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Raul Ruiz Lacalle - The awakening of consciousness

9:15, 2006, Experimental
 
A strong cosmic connection exists between Japanese writing and transcendental meditation. A connection that traces the bonds between...
DirectorRaul Ruiz Lacalle
 

Edition2006
 

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Interview

 
Who is Raul Ruiz Lacalle?In fact, the minds of the short are Daniel Ruiz Lacalle and Santiago Hurtado Caballer, they made a mastering in Computer animation and synthesis image MAISCA in Balearic Islands University. Completed on December 2002 by Dani and on December 2004 by Santi, later they were Working together as Character Animators for ELECTRONIC ARTS"s in the videogame The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age from february 2004 to September 2004.
Raúl is Dani’s brother and the distributor of the film, he is looking out for festivals, contests, finding deadlines in webpages, ordenating by interest, filling the applications forms, sending the packages and supervising that everyting was all right. A very good job.

Why filmmaking?After our job in Electronic Arts, we realized that the only way to get a real job was to make our own short, so we started to do it, thinking it was going to be a couple or months and it became six months. Now we can say it really worth.

Awakening of Consciousness is about... A strong cosmic connection exists between Japanese writing and transcendental meditation. A connection that traces the bonds between the stream of life and the contrast of the fleeting nature of our bodies and the perennial life of our eternal souls. In feudal Japan the links between calligraphy, religion and the art of war were broken by bad interpretations of ancestral teachings. They caused Japanese society of the time to lose its equilibrium. In that atmosphere of decadence Ryotaro appeared, a young Samurai who, at an early age, showed a wisdom that dazzled the sagest scholars of his time. His discipline in the martial arts was legendary, and could only be compared to his ability in the mystic calligraphic exercises. As has happened to many others down the centuries who have found enlightenment and who have pursued the truth, he was persecuted by members of resentful cults whose institutions his teachings threatened. One of his most famous teachings is the parable that narrates our story. The Awakening of Consciousness.

Financing your movie?Finan… What?

New Media; a challenge for film makers?Of course, but it is not good to over dimension the possibilities, in fact the new media means news tools but without ideas or creativity they are useless.

Do your films have style, just as some painters have?We don’t have a style yet, it is our first short, but we take that in consideration for the next chance.

Influences?We have different styles and referrers, and this was good, because it added different ideas and gags to the story. I (Dani) love French comics, specially a guy called Franquin, who died about 5 years ago and some of the classic European comic authors like Uderzo and Hergé. Those are my main source, but also animation series and films like Amblin"s House Dog, Samurai Jack, Gorillaz Videos or Disney"s The thief and the Cobbler and Monster"s inc. In this short, we were inspired a bit in old Kurosawa, kung-fu B-series movies and Lightning of The Godfather movies.

Although all this sources we wanted to do something fresh, not just a copy or something, but from-the-bottom-of-the-heart stuff. May be, we have get to make an own style, after all.
I (Santi) love almost everything related to graphic art, from comics to movies and motion graphics. In comics my favourite artists are Moebius, Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes. I also like some Manga but not that much, just some artists like Otomo and Tsutomu Nihei that have very cool stuff. The movies I like?, all the classics and of course Pixar, specially "Finding Nemo", also Aardman movies and shortfilms. There"s one new thing we just watched a few days ago that was jaw dropping for both of us, a teaser from Blur Studios called "In the Rough", this is very promising.

Individual film making or co-operation?Without a doubt co-operation. There are a lot of things that must be under control, and as many good hands, the better. It is very important to choose the right mates, but if you know to get them, as we finally get, is much better than working alone

Plans and dreams...We really would like to work in the USA because the best people, the best tools and the best salaries are there, but we have the problems of the visa. Maybe in the future, after getting some experience here in Europe, we could make the jump.

Did you ever had another ambition in life than to become a filmmaker?Yes, in fact our personal ambitions are over professional ambitions.

Digital or classic?We like to work making 3D with Maya, is the software we control the best, but as we said before, it is just a tool, and we think that if you want to get a perfect final job, as many technics you control (it doesn’t matter Digital or classic) the better will be your final work.
 

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