Why YOU should know David Gould
Monday, October 19, 2009
Above: A still from AwakenAfter working alongside Peter Jackson on the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong, filmmaker David Gould has big plans for the Gold Coast.
In fact, the world class director, animator, producer and screenwriter wants to build an empire on the coast, similar to how Jackson has made Wellington a base for major international blockbusters.
With his new animated short film, Awaken gaining momentum overseas and locally through the Gold Coast Film Fantastic, Gould is preparing to head to the American Film Market in a few weeks to pitch three feature film projects, all to be made at his Burleigh Heads studio.
The projects will be live-action, a combination of actors working with computer animated imagery, with sets being built in his studio and exterior's shot at various Gold Coast locations.
``The three feature film projects we will be presenting over there are different genres and different styles, but always with the main focus to make mainstream international films,'' said Gould.
``We don't make Australian films, we make international films for a mass audience but we want to shoot it all on the Gold Coast.
``You can go from the beach to the mountains, the suburbs to the city really quickly and what you can't do externally, you can build.''
In fact, the world class director, animator, producer and screenwriter wants to build an empire on the coast, similar to how Jackson has made Wellington a base for major international blockbusters.
With his new animated short film, Awaken gaining momentum overseas and locally through the Gold Coast Film Fantastic, Gould is preparing to head to the American Film Market in a few weeks to pitch three feature film projects, all to be made at his Burleigh Heads studio.
The projects will be live-action, a combination of actors working with computer animated imagery, with sets being built in his studio and exterior's shot at various Gold Coast locations.
``The three feature film projects we will be presenting over there are different genres and different styles, but always with the main focus to make mainstream international films,'' said Gould.
``We don't make Australian films, we make international films for a mass audience but we want to shoot it all on the Gold Coast.
``You can go from the beach to the mountains, the suburbs to the city really quickly and what you can't do externally, you can build.''
Above: A still from Awaken
Gould and his team built a prison set at the studio for his short film Inseparable Coil, which he said is an "appetizer'' for the feature film that looks at the relationship between twin brothers and the events that test their bond.
The film screened at the 29th Breckenridge Festival of Film in Colorado and featured in Digital Media World magazine for its cutting edge technology.
``The film was set in Boston, but we shot it all here on the Gold Coast and you really couldn't tell the difference,'' said Gould.
``That's what we want to do with a lot of out films.
``There's a lot of potential for films in Australia and we need to attract the talent here.
``It's important to have a base, whether we shoot a film in Malaysia and do all the post production here or do the whole process from here.''
The film screened at the 29th Breckenridge Festival of Film in Colorado and featured in Digital Media World magazine for its cutting edge technology.
``The film was set in Boston, but we shot it all here on the Gold Coast and you really couldn't tell the difference,'' said Gould.
``That's what we want to do with a lot of out films.
``There's a lot of potential for films in Australia and we need to attract the talent here.
``It's important to have a base, whether we shoot a film in Malaysia and do all the post production here or do the whole process from here.''
Below: David Gould
With over 15-years in visual effects and computer graphics, Gould has worked for Walt Disney Feature Animation and Peter Jackson's company Weta Digital, where he was the senior technical director on King Kong and 3D lighting technical director on Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers and Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King.
Working with Jackson, arguably one of the most successful filmmakers of all time, Gould said he learnt a lot about running his own studio.
``Peter is in many ways inspirational because it's not so long ago he was working on his first film, taking four years to shoot it on the weekends and with his friends as the actors.
``He comes from a low budget film making background and has built his empire, so to speak.
``There's two sides to him, he's known as this guy-next-door-type and he would roll up to work in a jacket with duct tape on it, board shorts and no shoes and just rock in and tell us what to do.
``But at the same time, with King Kong he was the highest paid director getting $32 million to do it.
``Now he can build his whole production in Wellington from the script all the way to shooting it.
``When he took on Lord Of The Rings they wanted him to shoot in L.A, but he said `no' and made them shoot in New Zealand which was great for the sweeping landscapes and tourism.
``We could do something similar here if we perfect our production on the Gold Coast.''
Gould writes, produces, directs and does the post production on his films, and his wife also helps produce.
Working with Jackson, arguably one of the most successful filmmakers of all time, Gould said he learnt a lot about running his own studio.
``Peter is in many ways inspirational because it's not so long ago he was working on his first film, taking four years to shoot it on the weekends and with his friends as the actors.
``He comes from a low budget film making background and has built his empire, so to speak.
``There's two sides to him, he's known as this guy-next-door-type and he would roll up to work in a jacket with duct tape on it, board shorts and no shoes and just rock in and tell us what to do.
``But at the same time, with King Kong he was the highest paid director getting $32 million to do it.
``Now he can build his whole production in Wellington from the script all the way to shooting it.
``When he took on Lord Of The Rings they wanted him to shoot in L.A, but he said `no' and made them shoot in New Zealand which was great for the sweeping landscapes and tourism.
``We could do something similar here if we perfect our production on the Gold Coast.''
Gould writes, produces, directs and does the post production on his films, and his wife also helps produce.
Above: A still from Awaken
Awaken, his latest short film has been getting all sorts of buzz, and not just from animation enthusiast like myself.
About a robot soldier that learns how precious life is when he inadvertently raises a small bird, the film shares a trait with Pixar Oscar winner Wall E; it has no dialogue.
“The idea is effectively about him coming to terms with the world around him, and the importance of life.
“There’s no dialogue at all, a lot of the emotions are all told through facial expression.
“Everyone was amazed how emotive the characters were as the robot is very simple in design, he’s just a mouth that opens and closes.
“Like a mechanical puppet in a way.
“It comes down to how he holds his head and how we position the camera.
“The fact he doesn’t speak in the movie makes the movie very personal, because the audience makes up their own mind’s about what he's thinking.
“A lot of people interpret the ending in a different way, and that’s why the film is getting a lot of great responses.
“There’s no right or wrong interpretation, I love hearing people’s thoughts on that.”
Above: A still from Awaken
Quite the interesting guy, no? You can find out more about Gould, his projects, films, past work and David Gould Studios by heading over to his website here. The biography is particularly impressive and hopefully he goes on to make as much as an impression with his cutting-edge films' as Jackson has. Fingers crossed.
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