We Are Movie Geeks

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES First Teaser Trailer Arrives

The first trailer is here for Peter Jackson’s film, THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES.

The third in a trilogy of films adapting the The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves.

Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town.

Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo’s frantic attempts to make him see reason drive the Hobbit towards a desperate and dangerous choice. But there are even greater dangers ahead. Unseen by any but the Wizard Gandalf, the great enemy Sauron has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain.

As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide – unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance.

Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, with Martin Freeman in the central role of Bilbo Baggins, and Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield. The international ensemble cast is led by Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, with Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, and Orlando Bloom.

The film also stars, in alphabetical order, John Bell, Manu Bennett, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Billy Connolly, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Graham McTavish, Dean O’Gorman, Mikael Persbrandt and Aidan Turner.

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES will be released worldwide on December 17, 2014.

Watch the Comic Con panel HERE.

https://www.facebook.com/TheHobbitMovie

Interview – WAMG Talks To GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Composer Tyler Bates

Hollywood Records and Marvel are releasing three albums from Marvel’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY on Tuesday, July 29.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Deluxe soundtrack features classic 1970s songs from the film, plus score by composer Tyler Bates (“Watchmen,” “Slither,” “Dawn of the Dead”). Music plays a major role in Marvel’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY as the great songs featured in the film are part of the storyline in a unique way.

Explaining how the songs come to play in the story, director James Gunn says, “One of the main story points in the movie is that Quill has this compilation tape [Awesome Mix #1] that he got from his mother before she died that she made for him. It was of songs that she loved, all songs from the 1970s, and that’s the only thing he has left of his mother and that’s the only thing he has left of his home on Earth. He uses that as a connection to his past and to the sadness that he feels of having left all that and lost all that.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol. 1 is the collection of 12 songs including Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling,” “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc, Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love,” and The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb,” and Guardians of the Galaxy is the digital score soundtrack. The film opens in U.S. theaters this Friday, August 1.

Los Angeles–born composer Tyler Bates was inspired early on by a breadth of musical impressions that ranged from John Coltrane to Chopin, and the rock operas “Hair” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.” An array of artistic influences set the course for Bates’ musical signature that often combines disparate components that become indigenous within his compositions for film, television, video games and new media.

His ability to create new worlds of atmospheric soundscapes fused with traditional orchestra led to groundbreaking scores for Zack Snyder’s “Dawn of the Dead” and “300” films.

Bates had just seen the stunning film when we spoke over the phone. It was also prior to the announcement over the weekend that Marvel Studios has plans for a GUARDIANS sequel. Bates and I discussed his collaboration with Gunn and composing for a big Marvel film.

WAMG: The blending of the score and songs is terrific. How did the mix come about?

TB: The songs were suggested by James. They’re all very natural to him and have some significance in his own life. That’s how they so effectively work in the scope of the film.

The music is literally a different personality in the movie, has a different function than the songs. It exists more, not only to be propulsive in the action sequences and to set up some of the comedic moments, but really to underscore the emotional depth of the characters. They’ve all survived some terrible tragedy in their life and they try to supress the rawness of those emotions in the scope of who they try to be.

WAMG: There are some great orchestral pieces in the score throughout. The wind section, the brass section, the percussion section, like in Quill’s “Big Retreat,” the combination is fantastic. Did you manipulate any regular sounds to make them sound like instruments?

TB: The orchestra was pretty standard – primarily brass and strings. This is probably the most pure orchestral score I’ve done. A lot of the color occurs in the bleeding of lines between the primary melodies. Tim Williams, my orchestrator, who’s worked with me for a long time, and who happens to be a great composer in his own right, he and I get together and we workshop. We’ll play the piano together and talk through possibilities for what the music can become. Once it’s been written there are other steps in developing the music and part of that is what he and I do together.

WAMG: What orchestra was used on GUARDIANS?

TB: It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. The orchestra was comprised of players from the London Philharmonic as well as great musicians from the various London orchestras – we were very fortunate.

WAMG: You’ve worked on scores for Gunn’s SLITHER and SUPER. What did you say when you received the call from him, “Hey, how’d you like to work with me again, but this time on GUARDIANS?”

TB: To be honest, it was crazy. I was in London recording for the video game “God Of War” when he called me and said, “Dude, I’m doing this GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and it looks like I’m going to get the job. Are you in?” I said, “Of course.” And then I figured out what it was and that it was a Marvel movie.

Immediately my first emotion was elation for him! James is an incredibly talented person and a very standup guy. I consider him a friend as well as a collaborator. I was really thrilled for him.

Then once I started thinking about it, I thought it would be really cool to score a Marvel movie with James and it’s a new franchise. We get to create a new theme. That’s really the most rewarding aspect of stepping into a movie like this, but it’s also the most daunting.

Director James Gunn
Ph: Jay Maidment ©Marvel 2014

WAMG: Your scores for 300 and WATCHMEN, as well as SUCKER PUNCH, had such an impact of those movies. What did you take away from those movies that assisted you on GUARDIANS?

TB: Every movie is a learning experience. The way I relate to music is on an emotional level first. I always try to allow the intellectualization of ideas to occur after the feeling is imbued. The most important thing to me is how transcendent the emotion is and I relate to experiences in my own life to conjure that up. I try to feel it first.

WAMG: “Sacrifice” and “To The Stars” tracks break the heart. So peaceful, so quiet and very emotional.

TB: When James and I first started working, prior to cinematography, I wrote several of the themes in advance and he filmed to them, which was pretty cool. They had a PA system on set, often times James was giving direction to the actors through a mic and it’s very loud. He was cranking these score pieces on set when they would film action sequences or to walk through the emotional moments. That helped bring everyone together to help them understand what the movie was.

The opportunity to do that was paramount for the composer to work with the director in advance and create music that you know is going to impact the performance of everybody. Those set pieces are going to be part of the final product, instead of the temp pieces they may have been listening to over the months before a composer is brought on board.

WAMG: Your music is truly a throwbacks to the big, epic Hollywood scores. Fans of soundtracks will definitely want to add this to their collections.

TB: I hope so. I also hope people will truly enjoy the film because it has a depth that will be surprising to many. It’s really entertaining and really funny, while being very heavy-hearted at times. It takes you on a ride in so many different ways. It’s one of the most entertaining films I’ve ever seen. That’s a testament to James because he’s a genius.

I hope people appreciate the score. My team worked very hard.

WAMG: “The Ballad of the Nova Corps” and ”Black Tears” tracks are so triumphant and booming – it will remind people of previous sci-fi films where the music takes us along as part of the story.

TB: James and I have this ongoing dialogue that started with SLITHER, but we were unable to do any of it, and then in SUPER a little bit of it, where we implement a Sergio Leone / Ennio Morricone way of working where music is created prior to cinematography and the film is shot to it.

The great thing about writing in advance when you have a close relationship with the director and you have an understanding how they relate to ideas emotionally is the language of the music. Regardless of how many permutations it goes through in the post-production process, the language is established. Once that occurs, there is a whole element of mystery, and sometimes doubt, that’s eliminated from the process. I think then you can quell anxiety and focus more on the creative aspects of the music.

WAMG: There is some great music for Groot’s character – “Groot Spores” and “Groot Cocoons” in particular.

TB: Those were written beforehand the movie began shooting.

WAMG: Tell me about the instruments and vocals heard on those tracks. Sounds very much like Tangerine Dream.

TB: There are some spongy synthesizers pulsing through those tracks. In my music, I’m usually way heavy on the electronics and the unorthodox guitars, in conjunction with the orchestra and choir. Ultimately we didn’t have as much time to infuse the score with those elements because it such a frenetic working process. That was something developed prior to cinematography, so by the time everything got totally crazy in post-production we had those cues somewhat developed so that the synthesizers would remain the in the score from that point.

©Marvel 2014

James Gunn has said there is a connection between this film and MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS. “Thanos is at the end of “Marvel’s The Avengers” and then Thanos is in our film as the boss of our group of bad guys and you see him a few times. He’s very important to our world in that way, and he’s the one who everyone is trying to impress,” says the filmmaker.

WAMG: Thematically, how were you able to tie the movies together?

TB: The criteria that Marvel was asking me to meet, was to compose something epic with bold memorable themes. They really supported James as a filmmaker, so our dialogue is really what the music is a result of. They obviously grew comfortable with the sketches James filmed to, so there was this period early on where they knew where we were headed musically with the film and they liked that. There was no need to employ temp music and then try to make them happy with something new.

WAMG: What was your overall experience like working on this film?

TB: There were a lot of great experiences making the film. My daughter played the piano on the score at the studios in Capitol Records. She was only 12 at the time when she did that and was very excited by that fact that she was playing on a piano that John Lennon and Ray Charles played. It’ll probably be a trip when she sees the movie. She’s a classical pianist and she could have played this behind her back with her eyes closed, but the fact that she did it with the headphones and the click track and reading odd time signatures – the music is simple, but it’s uncomfortable to read – so that was cool.

There were a lot of great moments, very personal moments that everyone related to from their own lives to bring to the film and I felt it was transcendent when I was watching the film.

WAMG: Did you play in the school orchestra as a kid?

TB: I played sax. Concert, Jazz and Marching band. I remember my tongue freezing to the reed when practicing at 6:30 in the morning. I would think, “why am I doing this?” (laughs.)

WAMG: What other projects are coming up for you?

TB: For now, I’m going on tour. I just finished co-writing and producing Marilyn Manson’s new record. That was fantastic. We have a great relationship and we’re very good friends. We work very naturally together, so this music was really just us having fun. It turned out to be his new album. We worked hard on it and really enjoyed it. He did bring it to my attention that it would be insane of me not to go out and play this record with him. It’s obviously a rare opportunity and it’s where I come from – making records in my earlier days. I’m super psyched!

I’m fortunate to have the TV show “Salem” that did really well its first season. The people involved in that are so great. It was such a pleasure to work with them. Manson and I did the title sequence on that, which will return for another season.

I’m working on another show called “Kingdom” which I’m very excited about. It is a drama centered around a Mixed Martial-Arts gym and the family that owns it.

I just finished on a movie with Keanu Reeves and Willem Dafoe called JOHN WICK. That was very cool. As with GUARDIANS, there are songs interspersed in this film as well. There’s a song I wrote with Marilyn Manson. There’s a song I wrote with my friend Ciscandra Nostalghia, whose career is blowing up right now. I worked on the score with my friend Joel Richard. It’s really a great collection of people on the team.

Photo: Instagram – marilynmanson

WAMG: What have you taken away from this huge undertaking of GUARDIANS Of THE GALAXY?

TB: There are things to learn from a movie like this. I’ve done some big movies, but this one moved at a tempo that wasn’t like anything else.

If we’re to do another one together, we both know how we could improve the process. We have much to build from now. I’m really proud of the themes and I know James and Marvel really loved the music. You just want to go in and see if you can do something that tops the music from the first one.

I am proud of this score and the people who worked with me on it also – they bled out for it as well. We were working solid 110 hour weeks for months and it was tough. I’m really appreciative they helped me get to the finish line. I’m always proud to do something with James and I’m completely excited for him.

Guardians of the Galaxy Deluxe, Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Vol. 1 and Guardians of the Galaxy digital score soundtrack will be available on July 29, 2014. The album is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com: http://smarturl.it/gotgama1.

Executive Soundtrack Producers: James Gunn, Kevin Feige and Dave Jordan

Music Supervisor: Dave Jordan

Awesome Mix Tape, Vol. 1 track list follows:

1. “Hooked on a Feeling” Performed by Blue Swede
2. “Go All the Way” Performed by Raspberries
3. “Spirit in the Sky”* Performed by Norman Greenbaum
4. “Moonage Daydream” Performed by David Bowie
5. “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” Performed by Elvin Bishop
6. “I’m Not in Love” Performed by 10cc
7. “I Want You Back” Performed by Jackson 5
8. “Come and Get Your Love” Performed by Redbone
9. “Cherry Bomb” Performed by The Runaways
10. “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” Performed by Rupert Holmes
11. “O-O-H Child” Performed by The Five Stairsteps
12. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” Performed by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
*Not in film

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team—the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits—Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand—with the galaxy’s fate in the balance.

Marvel’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, which first appeared in comic books in Marvel Super-Heroes, Issue #18 (Jan. 1969), stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with John C. Reilly, Glenn Close as Nova Prime and Benicio Del Toro as The Collector.

James Gunn is the director of the film with Kevin Feige, p.g.a., producing. Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Victoria Alonso, Jeremy Latcham, Nik Korda and Stan Lee serve as executive producers. Marvel’s GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman.

Win Tickets To The Advance Screening Of INTO THE STORM In St. Louis

From New Line Cinema, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, comes the tornado disaster film INTO THE STORM. Steven Quale (“Final Destination 5”) directs the film, which is produced by Todd Garner (“Zookeeper,” “Knight and Day”).

In the span of a single day, the town of Silverton is ravaged by an unprecedented onslaught of tornadoes. The entire town is at the mercy of the erratic and deadly cyclones, even as storm trackers predict the worst is yet to come. Most people seek shelter, while others run towards the vortex, testing how far a storm chaser will go for that once-in-a-lifetime shot.

Told through the eyes and lenses of professional storm chasers, thrill-seeking amateurs, and courageous townspeople, INTO THE STORM throws you directly into the eye of the storm to experience Mother Nature at her most extreme.

The film stars Richard Armitage (“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”), Sarah Wayne Callies (TV’s “The Walking Dead”), Matt Walsh (“Ted”), Alycia Debnam-Carey (“Where the Devil Hides”), Arlen Escarpeta (“Final Destination 5”), Max Deacon (“Hatfields & McCoys”), Nathan Kress (TV’s “iCarly”), Jeremy Sumpter (“Soul Surfer,” TV’s “Friday Night Lights”), Kyle Davis (“Friday the 13th”) and Jon Reep (“Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay”).

INTO THE STORM opens in theaters on August 8.

WAMG invites you to enter to win passes to the advance screening of INTO THE STORM on Tuesday, August 5th at 7pm in the St. Louis area.

Answer the following:

Tell us your favorite disaster movie and why you like it.

OFFICIAL RULES:

1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.

2. ENTER YOUR NAME AND ANSWER IN OUR COMMENTS SECTION BELOW.

3. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

RATING: PG-13 for “sequences of intense destruction and peril, and language including some sexual references.”

http://intothestormmovie.com/

facebook.com/IntotheStormMovie

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR Comic-Con Red Band Trailer

This week, at San Diego Comic-Con, SIN CITY : A DAME TO KILL FOR debuted an all new red band trailer, and WAMG has it for you! Check it out below.

Co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller reunite to bring Miller’s visually stunning “Sin City” graphic novels back to the screen in SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR. Weaving together two of Miller’s classic stories with new tales, the town’s most hard boiled citizens cross paths with some of its more notorious inhabitants. SINCITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR is the follow up to Rodriguez and Miller’s 2005 groundbreaking film, FRANK MILLER’S SIN CITY.

FOR MORE INFO :

WEBSITE : http://sincity-2.com/
FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/SinCityMovie

Smell the Glove Midnights This Weekend at the Tivoli – THIS IS SPINAL TAP!

“Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It’s just not really widely reported.”

THIS IS SPINAL TAP runs only 82 minutes, which is hard to believe, given how many jokes, both subtle and not so subtle, are thrown at us. One of my favorite moments of the film is when we see Nigel Tufnel’s shrieking guitar solo. He is aimlessly dragging a violin across his guitar, and then stops to tune the violin. Kills me every time I see – which is a lot of times and I always find something new to laugh at I hadn’t noticed before.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP is such a perfect send up of the lost days of arena rock that you will often feel that you are watching a documentary. Every line is perfectly believable. This movie is commonly labelled a “cult classic”, which is a shame, because it is one of the great comedies of all time. The dialogue is absolutely brilliant. It is lively and funny, but at the same time tells the tale of aging rockers refusing to believe that they are past their prime.

“There’s such a fine line between clever and stupid,” says David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap’s lead singer, and this movie finds it each and every time. “The sights, the sounds, the smells of one of England’s loudest bands.” They also happen to be one of England’s (or anywhere’s) worst bands, and they are on a fast decent to nowhere while promoting their album “Smell the Glove.”

One of the many, many delights of THIS IS SPINAL TAP is in showing just how low the band goes (the lowest is being billed behind a puppet show at a local amusement park), but this film gives so much more than that descent. It truly has its pulse on the vast humor that stupidity can provide, and as it gives us a clueless and derivative rock band, the cleverness in how it brings us its stupidity is never less than breathtaking.

Now lucky St. Louisans can experience the stupid on the big screen when THIS IS SPINAL TAP screens this weekend (August 1^st and 2^nd) at the Tivoli as part of their Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight series.

The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. Admission is a mere $8!

The Tivoli’s website can be found HERE

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

Here’s the Reel Late at the Tivoli Line-up for the next few weeks:

Aug. 8-9 AKIRA

Aug. 15-16 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES – The Original!

Aug. 22-23 ARMY OF DARKNESS

Aug. 29-30 BLAZING SADDLES

Sept. 5-6 PURPLE RAIN – 30^th anniversary

Sept. 12-13 GHOST IN THE SHELL

Watch The Teaser For THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1

The wait is finally over. See the brand new teaser trailer for the highly-anticipated film THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1.

The next chapter finds Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in District 13 after she literally shatters the games forever. Under the leadership of President Coin (Julianne Moore) and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and a nation moved by her courage.

The film’s Natalie Dormer [Cressida], Mahershala Ali [Boggs], Evan Ross [Messalla], Elden Henson [Pollux], and Wes Chatham [Castor] all signed autographs for fans at the Lionsgate Booth on Friday during Comic Con 2014.

Photo by Alexandra Wyman/Invision for Lionsgate/AP Images

In a first-of-its-kind experience, fans had the opportunity to preview the trailer on the Galaxy Tab S at an exclusive premiere in San Diego during Comic-Con. For those outside San Diego, fans were also invited to visit participating Samsung Experience Shops within Best Buy locations nationwide throughout the weekend to preview the trailer.

Samsung provided visitors that viewed the trailer at Samsung Experience Shops one complimentary ticket to see the movie when it opens in theaters worldwide on November 21. Additionally, owners of select Galaxy devices* will have the opportunity to download the all-new Hunger Games Movie Pack App, via Google Play™ for access to exclusive content from The Hunger Games franchise.

The Hunger Games Movie Pack App:
As part of the collaboration, The Hunger Games Movie Pack App will be available to download for free on select Samsung devices* beginning July 28, via Google Play. The app will give Galaxy owners access to exclusive Hunger Games content, including scripts, book excerpts, video clips and more.

Galaxy Tab S owners will have the opportunity to download the first two Hunger Games films for free, in addition to receiving all the exclusive content through the app. Samsung will continue to deliver exclusive Hunger Games content to Galaxy owners through the app leading up to the film’s premiere on November 21. *

Samsung, Galaxy, Galaxy S, and Galaxy Tab are all registered trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

*The Hunger Games Movie Pack App will be available to download for free on the Galaxy Tab S, Galaxy Note Pro, Galaxy Tab Pro, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S4 starting July 28.
*Limit to 200,000 downloads per movie. Available through December 31, 2014.

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 1 is directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Danny Strong and Peter Craig and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. The novel on which the film is based is the third in a trilogy written by Suzanne Collins that has over 65 million copies in print in the U.S. alone.

The cast includes Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss Everdeen), Josh Hutcherson (Peeta Mellark), Liam Hemsworth (Gale Hawthorne), Woody Harrelson (Haymitch Abernathy), Elizabeth Banks (Effie Trinket), Julianne Moore (President Coin), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Plutarch Heavensbee), Jeffrey Wright (Beetee), Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair), Jena Malone (Johanna Mason), with Stanley Tucci (Caesar Flickerman), and Donald Sutherland (President Snow)

Get ready for the return on November 21.

http://www.thehungergamesexplorer.com/us/

https://www.facebook.com/TheHungerGamesMovie

https://twitter.com/thehungergames

SLIFF/Kids Interview: BRAD SCHIFF – Stop Motion Animator – PARANORMAN, BOXTROLLS

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman July 16th, 2014

A native St. Louisan, Brad Schiff serves as the animation supervisor at LAIKA Studios, the award-winning company behind “Coraline,” “ParaNorman,” and the upcoming “The Boxtrolls.” Before making his creative contributions to LAIKA’s films, Brad cut his teeth on a number of popular American television series, including MTV’s “Celebrity Deathmatch,” “The PJs,” and “Gary & Mike.” In 2001, Brad brought home a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for his work on “Gary & Mike.” Brad’s commercial-directing clients have included the NFL on Fox, Nintendo, and Samsung. In 2004, Brad worked as an animator on Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride,” the first of what has turned out to be a series of Academy Award-nominated features that includes Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Although Brad’s busy schedule only allows a hometown visit once a year or so, when in St. Louis he always indulges in pizza from Imo’s and a “famous roast beef sandwich” from Lion’s Choice – he calls both “a must.” If he’s here in the summer, Brad is certain to catch a Cards game at Busch Stadium; if he’s here in winter, he journeys to Savvis Center to root for the Blues.

Brad will be in St. Louis on Saturday August 2nd, for a program called Behind the Scenes with Brad Schiff, Supervising Animator at LAIKA Studios. There will be a screening of PARANORMAN, followed by a Q&A with Brad.This is part of the second annual SLIFF/Kids Film Festival put on by Cinema St. Louis. The event will be at COCA – Center of Creative Arts located at 524 Trinity Avenue in University City. The program begins at 7pm.

For more details about the SLIFF/Kids film fest, visit Cinema St. Louis‘ site HERE

We Are Movie Geeks caught up with Brad Schiff to discuss his films, his future projects, and his upcoming event in St. Louis.

We Are Movie Geeks: So you’re from St. Louis, right?

Brad Schiff: Yes I grew up in Clayton and then I moved out to Town and Country. I went to Parkway West High School where I graduated in 1988.

WAMG: When you grew up in St. Louis, were you a fan of stop motion animation?

BS: I always really dug stop motion animation but I don’t know if I realized it was stop motion animation at the time. I always loved KING KONG. I think the most poignant one for me was CLASH OF THE TITANS. I used to make little stop motion with my friends with G.I. Joes and stuff but never with any intent of doing that for a living.

WAMG: We did a Ray Harryhausen tribute at St. Louis International Film Festival last year.

BS: Cool. What did you show?

WAMG: We showed a new documentary called RAY HARRYHAUSEN SPECIAL EFFECTS TITAN and then we also showed THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD.

BS: Yeah, Ray Harryhausen came to visit the studio when we were working on THE CORPSE BRIDE. That was back in 2004.

WAMG: What are the key differences between what Ray Harryhausen was doing and what you were doing on a project like PARANORMAN?

BS: Fundamentally it’s all the same. Everything we’re doing is the same. We have some technological cheats that he didn’t have. Things have advanced in so many ways. He would use gauges to mark like where the elbow was, where the top of the head is, where the wrist is, so he would know where to move it every time. What we have is Frame Grabber software so when you get to say, frame 100, you can see your last 100 frames as well as your current frame. You can see exactly where you’ve been and where you are. You just toggle back-and-forth so you can see your previous image and your live image.

WAMG: I guess Harryhausen couldn’t really check his work until the film came back from the lab.

BS: It’s amazing! It blows my mind sometimes. We make mistakes even looking at it. You’ll get a few frames past and then you will think “Oh shucks, I forgot to move the wrist”. So then you have to delete a couple of frames. So that’s a luxury. You can actually cut back. You can delete frames as long as you can get to a place where you could match your puppet back up.

WAMG: How did you end up being a stop motion animator? Where you an artist as a kid?

BS: Yes I was. My grandfather was a master woodcarver and I used to sculpt and play down in his studio in New Orleans. I took every art class I could. Then I went to college at Central Missouri State and majored in art. I was also playing rugby at the time. My instructor recommended that I drop drawing classes. To this day I can’t figure out why. My stuff wasn’t the best in the class but it wasn’t the worst either. The only thing I can think of is that maybe he was trying to light a fire under my ass. At one point I didn’t want to have anything to do with art anymore because I became really self-conscious about my drawing ability. I had a buddy who was going to school down in Florida and he was taking these animation classes at the University of Tampa. He couldn’t draw either but he had this instructor named Richard Protovin who did these beautiful watercolor animations and his philosophy was that you don’t have to draw great to animate great. There was something about it I just found it intriguing. So I transferred colleges. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I knew I didn’t want to graduate with a business degree. When I was down there, I discovered I had the ability to sculpt and it became evident that stop motion animation was what I wanted to do. My sculpting looked good but I couldn’t animate very well. I was just transferring some of my old college films from VHS the other day and it’s a miracle I’m even in the business right now.

WAMG: Where those shot on film?

BS: No the stuff down in Tampa was shot on a three-quarter inch machine that kind of did frame-by-frame.

WAMG: Did you grow up a fan of monster movies?

BS: Yes, I loved the monster movies. I loved cartoons though more than anything. I loved Looney Tunes and I loved Scooby Doo. I would come home from school, pour a bowl of cereal and watch He-Man and G.I. Joe cartoons. I couldn’t get enough cartoons.

WAMG: It seems like stop motion has made something of a comeback over the past few years. What do you attribute that to?

BS: There’s been a huge resurgence to it, that’s true.It really started bubbling with NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and then with JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. The mecca for stop motion animation and that time was San Francisco. There was a show on ABC called Bump in the Night. And then Disney bought ABC and shut down anything that wasn’t a Disney show. Then about three years later, around 1998, Celebrity Death Match came around, and The PJs, and Gary and Mike. There was that little wave. There was not a whole lot going on in Los Angeles, it was all happening in New York and Portland. Then in 2004 we did CORPSE BRIDE and around that time Aardmann animation started to break through with Wallace and Gromit. Of course CG came about as well and CG developed its own look but stop motion was something a little bit different, a little bit tactile, just inherently I think because you’re making it by hand. I think there’s an inherent charm that goes along with it.

WAMG: When Tim Burton made MARS ATTACKS in 1996 I remember reading that he wanted to use stop motion but he decided to make CGI that would look like stop-motion. But then he went back later, with CORPSE BRIDE and FRANKENWEENIE, to stop-motion.

BS: Yes, there were a couple of us that work here, myself included, that were hired to work on MARS ATTACKS. This was before I was out of school at NYU. My friend Georgina Hayes here at LAIKA, she was hired to work on MARS ATTACKS. And around that time production shut down. I think someone was doing a CG test of the Martians. Somebody got a model and took it to ILM and they did a great job with the characters from that film. So yes, Tim wanted to do CGI that looked like stop motion and it didn’t quite look like stop motion. Even to this day as we move forward, especially here at LAIKA,, I feel like we’re pushing the medium forward in a way that nobody has yet. People may always think that it’s CG. And I think that’s a huge compliment. And you’ll even hear people like Tim Burton say that CG just doesn’t have that stop-motion look, and I don’t know just what that means. Does that mean it has to be sort of rough and raw? I don’t think so. That’s like saying all CG has to look like ANTS or A BUG’S LIFE.

WAMG: I know what you’re saying. I get confused. Even when I saw the trailer for BOXTOLLS I thought “Oh here we go – here’s a CGI that’s trying to look like stop-motion”. Even when I saw PARANORMAN at the theater I wasn’t sure what I was watching, at least until the very end. Didn’t they bring out one of the armatures?

BS: Yes during the end credits. We always have a little surprise during the end credits.

WAMG: Was CORPSE BRIDE made over here or was it made over in England?

BS: It was made in London.CORPSE BRIDE was the first in this awesome run of feature films that I’ve been able to work on.

WAMG: About a year ago I interviewed Mark Waring (Animation Director on FRANKENWEENIE – read the interview HERE).

BS: Oh yeah, I lived with Mark Waring when I was over there!

WAMG: How many animators would work on a project like PARANORMAN?

BS: We start off with a team of 22 and it will grow if we get behind schedule, or for that final push we may need a few more bodies, I think we got up to 30 on PARANORMAN. On BOXTROLLS we started with a team of 24 and we grew to 30. Every animator is responsible for a quota of 4.3 seconds per week.

WAMG: I see, but aren’t some scenes more elaborate and difficult than others?

BS: Oh yes, some are incredibly complicated. We had an animator on BOXTROLLS that was animating a dance sequence . We had choreographers come in and you had to mimic and learn every move of a dance. It’s always easier to animate what you know, but it’s very difficult to animate that type of dance sequence with multiple characters. The more characters you have, the more difficult it is. The more difficult the action, the choreography, the longer it takes. If you had just one medium shot of a puppet maybe you could knock out eight seconds in a week.

WAMG: You’ve worked with Wes Anderson (on FANTASTIC MR. FOX) and Tim Burton. What are those guys like when directing animated films? Are they hands on?

BS: Well, Tim co-directed CORPSE BRIDE with a guy named Mike Johnson. And on FRANKENWEENIE, which I did not work on, Tim co-directed with a friend of mine named Trey Thomas, who’s kind of a stop-motion legend. On FRANKENWEENIE, Trey Thomas did sort of the same thing that Mike Johnson did when he was co-director. They directed the day-to-day operations and they would send the stuff to Tim every week. And Tim would come in to the studio maybe every two weeks, and go through the dailies and stuff but he didn’t, on CORPSE BRIDE, really direct the animators personally. It was usually Mike Johnson. But Tim would come through and he was friendly with the crew. Everybody knew him but he didn’t do the day-to-day stuff. I think he was working on ALICE IN WONDERLAND about the same time we were shooting CORPSE BRIDE so he was consumed mostly with his live-action stuff. Working with Wes Anderson was a whole different experience altogether. That was a weird way to make a movie. We were making FANTASTIC MR. FOX in London and Wes was in Paris, yet though he was in Paris he was very hands-on. We corresponded through vmail with him. He would send a reference video of himself. He would send live-action videos of himself acting out every character and they would edit those together so you would have six of Wes on the screen, each acting slightly different. One as Kristofferson, one as Mr. Fox, one as Ash. It was pretty funny. I had really good interaction with him. I did the Whackbat sequence. I was able to sit down with Wes and we talked about things like the rules of the game. It was really just a couple of sentences that he had written in the script so I proposed a bunch of ideas and different actions, how the action would work with the pitch, and he and I worked on different things that he wanted to see, and that was really cool! He was really fun to work with even though it was an odd way to work.

WAMG: Let’s talk about BOXTROLLS Have you seen the finished film yet?

BS: I have not! Do you believe it? I have seen all of the sequences because we are able to see all of the sequences on our database, but I have not seen it in one long run.

WAMG: Is BOXTROLLS 100% stop motion?

BS: All of the primary stuff is stop-motion. All of the main characters are stop-motion, but one of the limitations of the medium is how big you can make your sets and how many puppets you can actually have somebody animate out on set. We have used a lot of visual effects to make our world bigger. Sometimes we put up a green screen and do set extensions, which has made the world seem much larger. We’ll do digi-double box trolls or digital crowd characters, so there are scenes in the film where you’ll see dozens of Boxtrolls, but maybe six of them are practical and the rest are effects. There’s a shot in all of the teasers that we have done, it’s kind of a medium close-up of maybe 10 Boxtrolls and they’re all clapping their box. Three of those are practical and you cannot tell the difference. One of the reasons you cannot tell the difference is that all of our visual effects are informed by practical elements, so you’re not just making up a texture. You are looking at a real texture and they’re copying the texture and you’re looking at the real paint jobs of the puppets, so they’re copying the paint jobs of the puppets. So everything is informed. Even in PARANORMAN, the clouds looked like a bridal veil. That was a running theme, a running design element through the film, and we did some practical tests on stage early on, rotating it around. Our rigging department, lead by Ollie Jones, made this rig that you can spin but what you couldn’t get from it was the vaporous feeling of clouds. But the effects department was able to take those practical elements and practical tests and copy them, make models of the tools, just like the practical element, and they were able to manipulated in ways in the computer that we couldn’t do out on stage.

WAMG: So what is the next big project you are going to be working on?

BS: I’m working on something, but I can’t tell you much about it right now. Sorry! We are six shots in the can but it’s still under wraps. I think the studio is still trying to make a deal with the distributor for the next bunch of films so there will probably a big media splash soon.

WAMG: On August 2nd you were going to be here in St. Louis at COCA. They are showing PARANORMAN, then you are speaking. Are you bringing some of your puppets with you?

BS: Yes I’ll have a couple of puppets with me. I think I’m going to get up before the film and say a few words, then will have a screening of PARANORMAN, and then will have a Q&A. I hope a lot of people stick around. I’ll have a Norman with me and I hope to have a Boxtroll with me, so I’ll have a few of the puppets that people can come and take a look at.

WAMG: Well, good luck with BOXTOLLS and all of your future projects and I hope you have a great time when you’re back in St. Louis.

BS: Thanks a lot.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Comic Con Trailer Is Here

Debuting at Warner Bros. Pictures’ Comic Con panel over the weekend, watch the first trailer for director George Miller’s MAD MAX: FURY ROAD.

Oscar-winning filmmaker George Miller’s MAD MAX: FURY ROAD revisits his own post-apocalyptic trilogy featuring the anti-hero known as Mad Max. The original 1979 movie starred Mel Gibson.

Miller made an appearance at Comic Con on Saturday with new footage from his film.

"This is my first Comic-Con!" – #MadMax director George Miller before taking a photo with the Hall H crowd #SDCC pic.twitter.com/NBNv1CQQhm

— Warner Bros Pictures (@wbpictures) July 26, 2014

Tom Hardy stars in the role of Max Rockatansky, alongside Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Hugh Keays-Byrne and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Miller directed from a screenplay he wrote with Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris. Miller also produces, along with Doug Mitchell and P.J. Voeten. Iain Smith, Graham Burke and Bruce Berman serve as executive producers.

Set for a May 15, 2015 release, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is a Kennedy Miller Mitchell production. The film will be presented by Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/MadMaxMovie
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/MadMaxMovie

Legendary Announces GODZILLA Sequel Will Include Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah & KING KONG Skull Island Film

On Saturday, Legendary Entertainment presented in Hall H its future film line-up with some added surprises, franchise announcements and special guests.

In addition to GODZILLA director Gareth Edwards’ video thank you message to the fans at Comic-Con, where the re-imagination of GODZILLA was first introduced in 2012, Legendary CEO Thomas Tull presented what is to come for the iconic monster and the cinematic universe that Legendary is creating.

Joining Godzilla in future franchise installments will be several other classic monsters from Toho Co., Limited, including three of the most popular monsters from the Godzilla universe: Rodan, Mothra, and the formidable King Ghidorah. During the panel it was also announced that filmmaker Edwards will direct the sequel to GODZILLA after he finishes his installment in the expanded STAR WARS franchise.

Future GODZILLA installments will, however, be distributed by Warner Bros., Legendary’s partner on the first film in that revitalized franchise.

Legendary also revealed it will be making a feature film based on the famed Skull Island, the cinematic origins of another classic beast, King Kong. Previous works have touched on the island, but staying and exploring this mysterious and dangerous place offers Legendary the opportunity to take audiences deeper inside this rich world with a style and scope that parallels other Legendary productions. The film will be released on November 4, 2016.

Rounding out the appearances for Legendary in Hall H iconic filmmaker Michael Mann made his first trip to Comic-Con showcasing his latest thriller BLACKHAT. In addition to screening footage, Mann brought to the stage his lead actor, the mighty Chris Hemsworth. BLACKHAT will be released on January 16, 2015.

Guillermo del Toro brought a sneak peek of his upcoming gothic horror film, CRIMSON PEAK, in theaters October 16, 2015, while director Duncan Jones took the stage to showcase footage from the recently wrapped production of WARCRAFT based upon one of the most popular video games of all time. Jones showed footage as a follow-up to the mood-setting piece introduced at last year’s convention. WARCRAFT will be released on March 11, 2016.

Legendary also gave fans a look at an extended trailer for its upcoming horror film AS ABOVE/SO BELOW, which arrives in North American theaters on August 29, 2014 via Universal Pictures, Legendary’s distribution partner across its film slate.

Miles of twisting catacombs lie beneath the streets of Paris, the eternal home to countless souls. When a team of explorers ventures into the uncharted maze of bones, they uncover the dark secret that lies within this city of the dead. A journey into madness and terror, As Above/So Below reaches deep into the human psyche to reveal the personal demons that come back to haunt us all.

Written by John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle (Quarantine, Devil,) the psychological thriller is directed by John Erick Dowdle.

Watch Josh Brolin Intro As Thanos At AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Comic Con Panel; Plus ANT-MAN in Hall H (Videos)

“This place may be the weirdest, craziest place I’ve ever been,” said actor James Spader (“Ultron”) on Comic Con. “It’s really fantastically crazy.”

Marvel brought their A game to the Hall H audience at Comic Con 2014. The studio’s biggest announcement on Saturday was the sequel to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ahead of its release on Friday, Aug 1.

For those who couldn’t make it to San Diego, here’s a look at the panel from AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON where it was officially revealed that Josh Brolin will be seen and heard as the villain Thanos in director James Gunn’s GUARDIANS film, as well as in future movies for Marvel Studios.

The stars of AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON signed autographs after the panel for the fans.

marvel studios – Avengers Comic Con Hall H Panel PART 1 from We Are Movie Geeks on Vimeo.

marvel studios – Avengers Comic Con Hall H Panel PART 2 from We Are Movie Geeks on Vimeo.

Directed by Joss Whedon (THE AVENGERS), the cast includes Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man along with Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Chris Evans as Captain America, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

Joining the cast are Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver, Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch and James Spader as Ultron.

Set for release in the United States on May 1, 2015, Marvel’s AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON is produced by Kevin Feige. Executive Producers are Louis D’Esposito, Jeremy Latcham, Victoria Alonso, Patricia Whitcher, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, and Jon Favreau.

Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly and Corey Stoll, as well as director Peyton Reed, were also on hand for Marvel’s ANT-MAN Hall H Panel Booth Signing. ANT-MAN will be in theaters next summer on July 31, 2015.

comic con 2014 marvel studios – ANT-MAN HALL H from We Are Movie Geeks on Vimeo.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: