Staff Choose Season Premieres: "Ghost Dogs" by Joe Cappa |
The movie begins with a cute rescue dog that is locked in the laundry area, looking forward to meeting the new owners. But, just before the new owners arrive it begins to look weird. The vacuum cleaner begins to roam around the home as the dogs of the former owners, now transformed into ghosts, walk through walls. Cappa is a masterful comic creator, subverting the human horror genre in the sense that, in the eyes of dogs, ghosts don't seem scary, but rather fascinating; as the vacuum cleaner becomes the principal antagonist.. These differing tones and atmospheres can be beautifully captured through a grungy, heavily outlined and saturated color style that is reminiscent of Television's Liquid Television and early RAW comic collection.
It's been an arduous wait. Cappa thought he was done working for other people and decided to pursue his own project and took the time to finish his first animated film. The film was completed two years later, post-steep learning curves, mistakes, as well as an injury to the arm that was debilitating, the gamble paid off. "Ghost Dogs" premier at the Sundance Film Festival 2021, followed by a subsequent appear at a number of local and international festivals.
Prior to this Weekend's Staff Pick Premiere, we spoke to Joe to get to know what he is influenced by, as and his struggles. Other things.
The source of inspiration for HTML0
"I have been drawing these dogs that move around on their hands and knees for an extended period of time. They looked odd and caused my colleagues to laugh. Then, in the past, I decided to purchase a Wacom tablet which allowed me to draw straight onto the computer. The first idea I had to draw was that of a crawling person on the flooring. It turned out quite well I was even thinking that I could make a short film out of the footage.
It was at the time that I was making music videos for friends' bands but I had not worked on a personal initiative for me. It was my belief that I was trying to convince myself that I was capable of producing something which would air in the MTV channel Liquid Television back in the 1990's. I wanted to make something that might be a source of inspiration for my early years when I saw the camera of my parents. It is from this that I believe all the inspiration originated. It was probably inspired by the premise of every horror film in which dogs bark at something that's not visible to the rest of the family. It seemed like an interesting tale when dogs are able to sense the spirits of dead family members . "
The dog's personality style:
"I find myself attracted to film and art works that blur the line between horror and humor. It seems like a large portion of my art goes there too. It's a great feeling to provoke in people where they don't know how to proceed, whether they're fearful or just having fun. Dog owners trigger that kind of reaction. There's something eerie about dogs with human legs and arms. Do they look like humans, or are they predominantly humans? How would something like that behave? "
In the style of visual:
"That goes back the time of Liquid Television. My director JW Hallford and I was adamant on the feel of the film, which we believed to be old. As if it was a minor short which has been revived. We did give the film a motion shake however, I didn't want to add any particles or hair. The animation style speaks for itself. Additionally, I would like to express my appreciation to the person who designed the backgrounds: Patrick Carroll, who I believe has captured the look and attitude so well . "
HTML1From a perspective as well as the influences that influence it:
"I believe amusing about the writing of "Ghost Dogs' was that I was able to explore terror-related tropes from the eyes of an animal. The joke that runs through the whole piece lies in the nature of the animal that doesn't appear to be afraid of the things it should be terrified of and instead is afraid of things it shouldn't be. This is why I wanted to reference "The Shining" clearly. The film had a significant influence on the style. There is even a nod to Michael Mann's film 'The Keep'. But I think the character of the ghost dog characters (no intentional pun) are heavily borrowed from "Gremlins." Are they ridiculous? Are they risky? Are they dangerous? ? "
The concept of the character robot vacuum
"The initial version of the film I wrote was about three dogs who were stranded in their the home. It was my intention to create a create a storyboard for each of the scenes as I was writing it and just come up with interesting gags and what not. My brother suggested a run-in with the Roomba. The script was written by me using just one dog's protagonist as well as robot vacuums and it was the perfect persona to entertain and an amazing plot device which could be utilized to create a lot of misdirection and humor . "
On challenges faced:
"I meant that this was my first animation film, so it was an initial learning curve from the start. Every mistake was the mistake of a mishap. The idea I thought could be done in 6 months, ended up taking nearly two years. The biggest obstacle I have to conquer is animating the psychotic scene. The speed of animation is increased between 12fps and 24fps. As a result, it was a labour-intensive segment. Repetitively creating the same frame repeatedly took a toll for my arms! I suffered an injury to my shoulder which was stiff and was unable to move my body past the belly button on my body for two whole months. It was also so painful that it was causing suffering. Therefore, I needed to be off for six months while my arm began to heal. This was an enormous setback . "
What's your most valuable tip for budding filmmakers?
"If you're planning on developing your own products (like, not to make it for anybody else It's challenging to develop that passion to do it in the face of the huge possibility of going financially broke. It's been a constant worry for me throughout all my life. In the end, I really saw no benefit from the work I was doing to help other people. I had no endgame. At the same time, I could not identify a purpose for making my own junk.
In the end, at the end of the day, your only choice is to just follow the bliss. Do not be fooled by doubt. Your choice is to give up and take on living your desires. I was trying to find something that was appealing to me. It's beginning to pay off. This is a very yoga way of saying it and I don't really feel qualified to offer career advice like that, but this is the way I'm going and I would like I did earlier ! "
What's next? Any upcoming projects?
"Yeah! I've been making minute-long short films which you can view through my Instagram account @joecappa ."
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