Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘Guzzle Blood’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films?
Christy Karacas (CK): I started off as a background designer on MTV’s Daria in the late 90s-i was also making short films. I’ve worked for commercial studios like Nickelodeon, CN, Adult Swim, Vice, on many different projects. I co-created and created two shows for Adult Swim (Superjail! And Ballmastrz:9009) I’ve made award winning music videos for MGMT, Royal Blood, and now Guzzle Blood was my most recent project with Luca who I love working with. We both went to and teach at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) also where the band went.
Luca Depardon (LD): I've done a lot of different jobs over the years in and out of animation: compositing, illustration, catering, fabrication, and of course animation! I also make experimental animation and have always tried to work on my own films in my free time. I've animated for places like VICE, The Children's Museum of Art in Soho, Wall Street Journal to name a few. I've known Christy since I was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, almost 8 years ago now. Christy asked me to help him on the music video after we were finishing teaching for a semester, and is super open to collaboration and experimentation so it was very easy to say yes!
Tell us about ‘Guzzle Blood’. How do you describe it?
CK: So much war and craziness is going on in the world right now and the lyrics were pretty pessimistic and dark. I’ve been drawing these big wars between cats and robots for a long time and always wanted to animate them and this seemed to go with the dystopian theme and vibe of the song. I’m also a huge fan of the band, Les Savy Fav. Also the collaboration with Luca was so fun. I’d do things and hand them off to Luca, he’d do things and I’d respond. It was very intense but fun process-animating on paper, digitally, filming drawings, using an overhead projector with cels and projecting it onto the wall. Luca can speak more to that as he did a lot of those interesting physical things.
LD: So Christy told me a lot of his ideas for this crazy war between robots and cats at the start, and I think one of the challenges was to make a battle seem really full and intense in the amount of time we had to make it. I would take whatever artwork Christy had made: 2D hand drawn, digital, still paintings, and then I would composite them in After Effects to layer and edit them. I was super excited to use the overhead projector to manipulate the ink drawings I did on acetate because it was so fast and you could get a very hand-held feel to very simple pans and layering that gets lost in the digital process sometimes. I would then use motion tracking data from my videos to create interesting movements for Christy's still paintings. It really was an amazing collaboration, so fun and very free to do whatever we wanted!
Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.
CK: I always hate this question. It’s like food-what’s my favorite food? I can’t say becuase I love all food!!!!!! I love all interesting films and filmmakers. I respect anyone who is just trying to make anything. Lately I’ve been obsessed with the Zatoichi films first directed by Kenji Misumi but there’s lot of different directors -I also love his sword trilogy-Kiru, Ken, and Kenki. For animation I love The Butterfly by Andrei Khzhanovsky, I love indie filmmakers like Yoji Kuri and commercial filmmakers like Chuck Jones…I love it all!
LD: I don't mind this question haha! But I agree that there are so many amazing filmmakers, animation or live action that it's so hard to choose a few. I think it's amazing when anyone makes a film on their own, with a small group of friends, or a massive production. A live action filmmaker I really like right now is George Kuchar who made documentaries by himself in motels called "Weather Diaries" and lots of fun shorts shot in San Francisco as a film teacher there. One of my favorite animated films of all time which I show to all my friends is "Terry 100 Channels." I am so inspired by this film and I rewatch it often. It's a collaboration between King Terry who did illustration for GARO magazine and Shinya Tsukamoto, who directed "Tetsuo: The Iron Man." This film is so inspirational to me as it shows so many different ways to animate still imagery with simple camera movements, puppetry, and fun effects. But I like too many filmmakers to list here!
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
CK: I’d love to make more animation like the Guzzle Blood video about this huge war and expand the world and make it a million times more insane. Way more cats, robots, huge sequences with huge battles but also a non-dialog story in there. That would be really fun and exciting for me.
LD: With more money and time, I do think some things we did for the music video would've been cut out or changed. So there are lots of things I like about working fast and cheaply, it makes you think in a very different way. An ideal project for me would be a space to experiment more deeply and without worrying about money so often. It would also be amazing to be able to work with friends more.
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
CK: Get your work done on time. Work smarter not harder. No lame excuses and don’t be lazy.
LD: Always do a little bit of work even if it's hard. I think of hard problems as a big block of marble, you have to chip away at it to realize your ideas and allow interesting pathways to emerge in the process. Never give up!
What was the hardest part of making ‘Guzzle Blood’.
CK: The low budget and short schedule. We made it so cheap for $3000.00 and in five weeks. I would never take a job for such an insulting shitty rate like that, but I know and love the band and it was a great opportunity to make something with Luca and it’s done really well in the festival circuit so that’s been great. The highlights so far have been going to Ottawa International Animation Festival in Canada and Bucheon International Animation Festival in South Korea and seeing great animation, meeting other wonderful filmmakers and eating amazing food!
LD: Yes, the budget and schedule was tough! It really was fun though to work next to someone and share ideas and get excited about the possibilities. Doing smaller jobs while also teaching or thinking about other life things is probably the hardest part of doing projects that are lower paid.
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?
CK: I want to start a new animation soon but I’ve been teaching at RISD, painting and working on some kids book ideas…but I’m sure I’ll start animating again soon.
LD: I'm always working on some new film and this one I'm working on is taking forever! I won't say too much more because I should just focus on finishing it and less on talking about it. I also love to draw and make sculptures so I try to stay busy when I'm not teaching or working on freelance projects.
Kommentare