00:00Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah
00:05Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah
00:10Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah
00:15Ah, ah, ah, ah
00:20Ah, ah, ah, ah
00:25Ah, ah, ah, ah
00:30Ah, ah, ah, ah
00:35Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah
00:36How do you make adult animation that really resonates
00:40cinematically, but also has a thematic beneath it
00:45And primal is so much that
00:46Yeah, and even more so the way you've approached season three
00:50three um could you talk about finding those thematics i mean there's always the thematic
00:55loss but here it includes memory um in many ways can you talk about
01:00using that thematic as a visual motif if you will yeah and what's
01:05what's really great about doing a third season if the first two seasons are successful
01:10is you've created an attachment to your main characters
01:15right so in the first season it's all about trying to get the audience to care for the character
01:20and for the characters to kind of live and breathe right which is which is something
01:25the hardest part that's why the first seasons are usually the toughest and then by the
01:30third season we're like oh okay everybody loves these characters and now we've killed them
01:35and now if we bring them back there's already an instant
01:40uh an instant care right like people are attached to this character
01:45and so but now we present the character so differently
01:50and so the the goal and the hope was you want to cheer for him
01:55you want to cheer for him to become who he is but the audience
02:00doesn't know what we've got planned so you could think well this is just the new spear
02:05and he's a zombie and this is the way it's gonna go so
02:10that's what makes it really really great is that the mood the motif the memory
02:15motif is one thing but the idea that now the audience is
02:20instantly hooked in because they've already become hooked in in 20 episodes
02:25episodes that they're going to cheer and care for him a lot more than ever before
02:30so
02:35I'm here.
02:36I'm here.
02:37I'm here.
02:38I'm here.
02:39I'm here.
02:40I'm here.
02:42I'm here.
02:43I'm here.
02:44I'm here.
02:45I'm here.
02:50I'm here.
02:53But the deconstructionism of it.
02:55From the very beginning requires, you know, you know, even if you haven't seen the.
03:00The previous two seasons, it sort of gives you a necessary framework.
03:04Could you.
03:05Talk about deconstructing spear because you needed to find.
03:10What you want to.
03:11Because obviously you don't make anything unless you feel very passionate about it.
03:15Yeah.
03:15So and this requires, you know, the great thing is that over you're allowed to let.
03:20This character breathe.
03:21That's the one thing about having this amount of episodes, but also having.
03:25This track is because you can see him.
03:28Move through these ideas.
03:30It.
03:31Yeah.
03:32I mean, it's it's that's part of the storytelling, I think.
03:34And so you want to.
03:35You know, there's like it's almost like broken down like a movie, you know, and the first
03:40act.
03:40This spear is resurrected and now he's a mindless zombie.
03:45And what does that mean?
03:46Right.
03:47And then we see that story start to unfold.
03:49And.
03:50We're like, oh, right.
03:51He's having synapses or firing of something that's familiar so that.
03:55That gives us hope.
03:56So, yeah, it's like you're saying, like we break it down to zero.
04:00And then we start to build on top of it, you know, and we're.
04:05Where it goes.
04:06Now, can you talk about creating sort of it's almost like an odyssey that he's.
04:10Going on and obviously you always use a lot of literature references.
04:13But can you talk about finding.
04:15The situations you want to place him in as he makes his journey back to where he's going.
04:20I want to.
04:20Taking too much away.
04:21Right.
04:22But also how that affects him as a character.
04:25And then by reverse a character like mirror.
04:30yeah and so yeah it's it's it's definitely everything is facilitated by the story
04:35so we know we want to break spears down we want him to have some aware
04:40by the time he meets spear and fang i mean fang and mira again
04:45right and then and then it's not what the audience is hoping for right
04:50because because fang does not like this new spear you know and it's tragic and that
04:55's the heartbreaking part of it where you've got the two characters that we love the most
05:00and then you know she doesn't recognize that as her spear
05:05right and and so so we've got these goal posts that we're trying to get to right and the
05:10course the resolution of it all and so how do we get to these goal posts interestingly enough
05:15how do we the first three episodes how do we build spear so we we know
05:20there's a familiarity of him chasing the roar the cricket
05:25we know he's after fang but then he actually sees her
05:30and then he's this is what i've been looking for right it's all coming back to me
05:35and then she rejects him
05:40so
05:55Could you talk about motion, though, in capturing that?
05:59Because obviously...
06:00Without dialogue, you're capturing so much of this through gesture, you know?
06:04And it's very subtle in certain ways.
06:08You know, just an...
06:09I always...
06:14I always remember that from Clone Wars, when Anakin puts his hand out, it said so much.
06:19It was so little, and yet it was so powerful.
06:22Can you talk about finding those...
06:24Because, you know, with animation, you're dealing frame by frame by frame.
06:28In many ways.
06:30Yeah.
06:31And it's the, you know...
06:33It's the absence of dialogue that facilitates that.
06:38You know, so because you're so dialed in and you're waiting to see...
06:43What happens next.
06:45Yeah.
06:46It's good.
06:47It's good.
06:47It's what draws you...
06:48You know, and so every gesture of ours is much more important...
06:53Because there's no words that go with it.
06:56So you know if there's a hand moving, it's...
06:58You're going to say something.
07:00Yeah.
07:00You know, and so those...
07:02Like, even that scene you talked to, you mentioned...
07:03In Clone Wars, that sequence had no dialogue in it.
07:07Yeah.
07:07You know, so here...
07:08Him, you know, him putting out his hand and then Padme doing the same thing...
07:13It spoke to the communication between them and what those things do...
07:18Sometimes dialogue is definitive.
07:21You know, I love you.
07:23Yeah.
07:24Right?
07:25It's as simple and it has tons of meaning...
07:28And that's it.
07:29There's nothing to wonder about.
07:31But when you're doing a gesture or a look...
07:33Or an expression, it's a little grayer.
07:36Like, we're still telling the story and you want to be clear about...
07:38But certainly there's levels to it where the audience fills in the blank.
07:43You know, and I think that's what's great.
07:45And I think it might be why...
07:48You know, the show has resonated and is successful in a way because...
07:53People get to participate in it a little bit more.
07:57Yeah.
07:58Yeah.
08:00Yeah.
08:01Yeah.
08:02Yeah.
08:02Yeah.
08:03Oh, my God.
08:08Oh, my God.
08:13I mean, it's so cinematic, though.
08:15I mean, you know, the one thing I kept, I always, I kept thinking.
08:18Like, even though I like seeing it, you know, at home, I'd love to see it with an audience, you know.
08:23Those kinds of things, because it's very audience participation, because, you know, even Fang coming.
08:28And then turning around and walking away, or Mira going past her and just, like, putting up.
08:33Or even, you know, there was definite Conan vibes, of course.
08:38You know, towards the end.
08:40And it's just sort of this thing, this idea.
08:43The idea that cinema changes, and the idea of what...
08:48Filmmaking and storytelling is always changes.
08:51But you've always kept it very cinematic in that way.
08:53Is that just your instinct in looking at a frame?
08:57And how do you do that?
08:58Yeah, I mean, it's the only way my brain works is like that, you know.
09:02And...
09:03And yeah, like, look, anything I've ever done, I would rather watch in the movie theater with an audience, because...
09:08It's a different experience.
09:11There's just no way around it.
09:12You can watch something that...
09:13That's great at home and enjoy it.
09:15And then you can watch it in the movie theater and enjoy it in a whole different...
09:18level with people, you know.
09:21And it was really interesting just yesterday...
09:23My daughter's at UC Santa Barbara in college, and...
09:28She sent me this video of her boyfriend in his frat house, and they all...
09:33love watching Primal, you know.
09:36And yeah, they're a little wasted or whatever, but...
09:38But yeah, he was watching it in a, you know, with people...
09:43And when they're watching it, there's commentary, right?
09:48And it's...
09:48It's really interesting because...
09:50And not a lot of commentary because they're into it, which is great.
09:53Yeah.
09:53But there's...
09:53There's enough where they talk about how the characters are feeling and what's going on
09:57and reactions.
09:58And it is almost like a cinematic experience in a way, but it was...
10:03It was interesting because I've never seen that before.
10:08I don't know.
10:09I don't know.
10:11I don't know.
10:12I don't know.
10:13I don't know.
10:14I don't know.
10:16I don't know.
10:17I don't know.
10:18I don't know.
10:19I don't know.
10:21I don't know.
10:22I don't know.
10:23But looking at people, how people respond to something like primal versus...
10:28Something like Samurai Jack, it's a very different thing.
10:31Or even Dexter.
10:32I mean...
10:33Could you talk about why this character initially appealed to you?
10:37You know?
10:38And showing that journey of him and Fang, but creating the story.
10:43Was there a motive or motivation in terms of this specific story?
10:48I don't want you to give away too much, but you know, it's an important one.
10:51Yeah.
10:52I mean, the beginning...
10:53The beginning of primal came from the challenge of...
10:58Taking all the sequences from Samurai Jack, the last 10 seasons especially, but even the...
11:03All of it, where everyone's favorite sequences are the ones...
11:08That are visual with no dialogue.
11:10Right?
11:11And then it clicked for me at the end of...
11:13The last season of Jack, can I actually make a show just made up of those sequences?
11:18And I was so excited by that idea and challenged by it.
11:23Well, I need characters that don't talk naturally.
11:27It can't be a gimmick.
11:28Like a silent movie.
11:29Right?
11:30It can't be that.
11:31It has to be naturalistic.
11:33And then I'm like, oh, right.
11:34A caveman.
11:35And then I had this little idea of this little kid.
11:38I started writing this creature and I just like a creature with a human writing it or
11:43something.
11:43You know?
11:44It was just something that I like.
11:45And then I'm like, oh, right.
11:46I'll make it a dinosaur.
11:48And a caveman.
11:49And I need to bond them.
11:51And how do I do that with that dialogue?
11:53And I was like, oh, maybe they all share the same tragedy.
11:56And so everything started.
11:58I wanted to come up all the ideas to facilitate this type of story.
12:03Telling style, then no dialogue and everything.
12:06And, and in the beginning things.
12:08You need to be simple.
12:09Right.
12:10Like what tragedy can he experience?
12:13That the dinosaur can experience and they can find each other accessible with that.
12:18That emotion.
12:19And I was like, right.
12:20Well, the death of family.
12:21That's for everyone.
12:23Right.
12:23And that's it.
12:24And then it started to escalate.
12:26And then we fast forward to.
12:28This season.
12:29And now we love our characters.
12:32We.
12:33We want them to be together.
12:34And now we're rebirthing.
12:38Resurrecting one of our characters and we're stripping everything away from him.
12:43Yeah.
12:44Yeah.
12:45Yeah.
12:46Yeah.
12:47Yeah.
12:48Yeah.
12:49Yeah.
12:50Yeah.
12:51Yeah.
12:53Yeah.
12:54Yeah.
12:55Yeah.
12:56Yeah.
12:57Yeah.
12:58Yeah.
12:59Yeah.
13:00Yeah.
13:01Yeah.
13:02Yeah.
13:03Yeah.
13:04Yeah.
13:05Yeah.
13:06Yeah.
13:07Yeah.
13:08Yeah.
13:09Yeah.
13:10Yeah.
13:11Yeah.
13:12Yeah.
13:13Yeah.
13:14Yeah.
13:15Yeah.
13:16Yeah.
13:17Yeah.
13:18Yeah.
13:19Yeah.
13:20Yeah.
13:21Yeah.
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