Back in August, writer/director Jorge R. Gutierrez gave a small presentation to select local press outlets at Reel FX studios. While there, we got to hear all about his film – from its humble beginnings to the nearly finished product – which is a co-production between the Dallas-based animation studio and 20th Century Fox. Last month we posted an article about our exclusive tour of the Reel FX studio, as well as our 1 on 1 interview with Gutierrez and his team. This follow-up post will take a closer look at The Book of Life and explain the design of the film, give insight into the symbolism in the story, as well as touch on…
-
-
Exclusive: Video Interview…’The Book of Life’ Creative Team – Jorge R. Gutierrez, Paul Sullivan and Augusto Schillaci
This Fall, 20th Century Fox and producer Guillermo del Toro will bring an animated film unlike any other to theaters. In advance of the October premiere, we got an exclusive tour of Dallas-based animation studio Reel FX. While there, we were treated to an inside look at the film (click here to read about our exclusive tour), and met with the amazing creative team behind The Book of Life. Sitting for this interview are (L to R) visual effects supervisor Augusto Schillaci, writer/director Jorge R. Gutierrez, and art director Paul Sullivan. They, along with the members of the incredibly talented animation team, are currently working to finish the film which…
-
Exclusive: A Look Inside Reel FX and ‘The Book of Life’
Reel FX is a Dallas-based company that has seen their fair share of the commercial animation world. In the last two decades, they have lent their digital magic to a multitude of projects, both large and small. The company also maintains a Santa Monica location but the unassuming brick building here in North Texas houses a multitude of digital artists – ones well-versed in the field of computer animation. Founded 20 years ago, the company began doing service work and were one of the first to have the “Flame” software (their current circle logo is loosely based on that fact). Over time, their projects grew in size, as did their commercial…
-
Exclusive: Interview (Part I)…’Ender’s Game’ Composer Steve Jablonsky
For more than a decade Steve Jablonsky has been composing riveting scores for some of Hollywood’s most bombastic blockbuster films. From the Japanese anime Steamboy (directed by legendary filmmaker Katsuhiro Otomo), to Michael Bay’s The Island and Transformers series to scoring no less than 4 feature films in 2013 alone, Jablonsky’s epic sounds have become a staple in the world of action films. Whether things are blowing up on the silver screen, the TV screen or in video games, Jablonsky is one of only a handful of go-to composers who consistently deliver diversity and complexity along with high energy themes. Originally focused on becoming a recording engineer, Jablonsky’s career as a film composer developed after assisting…
-
Exclusive: Interview (Part II)…Film Composer Harry Gregson-Williams Talks Tony Scott, Hans Zimmer and His Career
A veteran of the film music world Harry Gregson-Williams has composed scores for more than 50 films including The Town, the Shrek series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many, many others (including the Metal Gear Solid video game series), in addition to a slew of Tony and Ridley Scott films which make up a large portion of his career. In Part I of our exclusive interview we talked about his recent film The East and learned that the success and bulk of the score was less to do with him and more his assistant Halli Cauthery getting his big break on an amazing film. Harry was extremely open to this interview and touched…
-
Exclusive: Interview (Part I)…Film Composer Harry Gregson-Williams Discusses Scoring ‘The East’
As much as we love films at GST, we love film scores just a little bit more. Zal Batmanglij’s amazing follow up to his stunning debut effort Sound of My Voice, The East resembles a smart ’70s styled throwback thriller that is smart, engaging and dripping with cool. One fine element in the cog of that brilliant machine is the score, well themes really, from the one and only Harry Gregson-Williams. I was extremely excited to take a phone call from Harry to talk about The East as well as his astonishingly diverse and accomplished career. This was an amazing hour long interview and because of the breadth of topics I…
-
Exclusive: Interview (Part II)…Film Composer Brian Tyler
Welcome back for Part II of our exclusive interview with film composer Brian Tyler. Yesterday we posted the first half of our session with him and touched on his sensational scores to Iron Man 3 and Now You See Me (which opens nation-wide) today. So sit back and enjoy some more insights into the world of scoring film music (and video game music) courtesy of this uberly talented musician. ——————————————————————————————————————————- – Brian, you’re multi-talented as far as playing so many instruments but you also orchestrate and conduct, so you really do it all. Is it necessary to be so versatile in order to get a job these days or do you…
-
Exclusive: Interview (Part I)…Film Composer Brian Tyler Talks ‘Now You See Me’ and ‘Iron Man 3’
Brian Tyler is a film composer who is no stranger to high energy and action-oriented films. In fact there’s not a lot on his resume that isn’t an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride. This May audiences got a taste of Brian’s unique musical styling in both Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 and Louis Leterrier’s Now You See Me. They are two vastly different films with two distinct musical themes but they share one thing in common; they feature score that are more engaging, bold and fun that the events playing out on screen. Brian’s music, time and again, walks the line between a sleek sophistication and something that effortlessly raises pulses. We got…
-
Exclusive: Interview…Disney Animator & ‘Paperman’ Director John Kahrs
Editor’s Note: This interview was held following the animated short film sequence back in September at the 2102 Fantastic Fest. We held on to this to coincide with its screening ahead of Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph which opens Friday November 2nd. Part passion project, part experiment, Disney animator John Kahrs‘ short film Paperman is a wonderful combination of traditional 2D animation and CG. This hybrid style (achieved by creating CG animatics and then laying 2D drawings over those polygons) yields something that has the look of traditional hand drawn animation but moves with the fluidly of CG. Sounds simple but apparently it’s a lot of work. However, looking at the end result, it has the potential to be a…
-
Exclusive: Video Interview…Film Composer Michael Giacchino
To close out their Masters of Film Music series, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra has invited Oscar-winning film composer Michael Giacchino (pronounced “Juh-keen-oh“) to conduct a retrospective concert from May 18th – 20th. The set list, which he’s calling Stories of Islands, Balloons and Space, will include a number of his most popular and well-loved themes/music including Lost, Up, Star Trek, Super 8 and Ratatoulie. While he’s garnered plenty of acclaim and accolades this will be one of the few time he’s ever conducted his work. But before he takes the stage for his 3 night engagement (the first time that an orchestra in the United States has performed a complete range of his work), he agreed to meet with G-S-T for an exclusive interview. Join…
-
Exclusive: Interview…Film Composer Michael Giacchino
This week, Oscar-winning film composer Michael Giacchino (Star Trek, Super 8, Up, The Incredibles) will hold an exclusive 3 night engagement with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The retrospective concert experience will feature a set list of Giacchino’s finest works with an added bonus; Michael himself will be conducting his well-loved themes at the Meyerson Symphony Center from May 18th – 20th. In a very fun and informative interview from his office at Pixar, Go,See,Talk got to speak with Michael to discuss his influences, his passion, his process and how he weaves his musical magic. 20 minutes is nowhere near long enough to spend with this gifted musician (honestly I have pages of things I wanted to ask him), so before our on-camera session with him…
-
Exclusive: Video Interview…Film Composer James Newton Howard
Oscar-nominated film composer James Newton Howard was invited to Dallas to perform some of his favorite and well known cinematic themes as the first performance kicking-off the 2012 Masters of Film Music series with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. But before he conducted his fantastic live retrospective concert, he agreed to meet with G-S-T for an exclusive interview. Due to Mr. Howard’s hectic schedule we had to break our session with him into two parts. As you’ll see and hear in the video, he was extremely down to earth and answered a wealth of questions. We discussed a wide range of topics from his roots, his inspiration/motivation, his process and more. Enjoy this insightful sit down with…
