The internet was taken by storm last week when Craig Peck posted the launch of the GALAXY GAS pitch / sizzle on Youtube. The tone has now become a viral hit. GALAXY GAS is a 2d hand drawn animated movie idea that has some of the best animators and artists at the helm. We called Craig and asked for an interview, and he forced and suggested adding Tab Murphy, the original creator of GALAXY GAS. Enjoy yourselves!
Watch GALAXY GAS - PITCH / SIZZLE REEL
Interview with the creator of GALAXY GAS - Tab Murphy
Hi Tab, how did you get started with animation?
My "beginning" in animation was more a result of chance than any kind of planned career path. I started my writing career in the early 80s in live action and had some success in the beginning, an Oscar nomination for "Gorillas in the Mist" is what I consider my breakthrough. In the early 90's, I was spending a lot of time and energy getting my first directorial job off the ground ("Last of the Dogmen"). By that time, Jeffrey Katzenberg had moved out of Paramount and headed the Disney Animation Division. My first couple of jobs were written for Paramount back in the day, so Jeffrey was aware of my work. Through its executives, I was invited to come in and see what the animation division was doing and see if there was anything I could be right for. I politely refused the first openings. In fact, I have the dubious distinction of having broadcast "Toy Story" during that time. I hear the moans.
Let me explain. At the time, I was focused on making a movie. The "Little Mermaid" had just been released. The Disney animation renaissance of the 90s was underway, but still in its infancy. And I honestly wasn't interested in writing "cartoons". "Toy Story" would have required a move to Marin County and a 2 year commitment, which I had neither the time nor the desire to make. And it was presented to me as a story of "a boy and his talking toys". For me, an easy "pass" at the moment. Soon after, my film joined. We had a star (Tom Berenger), but he had two films to do before mine. I haven't had anything to do for the next six months, but wait. And try to make some money to pay my bills. Lo and behold, Disney called again, "Just come in and see what we're doing. You never know." You never know. I got the meeting.
It turns out that one of the many projects they were eager to develop was "Hunchback of Notre Dame". I was a sixties "nerd monster" while growing up. And Quasimodo was part of the canon of universal monsters of that time, although he wasn't really a "monster". I knew and loved the story. When David Stainton and Kevin Bannerman started the project in that meeting, I immediately said "I'm in!" And those two words started me on a journey for the next decade that led to some of the most rewarding jobs of my career. You never know ...
What inspired you to create Galaxy Gas?
Interestingly, "Galaxy Gas" started out as a live action project. I've been playing with the idea for some time: A mixed-blood teenager living in the desert southwest, doing a boring job at his father's lonely and isolated gas station, discovers that things aren't what they seem. He is soon thrust into the adventure of a lifetime which ultimately leads to his decision by the end of the film to follow in his father's footsteps and be part of something important, surprising, otherworldly… and totally secret. It was a mix of a lot of cool things I loved: native culture, UFOs, Area 51 mythology, monsters - not to mention alien gun fighter pilots!
What advice would you give to artists who want to present a series of cartoons or a film?
Aside from the usual "be persistent", "never give up" advice from yadda yadda, I'd say try to create something that embodies your unique voice / pov in the world. This is ultimately what will separate you from the pack. The attitude of the projects can be just as important as the content. Also, don't follow trends - be a trend setter. An old rule of thumb of live action is applicable to animation: If everyone else is writing superhero movies, go write a rom-com.
What were the difficult obstacles in the creation of "Galaxy Gas"?
I would say there were no difficult obstacles in conceiving and writing "Galaxy Gas". I had a lot of fun! And a producer (Craig Peck) who has never held me back or chained me with his agenda. The real hurdles began in trying to assemble the production, of which Craig is much more adept in detail than I am. He was at the forefront of that battle for three long years after we had a decent script.
What would you like the public to know about Galaxy Gas that hasn't been covered?
I would say that, from the beginning, it has become a labor of love for all involved. That it was our intention to remind everyone, studios and audiences, that 2D animation was / still is a vital (and vital) art form. And how hard everyone, especially Craig, has worked to make this happen.
Interview with GALAXY GAS Producer - Craig Peck
Hi Craig, can you tell us about yourself and your love for animation?
I grew up as a Disney animation fanatic in the 90s. I started collecting original animation art as a child and studying the work of adults. I joke that I could have identified a Glen Keane drawing based on the thickness of the line and his graphs before I knew any Picasso work. I realized that I wasn't going to be the next Glen or Andreas and started focusing on production. Disney shut down its hand-drawn animation department just as I was graduating from high school, so I decided to focus on live film work in college. At the end of my first year of graduate school, Disney released THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, at which point I felt drawn to Disney and was fortunate enough to be brought into their talent development program to learn the production of. animation. From that point on, I worked as a producer in animation.
How did GALAXY GAS start and why hand-drawn?
In 2012, while I was in graduate school at USC, I invited Tab Murphy to the cafe through his agent. Among other films, Tab wrote the script for TARZAN, which had a huge impact on me growing up. I told him my goal was to create a hand drawn feature and asked him if he had any designs that would be suitable. Tab pitched an idea about a teenager who discovers that his father, who has dedicated his life to running a decrepit gas station in the New Mexico desert, is actually using it to refuel and support a group of security guardians. peace aliens watching over our planet. It had a universal learning theme to appreciate the sacrifices parents make for their children and that there is more to them than their children can know. Also there was a 3 XNUMX/XNUMX foot tall cigar smoking drunken alien. I immediately told Tab that I wanted to produce it.
My childhood idol had been Don Hahn and my dream had always been to produce hand-drawn films. During the production of WINNIE THE POOH at Disney Animation Studios, I saw the hand-drawn animations fade into the background. Some incredible talents, at the peak of their capabilities, would be available despite the continued demand for hand-drawn American features. In order for subsequent generations to follow the lessons of the master animators, they needed the opportunity to work in full production.
Our goal was to understand the crew of veteran and less experienced artists who showed passion and could bring their sensibility to the show. The script allowed for a mix of hand-drawn elements that perfectly incorporated CG for spaceships and other high-tech elements. This style was intended to set us apart from mid-range budget independent films, but would appeal to an untapped demographic.
What were the most difficult obstacles you encountered when creating GALAXY GAS?
Raising development funding has been extremely difficult. It's the riskiest money an investor can invest, so we had to find people who were heavily invested in the cause and who believed in us and the project. Securing distribution ultimately proved to be the most difficult task of all, given the limited number of distribution partners working in this space at the time.
You did it 6 years ago, if you had done it today what would you have done differently?
We would certainly have animated this in TVPaint rather than on paper (which was our plan for the feature pipeline, but difficult to do on the basis of the freelance in which we performed our test) and natively performed in stereo 3D while we were producing the final comps . We saw a converted stereo test of the footage and it looked amazing. If we had taken stereo into consideration when drafting and editing shots, it would have further improved the work.
What would the public want to know about GALAXY GAS that has not been covered?
I use GALAXY GAS as a case study when talking to students to explain how the animated feature space works. Traditionally, theatrical performances are developed internally by the studios. An independent animated film will rarely be raised for distribution or financing by these companies (Disney, Universal, WB, Paramount, Sony). They have a very limited number of distribution slots for animated films and the P&A required to compete in the theater market is huge.
In our case, having packed the film themselves, the studios had little interest in taking over the distribution. Streamers had not established themselves in the animation market to the extent they have today, so we had to look elsewhere for distribution and production funding (separate from the development funding I had previously raised). Traditionally, live-action indie films are funded by a combination of shares (money that investors will invest), pre-sales (the amount of money distributors will pay upfront for film rights in their territory) and tax incentives ( money you will receive from governments in exchange for making the film in their area, employing local hires).
For animation, pre-sales are almost non-existent unless you have significant home distribution (traditionally a commitment for over 3000 screens to play your movie in the US). Tax incentives can be significant, but we wanted to use Los Angeles for our home base, which does not offer incentives for animated films. This means that the need for equity would be enormous. Furthermore, there were only three or four independent distributors capable of handling a film of this size (only one of which is still in existence). It's bad timing, but the rest of those indie distributors fell apart in the years we were trying to edit this movie. The last remaining distributor does not traditionally release animated features.
Can you tell us about the fantastic artists who helped make GALAXY GAS what it is today?
Fortunately, every artist we invited to work on this agreed to come aboard to support our creative leadership. Brian McEntee Art Directed, Ed Ghertner curated Layout, Cristy Maltese and Sunny Apinchapong handled Backgrounds, Joe Moshier and Shane Prigmore designed the characters (Joe designed DEVO, NICOLE, WIN and JOHONA while Shane designed ACE and MECHANICS and painted the stunning color images of DEVO and ACE.) Ruben Aquino supervised the animation on ACE, Nik Ranieri animated the NICOLE test and Shawn Keller animated the SPIKE test. Bruce Smith and a few other superstar animators worked on DEVO. Joe Haidar wrote the sequences and Odin Benitez designed the sound and mixed it. There are too many amazing artists from Clean-Up to FX, Editorial, Ink & Paint and Compositing to name them all.
All images are copyrighted © Open Vault Productions (Header Rough Animation Image by Bruce Smith)
