Saturday, September 03, 2011

Comic Book Artist as Film Director

Animators have become live-action directors since the time of Frank Tashlin. Comic book creators, not so much. But French graphic novelist Joann Sfar has made the transition with pinache ...

Does being a graphic novelist make storyboarding a film easier?

It’s actually more difficult to do a comic book than a movie. If something doesn’t work in a movie, you can blame the crew or do it again. If it doesn’t work in a comic book, then it’s your fault. I know I have many things to learn in movies, but I had so much fun making the movie. Comic books may not have been useful for making a movie, but drawing was. My crew all had more than 20 years of experiences, and I’m a newbie. So I didn’t come with orders, I came with graphical suggestions. There are visual propositions in the film that may be appealing for the studio people.

We just finished [the animated movie] “The Rabbi’s Cat,” and it came out in France a month ago, and animation is so slow. When I do comic books, I do five pages a day, and it takes one animator to make one second a whole day. I’m so happy when I work with actors. The way they work is pretty much what I do in drawing. You’re not wondering if your work is beautiful, you’re just wondering if it’s accurate. ...

Five pages a day. Monsieur Sfar would fit right in doing production boards for television animation studios in Los Angeles. "The deadline is Tuesday. And we don't have any money in the budget for overtime ..."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an arrogant snit. I MIGHT be inclined to let him slide a bit if he were remotely talented as an artist.

But he's not.

He can't hold a candle to a dozen board artists I know.

Anonymous said...

5 Pages a day? Half the quota of average manga artists, whose work looks better than his.

Anonymous said...

Interesting interview, but he's not the only comic book artist to make this sort of transition. Marjane Satrapi directed the animated film adaptation of her graphic novel "Persepolis" in 2007.


http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/persepolis/main.html

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Persepolis animated? Or is there a live action version.

Anonymous said...

Frank Miller tried to direct on The Spirit.

LeDidole said...

What about Enki Bilal ?

Anonymous said...

Anony at September 04, 2011 6:53:00 PM , writes:
"Wasn't Persepolis animated? Or is there a live action version. "


Um, yeah, it was animated.

That's why the guy who posted before you wrote: "Marjane Satrapi directed the animated film adaptation of her graphic novel "Persepolis" in 2007".

Anonymous said...

Um yeah - that's why I was wondering why he posted that reference on a thread about directing LIVE ACTION.

Anonymous said...

The article was also about Joann Sfar's debut as a film director on the animated feature "The Rabbi's Cat" based on his graphic novel. I think that was the context of bringing up Marjane Satrapi, who is also doing a live-action movie:

"Chicken with Plums" - http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/chicken-plums-venice-film-review-231022

"Though co-directors Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud opt to turn Satrapi’s graphic novel into a live action film, fans of their animated debut Persepolis will find plenty of animation and CGI interludes to spice up the story, which is anyway shot in a magical style of non-realism. "

Anonymous said...

That wasn't the reference mentioned, if it were the I wouldn't have asked the question. But thanks for answering it.

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