In this special bonus episode, Andrew and Morgan review a new stop-motion animated film that's generating a lot of buzz: A T own Called Panic. Andrew then interviews the directors behind what's probably the zaniest film of the year, Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar.
Click below the break for trailers, an interview transcription, and to check to see when the film is playing in your area.
MC #89: A Town Called Panic w/ Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar
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SHOW NOTES:
A Town Called Panic:
- The official website for the film is here.
- Click here to see if the film will be playing in your area any time soon.
- Click here to watch an English-dubbed episode of the television show the film is based on.
TRAILER:
THE INTERVIEW:
Question: A Town Called Panic is one of the zaniest, craziest movies I’ve seen all year, and I’m sure the first thing our listeners want to know is what kind of drugs were you on when you were making this movie because it is absolutely insane.
Answer: We were just drinking water and coffee.
Q: Wow. The atmosphere of this film, and of the show that I know it’s based on, is one of complete and utter chaos. It’s very spontaneous. I’m really curious, how much of this film w as scripted out beforehand and how much of it was just improvised no set?
A: In the beginning we like to write the story very precisely, so we made the storyboards for three years and, to make the movie, two years. We storyboarded very precisely. We can make improvisations just in front of the camera but as directors we’re very straight(forward).
Q: I know that it takes a very long time to do this animation. You just said that it took two years and I know that it’s a very painstaking process.
A: Yeah, but you know, in the beginning, there were three animators to make the whole movie. The first one came to help us to finalize the end of shooting. The technique of Panic au Village gave us the facilities to make what we want with a very small team. The animations of the puppets are very… we used just figurines, so just like in traditional animation, in drawing on paper, you take frame-by-frame the drawing, we took frame-by-frame the different attitudes of the figurines we made before. So we have a great multitude of different positions. So, for the process, I think we can do maybe 15 seconds per day per animator. It’s very very painstaking, but you know in a manual studio you make maybe one or two seconds per day. So we made very long animations per days.
Q: Wow. I’m curious, when you were first inspired to make A Town Called Panic, the show and then the film, why did you choose stop motion animation over traditional forms of animation, and specifically why did you choose puppetooning over traditional stop-motion, because that’s a form of stop-motion that requires a lot of separate sculptures and a lot of separate figurines for each scene. So I’m curious as to why you chose that style.
A: In the beginning we both played with different techniques like paper sketch, drawing on paper, and the technique interested us. Very in the beginning we were looking for the possibility to go out of the particulars of technicals. We don’t know… the first thing… we research <unclear> in the beginning in the storyboards. So the technique of Panic au Village gave to us the possibility to go out the difficulties of technique.
Q: Of all the characters and all the ideas , how did you come up with Cowboy, Indian and Horse as the three main characters?
A: Because it’s easy to find these characters. When the creator of the puppets imagined the figurines he imagined Cowboy, Indian and Horse on impulse. It’s natural. And after we used some animals like cow, pig and other animals.
Q: Yeah, I noticed in the film that in the film there’s not many references to the historical conflict between cowboys and Indians. It’s almost kind of like this paradise world where everyone gets alone, everyone’s happy and you focus instead on just the journey of all of these characters. So I was curious why you chose to take that approach, to focus more on just the insane journey. I know you were inspired a lot by British comedy and Monty Python. It’s a very unique style, I have to say.
A: With Indian and Cowboy in Panic au Village, it’s just a character. We don’t know why Indian and Cowboy ever, for example… it’s just a character, a simple character. To put Cowboy in the same house… Cowboy and Indian are just costumes. In their mind they’re just idiots. Why do the animals in the film speak in human language? We don’t know. And the Horse is the father, or the big mother.
Q: I know that the television show was primarily broadcast on networks aimed at children, so I was curious as to how much that audience factors into your creative decisions when you’re making films like this. I mean, was your goal just to create a good animated film, or was it to create a good animated film for children? How much did the audience impact a lot of your decisions?
A: You know, we always make films for everything from zero to death. Everybody. We don’t go to any target when we begin a story, we just want to laugh ourselves, and after we just show to everybody.
Q: Okay. A Town Called Panic has played at a number of well-known film festivals around the world now, including Cannes and Toronto, and so far it’s been very very well-received. Were you expecting such positive feedback? Were you expecting it to kind of blow up and now become more of an international sensation?
A: We don’t think so. But now to carry on the film is a great adventure, so we’ll see.
Q: Okay. Do you have any plans for a sequel to the film now that it’s gaining such positive buzz and a lot of attention?
A: Next we’ll make a new series of Panic au Village but with a longer… more longer than the first one. You know the first series was 5 minutes (per episode), so we are looking for… to make perhaps it ten or twelve minutes.
Q: Wow, that would be fantastic. Other than perhaps renewing the television show, what’s next for you guys? What are you working on next?
A: Just now, in this time, we are working on an adaptation of a children’s series with a bear and a little mouse. It’s 2D, traditional 2D animation.
Q: Alright, well I think that will wrap it up for my interview with Stephane and Vincent. Thank you very much for joining me today.
A: Absolutely.
Q: And now the film opens up in New York on the 16th, and then I know it’s expanding to Los Angeles later in January. I think I read that you have a book based on the film coming out soon as well?
A: Yes, there is two books. One is a cartoon, Panic au Village comic book. And a children’s book.
Q: Okay. Well thank you very much for joining me today. It was a pleasure and privilege to have you on the show.
A: Thank you.
