The Point Radio: Creating Creatures With Henson
Transcript
The Point Radio Here's Mike Rod, the legacy of the late Jim Henson has been attached to a new reality competition show on Sci-Fi. But what does it take to win this one? Plus Fox states its claim in the box office and Doctor Who comic fans get a couple of
freebies. Let's get to the point. This is The Point, The Point Radio, get The Point Radio. The latest Sci-Fi reality competition series has a pretty big heritage attached to it. Jim Henson's Preacher Shop Challenge is the partial brainchild of the late Jim's son,
Brian Henson. Now, right off the bat, there have been some comparisons with another Sci-Fi reality show called Face Off. But Brian was quick to point out to me that there are some solid differences here. With creatures, it's very different.
What we say is your creature has to do this performance for whatever it is, two minutes. And it has to get through that two minute screen test and look great. But the truth is, if it falls apart right after the camera is cut, if it falls to bits, you still win. Because the point was to bring that creature to life in the most believable and most intriguing
way for the length of the screen test. And that really is part of what we do. When we build a creature that we know has to do one shot, we will build the creature very differently than a creature that we're going to build that needs to have a redo 40 lines of dialogue across 20 pages of the script.
That's a very different creature. And generally speaking, because we were giving these designers such a short amount of time, they had between two and four days to build these creatures, they were basically always building the type of creature that is going to do one thing for just one or two minutes. Because truthfully, in two to four days, there's no way, there's no way they could build a creature
that would have the durability to perform day after day after day on a film set. There'll also be a different way in which the winner will be chosen. The truth is, the way we approached it, because it felt right, which is probably, which is certainly slightly different than, I believe it's a very credible TV series that we've made. We take it very seriously.
We don't manipulate the results at all. But one thing that is a little bit different than if we were interviewing 10 designers to ultimately, and testing 10 designers to ultimately choose one, we on every episode was judged independently of the work that had gone on before. So basically, the winner will be the one that made it through all of the eliminations
and then have the best result in the final episode. So in that sense, we don't take into account some things that we would perhaps when hiring. But the criteria that are most important really to us in terms of that designer is, A, can they visualize a creature that is intriguing, has impact, and has a personality in their visualization? Can they then realize that through sketching and sculpting?
And then can they bring it to life in such a way that has a story? They have a sense of what that creature wants and needs, what that creature's rhythms are, where they would live, how they would live, and does that story resonate as real? And is that story reflected visually when you look at them? When you look at a person, you have a sense of their entire life, the first one minute that you see somebody.
You have a sense of where they've come from, how they've lived, what's important to them. And all that's equally as important when you create a creature. So we're looking for the designers that can visualize and sculpt that. And then we're looking for the all-round designer, which is the rarest artist in our business. The one that can then, once they've realized it visually, can then do all of the fabrication,
all of the mechanizing, everything that they need to bring that creature to life and have it reflect that story that they have in how that creature has lived. In movie making, the art of animatronics is slowly being replaced by CGI. And I asked Brian if he felt that was the way of the future. He told me no and yes. Well, it's interesting. The economics of CGI are not as good as the economics of animatronics,
particularly what we can do now versus what we were doing 20 years ago with green puppeteer removal, rod removal, string removals, all these techniques are easier than ever. The big difference between animatronics and CGI in terms of movie production is that with animatronics, you have to start a year ahead of shooting. And to me, this has always been really a studio dynamic that it's very hard for a studio to know what movie they've got
until they can see the director's cut. And so they're a little bit in the dark and it's uncomfortable for studios that are financing a movie when it's a substantial animatronic build because it's very hard for them to get a sense of what they've got. And all they are very aware of is how much money they're spending every week. Whereas with CGI, the bulk of the work actually comes in after the studio's seen the director's cut.
So it becomes just easier for them, I believe, to spend the money with CGI. It is more expensive. A CGI creature is more expensive than an animatronic creature or even an animatronic CGI hybrid. I believe it's just more comfortable for the studios because when the spending needs to happen is at a more comfortable stage for them. But I do think we are seeing a resurgence of creating creatures that really are there in a space. Where the wild things were was a very good example of how you can use the benefits of animatronics
where you're putting a creature genuinely in a space with an actor, genuinely in an environment. But then you use CGI to enhance the expressiveness of the face and you kind of get the best of both worlds. What I think we'll see going forward is a little bit more of that because there are accuracies that you can accomplish with CGI that you really cannot accomplish with a creature or an animatronic creature but in terms of the very specific accuracy of lip-sync of eye lines, there are certain things that the control that CGI gives you
is genuinely absolutely a benefit to any creature that you realize. So I don't know that we will see a return to all animatronic creatures becoming a major resurgence. What I do think we'll see is more of this sort of hybrid approach where we're using animatronic creatures and often in wider shots in the distance they may be fully animatronic but that when they come up close that we'll be utilizing CGI enhancement to make more accurate the expression and performance of the creature. I suspect that's where we're going.
As the son of the late Jim Henson, how does Brian feel about growing up in the shadow of such a beloved entertainment icon? It's very, very comfortable actually for me. It's kind of lovely. I think that I'm kind of blessed by a situation where everybody knows how wonderful my dad was and how special he must have been to me and I think most people probably feel that way about their fathers and most people don't benefit from an entire world whenever you meet anybody knowing exactly how that must feel. So it's sort of a very nice feeling. People really loved my dad and they know how. They can anticipate what he was like as a father and all that.
You can tell from his work and he really was. He was a wonderful father and I loved growing up with him as my dad and I loved working with him as an adult. In terms of continuing his legacy, it's never been really a burden. His legacy mostly is do bold things and don't be scared of failure. If you fail but you've been doing something bold and innovative that nobody's seen and have failed, that's a triumph. Don't copy yourself. Don't copy other people. Do things that are fun and be irreverent and question the status quo and be a little subversive when it feels like the right thing to do. So that legacy is kind of a wonderful and liberating.
It's a liberating legacy to continue as opposed to a restricting legacy that everybody's trying to refer back to. Well, what would have the founder done? So over the years and all the TV and movie creations, what was the toughest one to bring to life? That's an interesting question because it's sort of the complexity and what it's going to do. I would say for when we did it, the Ninja Turtles were probably the most complex at that particular time.
The amount of technology development we had to do to create four all-talking acrobatic wireless turtles that were creatures for Ninja Turtles was a very complex challenge. It then opened up the whole performance control system, the development of the performance control system, all of our wireless technology. It started us on a development that then did get more and more complex, but the leap that was required there was pretty extraordinary. Hoggle was a very complex character for Labyrinth.
Oh, I don't know. Yes, there's lots. They're always complex in different ways. And his favorite creation? Oh, that's too hard a question. That's too hard a question. I've worked with way, way too many creatures and characters that I love in so many different ways. I have favorites in all of the various different universes.
Like in Dinosaurs the TV series, I loved the Baby Dinosaur. I thought that that was a great character. In Farscape, probably my favorite is Pilot. I think that's perhaps the finest animatronic creature we've ever made in terms of it having believable soul and an emotional presence. In some ways, when pilots performing in the Farscape series, the best actor in the room is Pilot, which is pretty great.
And, oh boy, I don't know, over the years, Storyteller's Dog. Storyteller's a series that was very big in Europe, not very well known here, but I did the dog character in there. I loved him. I loved Hoggle. I was very near and dear to my heart from Labyrinth and took a lot of my life there. And, of course, all the Muppet characters I love. I can't tell you I have a favorite.
Jim Henson's Creature Shop. And with new episodes every Tuesday on Sci-Fi, see more at scifi.com. Let's kick into it. It's the latest in pop culture. Fox has staked some claims in the box office as far as their upcoming Marvel movie projects. And they've even led a few questions out there that has people buzzing. Right now, Fantastic Four is set to debut on June 19th of next year, 2015.
There, however, is a second Fantastic Four movie booked already for July 14th, 2017 and a new Wolverine movie, which is set to open in theaters in March of 2017. Right now, they've also staked a claim for July 13th, 2018 for what they're calling an as-yet-unnamed Marvel film. A lot of insiders feel that might be the age of the Apocalypse X-Men film from Bryan Singer that was announced a few weeks back. Meanwhile, by the way, Singer is keeping the interest going in this project by making the announcement that he wanted to bring back both Gambit and Nightcrawler in that X-Men film when it finally gets into production.
The web series Chosen is returning for a third season to the Sony Crackle network. New episodes will begin on the 15th of April and Chad Michael Murray is returning from the second season cast and Rose McGowan from Charmed and Once Upon a Time will be added to the new third run of episodes. As before, the show will be available at crackle.com and on mobile devices through the Crackle app. The finale dates have been set for a number of CBS series, including Mom, which will end on April 14th. The Crazy Winds, which says you have to be renewed, will end on the 17th of April.
Two Broke Girls winds up on May 5th. CSI ends up on May 7th. Meanwhile, Hawaii Five-O and Blue Bloods wrap on the 9th of May and Criminal Minds also wraps on the 14th of May. The Big Bang Theory, Millers and Elementary end on the 15th of May and Mike and Molly end on May 19th on CBS. Titan has finalized plans for their Doctor Who comic series.
In fact, there'll be two. One called Doctor Who the 10th Doctor and one called Doctor Who the 11th Doctor. Each one featuring those particular characters and the worlds that surrounded them as well. Doctor Who fans should probably talk to the retailers now because each one of these will include a number of variant covers and even a couple of action figure incentives for retailers. They're both set to come from Titan into comic stores in June.
You start out your comic shopping this week with a dollar in your hand and that will get you a copy of BPRD Hell on Earth. A great sample issue for a series you might not be into, but you probably should be from Dark Horse. Also from Dark Horse and out of the pages of Dark Horse Presents, Blackout gets a series. First issue has character Scott Travers in his special suit, still trying to figure out how that works. At DC, we finally get the second issue of Sandman Overture.
There'll be a couple of different covers to that one. And a breakout mini series from Suicide Squad featuring Amanda Waller starts this week as well. From IDW because they know how to put these things together, Batman Silver Age newspaper comics hardcover collection that you gotta see to believe is absolutely beautiful. Just under 50 bucks for that and it covers 1966 to 1967. Also from IDW, first issue of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Walt Simonson's classic Star Slammers remastered in a beautiful new series, again from IDW.
From image Black Science number one and two each get a third printing and Brian Hitch's new series, Real Heroes begins this week with a bunch of different covers. Revenge number one gets a second printing and there's a second issue of that this week and a new issue of Walking Dead as well. From Marvel just in time almost for the movie, a Captain America mini series, Captain America Homecoming starts this week. And the new series of Silver Surfer begins with a number one as well from Marvel. All that and more waiting for you in comic stores all over.
You can find them with the comic book locator service at 1-888-COMIC-BOOK. You can check the link on the front of our website, ComicMix.com or a website called findacomicshop.com. That does it for right now but we do the podcast a couple of times every week and it turns up in the iTunes podcast directory where you can subscribe and catch some of the stuff we've done in weeks past or find it on websites like ComicMix.com and michaeldavisworld.com. But we do cover pop culture 24-7 in the meantime and that is at getthepointradio.com. Listen 24-7 free right there or take us along on any mobile device, Apple or Android with an app called iNet Radio.
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