Es ésta una película ambiciosa en la historia y corta en los medios yr ecursos (para lo que suele ser el cine, al menos), nada de chorropotocientos millones para conseguir materiales, cámaras, estrellas de la tele…… sólo ilusión y trabajo duro. De hecho esa ha sido una de las críticas que se han planteado en la rueda de prensa, mientras que cuando Woody Allen vino a rodar a Barcelona el ayuntamiento le dio una subvención de un millón de euros, a los filmes independientes como éste, cuando pidieron permiso para rodar en un cementerio de la ciudad les respondieron que debían pagar ¡500€ la hora!…..

Aunque no he podido leer el guión completo, la película habla sobre los peligros de una sociedad (la nuestra) hiperconsumista y “demasiado” informada, planteando un hipotético futuro no demasiado lejano en que la gente es manipulada fácilmente a través de diversos medios y, parafraseando a Maira Gómez Kemp “hasta aquí puedo leer…”. Ahora, tras el rodaje, nos queda un año de post-producción, aproximadamente pues la película cuenta con un elevado porcentaje de escenas de animación por ordenador.

En cuanto a lo de hoy, bueno, el sábado por la tarde recibí una llamada de Jesús en la que me decía que habían conseguido que Fernando Arrabal hiciese un pequeño papel en la película y necesitaban un cartel para la presentación de la rueda de prensa que se iba a ofrecer hoy. Tras tenerlo listo, hoy he recibido una invitación para asistir a la rueda de prensa y  al rodaje de la última escena. Aunque no ha sido mi primer rodaje (hace unos años hice de extra en…mejor no recordarlo), sí ha sido la primera vez en la que estoy directamente implicado aunque sea en una pequeña parte (por desgracia no pude asistir al rodaje del teaser de Extremo, video que os mostraba un par de entradas más abajo). Ha sido una gran experiencia de la que he disfrutado bastante, incluida la lectura de Fernando Arrabal de sus frases. Por otro lado os puedo asegurar que el “interior” de una película tiene mucho menos de glamour y mucho más de trabajo duro de lo que la gente se piensa…bueno, no creo que las superestrellas de Hollywood se den esas palizas pero, como para casi todo, Hollywood es otro planeta. Claro que una película no la hacen sólo los actores, aquello es un hervidero de gente que “se deja los cuernos” y de los que probablemente nunca veáis su cara ni leáis su nombre (si no sóis de los que os leéis los créditos, claro)

En fin, una grata experiencia que espero poder repetir muy pronto (eso significará que tengo trabajo). Os dejo con lo único que puedo mostrar por ahora que es el susodicho cartel de la rueda de prensa, aunque os permitirá haceros una idea de por dónde van los tiros. Ha sido genial verlo a 70×90 cm en la entrada de la sala de prensa y proyectado en una enorme pantalla por detrás de los tertulianos.
En cuanto pueda, más.

Today I attended the last day of filming of the last project I’m working on. This project, as sometimes happens with good things, came to us suddenly from nowhere. One day Jesus (my boss) told me that he has a great script in his hands, and after a couple of days, without knowing how or why we were caught in the scrub. In this case, my work has been, for the moment, the artistic designs for the atrezzo. Posters, labels, covers of books and magazines, including a business card and a label for a can of drink and the, in principle, future poster presentation for the film.

This is an ambitious film in history and short on the means and resources (for which is usual in the filming industry at least), no zillions of millions for materials, cameras, mainstream stars …… just enthusiasm and hard work. In fact this has been one of the criticisms that have emerged in the press conference, while Woody Allen when he came to Barcelona to shoot the council gave him a grant of one million euros, to independent films like this, when asked permission to shoot in a cemetery in the city they responded that they had to pay 500€/hour

Although I could not read the entire script, the film speaks about the dangers of a society (ours) hiperconsumerist and “too much” informed, posing a hypothetical and not too distant future in which people are easily manipulated through various means and that’s all you can get from me now. Now, after the shooting, we still have a year of post-production, as the film has a high percentage of scenes in computer animation.

As to today, well, on Saturday afternoon I received a call from Jesus in which he said they had Fernando Arrabal to make a small role in the film and needed a poster for the presentation in a press conference they will offer today. After having the poster done, today I received an invitation to attend the press conference and the shooting of the last scene. Although not my first shoot (a few years ago I made an extra … better not to remember), it was the first time that I am directly involved in even when it’s been a small part (unfortunately I could not attend the filming of the Extremo teaser, that video I showed you a couple of entries below). It’s been a great experience which I enjoyed a lot, including the Fernando Arrabal lecture of his lines. On the other hand I can assure that the “interior” of a film is much less glamorous and has more hard work than what people tend to think … well, I do not think Hollywood superstars take these beatings upon themselves, but as for almost all, Hollywood is another planet. Certainly a film is not only done by the actors, there’s a hive of people who “break their backs” and who you’ll  probably  never see their faces or know their names (if you are not of that  very few ones that read the credits, of course )

Anyway, a pleasant experience that I hope to repeat very soon (this will mean that I’ll be working). Here you have all I can show for now, that is, the poster for the press conference, although you will get an idea of the style of the rest…or probably not. It has been great seeing that in 70×90 cm at the entrance to the newsroom and projected on a huge screen behind the speakers.
As I can you’ll have more.

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En este caso, el videoclip está dirigido por Jesús Manuel Montané ( a la sazón, mi jefe) y producido por Grupo estudio. Yo me he encargado del diseño de producción, realizando los bocetos iniciales para definir la estética del video (bajo indicaciones de Jesús, que tenía las cosas muy claras desde el principio) y encargándome del matte painting y los “objetos voladores” que podéis ver en el video final. Por el momento, dado que aún está en promoción no puedo mostraros el matte painting completo que se ha usado para el video, pero podéis verlo bastante bien al final de la canción (así como en la contraportada del single). También me he encargado del rediseño de la carátula del single, basada en una foto de Lídia tomada por Santi Yaniz.

La canción podéis descargarla gratuitamente (por ahora al menos) de la página de Lidia www.lidiapujol.com, donde también podréis escuchar algunas de sus canciones (atención a la preciosa y dramática La nina i son germá ). También está disponible mediantes iTunes.

Espero que lo disfrutéis tanto como yo.

Well, here I present you the latest work I’ve been doing. This is the video clip of  Begging the waves, the latest single from Lídia Pujol, a Catalan singer / songwriter that I did not know until this work and whose music has pleasantly surprised me, highly recommended. In her latest album released to date, “Els amants Lilith” she collects songs from the folk tradition, collected around the villages of Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Isles, from the mouths of those elder women who sang to her. Those songs are sung in Catalan language but even  though, they are beautiful and… how many of  us hear a lot of music without knowing what they are saying?. Anyway, this single Begging the waves move away a bit from popular music for something a bit more ….actual and it is the germ of a new album.

In this case, the video clip is directed by Jesús Manuel Montané (at the time, my boss) and produced by Grupo Estudio. I have been in charge of production design, making the initial sketches to define the aesthetic of the video (was not that hard because  Jesus has the ideas quite clear from the beginning) and been responsible for the matte painting and the “flying objects” that you can see in the final video. For the moment, given that it is in promotion I can’t show you the full matte painting that was used for the video, but you can see quite well at the end of the song (as well as in the back of the single). I was also responsible for redesigning the cover of the single, based on a photo of Lídia taken by Santi Yaniz.

You can download the song for free (for now at least) in Lidia’s site  www.lidiapujol.com, where you can listen to some of his songs (attention to the beautiful and dramatic La nina i son germá). Also available through iTunes.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

¿Do you remember the matte painting that I showed in this post?. Well, finally I managed to find the trailer of the movie  the matte painting was made for, so here you have the video. As you’ll see the matte was used as the background at the begining of the sequence (though the guys at Neorender put it to 3D, they are cracks, period). This trailer shows part of a 10 minutes sequence we shoot some time ago. I also designed part of what you can see at the inside of the club, as the flags and the sword used by the main character….. What do you think?

Champiñón y Monina, junto con el mago Nicodemus y Grifh’a el sacerdote son unos personajes que hace años que tengo en el tintero deseando hacer algo con ellos. Incluso tengo un guión de ocho páginas (y 4 dibujadas) que servía como presentación de la historia…. quien sabe, tal vez algún día salgan a la luz. Mientras tanto me divierte bastante dibujarlos de vez en cuando, son dos gamberretes y es divertido dejarse llevar por ellos de vez en cuando.

Mushroom likes to play with Cuttie, and they never do any good. Of course he doesn´t like so much when he becomes the target of the little girl´s jokes…

Cuttie and Mushroom, along with the mage Nicodemus and the priest Grifh’a are some characters that I have “in my pocket” years ago hoping to do something with them. I even have an eight-page script (4 pages drawn) that served as a presentation of the story …. who knows, maybe someday they come to light. Meanwhile I am quite amused drawing them from time to time, they are two little thugs and it is fun to get carried away by them from time to time.

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¡FELICES FIESTAS!

….y yo tambien

Mushroom and Cuttie wish you

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

……so do I

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