May 12, 2023

Denver Jackson, director of “World's Divide,” on the joys and drawbacks of making a solo feature film

Earlier this year, animator, writer, and director Denver Jackson made headlines with a Kickstarter campaign for his second feature film, The Worlds Divide.

An action sci-fi adventure, “The Worlds Divide” is influenced by Studio Ghibli, director Makoto Shinkai, and classic films such as “Akira” and “Ghost in the Shell,” according to Jackson. The influences are obvious in the artwork. But more than that, Jackson's scripts incorporate many of the features and traditions of those great films.

Jackson began his career in VFX work while directing live-action short films. He then transitioned to animated shorts with Cloudrise (2013) and The Wishing Jar (2016). Wanting to eventually make a film, Jackson launched the web series Esluna: The First Monolith in 2019. The series became the basis for his 2021 feature debut, Esluna: The Crown of Babylon; The World's Divide is a continuation of Esluna's story; and The First Monolith is the first feature film in the series, which will be released in 2016.”

According to Jackson, production on the new film is almost complete, and the goal is to have it finished by January 2024.

After the successful conclusion of the Kickstarter campaign, we caught up with the filmmaker to talk about how he goes about creating his one-man animated feature, what he does to take care of himself, and the future of Esluna's world.

Cartoon Brew: Now that you have the funding you've been looking for, how do you plan to use it? There have been conversations around the table about whether or not to push for more big-name actors and big-name studios to be involved, but at this point (and I don't know what the future holds yet), the film is an independent and passionate project, and I feel that post-production would suit me to go through that process as well. I feel that I am well suited to this process. We have a group of people who love this kind of thing. And now we have the funds to pay them a decent fee.

You mentioned on Kickstarter that you were nearing the end of production.15]

We've already had meetings with the musicians and composers. We sat down and watched the entire film. We didn't have the last 15 minutes of the film yet, but we looked at everything we had done so far. Then we discussed what the score should be and the thematic elements. As soon as we were done with that, we would have a full cut of the movie. We're going to rewrite the script and move forward with casting. Then we will start on the sound foley. Basically, this is the third time I've done this, so I'm like, yeah, I know exactly what I want to do.

Does Kickstarter mandate a specific type of distribution? Can I go to film festivals or sell my film on your platform? So we made sure that there was plenty of room for us to show the film at festivals and deal with sales and distribution companies. In my last film, I went around to film festivals and experienced what that experience was like.

You posted a video of how hard you are working for this film and the crazy hours you are spending,

https://t.co/JgB2FRdFr3 I put together a little video of what my day looks like, along with a narration. One week left to post.

KICKSTARTER | https://t.co/JgB2FRdFr3 pic.twitter.com/uZYvd6AOHe

- Denver Jackson . (@djaxx) April 5, 2023

When I first started. No physical activity, no exercise, and the web series really hurt my hands. During the first feature, I started by utilizing 3D to preserve my hands, but then my back started hurting and I couldn't get out of bed for a month. Right after that, I started setting aside time for physical activity, like jogging. Now I jog and do jumping jacks every day to get my blood flowing and get some exercise. On the social side, I had to cut off my social life every time I started a project like this. But luckily, my best friends are the composer and the technical director, and they help me with the film itself, so we chat all the time. In terms of mindset, I keep watching a lot of TV shows and just have seasons and seasons playing in the background. I think that makes me feel like I'm living in the world of those shows and keeps me sane. Whenever I finish a project, I like to go on a solo trip anywhere in the world. I stay in hostels, talk to strangers, and get inspiration for the next project. But yes, it's a tough way to work.

Tell us about your development and production process. We spend a lot of time writing the script. I think there were seven drafts of the script for this film. I spend about three months storyboarding the whole film and then animating it. I think it's about a month. After that, we start working on the background drawings. Once the background drawings for the entire sequence are completed, we produce the character animation. And during the production, I zigzag through the entire work. This kind of production is very intensive, so it is important to focus on one thing at a time. A project within a project. The script is the whole project, so focus on that. The storyboard is also the whole project.

What tools do you use during production? How do you decide which software to use? one of the advantages of using the open source software of Blender was. Also, Blender is very advanced and very good to work with. I feel that any large feature production can use Blender. In fact, especially in Japan, I feel that the big production houses are already starting to adopt Blender.

You have been working on this for years, how has the software changed and how has production improved in that time? Once you start production, you don't want to update the software because you have a pipeline and a workflow. So I haven't updated it. I use proxies for my animation workflow, and I believe that after Blender 3.0, the proxy workflow is gone. i was excited to try Blender 3.0, but when I downloaded it and opened the program, nothing worked. I went back.

Every time you enter this world you are getting bigger. 14]

I think the next big step for me is to work with more artists, more animators and background artists. I want to bring people into full production. Every film is like a new step in my progress. So for this film I hired a 3D modeler and a technical director. For my next project, I want to hire an animator and a scenic artist. The original script for this film actually condensed the third act, so I rewrote the end of the film. I think the original third act could be a whole film on its own, and could conclude this story.