The Making of "Mutant Aliens" by Bill Plympton

Page 4.

At about this time, I started casting for voices. I asked Phil Lee to recommend some voices for the characters, as I planned to work with him on the sound and I respect his talent immensely. Since "Mutant Aliens" is a self-financed independent film, I could not afford big-name talent. At one point, I was talking to Parker Posey about being the voice of Josie, but Parker wanted me to make Josie's breasts smaller, and since it is a "Bill Plympton cartoon", that was impossible. I probably could not have afforded her anyway. All the voice talent that we got was excellent - it was hard to choose the best voices. I scheduled three hours for the casting session, but unfortunately didn't have enough time for everyone, so we extended it to four hours. Once the actors were chosen and their lines were recorded, the DAT tapes went to the track reader for all of the dialogue animation.

Following the completion of the painting of the cels, which is a major job, the next step is checking and cleaning each scene, preparing it for the cameraman, John Donnelly. Another drawback with traditional cel painting is the problem of dust and scratches showing up on the film. I try to make the background and art with as much texture as possible to reduce this. I also use diffusion filters on the lens to help hide mistakes, but somehow they get through. Many people don't understand why I continue to use such an outdated technology as hand-painted cels instead of computer-painted cels, but there are many reasons: 1) I can't afford to purchase the computer technology, 2) I like the hand-made look of painted cels - there's a texture to them that is visible on the screen, 3) believe it or not, I thinks it's slower to paint with computers than by hand 4) it's extremely expensive to transfer the computer print-outs to 35mm film and 5) I like having the original art to every shot - it's an added source of income.

"I'm a firm believer in testing films, especially features. If I'm going to spend 2 years and $200,000 on a project, and I want people to like it and understand it, I'd better get some feedback before it's finished."

It's very exciting to watch the color dailies as they come in and get pieced together in the editing process. All of a sudden, ideas and visions I had two years ago are finally manifested. The rough cut of the film came in at 90 minutes, which was much longer than I expected. Of course, once I began to fine-cut the film, it came down to 83 minutes, which was still too long. I think the perfect length for this film will be around 78 minutes, so I continued to cut it down.

Georgia Hilton, our sound editor, took the rough cut and began to layer the sound in, and Hank Bones and Maureen McElheron, the music producers, began discussing with me their music ideas that would best fit in the production. I usually take a very active interest in both music and sound, both by playing instruments and doing voices and sound effects, but since I was quite busy finishing the animation and going to festivals promoting my films, I had to give control to them, and the results are much better without me meddling in their work. I would hear their work, perhaps make a few comments, and let them continue. As my films get more popular and I become more involved in story and design, I think it's only natural that I begin to delegate more responsibility. That's the way it should be! Hire the best and let them create! The first production deadline I had was in the second week of September 2000, when I was invited to show some of my work in a wonderful open-air cinema on the roof of the Gershwin Hotel - I felt this would be a perfect opportunity to show a rough cut of the film and get some feedback. We hurriedly put together a rough sound and picture version on video, but that morning, they called and said the roof had collapsed, and they were trying to fend off lawsuits. So, our next big deadline was October 6, the entry date for the famous Sundance Film Festival. We hurried to lock our four picture reels so that Georgia could add the sound. I generally don't like to send a film out without a test screening, but since we were behind schedule we were forced to send an untested and unfinished film to Sundance. I included a little disclaimer about the incomplete version, which is normal, since they get a number of rough cut films entered, and it usually only takes a month to fine-cut a film.

I'm a firm believer in testing films, especially features. If I'm going to spend 2 years and $200,000 on a project, and I want people to like it and understand it, I'd better get some feedback before it's finished. Nothing is worse than completing a feature film and having viewers agree that something is disturbing or confusing, especially if it could have been easily fixed before cutting the negative. So, I invited 6 people from the film business, whom I respected highly, to a screening at my sound editor's studio. After the screening, I asked them specifically if anything had been boring or confusing - these are, I think, the two most important questions for me. They all liked the film a lot (I liked hearing that, yet I don't necessarily trust people, especially friends, who tell me that), but the consensus was that the flashback sequences were confusing, and although they liked the "Nose Planet" section, they weren't sure whether it was real or a fantasy. So, I started to draw and shoot some more material to address these problems, and went back to Anthony Arcidi to have it cut in. But Anthony had a preview screening with his friends and got different reactions, which really scared me. They all didn't understand the ending, with the tower chase and the tape from the T.V. camera, so I freaked.

I quickly set up another test screening, this time for my target audience, males between 18 and 30, who were strangers. They seemed to understand the ending, but again the "Nose Planet" section was confusing - was it reality or fantasy? However, everyone liked it so much, they wanted me to leave it in. Around this time, I thought of a wonderful idea for an opening sequence. One of the major problems I was having with the film was that the aliens were really the stars, yet they don't appear until halfway through the film. I thought if I had an opening scene of a TV reporter, on a remote from the White House, when the alien ship first lands and the aliens attack the soldiers, it could be something that would really grab the viewers' attention immediately. Some people didn't like the idea, but I wanted to try it anyway because I thought it could be fantastic! So, I started drawing the new opening sequence, and Georgia said it wouldn't be that difficult to tack on the new part.

Now, as I finish writing the short history of "Mutant Aliens", the animation is complete, and it's only a matter of reshoots, final editing and getting ready for the negative cut. I await the decision of the Sundance Film Festival and can concentrate on the next big steps, doing publicity and finding a distributor.

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