A New Year's message from David Gould

The past year was no sleeper for filmmaker David Gould, head of Gold Coast film house David Gould Studios. Having worked with Peter Jackson on The Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong, the visual effects guru found success with his own short film Awaken, which competed in the Cannes film festival Short Film Corner contest earlier this year. But the New Year is set to be one of the biggest yet for Gould, who is currently in New Zealand with wife Agnes working on two highly anticipated blockbusters.
``In 2011 we look forward to embracing the truly global nature of filmmaking,'' he said.
``We start work on the films Rise Of The Apes and Peter Jackon's The Hobbit in New Zealand.''

While the former stars James Franco and is a prequel to the Planet Of The Apes, the latter sees Gould return to Middle Earth for The Lord Of The Rings prequel. Both see him reunite with Jackson's cutting edge company Weta Digital. But big things are happening for the studio back home too.

After a successful pitch at the American Film Market in November where staff met producers to discuss feature projects, David Gould Studios will begin production on their own feature films in 2011.
``We hope to shoot our own action/thriller Stolen Senses in New Orleans, USA,'' Gould said.
``We will also be scouting locations in Chile for one of our thrillers.
``We will face many challenges filming around the world, but relish the opportunities that exposure to different cultures and languages will bring.''

For my previous stories on Gould click here, here and here.

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Monkey Business

Really, I just wanted an excuse to use this picture again.

CON-FREAKIN-GRATULATIONS to the folks at David Gould Studios on the Gold Coast. Head of the studio, David Gould, and his wife Agnes Gould have flown to New Zealand to start work on the $90 million Planet of the Apes prequel reboot, Rise of the Apes. Gould posted the news on Facebook and after getting the lo-down from Mediageek, I got in touch with the man himself. He said this is an email:

"Due to the confidential nature of the materials we can't work from the Gold Coast. I will be going back to WETA in New Zealand to be involved with the project. Initially just for three months then potentially longer."

For those of you playing at home, Weta Digital are the visual effects company co-owned by Peter Jackson. Gould worked with them previously as the 3D technical director/lighter on The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King and as the senior technical director on King Kong. Weta will again be responsible for doing the digital effects for the film, including digitally animated apes.Production on Rise of the Apes has already started at Mammoth Studios in Burnaby, Canada and the film stars James Franco, Freida Pinto and Andy Serkis (aka Gollum). It's being directed by Rupert Wyatt and the screenplay is by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who co-wrote The Relic and Eye For an Eye, both two of my personal favourites. Silver also penned The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.

Besides what information we already have, everyone is keeping the specific details on the film pretty close to their chest which is . . .refreshing! Call me crazy, but after the minty blast that was Inception, maybe less information isn't a bad thing. Anywho, for those of you living under a rock you can find out all about David Gould and his rad studio in my previous posts here and here. In the meantime, I raise my glass to you David Gould Studios.

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Pop the champagne and get out the good China!

Congratulations to the team at David Gould Studios (above) in Burleigh Heads, whose animated short film Awaken has been selected to compete at the prestigious Cannes film festival next month.

Filmmaker David Gould wrote and directed the 15-minute movie and says he is `honoured' to have it involved in the iconic festival.
``The festival only allows films that they consider to have artistic merit be a part of the Short Film Corner,'' he says.
``With thousands of filmmakers throughout the world it is great to know that we're producing films that are of an international quality and can compete with the best out there.
``It's fantastic.''

It will compete in the Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner which was established by to assist filmmakers making the move from short films to feature films.
Gould says it gives them the opportunity to present their projects to potential feature film producers and distributors.
``So much about making a break in this industry is about making a name for yourself with good quality work,'' he says.
``Awaken's selection into this prestigious festival is another feather to our bow and will help garner interest for our other projects.
``Once we have our foot in the door we can blow them away with our other projects.''

Above: a scene from Awaken.

One such project his studio is working on is their debut feature film Stolen Senses, an action/thriller which is already gathering interest from Hollywood heavyweights.
``We're currently in negotiations with two Australian actors that have had considerable success in the US to play the lead roles,'' says Gould.
``They absolutely love the script.
``This is the key: if you have a great script then the actors will want a part in your film.''

Having worked with Peter Jackson as the technical whizz on the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong, Gould says he is taking his experience and making the film in stereoscopic 3D.
``There is a huge amount of interest in 3D films right now and we have the technical expertise to make this happen,'' he says.
``I was CG supervisor working on stereoscopic films back in Paris over fifteen years ago.
``We will be using the same 3D technology that George Miller is using on his next Mad Max movie Fury Road.
``We're looking forward to the challenges of making an awesome 3D film.''

Gould (above)leaves for Cannes on May 8 and Awaken competes throughout the festivals duration from May 12 - 22. David Gould Studios is still looking for people to invest in Stolen Senses and if you have the moolah handy, unlike myself, this could be a great investment opportunity. For more information contact davidgould@davidgould.com. Alternatively you can visit their website here.

I also recommend my previous post on Gould and co here.

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Why YOU should know David Gould

Above: A still from Awaken

After 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.''

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.''

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.

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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