The Triumphant Independent

The Triumphant Independent
an interview with John R. Dilworth
(continued from page 2)

"I was just talking to an executive of a huge place," Dilworth relates, "and the question on their mind was, `How big does one want to be? And for what outcome?' I like the idea of being this boutique, and nurturing this specific style and direction of thought.

"I think what's naturally occurring is a mix between having a responsible business and really just wanting to be an artist. Is it possible? If you meet the right executive, or network, as a player or support group that finances that or contributes financially to it, I think it's possible. And with the series that we're doing now, the gamble really worked out for them.

"We've been incredibly lucky to have the right-minded people, the executives, at the network, to allow creative people that they trust to deliver them something that's ground-breaking. Hopefully. And to have the trust that those creators will not blow up on them, as has happened in the past with other networks and situations."

Production Particulars
Part of the "ground-breaking" involves formatting the series to the wide-screen format of HDTV (suggested by this author) and the use of digital technology, which Dilworth uses to enhance the show's environment.

"We're actually using CGI and texture-mapping to create a sort of realism that's balanced with the color scheme," he says. "It isn't like we're putting flat character colors on 3-D backgrounds, because that's very obvious. We've adjusted the color of the characters to fit within the world that they're existing in, that's full of textured sand and wood and wallpaper and sky, so that the end result is sort of a believability level. That's what I really wanted to get across.

"On Noodles & Nedd, we go out of our way to remind you that it's hand-drawn, by a limited color and a flat world and by a simplistic design. On Courage, I wanted to achieve some sort of believability, so that you wouldn't think that you were watching a cartoon and would get into its world."

Dilworth's directorial approach involves avoiding wipes, dissolves and camera pans when possible. Why? "Because there are no camera moves in life," he says with a chuckle. "You don't truck out on your face because we're sitting at the table. It doesn't fit. If it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. If I don't feel the need for it, then I won't put it in. I'm certainly not going to put it in just to remind the viewer that they're being manipulated."

Dilworth elaborates, "I use camera moves; I just don't use them in Courage -- a lot. Because they're not necessary. In the series, things are happening so quickly, the suspense doesn't require a lot of camera moves, or fades. What it requires is a lot of images thrown at you so that you decipher them, immediately, and then you move on."

When it comes to sound effects, Dilworth tries to avoid stock sounds in favor of fresh material. "I contribute a lot of that to the sound designer that I use, a friend of mine, that I like very, very much: Michael Geisler. I love sound. I look for any sound that makes me laugh. Except for music. Then, it really depends upon what we're trying to portray. Either suspense or comedy or action. And even then, I want nothing that's common. I'll give you an example. Last night we were working with our musicians in trying to come up with a theme for Courage. They had written a lot of material and there were a few bars on this one piece that I really liked. Once we isolated that, we were able to expand it to create this bigger theme.

"To further complicate the matter, I was inspired to think of layering the theme with virtually any other funny sound that you'd want. The theme would play a little bit, have its own little tempo, and then it would stop to accommodate a crazy laugh, and then continue. Or over that would be a person singing, or a funny sound. The theme could be endless. Virtually, the theme could just run and run and run and just encourage anybody to put anything they wanted into it, and thus change it to make it funnier. So I can imagine when the CD comes out, it would be thirty minutes long, just the most bizarre ingredients added to the main theme. It was just a lot of fun."