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Ogden: What problems arose during the production phase, and how did you overcome them?

Mullins: There were never any real roadblocks to speak of but the entire process was much more than just sitting down and creating a film. Aaron and I had never used Maya before and I had never done any animations beyond creating looping cycles for low-poly game characters. So basically, every time I wanted to create something, I had to learn how first. I had no previous experience working with high-poly characters, particles systems, blended animations, costly renders, etc.

I guess there were a couple of times when I thought about settling for something a bit less ambitious, but I had already made so many changes in my life just for this film. I couldn’t give up.

Ogden: What has been your favourite part of making BLUE? How about the least favorite?

Mullins: I have enjoyed every bit of it, but I guess if I had to pick something involving the work itself that I could have done without, it would be setting up objects for texturing and setting up characters for animation. They are both very tedious tasks and can really get under my skin at times.

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Ogden: Many people have dreams of working on their own creations like this, but many get sidetracked along the way. Have you had any trouble staying focused on BLUE? If not, how do you explain your ability to stay focused, and if so, what were the distracting factors and how did you overcome them?

Mullins: Staying focused, in my opinion, is the most difficult part of a project like this. You would think that animating and creating art everyday would be nothing but pure heaven for those that enjoy it, but sometimes it can be just the opposite for a couple of reasons. First of all, I believe that a lot, if not most, good art derives from and depends on a bit of misery. A lot of great artists both past and present were/are absolutely miserable and distraught and I myself find that if I am happy all the time, the quality of my work starts to wane.

So what better way to create good art than by locking yourself up in a room for two and a half years and wallowing in misery? Well, because when you are not working you have to deal with real life and it’s very hard to deal with real life when you are depressed all the time. I’ve been through several episodes of heavy cabin fever -- a feeling that made me think twice about continuing with the project. So the name of the game is to find a nice medium between being a social creature who gets plenty of exercise and sunlight and a shut-in artist who is devoting all of his/her time to the work. That’s a hard medium to find and is a project all its own.

Second, creating the same style of work and animating the same characters for so long can also be a bit oppressive. As artists, I think that we all have a million ideas running through our heads all the time and it would be nice to spend a few weeks bringing one of those ideas to life and then moving on to the next, but with a project like this, you can’t. You have to stay focused on one goal and it is the vision of that final product -- that grand design -- that Magnum Opus that keeps you going. If you loose track of that, you’re through.

Ogden: What are your release plans for BLUE?

Mullins: I’m only showing it in film festivals until it has made a proper run. Releasing a film to the general public can disqualify a film from being accepted to some festivals so I intend to follow these rules for at least one year. This will also give me a chance to see if the public responds positively to "Blue". If so, then I will probably release it on DVD.

 

Ogden: Now that BLUE is out the door, what is the plan? You guys going to do something else for a bit to pay the bills, or do you have some breathing room?

Mullins: I really want to seek funding for a larger film. I’m waiting to see how Blue does in the festival circuit first, but I have a few ideas to pitch. Hopefully, if I can get the money and the green light on a new project, I will be able to hire a few new people and begin to grow as a team.



Ogden: On a similar note, I know it’s probably too early for you to say -- the last stage birth pangs of a film can slant your outlook on doing another one -- but are you planning any sequels?

Mullins: Well again, that depends on the success of the first one, but I’m not opposed to the idea. I’m more interested in doing something on the opposite end of the spectrum just to keep things fresh and keep my interest level high. At the moment, imagining another 2 years of "Blue" gives me chills, but I may feel differently if I can do something completely different in between first.

Ogden: Where did you meet JelloKnee?

Mullins: James Anderson (Jelloknee) flew into the states from Australia years ago to work as a programmer and sound designer for a small game company called Ratloop, Inc. I had just been hired there as well for a low-level artist position. After working together for only a few months, he and I really hit it off as friends and I developed a great respect for his sound work. He has such a fresh take on writing music and I’ve always admired the way he can mix two completely different styles of music to create something totally unexpected that fits the project perfectly. We were only in the same location for probably less than a year before he had to go back to "Oz", but we’ve remained long-distance friends ever since.

Years later when I decided to take the reigns on this film idea, he was the first and last person that came to mind for the sound work. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else.

Ogden: How did you handle the logistic of working with him on the music?

Mullins: At first it was quite difficult. We divided the film into sections according to what was happening in the story and decided that he would just write a sad piece for this section, an action piece for that section, etc., etc. But alas, it was not going to be that simple. First of all, it was very hard for me to describe to him what kind of music I wanted through emails and chats, but after weeks of typing strange descriptive statements such as "I want it to sound very ‘wet’ here" or using words like "ppeeOOWW!!" and "pffffssseeeeerrr!!", we thought it would be best if I gathered some existing music for reference.

So after a long period of searching for reference material and dealing with the handicaps of text-based communication, he began sending me samples. These were various pieces of rough music that he would play on the spot, while watching the footage. He would send it back to me along with a start time so that I could cue it up and see if it fit the mood I was looking for. At first it was like calibrating a machine. After I listened to the piece, I could then determine what direction he needed to go from there. I would say it was either too much of this or not enough of that but at this point, we finally had something we could work with. There was a type of foundation being developed.

So that went on for a few months and then suddenly he just grabbed hold of some creative tidal wave and took off. He would either lock on completely to what I was looking for, or give me something unexpected that fit the part surprisingly well -- usually better than what I had originally wanted.

I think that having people like James and Aaron is the key to a good team, because I can act as Director and give them some guidelines and a rough idea of what I see for the big picture and then just let them do their thing. I think that if you dictate every little detail to your team members then you’re robbing the project of its full potential. A team should not be a bunch of people working hard to achieve the vision of one person. I believe that the talents and imagination of each team member should be utilized in order to achieve maximum creativity. Of course it’s a huge advantage that we are friends and have already worked together in the past. I trust their work completely and once the theme and basic direction has been laid out, they pretty much have carte-blanche.