- Combien de temps va durer "Code Guardian" ?

Ce sera largement plus long que "the Hunt" (qui durait 7"30). Probablement cela durera plus de 10 minutes, mais je ne peux encore être très précis.

- Y a t'il dejà une date de sortie ?

Le plus tôt possible, mais je ne peux encore le dire :)

- Une excellente initiative de ta part a été de publié un simili-making of de "The Hunt", ça a l'avantage de présenter en detail ton boulot et tes outils. La meme chose sera t'elle faite avec "Code Guardian" ?

Oui, je pense que je publierais quelque chose dans le genre, Toutefois ça me demande un surplus de travail non negligeable!

- As tu dejà reçu des propositions pour un long métrage ? Avec ta recente publication dans le DVD "Imagina Trip", les hoses devieennent de plus en plus serieuses :)

Oui, j'ai dejà eu quelques offres, mais pas une n'etaient tres serieuses. Tu sais, contre tout avis, ce genre de choses ne sont que rarement interessantes d'un point de vue financier. Crois moi, c'est vraiment, vraiment difficiel de gagner de l'argent avec ce genre de production independantes. Les quelques billets gagnés de ci de là, ne couvrent pas 1/3 des coùts de production. D'un autre coté, j'ai reçu un support de la part de société comme Intel ou Discreet, qui m'offre un gros sponsoring avec tous ses avantages. Ce sont pour l'instant les meilleurs revenus qui m'ait été alloués pour mon travail.

- Après "Code Guardian", as-tu d'autres projets ?

Et bien... Je ne sais pas. Peut-être un projet de Fantasy.... Mais, il est encore trop tôt pour parler d'un nouveau projet, pour le moment je suis trop concentré sur celui là :)

- Maintenant la question habituelle, si l'on te donne tout le budget necessaire, quel film voudrais tu réaliser ?

Whoa, quelle question! Je voudrais, à coup sur, réaliser un film de SF. J'aimerais beaucoup adapter le livre "Guerre mondiale: dans la balance" de Harry Turtledove, où des extra-terrestres decident d'envahir la Terre pendant la 2ème guerre mondiale, les résultats sont inespérés, car les extra-terrestre pensent que les humains disposent des mêmes armes primitives que lors de leur premier contact quelques siecles plus tôt. Encore un film de guerre.. ;)

- Finalement, Quel a été ton film préféré de ces cinq dernieres années ?

Ca ne semblera pas très original, mais je dirais "Lord of the rings", en considerant les trois films comme un seul tres long métrage.

Merci beaucoup Marco !

Merci à toi Nicolas, c'était un plaisir :)


ENGLISH VERSION

- Hello Marco, first can you speak about you ? and you experience in directing short movie ?

Hi, I'm working with computer graphics since 1993, but I'm coming from a background of traditional artist/illustrator. I've always loved filmaking, and when I found out what powerful tool is the computer animation, I finally found my ultimate way of expression. My first short is "Join the Empire", based on the Star Wars saga, I've always been a fan of those epic movies, since then my main goal is to create my own productions.

- Is your experience in MileStone (game developpment) helps you to manipulate the CG tools (3DSmax...) ?

Definitely yes. I might be not able to do what I'm doing today, if I wouldn't had the chance to begin working with the very old 3DS4 under DOS for working needs.

- Let's speak about your movies now, you have directed "Join the Empire" and "The Hunt", this last one has encountered a good public success since the distribution on Internet. A lot of people say that the directing of "The Hunt" is so dynamic that it is as good as great director's work (as Spielberg or McTiernan). Have you ever inspire about them ?

Spielberg is one of my most favourite, I saw his movies when I was a child, he gaves me so much emotions and he inspired all my imaginative background. I couldn't say the same thing for McTiernan, altought I like his work very much, especially Predator and Die Hard. This kind of appreciation by the audience is always in certain way, unexpected, I'm really happy to know that my work is so much appreciated. That's why I'm keeping doing these things nowadays, audience appreciation is a great reward.

- How many time take your works (pre and post production) to make a CG short movie as "The Hunt" ? Will it be really shorter with a very powerful computer ?

"The Hunt" tooks about 2 years of work, but consider that I didn't worked on it full time, being an indipendent production (no money for that ;) ) only my spare time was dedicated to it. With a render farm the rendering time would be reduced dramatically, but rendering time isn't the most time consuming process during such filmaking; working on a complex scene takes more time than the rendering itself (at least in my specific case).

- Your next movie "Code Guardian" seems to be very exciting, the teaser are impressive. Can you tell use more about it ? a synopsis perhaps...

"Code Guardian" is the most complex and challenging project I've worked on to date. The story tells about an hypotetic battle during World War 2, between USA forces and a dreadful nazi Machine. There will be an answer to such menace on the same level from the USA army, and a more human side will come out from the movie, when I'll start to work on the main pilot shots. Alessandro Briglia, a skilled artist friend of mine, is already working on this important character.

- How long is the duration of "Code Guardian" ?

It will be definitely longer than "The Hunt" which was about 7':30'' Most probably it will be more than 10 minutes in all, but I couldn't be very precise right now.

- Is there a date for its distribution on Internet ? Is it going to be free as your two first movies ?

Still to early. I couldn't say that :)

- Will you make a making of, as "The Hunt", for your "Code Guardian" movie ?

Yes I think I will post something like that, altought that would require a lot of extra work from me!

- Have you ever get propositions to make a long movie ? With your recent apparition in "Imagina-trip" DVD, things are becoming very serious, isn't it ?

Yes, in the past I got some offers, but none of them were serious. You know, against any expectation, this kind of things are not always rewarding under a commercial point of view. Believe me, it's really, really hard to earn money from such independent productions. The very few bucks I got so far, are not even covering 1/3 of the productions costs. On the other side, I've got supports from companies like Intel or Discreet, that gaves me a great exposure plus other benefits. These lasts are definitely the best reward I got to date.

- After "Code Guardian", have your other projects ?

Well... Don't know. I'm thinking about fantasy.... But, well, too early to speak about another project, at the moment I'm too much concentrated on this one :)

- Now the questions we ask to each of our interview, if we paid you what you want with the greatest budget possible, which movie will you make ?

Whoa, what a question! I would definitely make a Sci-Fi movie. It would be great to make a film inspired on the book Worldwar: in the balance by Harry Turtledove, where aliens decides to invades earth during WW2 conflict, the result is unexpected, because the aliens toughts that the human race dispose the same weapons they've seen in their first contact, centuries earlier! Again a war movie theme ;)

- Finally, what is your last favorite movie (less than 5 years) ?

This is not going to sound original, but I say "Lord of the rings", considering the three movies as one.

Thanks a lot Marco !

Thanks to you Nicolas, it was a pleasure :)