years. We have certain standards, certain... Wow, shots fired. Like, if it wasn't clear who is, like, big chocolate and who's the big bad in this commercial, it's becoming obvious. Yeah. Was this part of the set design to make them feel archaic? Yes. Yeah, we wanted to have, like, a speaker that felt like it was stuck in the past that didn't have a real face to it.

11:26So we thought of this like gramophone type horn as the CEO. Yeah. Very Severance inspired as well. Yeah. If you want to make chocolate, Jimmy, I'd advise you get back in line and stop messing with the way it's always been. I didn't mean to disrupt the work line. Oh, Jimmy, I'm not talking about the work line. Have a lovely day. This is when we got shocked. Like, oh my gosh, he could actually do some acting. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that was a really good take from Jimmy. I'm wondering like were these all the first takes? Did you have to give him some coaching? Like do you have like an earlier take?

12:01Yeah, we can show you the first take. Oh really? Okay. I think there's been a misunderstanding. I was supposed to be getting a tour. I think there's a misunderstanding. I was supposed to be, you know, getting a tour. So yeah, how did you get him from that to what we saw in the final? So the biggest difference, especially coming from YouTube and being Jimmy, is he needs to be loud and big and very expressionate. In film, it's actually more powerful if you like turn it down And subtle more subtle and so then when he did it again It just looks so real like he was actually in the situation I think what helped us we told him like the lines are there as like a guide But if it feels more natural to like phrase something a different way go for it And so we gave him that Liberty to like speak how he would speak and that helped him get into the character a bit more That's such a good note.

12:44Yeah I find there's like different performances one to YouTube to to film which is very sad on and even like looking at Broadway or theater performers. It's even bigger than YouTube. But it's so funny, like directing Mr. Beast to be subtle, like what? Like he's the most outlandish guy, you know? But he did it really well. I mean to like give notes to the biggest creator in the world, was that intimidating? A little. In theory, it was very intimidating. Thinking about directing him was just like, how are we gonna do that? Leading up to it, I can't believe we're gonna direct Jimmy. But then on set, it was actually pretty good.

13:17This was actually the first scene we shot with Jimmy in chronological order. So once we got this in the can, we were like, oh, we got this. He's gonna crush this. Oh, interesting. You guys had a shot list that was out of order. Yes. 100%. Completely out of order. Yeah. Just to maximize your time there. So pressure was on. So you got this and then you're like, we're off to the races. That's right. Or are there any moments of tension? Like, did you guys have any disagreements with Jimmy on set? He's not used to like cinematic lighting. So like he's looking at the shots with us and like kind of confused why we're lighting in a certain way.

13:45It's like, where's the key light? It's like, we need this to look cinematic, Jimmy. We need to be backlit so that, you know. One time he was like, why is there so many different colors on my face? We're like, color contrast. It's important. Cinema. Yeah, cinema. Okay, right back to the breakdown. But first, I've got to say a huge thank you to the entire Feastables team for sending us some of their first bottles of their Feastables chocolate milk and for sponsoring this video. I've actually been drinking them while we've been editing this video. And I love that it's grade A whole milk, real dairy packed with 13 grams of protein and a good source of calcium, potassium, and vitamins A and D.

14:19But here's the thing that I love most. It's all made with fair trade cocoa. And something that Jimmy has been talking about for a while. So it's cool to see him and the team pull off a product that's ethically sourced, that farmers get paid a living income reference price, and it supports their mission to end child labor in the chocolate industry. So go out and support and grab Fiesel's Chocolate Milk right now at Walmart, 7-Eleven, Speedway locations nationwide. Just look the single bottles or the six pack again huge thank you to jimmy and the feastables team for supporting this video and now let's get back to the breakdown

15:06it's so funny watching your stuff because here i'm seeing the product and i'm Remind you it's a commercial but everything else about this feels like a movie like Was there extra pressure on this shot to get it right? Well really yeah, this is the first time anyone in the world is seeing this product Hmm, so it took a lot longer than it looks. We wanted to feel like the bottle was glowing Yeah, the lighting the positioning of the hand making sure you could see the bottle at a good angle. Yeah all super important

15:36The End Wow. Jon, that's our favorite shot from the film. I love it. I feel like that's kind of a signature, the parallax that you guys do. Also, Severance inspired. They stole it from Jaws. There's nothing new under the sun. But recreating it for YouTube is super interesting. Yeah, definitely.

16:01Who are you? Shh. I'm gonna get you out of here. Why are you helping me? Oh, my briefcase. Thank you. These are more of the walls. Yes. How cool is the set? That's awesome. So we just wheeled those in, positioned the pipes how we liked it, and some haze, and it looks like a whole new... Like, this is a bare place that he uses for a lot of his YouTube videos. You've turned into this as, like, cinematic hallway. Wow. Yeah, yeah. That's right.

16:55Let's get out of here. But what about them? We can't leave them behind. Is there any way I can make a call? Surely there's a phone somewhere in here.

17:12We need a distraction.

17:16Everybody, this is a mystery briefcase. That's not Jimmy. This is not. This is, again, the back of the headshot. That's amazing. And inside this briefcase could be$100 ,000, the keys to a Lamborghini, or a beverage that gives you back all your childhood memories. And whoever takes their hand off of it last keeps what's inside. Good luck. These are interesting little nods to, obviously, who Jimmy is in his channel. Like, in fact, he seems most natural here. Yeah, this is where he just got up and he did his thing. He definitely improved some lines here as well. But it just made sense to let Mr. Beast be Mr.

17:53Beast as a character as well and not try and make him someone else that he's not. What is all this commotion? Who is responsible for this?

18:08This looks like a nod to Beast Games. Yeah. And the red phones. That's one of the red ferns from Beast Games. Imagine the red telephone was in a movie and you could call and ask for whatever you wanted. And like we're turning that into like a plot point here There's a filmmaking technique that every youtuber should know about it's called Shekhov's gun Yeah, so that's like in a movie if you set something up you need to pay it off So for example if you do a close-up of a gun on a wall Early in the movie then that better be the gun that kills the bad guy here, huh? So in the CEO scene at the beginning you can see the red telephone in the background But you didn't realize it's gonna be a key player at the end of the film.

18:46Oh Oh, interesting. Yeah, so that was something we're thinking about. Every single part of the story should be there for a reason. And the more you lean into that, even as a YouTuber, I think the audience will really feel the intention behind every single frame. Yeah, and maybe get a double watch. You know, go back. You gotta double check it. That's true. Winner keeps the channel. Why does this look so much better than when you see it filmed for YouTube? Like like it just there's something about I can't like a haze in the sky like what did you guys do to make this look so cinematic? The first thing is haze Doesn't that make the light kind of travel but it's also the direction we're shooting we make sure it's like backlit and then we have our own lights Accentuating that so that it feels like quite cinematic when it's got backlight You can see what the haze is doing to the light here It's kind of like fades the highlights into the rest of the scene a little bit more.