Questioning skills

Last week we sent some questions to Gabby Zapata who created the short film that we used as inspiration for our bubble writing. She wrote back to us today.  You can listen to our questions and read her responses below.    

1.When did you make your movie?

I made my short film 2 years ago for my college thesis.

2.How did you make the bubbles see through?

There are settings in a 3D program that can help me adjust how see-through I want things to be

3. How many pictures did you have to draw?

This wasn't drawn. It was animated in 3D! Which means, I make things move on the computer and it basically creates "drawings". 

4. How did you decide which ones looked best?

Haha, mostly time! I didn't have enough time to be completely thorough and picked which ones looked best. So, whichever looked decent enough to continue production :)

5. Why did you make the movie?

I made it because I wanted to create something charming that everyone can enjoy and that can relate to. It was also part of my senior film project that we all as students had to make.

6. Was it hard to make the movie and how long did it take you to make it?

It was challenging at times for sure! But I just kept pushing hard until I got to something that I liked. This took about a year and a  half to make. 

7. How did you make the objects move?

Its a 3D program called "Maya" Where we model objects in the file and we put bones/skeleton so that we can move them around however we want, just like a puppet :)

8. How many movies have you made?

This was my only short film. In school though, we were given small assignments so I made little animations here and there. 

9. Why did you choose to be an artist?

I felt this was the easiest way for me to express myself as well as share the joy of creating new things and sharing it with the world!

10. How did you make the water splash in your movie?

Haha, those were actually drawings! I drew a bunch of images showing water splashing and them I put it into a program that put it together.

11. We see from your blog that you are working for Disney.  Can you tell us a little bit about your job and what it entails? 

I work at Disney Mobile! So I am working on their upcoming unannounced app game coming soon for free on mobile devices! Such as iphone, ipad, amazon, droid, and other major mobile devices. You guys should download it when it comes out :)! I can't talk about the title or anything yet, but it will be super fun I'm sure!What I do at work basically involves designing characters, drawing backgrounds, modeling objects in 3D, painting textures and many more things!

I am so honored and happy to see what your students have written! It really has touched my heart. Really great story-tellers and artists! :)

Thanks again!