...CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

OGDEN: What do you hope people take away with them when they are done watching the film?

JONES: We love it when audience members suddenly realize they just watched a completely engrossing film, which captured their imagination, without any narration or dialogue! We worked extremely hard at telling this story as efficiently as possible and it's nice to hear that we successfully told a complex and intricate story in six and half minutes.

We wanted to tell a story using a medium that is constantly changing and evolving. Hence, we tried not to rely on software that would make our film instantly outdated once it was finished. We used hand painted texture maps and clever work-arounds to make the film as timeless as possible.

WINATA: One of the biggest payoffs that we've gotten was when we got to show it to a bunch of six year olds in a school through a school teacher friend. They were asked by their teachers to write down what they thought about the films. To us, they were the best critics in the world. Some of them can relate to the experience of losing someone in their life, so it feels great that we could touch them on that level in such a short story.

ADVERTISEMENT

OGDEN: How did the Little Red Plane book-and-DVD package deal occur?

JONES: We landed some early press even before we finished the film. A publisher contacted us and wanted to make the story into a children's book with a DVD in the back cover. We signed a deal. However, it's been a slooooow process. The problem boils down to the fact that our story is told with out words. Hence, the editors are worried librarians won't buy the book! Anyway, we hope to get it out on shelves soon.

OGDEN: I see a lot of credits on your site where sound is concerned. How did you get hooked up with Deon Vozov, Essential Soundworks, and Imagery Digital?

JONES: Deon Vozov is a friend of a friend. We actually interviewed a half a dozen composers before we decided she was the best person for the job. As it turns out, she lost her grandmother while scoring the track, which brought a great deal of emotion to the final score. I will never forget the first time hearing her music put to the animation that we had watched for over a year and half completely silent. It brought tears to my eyes. Essential Soundworks works closely with Deon and she was able to pull together resources to bring to life every creak in the floor to each gunfire pop.

Deon also worked with Imagery Digital in the past and they helped us complete the final sound mix with a Dolby Surround mix. It was there where we really saw our sweat and blood pay off.

DOWNLOAD THESE GREAT DESKTOP IMAGES FROM LITTLE RED PLANE
COURTESY SHADEDBOX ANIMATION!

OGDEN: How did ShadedBox come into being?

JONES: Shadedbox was founded right before we finished LRP. There were four of us in the end finishing the film, while slowly getting freelance work. When we finished, we realized we could work together as a team and that by pulling together our resources, we could accomplish more than being alone. Before long, Mike's apartment could not handle all of our equipment and so we eventually got a studio and became official. We were able to squeeze by for the first few months, paying our rent and utilities, and slowly we built up our reel and relationships.
With the success of Little Red Plane, we were able to attract representation and bigger clients that actually had budgets!

OGDEN: You are represented by the Gotham Group. What does Gotham bring to the table?

JONES: The Gotham Group acts as a mediator between us and the studios. The manager's and agent's role is to act as the studio's filter to find good material for them. They also help get into the door of studio execs, producers, and other people who can get projects off the ground. What is nice about Gotham is that they specialize in animation, so they have a good idea what will succeed as a pitch and how/where to best present it.

OGDEN: Do you recommend representation to artists and companies such as yourself? What benefits are there? What is the downside?

JONES: This world is still new to us, so I'm not sure what the best advice is about representation. My advice is don't design stories for the marketplace. An agent or a manager may tell you that a certain story will not "sell" simply based on what is hot or not in the market, but if it's a story you believe in, is honest and personal, you can find a way to make it happen with or without representation.

The benefits are that agents and mangers are connected, so they know what will sell to studios, and they now how negotiate to get you the best deal. The downside is that they take a percentage (usually 5-10%) of the profits.

I'd recommend finding representation if you want to sell your work and navigate your way through the strange Hollywood organism. One of the biggest problems with animated feature films is the fact that it requires so much money and resources to get them made so it's difficult to do them independently. That is what is so great about shorts: we can do them completely by ourselves!

OGDEN: What are you working on next?

JONES: In October of 2003, we optioned a film deal to Disney Feature Animation. Currently, it's in development. The challenge is to develop the story to a point where it would have a good chance to get greenlit.

In the meantime, we are busy working on other ideas to pitch, client work that keeps the lights on, and we're gearing up for our new short...

OGDEN: Thanks for talking to us today. We look forward to many great films from you in the future!

JONES: So do we! Thank you!