[Q&A] The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge
We peek behind the scenes of Capcom's upcoming Nightmare Before Christmas action effort with game (and movie) Art Director Deane Taylor.
Published: September 22, 2005
TotalPlayStation: For our readers, can you give a basic introduction of yourself and the roles you played in the movie and the game?
Deane Taylor: In the beginning there was a small gaseous puddle of primordial slime from which I crawled...I call it Adelaide, South Australia and it's a pretty fine little puddle. Here I was working as a host on a children's television show where I got the opportunity to interview the late, great Mr. Bill Hanna from Hanna-Barbera Productions in Los Angeles. He offered me a job in his Sydney studios where I took the position of Layout Artist working on Popeye, Flintstones and a rake of other popular titles from that time. That was in 1978 and I've been working in animation ever since -- a variety of roles ranging from art direction through production design and direction on features, television series and commercials throughout Australia, Asia, Europe and the U.S.
During that time, because of the wide network of animation gangsters that I had come to know, we would fax cartoons and sketches to each other of whatever was funny on the day. The film's director, Henry Selick, spotted some of these pinned up in a number of studios in the U.S. and decided I might be a choice for the Art Director he was looking for. I was flown to San Francisco to work a trial period with Henry. I was contracted as the film's Art Director shortly after that. Apart from the obvious duties of an Art Director, I guess what I brought to the project was a way of fleshing out a 2-D approach into a 3-D environment which gave it a bit of a stamp. That, and having an amazingly talented crew to help bring this from performing a role, to achieving a commitment. In this way, all of the art department's roles were dictated by the need to have an understanding of set construction and lighting as importantly as design and conceptualizing. You had to appreciate the physical constraints of a set, a prop or the ability to get a light in there, in order to twist and deform these worlds in a believable way.
The role in the game production was inherently different. To begin with...you had to assimilate reality to make it match the flavour of the film, then you had to twist it back out again. Like re-heating a steak. The challenge was different, the responsibility to the end product, the same. Even though the mould was created in the film, it was not a simple task of popping out another one. This was a difficult sensibility to achieve, and with all credit to the crew in Japan I believe they filled this role exceptionally well.
TPS: What made you want to take part in the game? Was it an offer from the development team, or something you opted for when you heard the game was being made?
DT: Because I live in a small, smeary odd shaped bubble for most of the time I had no prior knowledge of the game's production. I was contacted by Chris Takami from Buena Vista Games who had met up with an Australian games company called Ratbag, at a games convention in L.A. I had done a little work with them, and when their conversations revolved around the Nightmare project, my name came up. In what context I wouldn't be 100% sure, but it did come up.
TPS: Was there anything that the game allowed you to do that just wasn't possible in the movie (beyond the fact that it was a stop-motion production and everything had to be storyboarded out to the last detail, of course)?
DT: It allowed me to go to Japan, which was pretty much out of the question on the movie. I guess the biggest difference was freedom of scale and atmospheric elements. If you need the graveyard to be ten miles wide, you can do it without having the set extend out the back door and into the alley. If you need slowly moving cloud shapes you can do it without sticking cotton wool onto bridal veil stretched over a frame. As far as the planning goes...I don't believe any pre-production shortcuts were really made. In fact, from what I've learnt about the virtual world is that in many ways, you're planning needs to be much greater.
TPS: How is art direction different or difficult in the game as compared to the movie? Any particular challenges that couldn't be tackled in the game?
DT: The biggest challenge is to hold back. Because you do have the ability to do anything...the tendency is to do it. There is a danger here of making everything dessert, instead of creating a three course meal. Good ideas, strong visuals, I believe should be enjoyed, and not diluted by an over saturation of FX and multi layered production value. Less is more. This seems to me to be the big difference between games and movies. It's the difference between sixteen heavy metal leads on stage...or Keith Richards.
TPS: Have you worked on games in the past, or was this your first experience? Any plans to do it again in the future?
DT: I've done about a gnat's whisker amount of games work...and yes I have very big plans for future game development. For me it can be a new form of storytelling, and a way to execute extremely adventurous design that might otherwise not be possible.
Other interviewers tossed a few questions at Deane as well, and we certainly won't take credit for them, but the questions and answers were rather interesting. We've included them on the next page.
Deane Taylor: In the beginning there was a small gaseous puddle of primordial slime from which I crawled...I call it Adelaide, South Australia and it's a pretty fine little puddle. Here I was working as a host on a children's television show where I got the opportunity to interview the late, great Mr. Bill Hanna from Hanna-Barbera Productions in Los Angeles. He offered me a job in his Sydney studios where I took the position of Layout Artist working on Popeye, Flintstones and a rake of other popular titles from that time. That was in 1978 and I've been working in animation ever since -- a variety of roles ranging from art direction through production design and direction on features, television series and commercials throughout Australia, Asia, Europe and the U.S.
During that time, because of the wide network of animation gangsters that I had come to know, we would fax cartoons and sketches to each other of whatever was funny on the day. The film's director, Henry Selick, spotted some of these pinned up in a number of studios in the U.S. and decided I might be a choice for the Art Director he was looking for. I was flown to San Francisco to work a trial period with Henry. I was contracted as the film's Art Director shortly after that. Apart from the obvious duties of an Art Director, I guess what I brought to the project was a way of fleshing out a 2-D approach into a 3-D environment which gave it a bit of a stamp. That, and having an amazingly talented crew to help bring this from performing a role, to achieving a commitment. In this way, all of the art department's roles were dictated by the need to have an understanding of set construction and lighting as importantly as design and conceptualizing. You had to appreciate the physical constraints of a set, a prop or the ability to get a light in there, in order to twist and deform these worlds in a believable way.
The role in the game production was inherently different. To begin with...you had to assimilate reality to make it match the flavour of the film, then you had to twist it back out again. Like re-heating a steak. The challenge was different, the responsibility to the end product, the same. Even though the mould was created in the film, it was not a simple task of popping out another one. This was a difficult sensibility to achieve, and with all credit to the crew in Japan I believe they filled this role exceptionally well.
TPS: What made you want to take part in the game? Was it an offer from the development team, or something you opted for when you heard the game was being made?
DT: Because I live in a small, smeary odd shaped bubble for most of the time I had no prior knowledge of the game's production. I was contacted by Chris Takami from Buena Vista Games who had met up with an Australian games company called Ratbag, at a games convention in L.A. I had done a little work with them, and when their conversations revolved around the Nightmare project, my name came up. In what context I wouldn't be 100% sure, but it did come up.
TPS: Was there anything that the game allowed you to do that just wasn't possible in the movie (beyond the fact that it was a stop-motion production and everything had to be storyboarded out to the last detail, of course)?
DT: It allowed me to go to Japan, which was pretty much out of the question on the movie. I guess the biggest difference was freedom of scale and atmospheric elements. If you need the graveyard to be ten miles wide, you can do it without having the set extend out the back door and into the alley. If you need slowly moving cloud shapes you can do it without sticking cotton wool onto bridal veil stretched over a frame. As far as the planning goes...I don't believe any pre-production shortcuts were really made. In fact, from what I've learnt about the virtual world is that in many ways, you're planning needs to be much greater.
TPS: How is art direction different or difficult in the game as compared to the movie? Any particular challenges that couldn't be tackled in the game?
DT: The biggest challenge is to hold back. Because you do have the ability to do anything...the tendency is to do it. There is a danger here of making everything dessert, instead of creating a three course meal. Good ideas, strong visuals, I believe should be enjoyed, and not diluted by an over saturation of FX and multi layered production value. Less is more. This seems to me to be the big difference between games and movies. It's the difference between sixteen heavy metal leads on stage...or Keith Richards.
TPS: Have you worked on games in the past, or was this your first experience? Any plans to do it again in the future?
DT: I've done about a gnat's whisker amount of games work...and yes I have very big plans for future game development. For me it can be a new form of storytelling, and a way to execute extremely adventurous design that might otherwise not be possible.
Other interviewers tossed a few questions at Deane as well, and we certainly won't take credit for them, but the questions and answers were rather interesting. We've included them on the next page.
