I’m often asked where the idea for Panda Girls came from. To be completely honest, it came from a young filmmaker’s need to establish their career, and get, (if shamelessly then so be it), noticed.

A few years back, when I was a noob, I was examining several films by particular filmmakers I admired. After studying several film-runs from each, I finally came to Steven Spielberg. As I watched his films chronologically (and some he only produced), I noticed that around the time he got noticed, he often created a “star” out of a CREATURE rather than using A-list actors. This often required some tech-wizardry of the day.

The “stars” of some of his films (directed and produced) were:

• a mechanical shark (Jaws)
• an alien puppet (E.T.)
• CG dinosaurs (Jurassic Park)
• even more puppets (Gremlins)

You get the idea.

If we were to jump in my shoes a moment, I’m staring at some negatives: I’m a young filmmaker, I have only one Director’s credit for a television show, my current status proves difficult to attract A-list actors, and I don’t have a rich uncle in the film industry. (Damn you, Uncle Harry!)

Here are some positives: I’m VERY comfortable with CG Visual FX (my formal training is in animation and I owned/operated a Visual FX company for 8 years), and my previous collaborators all work in the visual FX industry and have worked on King Kong, Lord of the Rings, iRobot, Walking with Dinosaurs, The Wild, X-Men: The Last Stand, etc… They produce visual FX for impressive pictures every day.

So, I set out to consider my situation, and plan my career the best I could. The Panda Mech was born from a combination of the above film study, the impressive movement Anime has made into North America, and an interesting twist to the good vrs evil, or “black vrs white” idea that, admittedly has been done to death. However, Curtis and I feel this twist is worthy of the effort required to make a film.

Here’s a look at Kev Chu’s first stab at the mech design:

Click for larger version.

Our approach is to cover the cliché FIRST. To understand it as best we can, and to examine WHY and HOW it became cliché. A sort of “reverse-engineering” of the abstract ideas that lead to the clichés popularity – the psyche behind it. Once we’ve covered this step, we sit with it awhile.

Then we pretty much flop around like idiots trying to come up with ways to reinvent, or inject a twist to the idea. I cannot emphasize enough the landslide-of-crap ideas that ensue… and it’s like it will NEVER stop. And if we posted those publicly? Oh man, I’d be right in the sauce drinking my pain away.

In the mean-time, Kev and I will be pluggin away with some different approaches.

But this is the process for the “star” of the show. My hope is to find actors that have the presence on screen to stand beside these Pandas “shoulder-to-shoulder” and shine just as brilliantly. I put FAR more respect in a talented actor than I do Visual FX. But if executed with care, I can’t deny the impact it could have for both a young director’s, and a young actor’s career.

Especially with the VFX crew we have available to us.

- Nick

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