Day Four was my first day off at SXSW and even though it wasn't packed with activity it was one of my favorite days.
The main thing on my schedule was the panel with Robert Rodriguez and Henry Selick.
Rodriguez is one of my all time favorite filmmakers. Oddly though his films aren't always my favorites and he has even done some that I haven't enjoyed. What I like is his film making style. He always does his best to embrace new technology in his films but at the same time he produces his films as inexpensively as possible. He was one of the first to show that good movies can be done on a shoestring budget.
Many of his DVDs include something that he calls "Ten Minute Film School" where he talks about a variety of techniques that he uses in making his films. He is charismatic and passionate about his film making and it comes across in these segments.
He has also shown that directors don't have to stick to one particular type of movie. While he has done decidecly adult oriented work with Dusk Til Dawn and Grindhouse he is also known for Spy Kids as well as Sharkboy and Lava Girl.
He is an Austin local who is always doing his best to promote the local Ausin movie scene and many of his movies feature the city prominantly. The finale for Spy Kids 3D had the big battle scene with giant robots taking place in the streets downtown in front of the capitol building.
Henry Selick on the other hand is the king of stop motion. While most people think of Tim Burton when they think of Nightmare Before Christmas, he was only half of the team behind the movie. Henry Selick first worked for Disney on The Fox And The Hound but found his niche when he worked on Nightmare. In addition to that movie he has also done James And The Giant Peach and more recently Coraline.
Stop motion is a difficult medium with each film taking a long time to produce. With normal animation they can outsource some of the animation but that isn't possible with stop motion.
Anyone who knows me know what a fan of Nightmare I am. I frequently am seen in Jack Skellington t-shirts and that is always my favorite Disney merchandise.
Haleigh and I got to the convention center early so we would be sure and get good seats for the panel. She dropped me off and went to park. When I got to the panel room there was another panel winding down. I staked out a seat on the front row to the side but then after a few minutes we got the announcement that they would be clearing the room.
I get shuffled out but have a decent place in the new line that has formed.
After a few minutes of waiting in line I get a wonderful surprise. My youngest daughter, Scarlett comes up to me to say hi.
Her boyfriend had taken part in a high school program to Make A Film In A Day. His group had won day passes to SXSW Film. One of the other people in his group had been unable to attend so they gave that pass to Scarlett. I had known they were going to be seeing some films but I had no idea they would be at this panel. She gave me a hug and went back over to be with her boyfriend and their friends. Right after this one of the other photographers saw me in line and pulled me over to a seperate press line. I told them that I was off and could stay in the regular line but they insisted that it would be okay for me to be in the shorter line.
When we got let in I was in the first row of seats slightly to the side of center. The paid professional photographers were on the ground in front of where we were. If I had stayed in the regular line I would have been probably either in the front row further to the side or maybe in the second row. There was a little grumbling from staff about whether or not there was enough room for the photographers saying that they may end up having two groups of shooters and have them switch out at some point but eventually they decided that their really was enough room and they wouldn't have to do that. I would have gladly let a paid photographer have my seat so long as I had still had a decent view but it wasn't necessary.
Before the show Scarlett came up to where I was to chat some more and told me that she had gotten Haleigh to sit with her and her BF. (This is a big thing as teens don't usually want the grown ups sitting with them.) She said that they weren't too far back and were okay with me staying up front instead of sitting with them.
The panel was interesting. I have included a video of it below.
Rodriguez was charming as usual and Selick came across as charismatic and knowledgable.
About five minutes into the talk I noticed that the chair that the moderator was sitting in was seriously broken and could collapse at any moment. I was able to get the attention of one of the SXSW employees who was standing to the side and point it out to them. They had to temporarily stop the discussion while they switched out the chairs. I do have to confess as a photographer it did briefly cross my mind that I could get some interesting pics if the chair collapsed on him but then my good nature did take over and I did the right thing.
The main thing that struck me about Selick was how much he resembled Jack Skellington. It was pretty obvious that he based a lot of Jack's movement and expression on his own. I wasn't the only one that noticed it either. Scarlett mentioned the same thing to me after the panel before I mentioned that I had noticed that as well.
The main focus of the discussion was 3D in movies and at one point in the discussion Robert pulled out his laptop to show Henry how good 3D could look in hi-def on a laptop. This gave me the opportunity for one of my favorite photos unfortunately there was no point where I could get Selick wearing the glasses and get a good shot of Rodriguez's face at the same time.
During the question and answer section Scarlett's boyfriend went up to the mic and said something along the lines of "I don't really have a question but it is really cool to be able to talk to you two." the audience found that quite amusing and he did actually end up asking a question though I have forgotten what it is. He really is a nice guy and Scarlett is lucky to have him.
Prior to the start of the panel I had leaned over to one of the other photographers and told him that he should keep a look out on the right side of the room for Rose McGowan to show up. I had noticed at the "I Love You Man" panel that was held in theis same room that the significant others often came in with the stars but sat over to the right side of the room. Sure enough, during the "q and a" someone asked a question about Rodriguez working on the movie "Red Sonja" which would be starring Rose McGowan and she revealed herself to be over sitting where I thought and she answered the question herself.
If you aren't familiar with her work, she used to be one of the stars of the tv show Charmed and also used to date Marilyn Manson. She is now rumored to be Robert Rodriguez's fiance after they met while filming Sin City. It was a bit controversial at the time since Rodriguez had a well established marriage. Rodriguez seperated from his wife but it is believed to be on good terms as his wife did stay on to manage his film studio.
After the talk ended I met back up with Scarlett, her boyfriend and Haleigh. Scarlett and her boyfriend went off to catch a film screening while Haleigh and I went over to Brushy Square Park for the "Nuclear Taco" party.
I had always heard good things about this party from other SXSW attendees. The tacos were supposed to be fairly hot but we are Texans, we are used to hot. Haleigh buys jalapenos in the industrial size jar and always adds extra hot to anything she gets.
The tacos were too spicy for us. This is the first time I can recall Haleigh ever finding something actually too hot. She love wasabi and pours red pepper on her spaghetti. This was a first.
I downed one taco before it really kicked in and I thought I might be sick. Before anyone mentions, yes I know all the tricks. I had gotten a lot of sour cream to cut some of the hot but that didn't even help.
After the party we met back up with Scarlett and her boyfriend (yeah, I am intentionally not using his name and it is starting to sound odd) because they had asked us to let them ride back to Elgin with us. They had enjoyed their screening and we had a good time chatting about SXSW as we headed home.
It was a really nice experience to get to share SXSW with my daughter and it added a lot for her to have her friends with her. We are the grown ups and they are teens so I can remember how it can be uncool to hang out with the parents so it was an honor that she really seemed to enjoy having us around.
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