We liked Jim Connell's film Saul Goodman (scroll down for our review) so much we shot him an email full of questions and he was kind enough to answer them.

 From the press kit I saw that you are self-taught in computer animation and you also act, write, and direct. How on earth do you find the time?A: That's a good question because, for this project, time was the biggest hurdle. Not only did I have to model, surface, and manually animate this thing in my spare time (I've a full time day job), but I had two old Mac PC's handling the rendering workload. So, I had to schedule jobs to render while I was sleeping, traveling or on vacation. A few scenes lasting only 8 or 10 seconds took several weeks to render. That's the biggest reason it took 2 1/2 years to complete. 

 In addition to a good action/thriller/noir/- Geez, I run out of genres- it is also a film of ideas, very modern ideas of whats' going on today.

A: Those are the kind of movies I like though. I either like movies based on one BIG idea ("Matrix") or ones that explore several interesting ideas ("Minority Report") in a fun and entertaining way. I also like movies that are just about conversation and debate. If you think about it, "JFK" is a 3 hour movie where a bunch of people argue over an abstract conspiracy, schedules and forensics. That's it. There's only one head shot, and you have to wait 2 1/2 hours to see it. But Oliver Stone hits the fast-forward button, turns up the volume to 11 and we're riveted...at least I was anyway. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the brainless stuff too. I'd wait in line for four hours to watch Schwarzenegger rip some dude's arms off, and wouldn't feel the least bit guilty.

 Who are some of your influences, in terms of film and literature?

A: In many ways, "Saul Goodman" was a homage to Oliver Stone in general, "JFK" in particular. Especially during the 90's, his films were the most personal, excessive, visceral and ALIVE you could find. It's hard to go to a theater nowadays and really be surprised. One can be impressed with the special effects, or admire the artistry, but it's really hard to be genuinely surprised. Filmmakers like Stone, Tarrantino and Paul Thomas Anderson are able to consistently confound expectations and pull the audience into what feels like uncharted territory. I can still remember seeing "Pulp Fiction" to a packed audience on opening night. By the time the hillbillies let loose The Gimp, the audience was on pins and needles....no one knew where this ****ed up movie was going next, but we knew it would be cool, or sick, or funny, or all three. 

 What's involved in the animation process?

A: After I recorded the voices from John and Eric, I'd import into a character animation program, lip sync and animate them. I'd then import that scene into Lightwave, surround it with objects and sets (some of which I licensed, some I designed) and set up the scenes. Since most of the action in "Saul" is a re-enactment of one of the Old Man's stories, I also literally synced the action to the dialogue. I would count exactly how many seconds it took the Old Man to say something (e.g. 10), break that down into frames (e.g. 300), decide how many shots were required to re-enact that statement (e.g. 3) and then budget how many frames I gave each shot (e.g. 100/150/50). This pre-planning was meticulous, but basically meant I had very little editing to do.....it was the old 'measure twice cut once rule'.