A Lot of Surprises

When and how did you decide to become a filmmaker?

 

I began making computer graphics 14 or 15 years ago. I felt quite attracted by the possibility of create things in the screen, move them, change the shape, etc. But I wasn't really conscious about the potential of that, and which field I liked. A couple of years later, in 2000, I had the chance to join the team who was making one of the first 3D feature films in Europe: THE LIVING FOREST. I was mainly in modelling and lighting. After that I continued in different animation studios, but always involved in technical processes or supervising teams. It gave me enough knowledge to think about making my own project: THE WRONG GLASSES, a five-minute short film, full in 3D. It took me two years to finish, and at the end I realised that the most difficult and enjoyably step for me was to develop the story and tell it. I realised that the computers and the software will be always in evolution, making it easier to form characters, environments, animation, etc. But they never will be able to do a good story. Then I applied to the NFTS in order to improve my storytelling skills.

 

You attended film school when creating this film – was it a student film with special conditions or requirements?

 

The NFTS is a cinema school, and the Animation Direction MA is not focused on any concrete technique, everyone is free to choose the technique for the graduation film. It means that in comparison with other 3D animation schools, the NFTS has not the same resources to do CGI, so me and my producer had to design a concrete production work flow to do this project, getting as much resources as possible from the school, but also adding extra computers to the project.

 

This is pretty far out stuff with alien wheelchairs and giant robot firefights… Where did the original idea come from and how has it maybe changed over time?

 

Well, it’s a little bit based on a real situation, let me explain. In the NFTS, to start your graduation film, initially you have to hand in five or six rough ideas, then tell it to the tutors and your team. After some meetings, you have to discard most of them and keep the best one for your film. During this process I used to live in Beaconsfield, close to the school. It's a nice place full of retired people. Quite often, going there I bumped into a cute old lady in one of those electric wheelchairs. She was not disabled, but she used the vehicle to go shopping, take a walk, etc. That wheelchair seemed like quite a sophisticated machine, full of buttons and joysticks. So one day I thought of an image, the contrast of that inoffensive lady driving a powerful machine – the wheelchair becoming a big robot, like a transformer. I though that would be a good gag, but never a story that I could develop, so I added it as the last idea on my list for the meetings. To my surprise everybody went for that one. Once we had taken the decision, the challenge was to find a good justification to seat a lady onto such machine, and it was that which drove the development of the story.

 

How long did it take to realize this film and who was there to help you?

 

Well, my great advantage to do it was my previously experience working in the industry. It gave me the possibility to create a fluent work flow to develop the project from the technical point of view. I prepared a server able to download the project's files for everyone involved in it. The NFTS provides a budget to every graduation film, so instead of bringing people in to work at the school, my producer found eight or nine animators around the world to work in the project via the net. Doing it in that way allowed us to better use the budget have more people working in the animation, while I could concentrate on the storytelling part and develop other steps like modelling, character rigs, lighting, etc. Finally we spent one year working on the project, including script development, pre-production, production and post.

 

Where were your influences for the look and style of the film?

 

The look was mainly imposed by the limitation in the resources. I mean, due to the deadline we had not too much time to experiment, we had to go straight from the rough sketches to the final models, even when we were not sure enough about them. Another problem was the render: we didn't have too much render machines, so I had to use a simple render engine, which is essential as well in the final look. We didn't even have time to do colour correction, we finished the movie the day before the premiere, and it has a little bit saturated colours.

 

Please tell us something about the reception of this film, especially on where it has been shown and what reactions it provoked.

 

To my big surprise this film got a nomination for a Student Oscar. Also a nomination to the “Golden Reel”, which shows the amazing job done by my musician and sound editor. Plus the film had been in Palm Spring, Anima Mundi, Karlovy Vary, Rhode Island, Fantoche Film Fest, Chicago Children's Film Fest, Holland Film Fest, Austin, Munich, etc. In brief, it gave us a lot of surprises. I only had the chance a couple of times to sit in the audience, and they enjoy watching the film.

 

What happened to you since THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER OLIVE and what plans do you have for future films?

 

I spent the next year writing my book “Proyectos de animación 3D”, published by Anaya, the biggest technical editorial in Spain. It talks about the work flow of 3D productions from the technical point of view. Using the files of one of my shorts, THE WRONG GLASSES, I explain the steps from the script to the final render, focusing on the order and files evolution through the process. Now I work as an assistant director at the kid's series LET’S GO POCOYO at Zinkia Entertainment, a good company and a good project. For the future I am working on the script for a feature film, but slowly at the moment. Are there any producer around?

 

More informations about The National Film and Television School - NFTS, London