MMC: What made you choose specifically C3 Minimates to base your animations on?
Jeff: We have done several projects in co-operation with Art Asylum using un-produced concepts that Digger allowed us to use. About a million years ago Digger and Company came to visit an animation company where I worked (Foundation Imaging) looking for help with his (then new) concept Specidemons. Foundation couldn't afford to help him out, but I loved the idea. Several years later at MegaCon, I ran into Digger and told him I thought we could do Specidemons at my new animation school at Universal Studios Orlando.
By this time he was far more excited about something called Psycho Pump. So we did that first. A couple years later he did allow us to run with Specidemons. Both can be viewed at www.daveschool.com.
Last year Spite Your Face productions made an awesome stop motion piece for Lego called Spiderman: The Legend of Doc Ock. We thought about how cool it would be make a Lego Batman movie in CGI. Just then one of my students pointed out, "doesn't Art Asylum MAKE a line of Lego compatible toys (C3) featuring Minimate Batman?!?!" We ran with it.
MMC: Did the construction block aspect mean you wanted to use DC characters rather than Marvel?
Jeff: Not really, the idea was just "let's do Minimate Batman" But since it was a construction set, there was a Batmobile, Batwing, and Batcave! So it worked out great!
MMC: You created Minimate versions of characters unreleased by Art Asylum in Harley Quinn and Commissioner Gordon, how did you go about creating them in the Minimate style?
Jeff: We simply guessed. In some cases we did get a preview of a future character, in other cases we just tried to guess what the guys from Art Asylum would do and give it our best shot.
MMC: For Harley Quinn's van and the Joker's helicopter, did you have clear ideas on designs that you wanted to incorporate?
Jeff: We bought about 100 pounds of Legos and worked out most things in reality before bring it to CGI. We also use reference from various Lego galleries on the web.
MMC: The Batmobile and Batwing designs you animated are very faithful to the block pieces available in the C3 sets, was there ever a time when you wanted to add your own designs or embellishments to these vehicles?
Jeff: We had to create a retractable canopy for the Batwing because Batman had to speak to Robin while on the wing. If we used the toys hinges in mid-flight it would have been kind of silly. The Wayne Manor / Batcave C3 set is a bit small to shoot what we needed, but we wanted to stay close to it. The computer and big screen came right off the toy, but we had to improvise the rest of the cave. We designed most of Wayne Manor but the secret door/clock and Wayne family painting came from the toys too.
MMC: Were there any other characters or vehicles you wanted to add to the film but couldn't? Any other C3 designs?
Jeff: We hit everything we wanted to do. Normally our films are 3-4 minutes long. This one was 12 because we didn't want to give up anything!
MMC: The voice actors are (to put it mildly) very well known - how did you convince Adam West and Mark Hamill to reprise their characters?
Jeff: It was important to both Adam and his Agent that we were not doing anything inappropriate with the character. They wanted to be sure were respectful. They read the script, looked at story boards and we even sent them C3 sets to play with. Once they understood what we were up to, they were happy to contribute.
Dick Van Dyke was another story. Most people don't know this but he has been a 3D animation hobbyist for years. While we still had to convince his agent, he agreed mostly out of friendship with his animation tutor (and co-director) William "Proton" Vaughan.
MMC: How did the New Years Eve robbery storyline come about and how did you decide which characters would feature?
Jeff: Before there was even a script, we knew we wanted to see Wayne Manor, the Batcave, the Vehicles, Times Square, Robin, Joker, and Catwoman. I also really like Miss Kitka from the Adam West Batman Movie. So then the story falls into place. Any showdown in Times Square must happen on New Years Eve, and if it's New Years Eve, there would be a big party at Wayne Manor; a great place to have Bruce meets Kitka... And we just keep going that way.
MMC: Is there anything you would change about the film now it's out?
Jeff: We changed everything we thought could be better to a point, but there will always be something. When I look back at the original control art from Art Asylum I wish we had stuck closer to their designs. Our Bruce is good, but their facial designs were much more detailed and interesting that what we wound up using. Production moves really fast and once you head off in a specific direction it's hard to make corrections that don't un-do hundreds of hours of work. You make the best decisions you can and keep going.
MMC: Have you been pleased with the response to the film, both in the support from Art Asylum and general feedback from the internet community?
Jeff: Very happy! in fact it's just now getting noticed on many different news groups. Getting a warm reception from Ain't it Cool News was really sweet and it looks like Atom Films and ifilm will be featuring it soon!
