Junket Virtual de “Primeval” (II)

Bueno no cabe duda de que la experiencia es interesante y puede ser un punto de partida para nuevas maneras de distribución audiovisual, sin embargo no cabe duda de que tiene muchos problemas. Muchos. En primer lugar, la mayoría de la acción de Primeval, como en todo thriller de rigor, transcurre en la oscuridad de la noche, y eso visionado en una pantalla tan reducida hace que a veces apenas se pueda ver nada. Por no contar con la falta de definición en lo que se suponen que son unos espectaculares paisajes africanos, que se intuyen más que se aprecian. Mirad una captura de la pantalla de proyección a tamaño real:

Como se puede apreciar, la definición no es para tirar cohetes,y en ocasiones los píxeles nos permitirían echar una partidita de damas. Además en ocasiones da saltos o se queda congelada la imagen. Pero no es tan terrible como suena. Se puede seguir el intrincado argumento.

Thank you for your time everyone! We will have a transcript of today’s Q&A sent directly to you within the next day.

Thank you everyone for your time, and for watching PRIMEVAL. I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Q: And about filmes about monsters in general? Would you enjoy doing another one of this type of film?

A: Honestly, what drives me is the story. If I could find a compelling story that is a monster movie, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Q: exiting movie! what i was wondering, are real crocodiles really that fast on land, can they outrun humans?

A: They have short bursts of speed that they could actually run a human down. But, as they get older and larger, they lose their speed.

Q: If you were ever to make another movie about a real life predator, what animal would you then choose ?

A: A film producer.

Q: we’re almost done, here. Has anyone talked to you about a sequel?

A: No, I think I’ve had my fill of crocodile movies.

Q: Scenes that were filmed in the water, were they difficult? Did you film scenes like the Little Gustave fight in an actual river? Were you concerned with dangers in the water like animals or sickness?

A: Water is always extremely difficult to film in. We always had the water tested to make sure there weren’t any parasites in it. We went to great lengths to find waterways without crocodiles in them. Unfortunately, there were snakes in the water, but everyone avoided getting bitten. The complex night sequences were shot in a tank on a stage in Capetown. That actually proved to be MORE dangerous. In the sequence where the hut goes down, part of the roof went flying into a cameraman, and knocked him into the tank, and he almost died.

Q: Have you something to say about the cast?

A: They were a pleasure to work with. It was a very tough schedule with a lot of action, and a lot of night work, and not a lot of time to do it in. I think they all stepped up and really gave it their all.

Q: after what you experienced in Africa, what can we do to help people there?

A: The problems in Africa go much deeper than this movie. There’s AIDS, political unrest, poverty, racism – I wish I had the answer to these problems. Anything people can do to help is a step in the right direction.

Q: It’s lunch time here in Brasil, and this is not the best movie to watch while eating LOL. What’s the worst thing you’d watched during lunch or dinner?

A: American Idol.

Q: Was the Gustave design based on the real Gustave or did you make a different crocodile?

A: Our jumping off place was the real Gustave. He had lots of bullet holes and machete scars from when people over the last 80 years have tried to kill him. From there, we set out to make him leaner, meaner and more stealth. The real Gustave is very large and lumbering, and it is believed that the reason he has killed so many people is because he has realized how slow they are in comparison to the wild animals around him.

Q: What project are you working on next? More TV or another horror film, perhaps?

A: I am actually doing a show called BIG SHOTS for ABC, starring Dylan McDermott, Michael Vartan, Christopher Titus and Josh Malina.



Q: You just mentiones “jaws” and I also watched a scene clearly inspired by Indiana Jones. It seems like if Steven Spielberg were a big inspiration for you . Isn’t he?

A: Yes. I think he is a genius filmmaker and an incredible storyteller. I didn’t mention Jurassic Park, which was also a huge inspiration for me in this film.



Q: Was any part of the movie shot on location in Burundi?

A: No, the film was shot entirely in Cape Town and outside of Durban, in South Africa.

Q: Unlike other beast-movies, Primeval faces the theme of civil war; an unusual choice for a scary movie! Do you think that the horror genre comes close to the theme of civil unrest?

A: Civil unrest is horror, so I guess the answer is yes.

Q: Did you ever see Gustave? Or meet anyone who did?

A: No.

Q: Were there some scenes that you wished you could have shot on a sound stage in Los Angeles?

A: No. I thoroughly enjoyed the African experience. I think it helped the actors to be out in the environment. And the natural beauty in the landscape there would have been impossible to capture here.

Q: Did you ever consult Patrice Faye who has spent 20 years hunting Gustave prior to making the film?

A: No, but I certainly watched the interviews, and Jurgen’s character was inspired by Patrice.

Q: One of my blog reader wants to ask you. “Billy Wilder used to say: “In my films there is no big travellings neither points of view just to say “I’m a film director”. Did you thing about this while you where shooting?

A: Absolutely not. One of my rules is there are no rules in filmmaking. I think you just have to film what comes to you in the moment. It’s an art form. It’s a liberating experience, and when you are moved creatively, you should feel free to express it in any way possible.

Q: Has Little Gustave really existed? Is his character inspired by anyone?

A: Little Gustave is a complete fabrication.

Q: Did any other killer-animal movies influence you to make this one? Like Jaws?

A: Jaws was a huge inspiration, I am a big fan of that film. Actually, watching the documentary of how Jaws was made was also a big inspiration. I’m also a big fan of the Japanese B-monster movies as well. Big cockroaches, big ants, anything big is cool to me.

Q: How did you come up with the crocodile sounds in the movie?

A: We started with a crocodile, and it really wasn’t scary enough. So, we put some elephant into it. And then we started playing with samples that our composer, John Frizzell, had. It’s a combination of crocodile, elephant, lion and Frizzell.

Q: Obviously, you can’t support the illegal download, but it happens. Do you think there’s a way to combat that?

A: No, I have no idea how to combat it.

Q: Was there anything you wanted to add/change in the movie that you weren’t able to because of time or money?

A: There always is. When you look at a completed film and see how it works, there are scenes that you would like to go back and adjust. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time nor the money to do that.

Q: Did you have any difficulty shooting day or night or have to go back to Africa for reshoots? Did you film anything outside of Africa?

A: It’s always harder to film at night, but I feel it looks better for this kind of a film. The film was shot entirely in South Africa. There were some things I would have liked to go back and re-shoot, but we didn’t have the money to.

Q: Are you aware of a similar croc-project called Rogue that was produced in 2007 ?

A: Yes. That was what motivated us to shoot the film and post it as fast as possible. We felt that if we could beat Rogue to the punch, we could have better success. Unfortunatly, in doing so, I think we compromised some elements that I wouldn’t have otherwise, had I had more time. I would also have liked to generate more public awareness of the film prior to release.

Q: When you were filming PRIMEVAL, did you think about what kind of extra material you wanted to use on the DVD version?

A: Yes. We set out with a camera with us at all times filming behind the scenes. The film became so time consuming, though, that we unfortunately had to put that side project away for most of it. I think if we had kept it going, it might have been just as exciting as the actual film.

Q: The “action” between an episode of “ER” and this film is very different. With wich one do you feel more comfortable?

A: I feel comfortable in both arenas, it’s just a matter of what story you are trying to tell. To me, that’s the fun of directing. You get your head inside a story and figure out the best way to tell it. The action could be a fist fight, a car wreck, or a 30 foot crocodile ripping a hut apart.

Q: Who came up with the idea of an online junket? Do you think that’s the future for promoting a movie with smaller budget? And where are you really? Home, office? What city?

A: This was Disney’s idea, and I think there’s a good and a bad side to it. The good part is, we can reach out to everyone globally simultaneously, and the only bad side is the loss of the personal interaction in an interview. I would support a combination of the online junket and a live press junket for the promotion of films, regardless of budget. I was looking forward to treking the globe in support of Primeval, but instead I’m stuck in Burbank, CA.

Q: once we’re doing this junket online, what are your thoughts about the media? How much do you use it? And what do you think about the movies that are easily downloaded ilegally?

A: I love the online presence of movies. I think it’s great that we can have this global conversation in real time right now. It’s great to have access to an unlimited amount of information. As far as being able to download movies illegally, I can’t support that.

Q: Where the idea came from for Primeval?

A: The original idea was from Oren Aviv at Disney. He saw the article in National Geographic about Gustave, and then Brancato and Ferris were hired to write it, and I was sent their script.

Q: And they saved Gustave on this documentary?

A: In the documentary, Gustave was never captured. There were plenty of shots of him staring at the cage and his hopeful captors, but in the end, their cage was sunk and Gustave got away.

Q: Talking about the DVD release and the Blu-ray version… are there differences between them? More extras, or is it just the quality of sound and video?

A: Just the quality of sound and video.

Q: Today there are a lots of beast-movies. Why you have chosen to try your hand in this genre?

A: It’s an arena that has always intrigued me. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t fun to create your own beast – his mannerisms, his look and how he attacks. It’s fun to play with the psychological and mental fear of people, and in a sick way, I was excited to come up with the different ways this beast could instill fear and rip people to shreds.

Q: Did you change the direction of the story when you were writing the script or did you always have in mind that this film was also going to talk about the atrocities of the civil war in Africa?

A: The script always had that element in it, which was what I really liked about it. I thought it was a nice balance between the political drama and the predator in the water. The intent was to make it so there was nowhere for our group to hide – if they went to the water, the croc would get them, and if they were on land, they would have the warlords after them.

Q: How and when did you first heard about Gustave? And what were the greatests sources when you were researching about it?

A: The National Geographic Documentary was probably our most complete resource, but there have been numerous other articles about him that we looked at as well.

Q: How much truth is in the movie and how much is invented?

A: It’s easier to say what the truth is – which is that Gustave is out there, living in Burundi. He is said to have killed over 300 people. A crew DID set out to capture him, and failed. That is about where the truth ends in our story.

Q: do you consider this movie a horror film?

A: I would call it more of an action/suspense film with some horror mixed in.

Q: How did you meet the legend of this killer crocodile?

A: I was first introduced to this story by a National Geographic Documentary called “The Killer Croc.” Our film is loosely based on the documentary, which is about a group of reporters that set out to catch Gustave and re-locate him to a safer place where he could live out his life and hopefully stop killing people.

Q: About the Gustave’s FX: Are there more computer graphics or crocodile models in plastic?

A: We set out to do about half the crocodile as an animatronic, and the rest of the shots with CGI. Unfortunately, the animitronic was moving too slowly in the water, and didn’t look as real as we had hoped. So, in the 11th hour, we switched gears, and decided to go with a 100 percent CGI crocodile.

Q: Why did you decide to add the political backround to Gustave’s story?

A: The story takes place in the Northern part of Africa, and it is really hard to ignore politics when you are shooting there. Including the political storyline also gave us another great place to mine action from independent of the giant crocodile.

Q: And how about the locations? Was any of them more difficult do shoot? Can you tell us a difficult fact that happened during shooting?

A: The locations were incredibly difficult to shoot, because we were out in nature reserves. For one instance, I walked into a temporary bathroom setup, to find a spitting cobra staring right at me. That I hadn’t seen in Los Angeles! Another time, in our catering tent, we had four Rhinos come up who were very curious what we were doing there.

Q: About the Gustave’s FX: Are there more computer graphics or crocodile models in plastic?

A: We set out to do about half the crocodile as an animatronic, and the rest of the shots with CGI. Unfortunately, the animitronic was moving too slowly in the water, and didn’t look as real as we had hoped. So, in the 11th hour, we switched gears, and decided to go with a 100 percent CGI crocodile.

Q: Why did you decide to add the political backround to Gustave’s story?

A: The story takes place in the Northern part of Africa, and it is really hard to ignore politics when you are shooting there. Including the political storyline also gave us another great place to mine action from independent of the giant crocodile.

Q: And how about the locations? Was any of them more difficult do shoot? Can you tell us a difficult fact that happened during shooting?

A: The locations were incredibly difficult to shoot, because we were out in nature reserves. For one instance, I walked into a temporary bathroom setup, to find a spitting cobra staring right at me. That I hadn’t seen in Los Angeles! Another time, in our catering tent, we had four Rhinos come up who were very curious what we were doing there.

Q: PRIMEVAL was shot in Africa. Did you and your crew had experiences particularly strange or very different related to that society or culture, which is so unlike from the american?

A: Not really. I would say our most unique experiences were more about the nature and animals we encountered than anything else. The culture is certainly different, but it was amazing to experience.

Q: Good evening from Spain Michael. Why did you choose this kind of story for your first feature?

A: It seemed like a fun arena to play in. When I read the script, the thought of a hidden killer seemed intriguing, and the more I thought about it, and tried to figure out different ways for this croc to kill people, I got sucked in.

Q: First of all, one asks of the main character: is Gustave still alive? How many victims has he had to date? Is he as large as he is in the film?

A: Legend has it that Gustave is still alive. He is rumored to be anywhere from 20 to 26 feet, and has taken as many as 300 lives.

Q: What were your biggest challenges on filming your first feature?

A: To be honest, I wouldn’t look at it as a challenge, it was more like an opportunity. It was liberating to do a project that had a beginning, middle and an end, as opposed to a television series, where you really have to be concerned about the long term story arcs of characters.

You may begin submitting questions at any time. Michael will begin answering them shortly.

Q: Good morning Mac

A: Good morning

Good Morning! Welcome to the PRIMEVAL junket. The screening will begin at 9AM. We will be testing the software during the next 15-20 minutes.