Geek Woman: Which movies have influenced you the most?
I have to say I am a big fan of Sam Raimi and love what he did with the Spiderman franchise. I also loved the X-men franchise. My favorite girl lead is Underworld and think Kate Beckingsale was so perfect as the character. I love how James Cameron writes women. He is one of the exceptions I find for men who can write women. There are people who did not understand his brilliance of how he wrote Jack and Rose in Titanic but every teenage girl understood completely. I am also a big fan of the show Smallville.
I love all kinds of film and also watch classic Hitchcock, Selznick, and Kurosawa films. I use a lot of traditional film techniques for our cameras. I love old films as they illustrate these techniques clearly. I love what David Fincher does with a camera.
I watch independent film because it helps me to take risks in storytelling that big studio sometimes cannot identify with.
I own almost every animated film on DVD from Disney Classics, PIXAR films, Dreamworks films and Japanese anime and manga.
Geek Woman: I understand that you perform music as well, will any of your music be in this project?
I was a music industry executive and worked with many bands. I am always looking for music on the cutting edge and sometimes I can be a year or so ahead of the industry. Some teenagers find it funny that I find bands before they do. We agree on songs and bands and what is is coming. It is so much fun to hang out with teenagers, they really do take risks most of us don't.
Geek Woman: Would you be disappointed that when I saw Alex at first glance, I thought she was Lara Croft?
I do not mind at all. When we first designed Alex, there was a huge difference between the characters. When you work with CG characters there is going to be some resemblence. Do you ever notice how a lot of anime girl characters all look very similar due to the style of anime?
Geek Woman: Yes I have. When I saw the head-shot of Alex her features did resemble Lara at first. I wondered if it was because she is CG. But as I looked again, I noticed the subtleties, her jaw-line is shorter and her eyebrows are more arched and feminine. Yes, she does look much younger than Lara.
I think that a lot of CG girls look a like for the same reason. There is a much newer design version of Alex that takes a step into making her more unique. We want to distinguish her in her own right.
Storywise, Alex is a teenager and much younger and softer then Lara and has a certain vulnerbiltiy that comes through in the storyline. Alex also has a much different body build and in other photos looks entirely different. As she evolves and you see her in the film, you realize she is her own person.
Geek Woman: In your Myspace the characters each have their own profile and they seem to interact with each other. This is a new method of delivering the story, how is that working?
I think it works well. I put Alex on the web about 5 months ago and she has been talking to everyone and learning a lot from everyone that graces her with their friendship. Storytelling can be very difficult in a vaccuum and unlike other filmmakers I wanted to make the storytelling process interactive so the audience feels like they are part of it. I am hoping to make the entire process like this within reason.
I have to say I am a big fan of Sam Raimi and love what he did with the Spiderman franchise. I also loved the X-men franchise. My favorite girl lead is Underworld and think Kate Beckingsale was so perfect as the character. I love how James Cameron writes women. He is one of the exceptions I find for men who can write women. There are people who did not understand his brilliance of how he wrote Jack and Rose in Titanic but every teenage girl understood completely. I am also a big fan of the show Smallville.
I love all kinds of film and also watch classic Hitchcock, Selznick, and Kurosawa films. I use a lot of traditional film techniques for our cameras. I love old films as they illustrate these techniques clearly. I love what David Fincher does with a camera.
I watch independent film because it helps me to take risks in storytelling that big studio sometimes cannot identify with.
I own almost every animated film on DVD from Disney Classics, PIXAR films, Dreamworks films and Japanese anime and manga.
Geek Woman: I understand that you perform music as well, will any of your music be in this project?
I was a music industry executive and worked with many bands. I am always looking for music on the cutting edge and sometimes I can be a year or so ahead of the industry. Some teenagers find it funny that I find bands before they do. We agree on songs and bands and what is is coming. It is so much fun to hang out with teenagers, they really do take risks most of us don't.
Geek Woman: Would you be disappointed that when I saw Alex at first glance, I thought she was Lara Croft?
I do not mind at all. When we first designed Alex, there was a huge difference between the characters. When you work with CG characters there is going to be some resemblence. Do you ever notice how a lot of anime girl characters all look very similar due to the style of anime?
Geek Woman: Yes I have. When I saw the head-shot of Alex her features did resemble Lara at first. I wondered if it was because she is CG. But as I looked again, I noticed the subtleties, her jaw-line is shorter and her eyebrows are more arched and feminine. Yes, she does look much younger than Lara.
I think that a lot of CG girls look a like for the same reason. There is a much newer design version of Alex that takes a step into making her more unique. We want to distinguish her in her own right.
Storywise, Alex is a teenager and much younger and softer then Lara and has a certain vulnerbiltiy that comes through in the storyline. Alex also has a much different body build and in other photos looks entirely different. As she evolves and you see her in the film, you realize she is her own person.
Geek Woman: In your Myspace the characters each have their own profile and they seem to interact with each other. This is a new method of delivering the story, how is that working?
I think it works well. I put Alex on the web about 5 months ago and she has been talking to everyone and learning a lot from everyone that graces her with their friendship. Storytelling can be very difficult in a vaccuum and unlike other filmmakers I wanted to make the storytelling process interactive so the audience feels like they are part of it. I am hoping to make the entire process like this within reason.
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