There was a really good article/interview at Art of the Title with Puny Animation's Shad Petosky about the animated title credits. While I didn't animate on that part of the film, they did try to base some of the character designs on the crude and childlike style I'd adapted for Frank. It's an interesting article, and furthermore, an interesting site. Clicky here.
While it's true that I do have other things in my life going on, the one thing that I've been thinking the most about for awhile is, of course, SUPER.
We went to the SXSW premiere last weekend in Austin.
December 2009 is when I read the script, and did like, a zillion drawings for the film based on some very precise outlines given to us by the director. And I was impressed with the script then-- impressed in a way, because the sick sense of humor reminded me so much of my own. I put it down at the end and told my boyfriend that it was totally something I should be working on, because it was so gleefully twisted, with a big dose of pathos. Just like the inside of my brain!
The audience ate it up; this was exactly the type of crowd I wanted to see it with for the first time. They were eager to see it--the line had wrapped around the block--and the laughter was uproarious. It was the most fun I'd ever had at a movie, and having worked on it was just icing on the cake.
We went to the afterparty, and I got a photo with James Gunn... which I now realize is actually the third time I've posed with a director (Joel Schumacher and Joss Whedon being the others). Who's next?? Harmony Korine? Vincent Gallo? Man, who knows. I'm blowing up. I'm Hollywood now.
I've become quite a cheerleader of this movie, to a point verging on being a fangirl, but it's just I think that much of this movie, and the production. You gotta understand, it was made for next to nothing, and the level of interest in it thus far-- the longest line for ANY screening at SXSW they say-- is an entirely grassroots, internet-based thing. I mean, there wasn't a trailer until a few weeks ago. And I think that's a great thing, because it started off as such a personal project for its writer-director, and it in turn became very personal for the people who worked on it.
And I wanna be real here for a minute: another part I am so excited, is because sometimes, it's not that easy to be an artist. Sometimes it's not that easy to get work, and as a result, you find yourself doubting yourself or abilities, and you lose motivation. A lot of people's art blogs, I find, are just self-aggrandizing or blatant networking attempts and... I can't do that. I'm too self-deprecating. And while that may be a great tool for getting ahead, I find that stuff insincere, and I just can't do it. So that's why I care about this movie: I got validation. I felt incredibly proud, and you know, just grateful, because the thing an artist needs most in the world is just to be given a chance. And I got it on this! Sometimes chances are few and far between and I'm just glad to have gotten one on something that was so important to all of the people who worked on it.
So go see it when it comes out-- but... you know, only if you are awesome, because it's not for everyone (a dude explodes).
The animation you see in the trailer are clips from the credits, and was done by the neato Puny Entertainment. I will admit to a little bit of envy there; once upon a time I was going to be involved in that aspect of the film, and while I did contribute some animation elsewhere, I didn't have anything to do with the credits. You'll still see my gloriously bad artwork in the movie though.
This Saturday, March 12, SUPER will be screening at SXSW and I've been told we are going to be able to get in to see it. So that's... that's pretty cool.
Click the poster for release dates! It is a very small film, that's relying largely on word-of-mouth. The good news is, the word-of-mouth from early screenings has been rad.
I'm really remiss for not mentioning this before, but the James Gunn film I worked on, 'Super', debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last month and positively blew the roof off the place.
I blogged about it last year-- in this entry-- I more or less wedged myself into a freelance endeavor with a studio in town that was doing some production work for them. Without giving much away, I did a lot of drawings, and did initially contribute some work to another portion of the movie, which ultimately was taken over by a very talented studio in LA & Minneapolis named Puny.
Anyway, the film killed at TIFF, and IFC picked it up. It is currently at the Stiges film festival in Spain, where, at least according to Twitter, it is doing very well. It's not everyone's cup of tea-- my mother certainly will not be able to watch it. But I read the script and dudes, I loved it. It's depraved but has heart. I think that was why I really liked what I did on the film so much; reading through you really began to empathize with this character. So when it came down to drawing the things that he was supposed to draw, things that had meant a lot to him, you kind of wanted that to come through onto the paper. Even if he was really terrible at it. It was a great experience, and I'm glad it's being so well-received. I haven't seen it but am dying to; a friend in Toronto was bowled over by it. Gunn also directed the hilarious PG Porn shorts--
and 2006's 'Slither', starring Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Banks. Which... if you haven't seen it, and it turns out a lot of people didn't, it's worth checking out. It was promoted badly and looked like a straight-up horror. I didn't even see it when it came out. But as it turns out, it's hilarious. I like me a sick sense of humor, and this guy has it. So to have gotten a little bit of work into the film is pretty gratifying; I'm glad it's doing so well.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Today was a lot of "hurry up and wait", if I may quote, well, at least a dozen people today. Guys, making a movie is hard. Me, I was just standing around while stuff happened around me, so I was perfectly fine waiting. My job wasn't the hard one.
I was an extra in SUPER, primarily because I had a full free day and because, really, I like observing. I was torn between film and 2D animation when I entered college, then debated a double major, then opted for the cheaper, quicker option, which was a single course of study. I did make some delightfully vapid student films in the film classes I did take.
I also know how much I enjoyed being an extra in 'A Time to Kill' when I was a teenager (and entirely violating child labor laws because no one checked my ID when i showed up for 2 weeks of work). I liked the fact that I was doing my French homework and Oliver Platt chatted with me about it, and I liked watching Kevin Spacey put on reindeer antlers and dance and sing because it was nearly Christmas. I really liked the fact that even though I was sheared off the left side of the screen in the television-formatted pan & scan, when my part of the movie comes up, you can still hear me go "NO".
fast forward to 2:00
Eh. It was fun. It's the little things.
Never mind the fact that 'A Time to Kill', upon its release, painted everyone in not just my hometown but entire home state of Mississippi as either a racist or a hick. And none of us owned air conditioners. They kept spraying our faces with baby oil to make us glisten. "But the Madison County courthouse HAS air conditioning," we'd say, half joking, half wishing they'd stop spraying us with baby oil. The funny thing is, as cringe-worthy as it all is-- Kevin Spacey's horrible accent especially-- everyone was so proud of that movie. People saw that movie as a stepping stone to bigger and better things, things that in most cases, never really came. One kid was even profiled on CBS' 48 Hours; they came and did a feature on how the town of Canton came alive with a flurry of activity surrounding the film. I had a piece of paper "autographed" by all of the guys who played baliffs; they were all planning on getting agents. Canton was, the film commission hoped, going to be Hollywood South.
Of course, it wasn't, and for the time being, I'm again in Hollywood South. Which is, in a way, ironic, because I swore to myself two things: I would never move to Hollywood I would never move back South
One or two people today were grumbling, because it was cold, or because they'd been standing or any number of things. They'll forget that when the movie is released, and 15 years from now, they can point out where they're either visible or oh hey, there's their shoulder! or just the general area of the screen where they think they should be.
The morning of that scene above in the youtube clip, I woke up late for the 5am call-time and we sat in holding for 5 hours. I had a sinus infection, and maneuvering behind some scaffolding to avoid the crowd of extras, I physically ran into Kevin Spacey and may or may not have accidentally stabbed him with the pencil I had been doing my French homework with. I got on camera because I'd become friends with the second second assistant director. It was a pretty good day.
I hadn't set foot on a movie set since then aside from walking past sets in New York but this was a pleasant experience and it made me wonder if I shouldn't have pursued a double major after all. The thing is, I enjoyed myself today, because I was watching the people actually making the movie. So I didn't mind hurrying up and waiting.
It's like this: the fairly badass James Gunn wrote this fairly badass script, a hilariously dark take on a man who attempts to reinvent himself as a superhero. It's starring equally badass actors Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, and other household favorites.
Rainn Wilson's character, Frank, is... well, I don't want to say sadsack, but he hasn't got a whole laundry list of things going for him. What he does do, is he likes to draw, and tape those drawings up to his wall.
That, ladies and gents, is where I step in.
"But Danielle!" you cry. "You can draw real good."
"I know," I say. "I do draw real good."
Thing is, Frank doesn't. A local studio in town is working on some vfx for the film and due to my close, personal ties with "someone" working there, when their initial passes didn't cut the mustard (ie, they were too good), I decided to give it a go. I basically drew as I did when I was 8. Which was really quite fine for an 8 year old, but pretty bad for a 30 year old professional artist.
James Gunn liked them.
I lost count of how many drawings I did that weekend-- I was told on Friday I was working on the project, and on Tuesday we had to deliver something like... I don't know, 100 drawings? James gave us a list of about 50 things to draw, and the rest we just started brainstorming. They became rather ridiculous. All the while, they all had to look like how I'd been drawing. With 3 different people that can be difficult so I'd end up redrawing some things. We put in one 14 hour workday, and at the very end, we were emailing drawings of one shot to James, and he was writing back saying, "They're too good, make it simpler..." I was so exhausted, I had lost the ability to be truly awful.
Wednesday morning of that week was the first day of shooting. The first scene being shot was a wedding scene, and they needed someone on set to draw. I went out there, in 30 degree weather, and surprisingly managed not to snot all over the drawings. They were filming inside of a local house, so the art department, where we were finishing up some work, was the bathroom, which we actually had to clear out of when one of the star needed to use it.
And I can't very well show you photos of my artwork, or how it looks in the movie. You'll have to just wait for the theater. Or! Or! How about, how about you buy it on bluray and we'll freeze frame it! And then look at it! Rainn Wilson told me not to get too attached, since it'll be in there for like 4 seconds, so I think that's what we just hafta do guys.
