Agents of Secret Stuff

Agents of Secret Stuff is a 2010 American action comedy short film created and co-directed by Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang of Wong Fu Productions, and Ryan Higa. The film stars Ryan Higa, Arden Cho, and Dominic Sandoval, and also features cameos by several other YouTube users. The film had a theatrical debut in Los Angeles on November 23, 2010, and was released on YouTube on November 24. It has received over 27.5 million views on YouTube as of September 2015, and its trailer, bloopers, and behind the scenes videos have received 5.2 million, 3.2 million, and 1.9 million views respectively. The movie was eventually released on the iTunes Store as Agents of Secret Stuff: Secret Edition, along with the Agents of Secret Stuff Soundboard and Agents of Secret Stuff - Spy Catcher of Reasonable Effort apps.

Background

The film's production began as self-funded project, but in a deal brokered by YouTube executive George Strompolos was optioned by Digital Artists Studios in order that they might expand beyond YouTube and into mobile, television and film platforms. Strompolos reported that the film's $25,000 was recouped through YouTube advertising revenue and through the licensing of the film for other media.

Wong Fu Productions

Wong Fu Productions is an American filmmaking group composed of Wesley Chan (born April 27, 1984), Ted Fu (born October 26, 1981), and Philip Wang (born October 28, 1984). The trio met at the University of California, San Diego in 2004 and produced a number of music videos and short films released on their website and later YouTube before establishing a professional media company, Sketchbook Media, after their graduation. Their works have been featured at a number of national and international film festivals, including the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, San Diego Asian Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival.

As of August 31, 2015, Wong Fu Productions' YouTube channel has over 2.5 million subscribers and over 384 million video views.

History

According to Philip Wang, Wong Fu Productions was unofficially established in 2001 during his high school junior year at Northgate High School (Walnut Creek, California). Wang mainly utilized his family's digital camcorder to film school projects in collaboration with classmates. The name Wong Fu is a nickname that Philip was given when he was in the seventh grade. In his first year as an undeclared freshman at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Wang and his friends released a music video of Justin Timberlake's song "Señorita". It was the first music video produced by Wang and, although he did not actively promote it, the video was quickly circulated among other fellow college students. The video was circulated in its original computer file format because it was released prior to the advent of the video sharing website YouTube.

Ryan Higa

Ryan Higa (also known by his YouTube username Nigahiga /ˈniːɡɑːhiːɡɑː/) is an American YouTube personality and actor. He is known for his YouTube comedy videos, which have been viewed over 2.5 billion times. As of February 2016, Higa's YouTube channel, nigahiga, has over 16 million subscribers.

Background

Higa is of Japanese descent, specifically the Okinawa Prefecture. He was born in Hilo, Hawaii on June 6, 1990. He competed in judo and holds a black belt rank. He also wrestled and graduated from Waiakea High School in 2008.

YouTube videos

Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi started posting YouTube videos of themselves lip syncing to songs in mid-2006 while attending Waiakea High School. They quickly expanded beyond songs, with a variety of other comedic pieces. Occasional guest appearances were made by Tim Enos, Ryan Villaruel, Kyle Chun, and Tarynn Nago.

On Christmas Eve of 2008, Higa and Fujiyoshi's two most popular videos, How To Be Gangster and How To Be Emo, were removed due to copyright violations. On January 21, 2009, the nigahiga account was temporarily suspended and was required to remove more copyrighted videos. Because of this, Nigahiga's lip syncing videos were all removed (with the exception of You're Beautiful, which was audio swapped), along with most of his other videos that included copyrighted music. Since then, Higa started composing the music himself. How to be Gangster and How to be Emo were put back on nigahiga's channel in late August 2009, only to be removed a few days later, along with How to be Ninja and How to be Nerd. In Spring 2010, How to be Ninja, How to be Gangster and How to be Emo were made public once more.

Arden Cho

Arden Cho (born August 16, 1985) is an American actress, singer and model, best known for her role as Kira Yukimura on Teen Wolf. She starred in the 2011 feature Mega Python vs. Gatoroid. As a model she worked mostly in Asia while she released an EP My True Happy in 2013.

Early life

Born in Amarillo, Texas to Korean-American parents, Cho spent most of her childhood years in Dallas and her late teenage years in Minnesota together with a younger brother. She attended Apple Valley High School, saying that her "parents put me in dance classes, martial arts, sports, painting, music, cello; all sorts of things." Growing up in an area with very few ethnic minorities led to sentiments of being an outsider. It wasn't until she moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign where she majored in psychology that she connected with her Asian American background. It was here that she attended her first drama classes and developed an interest in the profession, noting "theater was the first time I felt like I could open up and be someone I could only imagine to be".

David Choi

David Choi (born March 22, 1986 in Anaheim, California, US) is an American musician and YouTube video producer based in Los Angeles. Choi's original songs and pop covers have been heard on NBC, FOX, VH1, MTV, A&E, E!, Travel Channel, Style Network, PBS, Food Network, Disney, as well as in commercials internationally. He has worked with companies such as Kellogg's, Starburst, the American Cancer Society, General Electric, Samsung, J. C. Penney, and Asian online fashion and beauty retailer YesStyle.

Choi released his debut album, Only You, in October 2008. His second album, By My Side, was released on May 19, 2010, and his third album, Forever and Ever was released on October 25, 2011.

As of December 3, 2012, David Choi's YouTube Channel had 929,061 subscribers, 117,774,875 total video views, and more than 13 million channel views. As of November 2011, he was YouTube's 15th-most-subscribed musician and 62nd-most-subscribed user overall. As of February 3, 2015, he has 138,238 followers on Twitter account.