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11-23-2007, 08:34 AM
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ANIMATED SHORTS: FUTURAMA'S PRODUCER & DIRECTOR ON THE NEW MOVIE
 by Steve FritzPRODUCER KATZ & DIRECTOR CAREY-HILL TALK UP PRODUCING THE RELEASE. I have good news, to paraphrase Professor Farnsworth. The return of Futurama, is truly a wonderful event. It’s something to be truly grateful for while trying to figure out what to do with your turkey leftovers. It’s also proof positive that even the morons at Fox Animation can catch the occasional clue and have grown up enough to be the butt of some very rude jokes. It’s packed with enough self-referential jokes to keep the hardcore ‘Rama fanatic packing web sites for at least several weeks. It also displays enough animated eye candy to keep animation fanatics like myself seriously pleased. Those truly responsible for that eye candy are the army of men and women who work at Rough Draft U.S. To kick things off, I had the pleasure of interview RDUS partner and producer Claudia Katz and Dwayne Carey-Hill about what went into making this release. Here’s what they had to say: Newsarama: So how hard was it to get off the ground? Claudia King: You mean actual production? We began production in August, 2006. NRAMA: It looks like you put a lot of time into this one. Both: Yeah. Dwayne Carey-Hill: The good thing was this was a series we both had a lot of experience on. So we had a good idea of what was expected. After all, the preliminary work was done. CK: Now mix that kind of experience with a very highly functioning infrastructure like ours. Really our biggest problem was assembling literally a whole new crew. Believe it or not, that’s no small feat. Also, at that time we were working on The Simpsons Movie and our share of the 2006 season of animated shows. Initially it was a little intimidating. As it was, we ended up getting some people back as well as some fantastic new people. NRAMA: Now there is four different movies. Is Bender’s Big Score the first you worked on? What was it like to be together again? CK: Yes. We were kind of hoping to get back to work with Matt (Groening) and David (X. Cohen) on Futurama for a long while. So getting to work with them again was a great experience. The first table read was a lot of fun, especially under such good circumstances. NRAMA: So you didn’t just go cold into the isolation booths? CK: We do that a lot with the other shows, but not with this. Even though we were put into an non-air conditioned trailer, and by the very last part you were wondering if you were going to faint or not… NRAMA: Just so everyone understands, in Southern California, in August… CK: Right. And I nearly did faint. So we actually did have to take some breaks. Still, everyone was so thrilled to be back. There was a lot of energy in the room. NRAMA: Now Billy West was campaigning like a maniac on his website. CK: He knew what was going on long before everyone else, or claimed to. I think he was forcing the issue before anyone else was. He had made it his mission. I’m just glad he was right. NRAMA: What was it like when you first saw the script? I mean this is a really convoluted script. DCH: It was a really big undertaking. I mean the characters are jumping all over the place thanks to time travel. We had all these different time lines to maintain. That was pretty daunting. I have to say, they pulled it off. So, we walked in knowing we had a pretty good story in the beginning. It was fortunate that we did have a table read, if only just to listen. NRAMA: OK, we all know that Matt can draw, but when you did that table read did you also have storyboards to work with? DCH: Yes, it was entirely storyboarded. CK: Actually, they hand us a script and a track, and we take it from there. DCH: In other words, we do all the artwork from there. What helped is we had all the characters designs from doing the prior series. All we had to really draw was the new scenes and characters that had been added for this one. NRAMA: So, for instance, the alternate versions of Fry you had to draw yourself? BOTH: Yeah. CK: What was lucky is for this project we had about a team of 70 different people working on this from storyboard artists to finishers. In other words, there were 70-80 people just on Bender’s Big Score. It was a huge collaboration and a tremendous amount of work. NRAMA: I couldn’t help but notice a lot of fun past references in this movie. For instance, when Santa 3000 is making weapons, the bunny bombs looked like a certain rabbit from Life In Hell. DCH: That was no accident. I did it. Actually, I think it was a David idea. When they saw us producing those toys on the assembly line, David said ‘let’s throw in that Life In Hell rabbit.’ CK: I think things like that is what makes this so terrific. We threw stuff in there for the fans. It was our way of giving something back to them. NRAMA: There were also a number of references to past episodes. CK: We basically did about 72 episodes, which should have been four seasons, but they were stretched into five. DCH: God bless baseball… NRAMA: and football. Then there was the reference to the “Box” network. What did you think of that? DCH: What you have to realize is nobody who actually worked on the series, the writers and artists, did not walk away mad at each other… NRAMA: No. I mean you took a pretty savage swipe at the executives who cancelled the series though. I mean, the whole thing starts off with Farnsworth announcing to the crew they were all fired. DCH: And we really appreciated that Matt and them put it all out front about what happened. CK: I actually love that whole thing. It sort of kicks the whole thing off in sort of a subversive way without really getting angry with everyone. DCH: And Fox deserved some poking fun at. CK: And none of those people are around at Fox any more. So… I mean when we actually did the first table read the executives at Fox were also there and while there was a few that said ‘hmmm…’ there was also tons of laughter. They didn’t really get offended by it. Hopefully we will all work again after they see the final film. NRAMA: Didn’t you guys also work on The Family Guy where Seth MacFarlane also took his shots? CK: No. That’s a different studio. I think the real truth is everyone involved has a complex relationship with Fox. On the other hand, we do so much work with Fox that we have a good relationship with them. NRAMA: So how many actual animators did you have working on Big Score? CK: We actually had about 20 animators on it. We did the rough animation here and then sent it off to Rough Draft Korea for all the inbetween and clean-up work. NRAMA: The animation process you use is really a hybrid. You hand draw a lot of the work and then use a lot of computer generated effects. CK: We do all that here. We try to keep as much of any project here as possible, or as much as a schedule allows. We’re quality control freaks. The more we can do here, the better. We try to give you a lot of bang for the buck. NRAMA: But for a TV-oriented project, there’s a lot of depth to your work. There are layers upon layers of planes in one scene. Where does the computer fit in there? I guess I’m still used to H-B and Filmation where you were lucky if you got three layers. CK: We really try to push the staging and composition as far as we can. It aids the acting and drama, which is the area of the director. What we do is after the boards are laid out, Scott V , the head of our CG department comes in and figures out what needs to be CG’d and the most appropriate method for each shot. NRAMA: Do you do a lot of multi-planing? DCH: Yes. I think we’re kind of in an interesting position in that we also don’t try to make the show funny, but to also make it look good. As soon as we do the boards, we immediately work on how to make the various shots interesting including the depth of the shot. NRAMA: How many planes are in an average shot? DCH: An average shot is still two to three. CK: But we’ve done shots where there were actually over 150 levels working in one shot. There have been times when I come in and look at a shot and wonder how anyone can look at it. How we do it is all the characters and such are drawn, but then they are all scanned in and then worked on a digital camera system. That allows us a tremendous amount of flexibility as well as pull off some stuff that would be really difficult to do traditionally. NRAMA: In other words, Max Fleischer and Ub Iwerks would have been very impressed with what you did. DCH: I think so. CK: The days of working almost completely traditional is almost a dream these days. We use a software where it works like a traditional process. In other words, the director can sit with the compositor in a medium that’s not foreign to either. The big advantage here is if you make a mistake, you can fix it quickly instead of having to shoot a whole days work all over again. DCH: Or you have to keep going because of deadline… CK: So you have to live with it. We built the studio on the idea that you can constantly improve a project as you go. You know, I’m going to be real curious about the final opinion on Beowulf. Over here we spend an awful lot of time working hard to make ours work with the 2-D. That’s a very conscious choice on our part. To me, just because you have the technology, that doesn’t mean you have to use every aspect of it whether it’s appropriate or desirable. To me this is all fascinating, but in sort of a bad way. DCH: The real magic of the animation is the hard work. It’s not trying to create or find the tools that will do the hard work for you. I think with motion capture they still haven’t found anyone who really knows how to work that stuff. CK: Over here, everything is about the story and the storytelling. If you keep reminding people that something is animated, then you take the audience out of what you’re trying to say. We try to make great stories that are animated, not animated projects that wind up great. NRAMA: So overall, do you feel pretty satisfied with the final cut? DCH: Yes. CK: You know, I haven’t seen it! We’re having a premier this Thursday at the Arc Light, and I can’t wait to see it. I’m also grateful to Fox for doing something to launch it. That’s really something when you think about the past. I’m also anxious to see it at the Cinerama Dome. It’s one of those old 50s survivors with a screen from the Cinemascope days. It’s a giant curve. It’s on Sunset and it looks like a big geodesic dome. I know I certainly appreciate it. NRAMA: It’s amazing just how loyal the Futurama fans are, isn’t it? CK: I know. I hope this film does exceptionally well, just for them. Then they’ll want to see more of them. Futurama itself just lends itself to feature storytelling, things that are more epic and story arced. Futurama is much more suited to features than The Simpsons. NRAMA: So how was it like working with Mr. Groening there? CK: He’s a pretty relaxed sort of guy. He’s also pretty bright and can walk into a room and make some simple comments that make you see things in entirely different ways. He also has a way of cutting things down and getting to things that are really essential. He just has this great barometer for getting to what’s funny and what matters. He’s really a joy to work with. Plus, he was really instrumental in getting us the show. David Cohen is very collaborative and also a joy to work with. You know, what’s interesting is we are really a smaller group than what works on a usual feature film. I think what really helps is all around, we are having just one crew working on all four movies instead of four rotating crews. That also helps make it a really nice experience. DCH: It also helped that we worked a lot more with them than we had in the past. So we were able to do more and give them more in the process. This time we were really able to throw things back and forth. CK: We’ve been working with them for so long that there’s sort of a very high level of trust between both sides. All the other stuff just goes away. NRAMA: So when should we expect the second movie? Any idea on when we can expect that? CK: We just delivered the colors, and it’s pretty close to the end of the year. I know that we still have to go through a pretty elaborate post-production process. David would know better than us, but there’s no such official release date. We assume it’s about six months from Big Score. My guess is the second one will probably be this Spring. Then you have to assume the third film will be Christmas 2008. Your guess is as good as mine. NRAMA: And as anyone who reads the IMDB knows, all these projects are followed with the term “subject to change.” CK: Yeah. All I can add is they are all really good and all work really well. I personally can’t wait for the second one because I really love that script. We are really lucky to have such great stories to work on. DISNEY READIES KIDS DECEMBER/HOLIDAY PROGRAMS Disney Channel ushers in winter with a "Snow Day Saturday" featuring seasonal episodes throughout the Playhouse Disney programming block on Saturday, December 1 (6:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. et). New episodes of My Friends Tigger & Pooh, Johnny and the Sprites, and Higglytown Heroes, as well as a new episode of popular short-form series "Lou and Lou: Safety Patrol" will be featured. Highlights include: • Higglytown Heroes (6:30 a.m.) – A bricklayer comes to the rescue when the Higgly kids and their families go to Pizza Guy's cabin for Christmas and find there is no chimney to hang their stockings on. • Johnny and the Sprites (7:30 a.m.) – When the Sprites make their own presents to give to Johnny, they discover the true meaning of giving. Then, when the Sprites are snowed out of the Grove, it's hot chocolate for everyone… until Gwen shows up. The episode features an original holiday song written by Academy Award-winning composer, Stephen Schwartz ("Wicked"). • My Friends Tigger & Pooh (8:00 a.m.) – The Super Sleuths help Roo figure out why his snowman is shrinking. • “Lou and Lou: Safety Patrol" (8:55 a.m.) – Brother and sister safety duo, Lou and Louise explain how to dress properly on a snow day, plus what to do and what not to do while playing outside in the snow. IG STARTING NEW PROJECT WITH MASAMUNE Production IG announced it has started a new collaboration with legendary manga artist Masamune Shirow. The last time the two hooked up, it was for Ghost In The Shell. Entitled Real Drive!, this new SF suspense animation TV series will be directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi of Le Chevalier D'Eon. The screenplay is entrusted to Junichi Fujisaku, director of Blood+ and scriptwriter for many episodes of the Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. series. Manga artist Tetsuro Ueyama (Metal Guardian Faust) is in charge for the character designs. Real Drive is co-produced by the first and largest Japanese commercial broadcaster, Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV), and will premiere in Japan on NTV April 2008. The plot overview, provided by IG, is as follows: Set in 2061 AD. Fifty years have passed since mankind developed the Network society. It was anticipated that this new infrastructure would realize a utopia where people connected with each other at the level of consciousness. However, new social problems such as personal data leaks and proliferation of manipulated information began to surface. Nevertheless, people still relied on the Network to exchange information, and proved unable to opt to abandon it. In due course, a new Network realm with more effective security measures was developed. This was called Meta Real Network, usually abbreviated as "the Metal." The Metal accommodated personal memory data within protected virtual stand-alone organic cyber enclaves called bubble shells and eventually pervaded the everyday lives of people. However, people gradually learned to release and explode their instincts within the secure environment of the Metal. The unleashed instincts pushed each individual's consciousness to drown in the sea of information and to be exposed to the pressures of desire. Meanwhile, norms and regulations continued to bind their real world lives. Thus, strange friction between the two worlds began to manifest themselves as aberrations beyond the bounds of the imaginable. Experts who challenged the deep sea of the Metal to investigate and decipher such aberrations were called cyber divers. This is a story of a cyber diver, Masamichi Haru, who investigates the incidents that lie between Reality and the Metal. NEXT COLUMN: We start our interview with Futurama creator David X. Cohen. Expect your share of spoilers and just plain fun as we look into the future of the series. |
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11-23-2007, 10:36 AM
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#2 |
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Does somebody know if the DVD includes latin spanish audio, and if so, if they're using the same voice actors they used in the TV series?
Long Life Futurama |
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11-23-2007, 10:40 AM
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#3 |
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I'd rather have this show back than family guy any day.
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11-23-2007, 12:00 PM
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#4 |
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I managed to watch the first half of this yesterday (I work at a rental store, and it arrived yesterday to my delight.) I also watched the bonus episode "Everybody Loves Hypnotoad" which is 22 minutes of exactly what you'd think it is. All Glory to the Hypnotoad.
My favourite line so far was Professor's "I'm sciencing as fast as I can!" |
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11-23-2007, 02:20 PM
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#5 |
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I watched this today... through illicit means.
I'll definitely get the dvd though, because this was totally amazing, and I need all the extras. |
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11-23-2007, 09:30 PM
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#6 |
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Hot damn! This is good news! I absolutely love Futurama! C'mon networks! This show was a helluva lot better than most anything on television then and NOW. Get it back on tv ASAP.
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11-24-2007, 12:06 AM
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#7 |
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Can't wait to get some new Futurama goodness in my hands!
Also can't wait to hear more about Real Drive. Shirow's view of the future is always interesting... Official Site (pitifully little & in Japanese): http://www.ntv.co.jp/RD/ Production I.G. (English): http://www.productionig.com/contents/works_sp/62_/ |
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11-24-2007, 08:18 AM
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#8 |
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quayec,
Sorry, don't know about the languages, but I can tell you that all the original cast come back, even the frequent guest stars like Frank Welker as Nibbler, and Al Gore as himself. It's great. :^)
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11-24-2007, 08:34 AM
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#9 |
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Back from the Dead.
Years ago it was known that Austin Powers International Man of Mystery only got the other movies made due to the VHS sales, 'cause the box office did not do so good.
Then Family Guy came back, based on DVD sales and Cartoon Network Adult Swim reruns. Now Futurama. I can't wait. What I think killed the show the first time was everyone wanted the Simpsons, but that is not what they got. Now the show has its own following and who knows it might come back as a regular show. I just weep at all the great pre-DVD and cable re-run shows that might have gotten a second life. |
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11-24-2007, 08:53 AM
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#10 | |
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Quote:
The mind boggles at the possiblities at this thought. I personally would love to see both definitive collections and continuations of Jonny Quest and Gargoyles right off the top. I'm sure after a cup or two of coffee and a little thought, a few dozen more would pop up. -s |
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11-24-2007, 09:34 AM
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#11 | |
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More Shows That Could Have Been Saved Via DVD Sales
Quote:
The last one was short lived, but insane, I miss it so. |
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11-24-2007, 11:31 AM
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#12 | |
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Quote:
Well...I'm watching the Kids WB and noticed they're bringing back the Teen Titans next weekend. I also previously reported that Erik Radomski would love to do more Xiaolin Showdown. So..... I'll let you draw your own conclusions. -s |
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