Dave Barclay Interview

"Films like Star Wars, Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal were graced with the inventive and imaginative characters brought to life by Dave Barclay. Carole Bouchard had a chance to talk to the puppet master about his unique career.

Now that he has embraced new technology like motion capture, CG and real-time digital puppeteering, he is definitely pioneering an exciting future for a craft that injects real and unique personality into storytelling."

To read the rest of Carole Bouchard's CG Channel interview with my buddy Dave, click here!

My Flip Interview Is Now Online!

I was interviewed by Steve Moore recently about my toy collection and Happy Beaver. It's in the latest issue of his online magazine (webzine?) at flipanimation.net. I think it turned out great! Enjoy.

How to Start Your Own Toy Line, Circa 2003

ACTION-HQ.COM: HOW TO BREAK INTO THE DESIGNER TOYS MARKET?
Interview with Casey Lau, Head of HyperChild

Everyone's heard about the cool designer toys that are coming out of Asia but how does one actually break into this market? What does one need to do to produce and market their own line of toys?

John Wong, the head of Action-HQ.com, sat down with Casey Lau, head of HyperChild to find out just this, in this exclusive interview for the good people at Action-Figure.com.

John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Hey Casey, thanks for doing this interview with us and Action-Figure.com. For those who might not know, can you tell us about your company?

Casey Lau [HyperChild] > HyperChild is a think-tank and development company that creates and develops new entertainment properties such as toys, animation and character goods. We were founded and are based in Hong Kong, and are made up of a collective of writers, artists and designers. Our goal is to create new properties for a new generation of audience. We are launching two new properties lines this year with The Deviants and Garage Robots.

John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Can you tell us something about your background so that the readers knows where you are coming from?

Casey Lau [HyperChild] > My experience is expansive with over 10 years in licensing, design, Internet development and the comic book industries. Some of my works include creating such properties as Virtex and The WonderLanders and, as you know, co-founding that little web-company called ActionAce.com. I would call myself a "designer" first and anything else -like writer, businessman, dishwasher - second.

John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Cool! So tell us in layman terms how to get started in the designer toy industry?

Casey Lau [HyperChild] > Okay....to make your own toys you need a few things- if you can do them all yourself, great -if not you will need to put out some cash to have others come in to help you. As an aside, I could write a book on how to self publish your own comic book which is a lot cheaper than making toys, but perhaps next interview, haaa.

Anyway, the first step is DESIGN. Design your figures with good ol’ pencil and paper, and work out your designs in various poses until you’re are happy with one.

Then you basically need to draw out what we call “TURNS” an animation term for front, side and back views of a character. This is for a sculptor to see what it is you want to do. Obviously if you sculpt it yourself you wont need these but its usually always good to have a guide of what you want to do.

The next step is the sculpting. You can use various materials to do this: clay, sculptey, wax etc. whatever you are comfortable with. If you don’t know how, you will have to find a sculptor that you can work with.

Then you need to decide on color callouts and figure out the Pantone number for each of these colors.

Once you have devised a prototype you are happy with you then need to get it to a factory for costing and talk about numbers.

John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > How does one locate a factory?

Casey Lau [HyperChild] > The factory you will use will most likely be in China but your best bet is to talk to a factory’s agent in Hong Kong. That way communication is no problem and Hong Kong has been the center of toys for so long that they will know more about putting your product together than you will.

There are a few places to start sourcing factories and all are online and in English. Point your browsers to these websites to start surfing for the best factories:

www.tdcenterprise.com
www.alibaba.com
and look to come out to Hong Kong in January for the Toy Fair:
www.hktoyfair.com
Also a good place to look for exhibitors and getting in touch via email.

[HyperChild, Action-HQ.com and Action-Figure.com does not endorse any of the companies/information found on these sites. Deal with them at your own prerogative.]

John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > How would you know which factory to go with as there are so many?

Casey Lau [HyperChild] > In choosing a factory the most important thing is quality. Any factory can make a product but the quality of the product is a different thing altogether. So don’t go for the cheapest price but the best quality you can for the best price you can afford.

John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > What about costing and quantities?

Casey Lau [HyperChild] > Your negotiations will take time but have the factory send you some samples so you can see their work. Most factories should be able to point you to their work that can easily be found in the U.S., U.K. and throughout Europe. Don’t expect to find the same factory that Hasbro uses for your limited edition toy. You will need to find a good, stable, medium sized company that can handle the work for you.

Once you find the factory you will need to send them your prototype for costing. This is where you need to part with your original so make sure you make at least 2 of them. Within 2 weeks of receiving your prototype you will be able to get a cost for your figures. Depending on how many you want to make will determine the cost per piece. As most rotocast figures are done under 1000 pieces and looking at the retail price of HK vinyl today you can see that the costs are quite high.

The production process takes about 6-9 weeks, wax mould, master moulds, paint masters and production moulds all come next and there is a lot of back and forth between you and the factory to get it the way you want it. So again finding a good quality factory is # 1 as this will help with any aggravations created in the road of production.

From there you get your packaging design done to fit your toy and have that artwork sent to Hong Kong so they can print and package your toys. You tell the factory how many you want to pack in each case and they will then arrange to ship back to you.

Not as easy as it sounds but extremely gratifying when you open that sealed case of figures YOU created.

John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Okay, here is the most important question, how much does it take to get started if all you can do is design the product? Can you give us a cost for sculpting as I think not many of us are competent to do that and how much is it to make 1,000 rotocast vinyl figures?

Casey Lau [HyperChild] > Well, like anything, costs break down by quality and negotiations. Sculpting can go from anything from $1,000 to $5,000 per figure in my experience -if you want someone famous to do it, it can go up to $10,000.

And then the price per piece depending on quality and size, articulation, number of parts - wow there are so many factors that come into pricing a figure that it could range from $1-$20 per piece for 1000 pieces. One thing I have learned is that to meet price points you have to be willing to let things go from your original ideas as some things may be too costly to do.

John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Thanks, that was very informative. Let's talk about the other major component which is the market. In layman terms again, I think our readers would like to know how many pieces should someone starting out make and how do they sell it?

Casey Lau [HyperChild] > Well, there are online shops and brick and motor shops and the toys distributors to go too. This is a big question and you should figure out who your target audience is before you begin. In Hong Kong we have a very tight knit toy community of shops and shows where toys are sold and bought, as has the rest of Asia - in the U.S. or U.K. I would gather you would find some specialty shops that would be clued in to this scene.

John Wong [Action-HQ.com] > Thanks again, Casey. I think the readers now have a good and basic understanding on how to start. Any last words?

Casey Lau [HyperChild] > Just a plug. You can check out my line of figures at www.hyperchild.ws for a look at that will be available in June 2003 and are available for pre-order now at www.action-hq.com.

----- Please check out our sponsor and contributor of this content at www.action-hq.com for special deals, giveaways and discounts on their new category of Asian Designer Toys.

Frank Darabont Interview

MTV NEWS: After 'Waste Of A Year' On 'Indy 4,' Director Rebounds With Stephen King's 'Mist'
Frank Darabont says his 'Indiana Jones' script was approved by Steven Spielberg, rejected by George Lucas.
By Josh Horowitz - Photo by Dan Tuffs
Apr 17 2007 6:00 AM EDT

It's taken filmmaker Frank Darabont three trips to the Stephen King well to get really horrific. The director of less-frightening King fare "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile" hopes to scare up some box-office bucks this November with "The Mist."

In his first interview since wrapping an exhausting shoot in Louisiana, Darabont spoke to MTV News about throwing out his director's handbook for this King page-turner. He also opened up about "Indiana Jones," "Fahrenheit 451" and why you'll never catch him at a screening of "Hostel."

MTV: You just finished shooting last week — how are you feeling?

Frank Darabont: I feel like road kill, dude. It was six-day weeks — run and gun. This was half the schedule I'd ever had for a feature. It was a wonderful and horrible experience. I wanted to take everything I knew about directing a movie and turn it on its head. And I actually volunteered to jump into the fire. "Sure, I'll do this really, really fast and let all the ragged edges show! I'll play a little jazz." At a certain point in your life, you're like, "Screw it. I want to try a different way."

MTV: How would you describe the visual approach?

Darabont: It's a bit of a documentary, vérité approach. I was very inspired by "28 Days Later" — that a filmmaker with the chops and credibility of Danny Boyle would say, "Screw it, I'm just going to make a really interesting little gut-punch horror movie."

MTV: What was the initial attraction of "The Mist"?

Darabont: I've always loved this story. One of the things Stephen does well is that he puts people in a trapped situation, a pressure cooker, and then he observes human nature. On the surface, it's a completely unpretentious monster movie: A bunch of people are trapped in a rural supermarket by this mist, and there are horrible creatures in the mist that will kill you. But that's the frosting on the cake. The story itself is what happens to the people inside the market, how they react, how the social dynamic unravels, how civilization falls on its ass because ultimately the monsters that are the scariest are your friends and neighbors. That's what I was interested in: How do people rise to the occasion or not, how do they help each other or tear each other apart?

MTV: Would you say Thomas Jane is your leading man, or is this more of an ensemble?

Darabont: Tom is definitely the lead of the film, but it really does play as an ensemble piece. It's not unlike "The Green Mile," where, yes, Tom Hanks was the lead, but really the movie was an ensemble tapestry.

MTV: What can we expect from those literal monsters inside the mist?

Darabont: We're going to have the monsters rendered by CafeFX, the guys who did all the CGI work in "Pan's Labyrinth." It's challenging now to try to design a monster that doesn't look like somebody else's monster. But I think we've come up with some really cool stuff.

MTV: Do you anticipate an R rating?

Darabont: I'm pretty convinced it would have to be, yeah. There's no way on earth this will ever be PG-13. It's just too intense.

MTV: You obviously are a great lover of the horror genre. What do you think of films like "Hostel" and "Saw"?

Darabont: The torture-porn thing is pretty distasteful. I'm just not into it. Horror unfortunately tends to go in these cycles where it puts itself back in this ghetto. I just don't find anything amusing about people getting tortured. I wish we weren't making these movies. I think it degrades the culture. I think it diminishes the human spirit.

MTV: This marks your third Stephen King adaptation. What else do you have on tap?

Darabont: I have the rights to two of his stories. One is "The Long Walk," which is a tremendously bizarre and powerful little piece. The other is "The Monkey," a very old-school chiller. They're both very human character pieces. I suspect I'll make them on even lower budgets than "The Mist." Hopefully I'll be able to get to one or both this year.

MTV: Are you focused entirely on directing now, rather than writing for other filmmakers?

Darabont: Absolutely. I spent 20 years of my career primarily being a writer for hire. I had a few bad experiences to reinforce the decision that had been forming to get the hell out. I can't be chained to my computer anymore, not for the paycheck.

MTV: Would you say one of those bad experiences is the time you spent writing the aborted "Indiana Jones 4" script?

Darabont: "Indy" is definitely in that category, topping the list. It showed me how badly things can go. I spent a year of very determined effort on something I was very excited about, working very closely with Steven Spielberg and coming up with a result that I and he felt was terrific. He wanted to direct it as his next movie, and then suddenly the whole thing goes down in flames because George Lucas doesn't like the script (see "George Lucas Says Indiana Jones Will Return In May 2008").

MTV: Did you ever speak to George Lucas directly?

Darabont: Yes! I told him he was crazy. I said, "You have a fantastic script. I think you're insane, George." You can say things like that to George, and he doesn't even blink. He's one of the most stubborn men I know.

MTV: Do you know if any remnant of that story lives in the one they're about to start filming?

Darabont: I have no idea if there's a shred of it left. It was a tremendous disappointment and a waste of a year.

MTV: I would think part of you still wants to share that script with the world.

Darabont: I would love it, but it's not my material to disseminate. At this point, I don't give much of a damn what George thinks, but I wouldn't want to harm my friendship with Steven.

MTV: Where are you with your long-in-the-works plan to direct "Fahrenheit 451"?

Darabont: Man, I am hoping that it's my next one. That's the movie I've wanted to make since I was 9 years old. I don't view it as a remake. I don't think the [1966] Truffaut film even came close. I'm pretending it didn't exist. It's really my adaptation of Ray Bradbury's great book. And I think I may be on the verge of a breakthrough in getting it made.

MTV: Does that mean there might be some casting to announce soon?

Darabont: There might be. I'm not at liberty to say. When it happens, I think people will be pretty excited about it.

MTV: Does it feel like now is an appropriate time for a tale like "Fahrenheit"?

Darabont: The time has never been better for "Fahrenheit 451." I think the message is something we need to hear. Anybody who believes authority should be questioned needs this movie. There's a reason that novel has been in print for over half a century. It's one of the most vital antiauthoritarian stories ever written. It also happens to be a really wildly galloping yarn. This would be on the bigger end of the scale for me.

James Frawley Interview

SFGATE/THE POOP: Q&A - "The Muppet Movie" director James Frawley
Posted By: Peter Hartlaub (Email)

When we decided last month to go forward with The Poop Presents: "The Muppet Movie" (at the Cerrito Speakeasy this weekend; noon and 3 p.m. on Sat.; 2 p.m. on Sun.), I wanted to interview at least one person connected with the film.

James Frawley was at the top of my list, and not just because he directed the movie -- he gets bonus points for being behind the camera during more than half of the episodes of "The Monkees."

I got his e-mail from an old friend who works at the Director's Guild of America, and Jim wrote back the next day. He was in the middle of a directing job, but gave me some time on the phone early this week.

The Poop: Here's the most important question. How did you get Kermit the Frog to ride a bike?

James Frawley: Every time I show the film -- whether it's to film students at USC or UCLA or I'm going to a festival -- that's always the first question: How did Kermit ride the bicycle? And my stock answer is: I put him on a three-wheeler until he got his balance, and then I put him on the two-wheeler.

TP: I'm looking at your IMDB entry. You started out as an actor, and then all of a sudden you're directing "The Monkees."

JF: I was an actor in New York, and I had studied with Lee Strasberg and The Actors Studio and I did Broadway and off-Broadway, but at the same time I was very interested in photography. ... I picked up a 16mm camera and I shot two short films and edited them myself. They won a lot of awards and attracted the attention of Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, two young producers in Hollywood at that time. Because I had been an improvisational actor and done a lot of comedy, they thought I'd be a perfect combination to direct "The Monkees."

TP: How did you get "The Muppet Movie" job?
JF: Jim Henson had seen "The Monkees" and liked my work on that, and seen some other television that I had done. He knew that I had been an actor, and thought that I was the right combination for The Muppets. He flew me to London where they made "The Muppet Show." We met, and we had an immediate connection.

TP: Why didn't they direct it themselves?

JF: Up until that time they had never shot film. They had only shot tape, and they had never shot outside the studio. So (Henson) knew that he needed somebody who was a filmmaker and knew what to do with the camera. And he felt pretty good about my sense of humor. It seemed like a good combinations of talents for his Muppets. I had a very childlike approach to my work, and the Muppets fit in well with that.

TP: You also directed the pilot episode of "Ally McBeal." It seems like you specialize in blending fantasy and reality.

JF: You're absolutely right. I'm very comfortable with things that are of another world, or are not real. I've always enjoyed things that were quirky and off the beaten path.

TP: How did you approach directing "The Muppet Movie"?

JF: I had seen the show on the air, but I had no idea how they did it. So I learned the technique of Muppet performers -- they use cameras to watch themselves perform, and sets had to be built six feet off the ground, so the floor could be taken up and they could work from underneath.

TP: How was "The Muppet Movie" different than "The Muppet Show"?

JF: They had never been shot outdoors, or in car or real locations, and we pretty much had to invent it as we went along. Every shot had never been done before, because nobody had taken Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy and Kermit and put them in a Studebaker. It's the same thing that Peter Jackson had to do on his ("Lord of the Rings") films. None of that had ever been done before in the style that he did it.

TP: It doesn't sound like it was fun all the time.

JF: We just had to approach it like an adventure, and have the confidence and humor and good will to know that you can't make a mistake. And there was such a sense of comraderie and love and community that Jim Henson and his people brought to the work. I had no choice but to embrace it and let it carry me along.

TP: Was there one scene that was the most challenging?

JF: You have to figure that you had four grown men under the dashboard of that Studebaker. Fozzie Bear was operated by two people, Kermit was operated by somebody else and then Miss Piggy by somebody else. They had to have video imaging of what they were doing, so they could watch their own performance as it happened. And then we had a little person in the back of the car, steering and driving. We had a video camera on the nose of the car so he could see where he was going.

TP: Jesus.

JF: (Laughs) That was the most challenging. And all it looks like when you see the movie is a pig, a frog and a bear driving down the road.

TP: What was it like working with all the guest stars. You were a pretty young director, and you're on a set with Bob Hope and Milton Berle and all these other legends?

JF: They were all a pleasure to work with. We agreed to have them one day and one day only. They agreed to do it because they loved the Muppets. Some had more belief in the Muppets than others, but they were just a joy. Richard Pryor had a great deal of fun. And Jim Coburn was a friend of ours.

TP: What about Orson Welles?

JF: Orson Welles was just a joy. He had a history of magic and he knew that the Muppets were a form of magic and he knew every character's name. He even knew we had changed the color of somebody's hat.

TP: Our readers almost unanimously picked this movie as our blog's first children's film presentation. Do you get excited that people still appreciate your work.

JF: I'm so flattered and thrilled that you chose "The Muppet Movie." It's my favorite movie in my career. I wish I could be there this weekend to see the reaction.

Posted By: Peter Hartlaub (Email) | March 02 2007 at 03:30 AM

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Thanks to the PuppetVision blog for the link!

My Friend Sanjay Gets Attention

NEWSARAMA: SANJAY PATEL ON THE LITTLE BOOK OF HINDU DEITIES
by Chris Arrant 01-29-2007, 10:41 AM

Released last November, Sanjay Patel's The Little Book of Hindu Deities is a delightful primer on the characters that make up Hindu mythology -- and boy, are they characters. Mythology has rarely been so flavorful and potent as how Patel describes the legends of Hindu, with characters ranging from monsters to demons to noble warriors and divine divas.

In terms of a short biography, Patel spends his days (and some long nights) as an animator for Pixar, haven't most recently helped animate Lightning McQueen from the Cars motion picture. In this book, Patel's fun, full-color illustrations complement the engrossingly imaginative prose which he describes each god. While not a comic, this illustrated book is sure to brighten the eyes of the art-lover in all comics fans.

Newsarama: What led you to deciding to do these more modern interpretations on Hinduism's gods that make up the book?

Sanjay Patel: Well, you have to understand that most of the children’s books and comics that tackle the topic of Hinduism in India were illustrated in the 70s. These were books that I saw when I was a kid and are still in publication today. The artwork in those old books looked really dated and the illustration approach was really serious. So I decided that this was something that needed to be updated, and re-interpreted for a new generation.

NRAMA: Far from just a text for those practicing Hinduism, your fresh and breezy style make this a book for fans of religion, mythology, interesting characters or just plain great illustrations. Was it your intention to make it so open-ended from the get-go?

SP: Well my approach to the illustrations was very careful, after all the subject matter here was religion. I knew right of that I wanted to create something that was completely charming and non-offensive, so I studied a lot of Sanrio designs and tried to approach the illustrations with that esthetic in mind. Beyond that, I had to keep reminding myself to sacrifice style for the sake of portraying the deity and what they stood for in a clear way. Ultimately the goal for me wasn’t to present a religion, so much as it was to present interesting characters from an ancient mythology in a charming way.

NRAMA: You originally self-published this book under the title Little India and sold it at Alternative Press Expo. Can you tell us how it went from self-published to the new book out now?

SP: After sharing a table at the APE convention with co-worker Louis Gonzales, there was a lot of buzz about my new book on people’s personal blogs. Then a big splash happened once it was posted on Boing Boing, all of a sudden my email box was filled with messages from people who wanted to buy the book. So by the time I brought the book down to the San Diego Comic Con, the book just got more exposure and I had a lot of offers ranging from adapting the book into animation to making toys and other merchandise. Soon after an agent from ICM found out about my book and offered to rep it, and within a month I had a book deal from an imprint of Penguin books called Plume. A year later we re-tooled the book expanding the number of gods and goddess, and nearly tripled the page count to a hefty 148 pgs. We even gave the book a new name, The Little Book Of Hindu Deities.

NRAMA: The book is great not just for the art, but for your expressively written descriptions of each deity. How did you work up all the information and tone of these written pieces?

SP: Well luckily, I knew a little bit already, since my parents raised me around the Hindu tradition. But they never explained anything to me, so doing the research about each god was a bit like finally knowing the back-story to someone you’ve already met. But generally I did a lot of research online and thru reading, and if I was stuck for some information I went to the Berkeley South Asian Arts library for specific reference as well as the Asian Art Museum.

NRAMA: You were raised in a Hindu household, and said that during your father's twice a day rituals and prayer sessions you watched cartoons. Looking back on that now, it seems almost a precursor to the book today. Can you tell us how your childhood affected your career now as an artist and doing a book on Hinduism's pantheon?

SP: That’s a big question. As an Indian kid with immigrant parents, all you really want to do is fit in and be accepted. So if I did as my parents wished as good Hindu boy, I wouldn’t be able to hang out with my American friends and go eat a cheeseburger. And as I got older I didn’t really have any connection with India let alone Hinduism. So in a lot of ways discovering Hindu mythology was really exciting to me as both an artist and as a person who was finally ready to accept who I was. Really this sentiment is exemplified in my book, as it’s definitely a product of the west but celebrates the east in a way that sort of merges the two. Which is really who I am now, a little bit American and a little bit Indian.

NRAMA: In a Pixar Q&A, you credit Chris Ware to be your favorite living artist. Can you tell us what makes him your favorite, and how it influences what you do?

SP: Gosh, that’s difficult to answer. I mean you look at the guy’s stuff and it dazzling, not only as art but as narrative as well. Truly amazing. But why I consider him one of my favorites is his dedication to the craft of cartooning. I mean the guy hand letters everything and meticulously draws out prefect geometric shapes, he’s truly a monk illuminating modern day works of art. Every time I think I’m working hard, I see that guy’s stuff and I’m always humbled.

NRAMA: You're said to have a fervent appreciation for children's books; even the title of this book harkens back to the "Little Book of.." that I remember as a child. Can you tell us what your thoughts are on what makes a "great" children's book?

SP: I don’t really know to be honest, my wife and I don’t have children so it’s hard to say what they respond to. I generally just loved well illustrated books be it a graphic novel or a something for kids. I also really admire the craft of assembling a book, from the paper quality to the end pages, if all done right gets me fired up.

NRAMA: The question everyone eventually asks in these sorts of things is 'what's next?' I've read somewhere that you're working on a book of hand-drawn animation. Is that true?

SP: I’m not working on a book of hand drawn animation, that’s for sure. I am working on another book project, but this time it will be a story. I’m afraid I can’t say more without ruining the surprise, so you will have to wait to know more.

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Sanjay's design work is awesome! You can buy his book at Amazon for $11.62 + shipping.

Sacha Baron Cohen NPR Interview

Fresh Air from WHYY, January 4, 2007 · English comedian and actor Sacha Baron Cohen is best-known for his characters. They include a journalist from England named Ali G, and Bruno, a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter.

His most famous character is Borat, a Kazakhstan reporter who stars in the controversial film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

All three characters were part of his Da Ali G Show.

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At last! Sacha Baron Cohen not in character! Awesome - check it out.