"Being Canadian filmmakers, you may have a moose appear unexpectedly in your shot. This phenomenon is what's known as Moose In Scene. Or mise en scene in le frances. Majestic as these creatures may be, time is money. And it is recommended that you kill any animals interfering with your shot on sight."
Jon Christopher James Graham
, better known by his online name Jon CJG, formerly known as DigitalPh33r (something he'd like you to forget about) is a Canadian director, writer, actor and composer who specializes in Machinima.
Jon is probably the second most popular guy to dabble in Halo Machinima right behind Rooster Teeth, with whom he's had a past Fandom Rivalry before he collaborated with them on some Rooster Teeth Shorts. He's otherwise best known for Arby 'n' the Chief, which ironically is primarily puppeteering toys as opposed to recorded video game footage. He's also made other shows, such as Deus ex Machina (2007), Hard Justice, One Life Remaining and It's a Wonderful Live. All of which are currently categorized under Old Shame in his mind, as he's refused to acknowledge their existence.
He also wants us to #FixTheWorld.
Works by Jon:
- Abnormality - Jon's first Machinima, about a random civilian who gains superpowers and fights crime, eventually performing a Heroic Sacrifice.
- Arby 'n' the Chief - The series Jon is most known for. Two Halo toys sit around, play the game that created them, and give commentary on its reputation, community, and mechanics.
- Master Chief Sucks At Halo- Chief is awful at Halo. These are the prototype episodes that predated the series...and would end being produced concurrently to it, as Jon revived the format in the late 2010s, only this time with Chief being awful at a variety of different games.
- Arby N The Chief In LA- Officially listed by Machinima as the third season of the series, it involved almost no input from Jon and he refuses to acknowledge it in any capacity. Good luck finding a quality upload of the series, as the whole thing was deleted when Machinima was shuttered, and unlike the rest of the series, Jon didn't archive it for the purpose of reupload. Here's basically the only fan in existence who cared enough to save it.
- Hypermail- Fourth-Wall Mail Slot that had the duo "out of character" as they answered fan mail and provided updates on the main series.
- Bytes- Two-season Gag Series that hearkened back to the vibe of the first seasons as a deliberate contrast to the increasing Cerebus Syndrome of the main series.
- Chemothera Play-Intended to be Jon's next project after Arby 'n' the Chief. Never got past the pitch episode stage due to Machinima not picking it up and a lack of commitment from Jon himself.
- Deus ex Machina (2007) - A Creator-Driven Successor to Abnormality, where a man named John Brent dons a suit of super-powered armor to fight crime. As with anything Jon does, it eventually gets a hell of a lot darker from there.
- DigitalPh33r's Guide to Making Halo 3 Machinima - After getting many questions about his creative process, Jon creates this helpful and humorous miniseries to explain his gameplay preferences, basic cinematography, writing process, and the equipment needed to capture game footage.
- Final Moments - A P.O.V. Cam-based short film adapting an event from Halo canon.
- Hard Justice - A comedic Cop Show about an Only Sane Man being forced to work for an utterly incompetent police force.
- It's a Wonderful Live - A series of Author Tracts about Jon's experience on X-Box Live and the consequences of him being one of the more popular Machinima creators.
- Megaman Goes to Willamete - Jon dresses Frank West up as Mega Man and dubs over the cutscenes. Hilarity Ensues.
- One Life Remaining - A Slice of Life series about a recent high school graduate trying to figure out what to do with his spare time.
- Rooster Teeth Shorts —As Himself/as Gary Busey
- See Me After Class — A comedic podcast where Jon sits down and chats about a variety of subjects ranging from recently released movies, basic Q&A, or ranting about his mistreatment by Machinima.
Tropes present in Jon's work:
- Acting for Two: In his original videos, every character was Jon with his voice variably pitched, with little to no effort done to differentiate beyond that. He still does a lot of the voicework himself, but has since employed other actors to join him, such as Elizabeth Carr-Ernst and Khail Anonymous.
- Allegory Adventure: His student films made for film school adapts Classical Mythology stories. Moment of Reflection is a comedic Silent Film telling of a modern Narcissus while Black Hole tells the story of Daedulus and Icarus as a crime thriller where a drug lord "flies too close to the sun" with his reckless and hedonistic habits.
- Author Avatar:
- Arbiter, John Brent, Bernard, and Anthony. All of them spout out Jon's thoughts on various subject matters from video games to holidays.
- By default however, Jon regularly represents himself within Halo gameplay as a white Spartan wearing the Recon helmet.
- Black Comedy: Which leads to...
- Black Comedy Rape
- Cerebus Syndrome: Really guilty of this.
- Arby 'n the Chief: From a goofy comedy about Living Toys and their misadventures on Halo to a grim Dramedy about the misery of being trapped in a small plastic body.
- One Life Remaining: A grounded, low-key Slice of Life series that climaxes with a car chase to stop a bomb from destroying a college.
- Deus Ex Machina: A standard superhero romp that eventually leads to a main character getting slowly decapitated by an antagonist.
- Creator Backlash: He has nothing nice to say about older videos, and at times seem to have an attitude of immediately being self-critical upon something's completion.
- Deadpan Snarker: Almost every character he writes is as dry as the Sahara. The man himself is no slouch.
- I Work Alone: He's admitted in some behind the scenes videos that he has a problem with this, mentioning how some fans have offered to help him film in-game, but he's always declined the offers because of this trope.
- Scenery Porn: Taking after Breaking Bad, Jon has become enamored with prolonged sequences of establishing shots, a lot of which show off the grand majesty of various Halo maps... or his house.
- Self-Deprecation: Jon doesn't let up on taking potshots at himself.Josh Butterballs: Jon Graham, this filthy Canadian scum who calls himself a writer, once known a long time ago by toddlers throughout the world for his large body of terrible work in the laughable medium in what basement dwellers like to call...Ma-ma-ma-china-ma, whatever, it originated in China. Quantity over quality, right Jon?
- Surrounded by Idiots: A general tone set by his comedy projects is that the world is populated by inane morons while the protagonist is possibly the only bastion of sanity and reason around for miles. That said, it's often subjected to Deconstruction by showing how this can often end up blinding the Only Sane Man to the noble and affable qualities of the "idiots" and devolve into Moral Myopia and depressing isolation.
- Take That, Audience!: Jon isn't afraid to satirize what some of his more annoying fans can be like; some videos made around Deus ex Machina's climax had him make fun of fans who hound him for the next installment of the series, and It's A Wonderful Live dramatizes some unpleasant conversations he's had with people who recognize him while gaming online.
"Wait, he's not Gary Busey!...He's Nick Nolte!"
