Interview With The Gideon Production Group

Anthony Rondina: The Gideon Production group originated out of a high school humanities final project. My sister and I decided to create a stop-motion film that dealt with the 10 plagues of Egypt.

Jessica Rondina: During that first project, we quickly became acquainted with the stress of film production – namely, the looming deadlines. To an experienced filmmaker, Wars of Humanity I (WOH I) may not seem like a Herculean project, but for us it was.

Midway through production, Anthony began reading the account of Gideon in the book of Judges. He noticed that God kept taking the strength away from Gideon’s army (in the number of fighting men), so Israel could not boast in their own strength, but in His strength alone.

AR: We saw this happening in our project as well; God was taking our strength away (in the amount of remaining days until completion), so that we would not boast in our own abilities, but rely on Him. So we named our company with that in mind — to serve as a reminder. After a very positive response [to WOH I], we decided to continue filmmaking. That was the birth of the Gideon Production Group.

CM: Why Lego® bricks?

AR: It was pretty simple, really: when we started, we looked through our assets and found that Lego® pieces were our most abundant resource.

CM: Can you break down the shot by shot process that you used to film each scene of your movies?

JR: Wow. I’ll try to keep this answer as concise as I can, otherwise you’d be reading something like the Rondina: War & Peace instead of an interview:

Wars of Humanity I

While the rest of the family went over the final draft of the script, I began building as many of the sets as I could with the bricks that we had. After the cast was recorded, I went through the script and drew an arrow where I wanted to show "physical" emphasis during a line. Once Anthony gave me the exact seconds where each arrow fell, in relation to the actor’s recording, I converted the seconds into frame numbers. For example: an inflection 0.5 seconds into a line translated to 6 frames (for our 12/fps film), with the physical inflection beginning on Frame 7.

As you have probably noticed, there were a lot of hand motions that came from the characters. At the time, we thought that would be the best way to signify which character was talking, since two people played the majority of the voices. (And you can guess who those two people were.) After that, we attached our camera to a somewhat stable tripod and I began animating.

The goal of this film was not to grow as filmmakers, but to simply get a good grade in class and have fun doing it. So we did not explore varying animations, but kept to the basics (walking, running, bowing, etc.). Our focus was on creative gags that would allow our class to enjoy the film, while still appreciating the historical event.

Wars of Humanity II

During the 2005 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Academy, we learned there were some important things called storyboarding, camera angles, and plotlines. So, for this project we began to tell the story through the camera lens (both the wide angle and newly-purchased macro lenses), and had the audience follow individual characters, instead of simply watching a "stage-like" production of connected events.

In this production, we incorporated a lot more animated movements: dancing, pacing, fighting, throwing objects in "mid air," in-camera dolly shots that followed the characters, etc. We also experimented with animated faces.

One scene that incorporated all of the above was the "Golden Calf Scene." We talked about how we wanted the camera to follow Moses, and how much of the situation to reveal to the audience. We also decided to shoot this scene sequentially, to make sure we liked the flow of the camera angles. To get the Ten Commandment tablets to break, we animated Moses throwing down his [Styrofoam] tablets. When it made contact with the Lego® stone, we substituted the tablets with grey clay and proceeded to break up the clay.

The dancing shot was one of the toughest scenes to shoot. It was the first time we animated 8+ different events happening at the same time: Moses and Aaron walking, two girls dancing in the front, people tossing someone in the air, etc. At the end of the scene, we realized we did not have a golden calf. We knew a clay model of a cow would look awkward, and gold-painted toothpicks wouldn’t work either. In the end, we borrowed a cow from our Christmas nativity set, wrapped it in tin foil, and spray-painted it. No animals were harmed in the making of this film.

Jericho

Many aspects changed in this film. We utilized facial animation, green screening, more advanced stop motion techniques, and so much more. The most intense scene to complete was definitely the "Collapse of Jericho." Prior to even storyboarding it, we searched the internet to find demolition videos. After watching 20+ different building demolitions, we picked our favorite three clips and incorporated them into the storyboard.

During the animation, we realized that the reason people enjoy humor so much is because God created it; therefore, He must have a sense of humor too. Throughout production, Jericho accidentally collapsed five or six times all by itself. When it came time to animate its demise, it was structurally sound! I had to demolish it "off-stage" and construct a more rickety version of it. Then I proceeded to build and demolish it three more times for the three collapsing shots. We did not want to use so much CGI smoke in the last shot, but we ended up with it, due to the supports of the city’s façade. All the camera shake was added in post-production.

When it was all said and done, that one scene took almost two weeks to complete.

AR: As far as editing goes, I would say my job was pretty similar in all three movies, but I’ll just briefly describe the compositing process [for Jericho].

Normally, I would take a shot, import it into Adobe After Effects, and remove anything that needed to be removed (poles, supports, guide string, etc.). Then I’d move onto facial animation. Once that was completed, Rob Tull and myself would start removing the green screen. We replaced it with an image that made the entire movie feel bigger. As more and more scenes were completed, I would send them to Dan Vitco so he could get to work scoring the film.

CM: What is the best part about filmmaking with your family? What is the biggest challenge?

AR: The best part about creating films with our family is to see how the gifts God gave each of us fit together. We all complement each other nicely and compensate well for each others’ weak areas.

JR: Yes, I would agree. From a relational standpoint, we really got to grow together much more. Sure there were disagreements and times when we needed to get out of the house to clear our heads, but for the most part we ended up liking each other all the more because we got to establish a level of trust and commitment that comes from working together towards a shared goal.

AR: For me, the most challenging aspect of Jericho was the sheer size of the project. We had never undertaken anything of this magnitude before. It was difficult managing everything with just a handful of people.

JR: We are not a large homeschool family; there are only two young adults in our family, and therein lies the crux of our greatest challenge. It was a tremendous workload for the four of us to work through. Mom and Dad were our biggest cheerleaders and prayer partners, but it was really tough to animate and composite a film of this scale largely on our own. We did have some friends help us for a week or two, but the rest of the 18 months were a bit difficult. But, Lord willing, that’s all going to change this year.

CM: Roughly how long does it take to film one minute’s worth of actual run-time? What is the most intricate scene you’ve ever filmed?

JR: It depends on which scene you are talking about. For the easier scenes, one minute can take roughly a week. For the more laborious scenes, it could take a few months.

AR: Being on the post-production end, my daily goal was to finish 30 seconds of the film everyday.

JR: One of the most intricate scenes [in Jericho] was the "360° Scene" where Salmon hits a foe on the back of the head, the set rotates, men fight in the background, and Salmon searches as Rahab’s apartment comes into view. I was really nervous about this one because I wasn’t sure how to time up the fighting with the rotation. The animation could have looked unrealistically slow or fast.

However, God knew the deadline was fast approaching, so He helped us get it shot in one take—we did not even have to take a practice shot!

AR: The most difficult scene I had to work on was the "Matrix Spoof." I had to cut the character out of the background over 800 times, then composite him in the final shot with the buildings exploding in the background.

CM: Where and how did you collect all of the Lego® "costumes" and props needed for your films?

AR: The majority came from what I collected over the years, but a substantial amount of the faces and armor came from friends and family who had pieces we needed. Friends and families lent us their mini-figures for the production. In turn, we returned them in the condition in which they were received and the families were credited in our film under the "Special Thanks" section in our credits.

JR: For the non-Lego® brick elements, we simply had to get creative: blue craft sand for water, dead pieces of grass for Rahab’s stalks of flax, embroidery floss for the red cord, tin foil and cardboard for Steve’s mirror, construction paper for the map, a feather from Dad’s down comforter for Joshua’s quill in the closing scene, etc.

CM: What technology or software was used to create the characters’ facial movements?

AR: For the most part, Jessica animated the characters without faces during production. In post, we mostly used Adobe After Effects and Photoshop to create the animated faces, along with other special effects seen in the film.

CM: How did Dan Vitco become involved in Jericho as the composer?

AR: Music has always been the hardest part of a film for us. Since none of us are really gifted in film scoring, we asked my old music instructors if they’d be interested in working with us. After several musicians told us they were too busy, we were recommended to Dan Vitco. We spoke with Dan for a mere half hour and knew that Dan would be the composer for Jericho.

CM: Anthony and Jessica, how did you end up in your roles (Director and DP, respectively)?

AR: After trying to animate one scene in WOH I, Jess and I quickly realized I would not be an asset in the animation department. Since it was only the two of us, I assumed the role of director and editor/compositor. The deciding factor really came down to realizing our strengths and weaknesses and choosing jobs accordingly.

JR: In Jericho we began to grow as filmmakers. Since we still had a rather small production crew, we had an interesting time when we sat down to write the credits. Instead of crediting a handful of people 300 times, we decided to find the catch-all title that best explained each person’s roll. The DP usually selects the cameras, lenses, lighting, and shot composition, so we figured that would be the most accurate title.

CM: What were the top 3 things you learned as you progressed from WOH I to Jericho?

AR:

1. Trusting God to get it done - and not computers.
2. Working with programs such as After Effects and Photoshop.
3. How to direct a larger team.

JR:

1. No matter what, if God wants a project to be completed, nothing can stop it. (Ex: The day before our deadline, our computer crashed and possibly deleted the ENTIRE film. This was too big of a problem for God not to fix. We prayed, God listened, and the movie was saved!)
2. You cannot do this on your own — you will either kill yourself or inflate your ego.
3. Even if it is not Oscar-quality, God will take the best you have at the time and multiply it.

CM: What is the biggest hurdle you have faced during your filmmaking career, and how did you overcome it?

AR: One hurdle that we had to deal with was waiting on a computer that, quite honestly, was dying from all the rendering we were making it do. We overcame this by rerouting some of the workload onto our laptops.

JR: Animating in a dark room all by myself for 18 months was lonely at times. After I killed my iTunes library, I became intimately familiar with Shakespeare’s plays on CD.

CM: What is the most significant lesson that God has taught you, from a personal standpoint, during the making of all three films?

AR: Trust in Him. There were many times when files were deleted, things got misplaced, or scenes were taking too long to render. It was during these times of waiting and frustration that I learned that the movie was never mine in the first place. I needed to continually give the movie back to its proper owner, and He would take care of the results.

JR: "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men" (Col. 3:23). This became my life verse. I have realized that my idol is getting a job well done — no matter the cost. If I came up short on a film project (for example), I felt like I failed myself, my family, and the entire Christian film industry because yet another aspiring filmmaker can’t even touch the giant of Hollywood. Then I came across this verse last year. I finally realized that I only needed to hear one person say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." This verse basically says, "Forget man; do your best for the One who really matters. Afraid Sony won’t pick up your project? Let God distribute your film."

WOH I is not so impressive when you compare it to a Pixar film. We did the best we could for God on WOH I and only cared if we passed a class — God took that film and made it a finalist in an international film festival (Talk about coming out of leftfield). Through WOH I, II, and Jericho, thousands of people have been touched by the truth of the Gospel — not by our own doing, but by God’s decision to broadcast the three seeds we labored to sow.

I now see God asking our audiences, "What seeds will you sow for Me?"

CM: What’s next?

AR: Right now, we are open to anything God tells us to do. He has given us several ideas. We are looking for anyone who is interested in helping us on our next film: animators, compositors, distributors, church event organizers, etc.

JR: We have about four possible script ideas for the next film. We have just released a "Call for Animators." While we are deliberating and drafting the script, we will be accepting applications and short submissions. If you are interested in animating, go to our website for more information.

Christian-Movie.com Christian Movie Reviews:
Wars of Humanity

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