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IA: What were the technical challenges?

GJ : I guess the main technical challenge was coordinating everyone across the globe to work on this project. Many thanks to producer Marcin Kobylecki for that! Managing data and building a pipeline (something I have never done on my own before) were big challenges. And finally, rendering, that was really tricky part since I didn't have any kind of render farm available I had to plan way ahead when to render the elements to make the deadline.

IA: From the concept ideas to the final movie did you have to make any major changes due to technical difficulties?

GJ : There are shots in the film, especially in the big hall of the boat sequence, where Id like to see more people walking, sleeping and living on those towering constructions. Overall though I have achieved what was my vision pretty accurately.

IA: Could ARK have been named ESCAPE? Is it not a story about how human try to escape from their own condition?

GJ : This could have easily been the title but ARK is, in my opinion, much stronger. The title ARK gives a bigger scope to the events portrayed in the film.

IA: How was it working with the musicians/sound FX team to fit the mood of your movie?

GJ : I had the pleasure of working with a very talented team. They were referred to me by Marcin Kobylecki and had worked with him before on a game/cinematic project. After watching a very rough and unfinished version of the film, Pawel Blaszczak and Adam Skorupa did a few first versions of the main theme. That draft slowly evolved into what you can hear as a music score now. Again, this production took a very long time and I'm so grateful for their patience. The music plays a huge role in this film and it was a challenge. We had to work together 99% of the time remotely, me in the US and them in a different cities in Poland. Every iteration of the soundtrack had to be sent via ftp. The final touches to the sound effects and music tone were done in Poland at the studio in Lodz.

IA: I think you should be proud to have had so much freedom to produce such different animated short movie, aren’t you?

The freedom to produce a film with your own vision is something a lot of people can only do working after a regular 10 hour a day job.ARK was done in the period of almost 3 years with our own money and that's why we had a freedom to put whatever we wanted in the film. But that is also why it took so long.

IA: What are your next projects?

I'm working on a script for a live action feature film. This film will also be a mixture of a fantasy and drama. I guess I like playing with these genres; it gives you a great deal of freedom to express your story and at the same time an opportunity to create stunning visuals.

See ALso : IT'S ART Short Movie Archive

Credits

R&D: Adam Wierzchowski.

3D graphics: Steve Arguello, Alex Federici, Joe Hoback, Kevin Hoppe, Szymon Kaszuba, Grzegorz Krzysik, Slawomir Latos, Votch Levi, Olek Lyzwanski, Radoslaw Nowakowski, Bartosz Opatowiecki, Akira Orikasa, Marcin Pazera, Piotr Rusnarczyk, Aaron Singer, Bartosz Tomaszewski, Piotr Tomczyk, Gabriel Vargas.

Character animations: Grzegorz Jonkajtys, Grzegorz Kukus, Lukasz Muszynski, Tracy Irwin.

2D graphics: Damian Bajowski, Lei Jin, Krzysiek Kamrowski, Pawel Lewandowski, Marcin Pazera, Maria Strzelecka.

Greg Jonkastys Website