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October 23, 2018 The Tin Woods concept art by Ann Tseng. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell. I had just started listening to the audio books of the Wizard of Oz series and the Tin Man struck me as the most tragically interesting character, Mattzilla Durona sculptor, mold maker, prosthetic makeup artist, and twelve-year veteran at Laikatells Stop Motion Geek about the moment that sparked his most recent project: The Tin Woods , a short film created in collaboration with photographer and videography Nick Boxwell, whichbased upon author L. Frank Baums Oz seriestells the origin of The Land of Ozs Tin Woodsman. My sculpture was of the Tin Man mid-swing, frozen in time. A sad Oh no, Im stuck but still alive moment. He was that way for over a year before Dorothy found him and freed him. It really struck a chord with me. How awful it would be to not be able to die, and frozen and aware of everything around you? Shortly after creating it, the product of that moments inspirationDurons Tin Woodman sculpture, which he created nearly five years ago, birthed from that sentiment of tragic horror and empathy for the Tin Woodmans struggleskindled another spark of inspirationthis time in the mind of Nick Boxwell, Durons good friend and occasional creative partner, for whom the idea of what would become The Tin Woods began to take shape. The Tin Woods production crew. Source: Kickstarter. When Boxwell told Stop Motion Geek in our recent interview with him about the project , It wasnt long after that Boxwell wrote a screenplay for The Tin Woods , where he expanded upon the original story told in Baums The Tin Woodman of Oz.Nicks story got me very excited to recreate my sculpture as a full-on stop motion puppet, and bring it to life, says Duron. Not long after writing the script, however, Boxwell was struck by a personal health crisis, which forced the two to put the project aside for several years while Boxwell recovered. The the script only again came to light this past summer, whilst the two once again looked for a project on which to collaborate. Currently, the project, still in pre-production, is live on Kickstarterand can be viewed here . It has already blown past its initial goal of $5,000, and now, as of writing this, has, with sixteen days left in the campaign, raised over $11,000putting the film well on its way to being as high-quality as possible. The Tin Wood 's stretch goal chart. Source: Kickstarter. Duron and Boxwell still have several stretch goals planned Kickstarter, the funds from of which will solely go towards enhancing the production value of the film, with the current stretch goal$15,000aimed at enhancing the sound design so the films composer, Jake Hull, can hire a full orchestra to record the soundtrack and an audio engineer finish the mix, while proceeds will also go towards expanding the films sets to make the world of The Tin Woods feel fully realized and lived-in. Bringing ideas to life from our imagination is what its all about for me, says Duron. There isnt much of a delineation between the two of us and our ideas, small bits here and there but I want to tell his story and make it look how I want. The Tin Woods promo photo. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell. In our interview, Mattzilla Duron tells us about how and why he first fell in love with the practical effects medium, how he came to Laika, as well as one of his most crowning achievements there. He also digs into what it is about The Tin Woods that excites him, the creative dynamic between him and Nick Boxwell, and the philosophy they have come to adopt in realizing their own, personal projects. He also gives us a glimpse at his thoughts on Portland, Oregon, his thoughts on the necessity to experiment with ones craft, and his healthy obsession with Godzilla. You can read our interview below in full. A.H. Uriah: Hello, Mattzilla! Thank you so much for doing this interview! Your work and this new film of yours, The Tin Woods , are truly inspiring works of arttis an honor to feature them, as well as you, on the blog!Id like to start out by asking one one my favorite questions: Can you tell us a bit about how you discovered your passion for practical effectssculpture, mold making, prosthetics... and every other kind of magic you workand how youve gotten to the place you are todaya 12-year veteran mold maker at Laika, not to mention your part-time work as a sculptor, prosthetic costume builder, and special effects makeup artist? Mattzilla Duron: Hello! Thank you for this opportunity! Ive always had a pretty vivid and wild imagination and one of my favorite things to do as a child was to play with toys. Seeing movies with monsters, dinosaurs, and amazing costumes made me realize that practical effects are just incredibly detailed, intricate and awesome toys. Sometimes we can become lucky enough to get paid to play with them in front of them camera! The Tin Woods test animation by Mattzilla Duron. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell. A.H.: The press release for The Tin Woods states that your creative partner on this project, Nick Boxwell, wrote the screenplay for this film five years ago after seeing an amazing Tin Man sculpture that you created.Alrighttake us back five years. Can you tell us a bit about that original Tin Man sculpture, and what possessed you to create it?MD: I had just started listening to the audio books of the Wizard of Oz series and the Tin Man struck me as the most tragically interesting character. My sculpture was of the Tin Man mid-swing, frozen in time. A sad Oh no, Im stuck but still alive moment. He was that way for over a year before Dorothy found him and freed him. It really struck a chord with me. How awful it would be to not be able to die, and frozen and aware of everything around you? The Tin Woods concept art by Ann Tseng. Source: Kickstarter. A.H.: What was it about this storythe script Nick wrote based of the original story by L. Frank Baumthat clicked for you? With the story coming from a very personal place for Nick, how much of it do you see it as your story versus his story, or is there no delineation between the two in your mind? MD: Nicks story got me very excited to recreate my sculpture as a full-on stop motion puppet, and bring it to life. To play with a unique toy made from our imagination based off of a story we knew. Bringing ideas to life from our imagination is what its all about for me. There isnt much of a delineation between the two of us and our ideas, small bits here and there but I want to tell his story and make it look how I want. The Tin Woodman puppet created by Mattzilla Duron. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell. A.H.: I asked Nick a question similar to the one Im about to ask you, but Im keen to hear your perspective on it: How did you and Nick come to know each other, and what would you say is the creative dynamic between the two of youthe separation of labors, the fusing of your imaginations? MD: We knew each other through a mutual friend and our love of films and making them pretty much sealed the deal. We worked on small photography projects and even other short films together and always had a blast. Nicks photography and ability to frame things have always really resonated with me, which is why I always bugged him for us to make a short film. A.H.: You can tell us a bit about your work at Laika in mold making puppet fabrication, as you describe yourself on your website? What has been one of your proudest moments and most crowning achievements there? MD: One of my most crowning achievements at Laika was on Coraline . Shortly after coming on board I was reading the script to get an idea of what puppets needed to be made and what they needed to do and I saw there was a puppet called slugzilla, and I immediately got excited (for obvious reasons). I asked if I could make it. I had imagined all sorts of monstrous things, but it was just a large slug for Wybie to play with after excitedly finding it in the fog. I had made multiple awesomely slimey prototypes and Henry Selick loved one of them. After the approved slugzilla was finalized, I got to work on making a few versions for the filming of the scenes it was in. Thats one of my proudest moments at Laika. The Tin Woods concept art by Ann Tseng. Source: Kickstarter. A.H.: In your Kickstarter video you mention, I moved here to Portland twelve years ago to work for the stop motion studio Laika, and Ive been involved with each of their films since then.Now having lived in Portland, ORand, more specifically, one of the hubs for stop motion within Portlandfor twelve-plus years, what are your thoughts on the city itself, and the stop motion community there? What advice would you give to industry professionalsand, yes, Im speaking directly at myself hereinterested in moving to Portland? MD: Portland is an incredibly unique and beautiful city, the artist community here is very beautiful and energetic. I absolutely love that about this place. Advice for industry professionals? Keep on keepin on, I suppose! Im always up for an adventure, new beginnings can be scary. Ive always tended to be a jump first, figure out how to land later sort of individual, so I wouldnt say Id take my advice, though. After all, I DID legally change my name after a fictional giant Japanese movie monster. On your website, you mention that, Halloween is my favorite time of the year. It gives me the ability to explore ways I can change my appearance and experiment with various materials.Can you speak a bit about your personal experience with and thoughts on experimentation when it comes to ones craftspecifically in the mediums youre involved inand the processes youve developed to shake things up and to keep a fresh perspective on your professional work? MD: Before I got hired at Laika, a lot of my work outside of college was for very quick and dirty jobs for a wide variety of projectsfrom make up props for theatre to make up on a seasoned film actor for independent filmsand I said yes to all of them. Figuring out how to do what I was asked with what I had was a very exciting challenge. Each of those projects left me with a lot of ok, this is what I learnedmoving forward dont do that, certainly dont promise this sort of attitude, which I felt really helped me with the pace of working on feature stop motion films: It needs to be perfect, but it also might change fifteen times before its finished. Its always a creative challenge and the outcome is always worth You and Nick are working on The Tin Woods in your own spare timeon weekends and suchand, because of the time-consuming nature of the stop motion medium, you except it to take at least a year before you complete the film.What advice do you have to give those in our readership who have ideas for their own films, have a passion for the medium, and aspire to one day make their ideas a realityyet who have jobs, or sheer life keeping them from doing sofor how to begin to bring their ideas to fruition, as you and Nick are doing? MD: Nobody is going to read your book if you dont write it because you feel like you dont have time to write is a quote I may have read somewhere or I am butchering from a movie I saw, but Nick and I have a very good work dynamic and we have a lot of fun with all of the projects we have collaborated on. The point is: nobody is going to watch it if we dont get it done. I want people to watch this film, and I am excited to get started on filming The Tin Woods . Sure, there will be nights and weekends well miss our partners and families, but think of how awesome it will be when were done! The Tin Woods promo photo. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell. A.H.: To wrap up our interview, Id like to end with another of my favorite questions: What work have you seen of late in the mediums in which you workwhether in films, television, commercials, short films, a specific artists creationhave you found particularly inspiring, or work to aspire to? MD: I recently had a birthday, and I watched one of my favorite Godzilla films: 1962s King Kong vs. Godzilla . That movie has a bit of it allmen in monster suits bashing, amazing miniatures, ridiculously fun storylines, straight comedy humor (Im not sure they were aware of it) and even a bit of stop motion. Its comical fun on so many levels, and its a movie that makes me forget of everything in my life and absolutely enjoy the world being shown to me. Any movie than can do that is a movie worth seeing. I aspire to do that for other people. (Youve probably noticed I have a healthy obsession with Godzilla. I even legally changed my name!) Mattzilla Duron animating the Tin Woodman in a test animation. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell. You can explore more of Mattzilla Durons work by visiting his website , Instagram , Twitter , LinkedIn , and IMDb . You can learn more about and can donate to The Tin Woods by visiting the films Kickstarter . This article is the second in a two-part series about The Tin Woods . To read the first partan interview with Nick Boxwell, the films director and writeryou can go here . You can stay tuned upcoming interview articles by subscribing to the Facebook @StopMotionGeek , or by following us on Instagram @stop.motion.geek.blog . Share