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Brother Rabbit
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Joined: 19 Aug 2004
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Location: For Montagar!
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 Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:34 pm Post subject: Bakshi Board Exlusive Interview #8 |
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Interview #8 Conducted 12/14/06 ~ 10:40 AM
BR:
About the Ploog interview commented on some time ago. In it he mentions doing "everything under the sun" while working on your films that he was involved with. On the internet movie database (imdb.com) it only credits him with "still photography" in Wizards. Is there something they are missing?
Bakshi:
Basically he did the history illustration at the beginning. Plus, background art. Photography for Wizards? There was no photography done for Wizards.
BR:
| Boogafoot wrote: | | In Heavy Traffic & Coonskin with mixing Live-Action & Animation. After the script was done, did you shoot live-action and then storyboard? Or storyboard first? Did it vary with each film? In other words - were these scenes planned out or improvised like jazz? |
Bakshi:
First of all, there are different versions of live action. The strictly live action in Coonskin, and live action behind the animation. When it came to live action behind the animation it was really a stream of consciousness looking at still pictures. I took a lot of photographs, shot extra stuff and looked at stock footage. I didn't storyboard so much first, just spent a lot of time basically looking and feeling what I wanted the picture to look like.
With Cool World the storyboard was first. But I find that not to be as much fun or artistically creative. I prefer not storyboarding, just finding stuff. You have a preconception with storyboarding. With finding stuff you can find something entirely new. Thousands of photographs. The footage would tell you what to do sometimes.
You gotta keep your options open. I was the boss. You couldn't do that if you had a producer or if you have too many bosses. Just one of the advantages of being your own boss.
BR:
| GrymOne wrote: | My...That New's Caster Look's alot like Ralph Bakshi
Would This be Mr Bakshi's 1st Apreance In Cartoon Form?
From The Mighty Hero's Episode "The Monsterizer" |
Thread Here: http://ralphbakshi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=251 (for image reference)
Bakshi:
That's it then. Let's say it is. But if I was really added to that show by the animators I bet I'm the Monsterizer.
BR:
| Mike wrote: | What was the relationship between you and Peter S. Beagle when working on "The Lord of the Rings"? From interviews with Beagle, he is quoted as saying, among other things, that you are the scariest man he ever met, and that your thoughts were so scattered you couldn't pull the project together. I find this odd, considering he is also quoted as saying positive things about the film, saying it has an "energy" and that he was glad he worked on it. It never made sense: first he'd call the film a mess (especially when the Jackson films ap[p]eared), then other times he comes up with fond memories.
So, there you go. Beagle already stated what he thought of you. What did you think of him? |
Bakshi:
Let me be quite frank. Beagle was a strange, peculiar guy. How do I say this? He's not very sincere or honest about what he does or says. I approved everything he wrote. He was delighted with whatever I did. But if someone disagreed, he would never be open to anything. He worked more with Saul Zaentz.
Really have nothing to say except he's not a reliable guy. Not much integrity. I pulled more together in that film than he did in any picture in his life.
I wish him whatever... Very disappointing person.
BR:
| gandalf wrote: | | In interview 4, you say about "hey Good looking": There might be a film or two, maybe even one in Russian, but that's another story. What is the story? |
Bakshi:
I was still in the business when Russia took notice of my films. The Russian film community came to Hollywood. They all wanted to meet me, which stunned the Hollywood intelligencia. My films were being snuck into the country and played in schools underground. I was like a big celebrity there.
I made them a copy of Hey Good Lookin' to take back to Russia. I was just so very stunned by the fact that my films were all playing, in sort of the Russian underground. I had no idea. I hadn't heard.
They asked me how I was allowed to do it. They thought Coonskin was so anti-government. I told'em I lived in America. (laughs) Really curious to have fans, but I took it, I took it, I took it. They were good guys. We had a nice time.
BR:
| dnvillalpando wrote: | When filming for rotoscope, did you actually record dialogue as you filmed?"
It somehow seems like you would, but I suppose it's not necessary and not having to worry about a boom would probably be very helpful. But maybe it helps with synching. The voice actors' dialogue to the image and gives the animators something to work with before the actual voice track is synched with the film. |
Bakshi:
Yes. You have to shoot dialogue as you shoot live action. Dialogue tells the actor how they should be acting.
BR:
| time4akshun wrote: | With the recent popularity of video games and computer animation that is assisted by captured human movement before adding the computer animated layer above, do you feel vindicated that Rotoscoping was ahead of it's time and a groundbreaking technique even though many in the animation field frowned on it's use at the time? The smash holiday hit the Polar Express starring Tom Hanks has documented it's use of it.
I personally think American Pop is your crowning acheivement both from a story line and animation/art perspective. It was the movie that turned me on to your work.
Looking forward to your thoughts. |
Bakshi:
Absolutely! We didn't have computers. I knew something was needed. The way I did it, was ahead of it's time. That's all CGI is. It's very complex, but essentially it's exactly the same thing rotoscope does but better.
Also, I didn’t have the rendering capability. If I could have rendered LOTR it would have looked the same. But it wouldn't have taken nearly as long.
I knew that [rotoscoping] was the only way to do that film at the time. I don't think cartoons should be rotoscoped now though.
Also, I didn't feel I needed vindication. On the other hand I'm gonna get it today. I wish the fuck I was born today. I could have done so much more than I did with the technology at everyone's fingertips today.
BR:
| JKS wrote: | While I was on IMDb.com, I came acroos this review of Hey Good Lookin' and the reviewer mentioned this; It begins with a completely senseless opening featuring a garbage can conversing with trash about spiritual philosophy. What this scene means I will never know, but that's the beauty of it.
What does this [scene] mean? |
Bakshi:
I love that we left it in the picture. It was a very simple philosophy. Garbage lying around a garbage can. And the garbage was talking to the can. He heard through the grapevine that they would be picked up and taken someplace wonderful. The truck comes to pick up the garbage. The last thing you see is the garbage going to the incinerator.
One person's heaven is like another person's hell. The perception passed down to the poor garbage was that the incinerator was heaven.
BR:
That's interesting, because if I'm not mistaken the last part of the scene, in the version of the film that went out to the public, the garbage has just been placed in the truck and the truck drives away with it. I don't recall the incinerator, but that would really have made the scene. Though I got it fine without the proper ending.
Bakshi:
You could be right. The belching flames is how I ended it. Who the fuck knows what the studio put in the final cut. They never knew what they had. They didn't think that ideas should be placed in animation. Animation was for kids. And it was important to not get to intellectual. The reaction to my stuff was always insane.
If the incinerator is no longer in the scene than I understand how people could mistake the reasons for that scene being there. I never understood why they took some of that stuff out. Charles Gordone did the voice. The man won a Pulitzer.
The studio took out plenty that I wanted in the films, because they though they knew what could and couldn't be shown, what American's could handle and what they couldn't. There were boxcar scenes in Wizards. A boxcar brought people to an Auchowitz-like encampment. It's like the people who are now saying that the holocaust never happened. The propaganda in Wizards was meant to follow that same form, but a lot of it was cut from the film.
BR:
| Christian wrote: | | As I noticed on Ralph Bakshi's website and the forum, Burton started his career as an animator on "The Lord of the Rings" (1978). Is that correct? How did this happen? I think, Burton was a student at CalArts during this time (1976-79)? And what about the saturday morning cartoon series "Mighty Mouse" (1987)? In one Interview Mr. Bakshi said the Burton did some work on that one, too? Can you perhaps tell me when Burton worked on both projects What exactly did he contribute? And, finally: Are there perhaps other Bakshi projects Burton worked on? Thank you very much for a short feedback! |
Bakshi:
First of all Burton wasn't an animator. He was a painter of cells. I hired him right out of Cal Arts. I hired him because of his portfolio. He's so huge now. Back then if he painted some stairs, it was just a painting of stairs. I always could pick'em though. He's doing amazing things now.
BR:
So was background painting all he did?
Bakshi:
No, (laughs) that wasn't all he did. Like a lot of the other cell painters and animators we had back then he smoked pot, picked girls up and came back from lunch late. (laughs) I'm not even sure exactly what he did, but I did hire him and he was good, but not yet an animator.
BR:
| JKS wrote: | | Is there any form of Eastern philosophy to be found in your work? |
Bakshi:
Not to my knowledge. At least it wasn't any philosophy I studied. But people find what they find. That's how I wanted it to be.
BR:
HandBehind The Night Before…
(apologies to HandBehind. I totally botched this one. Best question we've ever gotten. To see the whole question go here: http://ralphbakshi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=772 )
Bakshi:
Let me try to explain. My main thoughts at the time were how lucky I was. Having grown up in the studio system, opaquing cells to animating, I was taught step by step going up the latter. By the time one was ready to direct, we had the experience. There wasn't a major step. We had all the tools already. We already had formed our opinions. I had so much experience by the time I directed my first picture that there was no next step. I had been directing for a year. That's why I believe working for studios is important.
So there were no butterflies. I probly said it's about time.
Where I did have some apprehension was the first review of a feature film of mine. There was Steve Krantz running around looking for reviews for Fritz and Hey Good Lookin'. That caused me a little concern.
Art direction was no problem. I couldn't wait to get in and started. My attitude was "about fucking time."
If I worked at Disney or Warner facing great directors like Clampett I would have been a little scared.
BR:
I've read that Peter Chung worked with you as well. I love his work and wondered if this was true?
Bakshi:
Yeah, I worked with him on Fire and Ice. He did drawings... drawings and designs. Layouts for animation for the end pterodactyl flight scenes.
Something interesting about Chung. His favorite artist was Toulouse Lautrec. Believe it or not.
BR:
I've read that Heavy Traffic is a sort of biographical film for you. There's scenes in that film that characterize Michael as the naive initiate. How would you characterize yourself, in relation to your childhood chums?
Bakshi:
I'd say Michael and I were very close.
BR:
Were you yourself in a gang as a youth?
Bakshi:
No. My general impression of the gangs that were around my neighborhood was they're out of their fucking minds. I had to sneak by them. No fun. But there's different gangs in different countries for different reasons. For me the thread was opportunity. If there is no opportunity to survive on ones own in a particular country, then the potential for a gang is understandable. Where I was coming from it just seemed like being in a gang was tremendously restrictive. They get to determine what you wear, who you talk to, to a great extent what you think. There seemed to me to be more rules than being in Jr. high.
If you're in Taiwan or India, living on the streets, have no parents, no shoes, it's a different setup. I can only comment on living in America in Brooklyn. There gangs were restrictive. The gangs that I knew existed in our economy. There were just too many great opportunities to be restricted to that sort of lifestyle. But I knew lots of guys that did join gangs... lots.
BR:
| Isaac wrote: | | Was [Cool and the Crazy] originally shot with the intention that it be shown in theaters? |
Bakshi:
I originally wrote a skit that wasn't called The Cool and the Crazy to be my first theatrical. The studio I went to thought the material was too hot. A story about women cheating on their husband was too far out at that time for some reason. Years later I handed in the script with some changes and they ok-ed it.
I had to shoot in LA instead of Brooklyn. Christopher Walken was meant to play the villain. But the guys we got were right for the parts.
INTERVIEW ENDS
Well, that's all for #8, but I think we got a lot of the info we were looking for and what about the cut Wizards Auchowitz scenes? Amazing info here.
Be sure to check out the current questions thread to get in your one question per session for future interviews with Ralph Bakshi.
INTERVIEWS AND QUESTION THREAD LINKED HERE
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Last edited by Brother Rabbit on Wed Aug 22, 2007 4:10 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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dnvillalpando
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Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 559
Location: California
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:59 pm Post subject: Fantastic, Rabbit! |
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Great interview and thanks as always.
Very illuminating. I can't wait to get more into the actual process so I can ask more technical questions. I think we're most interested in history right now, but I bet those questions do get old eventually.
Thanks again!
david |
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dnvillalpando
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 4:19 pm Post subject: PS |
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P.S. I call utter BS on Bakshi's comment about wishing he woulda been born now to take advantage of the techniques available!
1st of all: it's the limitations that he was under which most assuredly brought forth a lot of his genius
2nd and more importantly, he's freaking sounding like someone whose career is over, which it is NOT! Jeebus, the man has more talent in his elbow than I have in my whole being! There's nothing stopping him from using the techniques available at this point in his life, coupled with his incredible talent and invaluable experience from continuing to blow us away!
I'm looking forward to LDoCI and crossing my fingers for Wizards II, but no using age as an excuse to claim being born in the wrong era.
Plus, he's not even very old!!!
I'm looking forward to 20 more years of Ralph's movies before he can even consider kicking it in the Caymans!
david |
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Mike
Citizen of Montagar
Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 180
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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Excellent interview. Probably the best so far. But we say that every time, don't we?
I'd really like to see that Auschwitz cut scene, if anyone ever finds it lying around.
I'd agree with David on Bakshi acting like a has-been, sometimes. He ain't. He should still be making films. It's a real shame that Uwe Bole is crapping on a screen and serving it to the the pubic while Bakshi isn't in there making real, intelligent films. Sure, there's still intelligent film-making out there, but there isn't enough. *Shakes head*
Interesting comments about Beagle. Peter S. is, and always will be, an amazing writer, but his personality seems to be inconsistent in some instances. he obviously grafted Bakshi.
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"A stripper putting her clothes on ain't beautiful unless she's ugly to begin with!"-American Pop
"Farewell, friend. I was a thousand times more evil than thou!" -Stormbringer |
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kurtamayaguy
Minion of Scortch 1
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 60
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for another fine interview, Brother Rabbit!
(a Jump to Soapbox:)
To Ralph (and other older 2D'ers) : You didn't miss anything !!!
You're fortunate enough to have not only been definers of the first wave of animation features (including many firsts and stretching the bounds of feature animation !!), but are now at the dawn of a new wave of computer animation tools being made by people who LOVE TO DRAW and DON'T want 2D to die !!
These toolmakers are programmers and artist-engineers RAISED on your pioneering stuff ! The goal is to get rid of the drawing drudgery so you and other artists can focus on refining the character's acting and story telling !
My 2 cent possibly redundant as hell suggestion:
Seek these guys and gals' tools out - their software's demoed at Trade Shows like NAB, and is in use at colleges like CALARTS and some production companies. Talk to students using it and through them get to talk to the programmers and test engineers (I'm the latter!) who WANT feedback AND to see these tools work for classical as well as 3D animation. Then pick your favorite tool and BLOW US AWAY with Wizards II or whatever your heart desires !
(Am off my soapbox: now it's back to work testing and animating!)
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time4akshun
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Location: Morris Plains, NJ
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| Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:45 pm Post subject: Just noticed my question got on this one! |
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Thanks!
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