Broken Saint:
Interview with Brooke Burgess
With Broken Saints
Resembling a “graphic novel brought to life,” Broken Saints is a hypnotic visual feast that fuses art with comic-style text, deeply compelling story, haunting music and cinematic effects into a revolution in modern storytelling that is “eye-popping…innovative…mesmerizing” (Entertainment Weekly), “impressionistic, moody, lyrical” (National Public Radio) and a “brooding piece of web noir” (Wired). A testament to the incredible narrative freedoms of Flash animation as well as the influence of the Internet as a creative force, the original web premiere of Broken Saints has received over five million visitors, universal critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Audience Award For Online Animation at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and Producer Of the Year at the 2005 Canadian New Media Awards.
I had the chance to spend a weekend with Brooke at Megacon 2005, a comic convention in Orlando. We shared a booth– I was dipping my feet into the pond with an introductory release for Fas Ferox, and he was enjoying what seemed like a brief respite from his own demanding production schedule. A great deal of what occurred during that weekend is now lodged somewhere deep in my subconscious, thanks in great part to complete sleep deprivation, sporadic food intake, and a hefty consumption of sordidness in a variety of forms. The memories are hazy, but of this I am sure: we had a good time.
I had a chance to catch up with him recently to talk about his past work, and maybe to wrestle out some details about what’s coming next.
James Curcio: One of the things that first impressed me about Broken Saints- when I first encountered it online several years ago- is the sense of mythology behind it. Where did you draw that from?
Brooke Burgess: The ‘mythology’ of the BS universe drew heavily from the project’s core influences: film, graphic literature, progressive anime, and spiritual texts. Really, it was a case of examining – and ‘mining’ – the core influences of my own creative and mystical journey, and infusing the characters, world, and narrative arc with the symbolic vocabulary I found within. I find that the most potent mythos contain a transformative spiritual and emotional component, and the ‘prime directive’ with Saints was to reach viewers on that plane of experience…and hopefully trigger heartfelt reflections – both personal and societal – as a direct result.
So yes – be it the cinematic works of my heroes (Kubrick, Gilliam, Lynch), the graphic novel greats (Watchmen, Sandman, The Invisibles), anime epics (Akira, Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell), or the enduring truths of the world’s great religious and philosophical pillars – I believe it’s essential to construct the ‘unseen’ realms of a world with as much care as the gross forms. Campbell’s Hero’s Journey strikes chords for a reason, you know.
JC: Yes. As I’d already kind of assumed, we’ve been drinking some of the same Kool Aide. …Joseph Campbell’s books and lectures were eye opening for me when I first encountered them, in terms of opening up myth in a way that suddenly made all of these kind of obscure or ancient stories potentially relevant in terms of your own experience. They don’t need to be ancient though, our contemporaries might be an even more vital source.
Speaking of constructing those ‘unseen realms,’ the cosmology behind the world you’re creating… I know your answer to this could easily be a novel but I’m curious, how did you go about that? I mean did it just seep out into the writing or did you sit down with the rest of the team and design the world from the top down?
BB: Well, it was really just a case of working within the obvious limitations… technical, fiscal, skillset, time, etc… understanding the project parameters, and then allowing the creative plasma to fill that space. The core idea behind BS – which I’ve mentioned a few times before in various interviews over the years… so it’s no secret… was the conceit of fusing together two existing technologies (wireless satellite communication and low-frequency brain stimulation) to forge the prism for a sprawling tale of conspiracy, political intrigue, spiritual upheaval, and personal and global ‘Revelation’. I think the world’s ‘cosmology’ whirled and solidified from that primary essence, taking into account our real-world limitations for the work.
Chapter 1
Because we didn’t have the time to draw insane numbers of new images each chapter, poetry and internal monologues became essential narrative ‘drivers’. Because we didn’t have the tools, team, or skills to professionally animate, layered and parallax scrolling, tweens and morphs, and silhouetting began to dominate, which affected the series symbolic vocabulary and archetypal foundation. Because our combined world travels were limited at best, we stuck with what we were versed in… Japanese, Fijian, and North American culture… or those we were passionate about… religious vilification, Middle East strife and injustice, global economic policy, and communications technology.
So, in retrospect, I believe it was a combination of serendipitous subtext and conscious design…but hey, doesn’t that apply to most things in life when you boil it right down? (laughs)
JC: Indeed it does. As we both know, Indie media projects are incredibly demanding on the people that create them… You really have to put a lot of yourself into it, otherwise you’ll never see it through to the end. Yet that end for so many projects like this is an early grave. Why do you think Broken Saints has caught on with a larger audience?
BB: I think that Broken Saints came along at a time when audiences – specifically web users – were hungry for experiences with meaning. There was just a sea of dreck online at the turn of the Millennium, and it seemed like a crime that there were these incredibly capable – and affordable! – digital tools that were not being harnessed for any form of progressive storytelling. Sure, you could find bite-sized ‘toons of the low-brow sort, and reams of text-based work, (which is essentially just aping a delivery medium already entrenched). But what got my crew excited was the thought of trying something that people weren’t expecting! By fusing images, audio, and text, we were able to make clear homage to forms that viewers were already familiar with. But a long-form serial, showcasing a shiny new ‘cinematic literature’ package, jammed to the gills with mood, tension, poetic presentation and symbolic communication? To a heck of a lot of folks, this felt new.
And when the kind words and kudos and profound personal admissions started rolling in from viewers around the world, an ‘early grave’ for the project simply wasn’t an option! Sure…we suffered financially. Certainly…it wasn’t easy to keep morale, or creative vision, at a zenith. But we had the will. And the work felt too important to abandon, all things considered.
JC: That has to be a good feeling. You know, the other night I found myself in a Blockbuster, and I saw quite a few of your DVDs on the shelves… And when we met in person for Megacon last year in Orlando, if memory serves, you were talking about a big distribution deal. Tell me, how did you pull off that feat of magic?
BB: Synchronicities and serendipities, my friend. After completing the original online-only series in Summer 2003, I was approached by a government grant body here in Vancouver – Telefilm Canada – they’re well known for supporting film and television projects nationally, but were just getting into ‘new media’ at the time. The representative applauded the work we had done, and asked if we ever considered applying for funding – to which I replied “you’re about three years too late.” She encouraged me to apply for a grant – as word had gotten out that we were considering a DVD compilation of the series – but I made it clear that if we did do a DVD, it would be a massive overhaul of the original material: new art, 5.1 mixing, voice tracks, commentaries, special features out the wazoo… She smiled and said, “I strongly suggest you apply.”
So, in Fall 2004 we completed ten months of around-the-clock work on the ‘indy’ version of the Broken Saints DVD. The packaging was simple, and some of the extra features simply weren’t possible within the proposed time-frame, but overall the end product was a hit with our hardcore fans. With no advertising to speak of, we sold nearly 10,000 copies at small retailers, conventions and festivals, and directly to our fans over the web. The set also garnered more awards and glowing press – so by the time we rolled down south to pimp the DVDs at the 2005 San Diego International Comic Convention, there was already a bit of industry buzz happening. And it was there that we received several offers for official worldwide distribution, with the best one coming from FOX Home Video…which was a complete surprise.
Over the next few months, I negotiated a pretty good deal with the acquisitions guy from Fox – he really dug the spirit of the material, and was coming up to retirement, so I think he wanted to support cooler projects. He was apparently responsible for snagging Waking Life, Sideways, and Donnie Darko, among other notables. Six months later, we had re-mastered the set again – now with more bonus features, sweet packaging (that we helped design), and commentaries for the entire series – and it was launched in North America on August 1, 2006, with international territories following every month afterwards.
For a ‘cult’ release it’s doing fairly well, and is apparently quite difficult to find in stores (Amazon’s your best bet, and it helps keep us on the industry radar!)
JC: I found that there’s something more hypnotic about watching Broken Saints than say an anime or other animated film. It’s very much like literally watching a graphic novel, as opposed to say a film adaptation of a graphic novel. I would assume some of that was simply a result of trying to match the format of webisodes, was it also somewhat intentional?
BB: As mentioned before, there was certainly an ‘intent’ there. Sure, it was partly a case of working within our limitations at the time: small team plus limited experience plus cash-strapped equals crude animation with word bubbles… (laughs)
That said, I honestly believed that the presentation would indeed induce a near-hypnotic state in the viewer if they committed themselves to it… headphones, lights out, ‘herbal additives’… That’s why we fought to keep the M & E version (music and effects – no voice track) as on option on the discs – it’s an entirely different experience than the narrated one, and plays more ‘true’ to a different mindset of viewer. And that’s the experience that audiences first fell in love with (or railed against) – something diametrically opposed to the lowest common denominator Flash entertainment that could be found online at the time.
JC: –I think the soundtrack was also a contributing factor in that.
BB: Absolutely! When I worked at EA in the late-90’s, I tended to gravitate towards sound design – which, at the time, happened to be low man on the proverbial totem pole when it came to production assets for mass-produced software. As an over-zealous David Lynch freak, I understood that the realm of music and sound was the place that more readily intersected with the emotional space of the viewer or user.
And once I left the cubicle barnyard, I was blessed to have a collection of inspired compositions drop in my lap from Tobias Tinker – my incredible talented cousin, who was working for an offshoot of Cirque De Soleil in Berlin at the time. The music stuck inside me and slowly worked its magic – deep, droning base tones, flirtatious percussive teases, haunting and mysterious melodies – and it was only a matter of time before more people would have a chance to appreciate it. I’m honored that Tobias allowed Broken Saints to be the primary vehicle for his work at the time, as well as other key contributors to the saintly soundscape.
Chapter 2
JC: What was the production process like?
BB: Long. Painful. Angst-ridden. Glorious.
JC: Sounds familiar.
BB: Seriously, I’ve talked about this so many times that I’ll just defer to the ‘making-of’ featurettes and creator commentaries on the DVD – it would take a multi-part article to do it justice here.
JC: Are you intending to do full animated series in the future?
BB: Of Broken Saints? No…though I’m certainly a fan of live-action mini-series. Yes…I certainly am.
But for a new work? There may indeed be something brewing. You should get in touch with me closer to Comicon this summer. Lots of poop to scoop by then, I’d wager.
JC: That sounds like a plan. Thanks for talking with me about this, Brooke. Hope to see you there, as well.
Look for that audio interview in a future episode of the Gspot.
Brooke is currently crafting videogame and traditional comic versions of his series, while simultaneously developing his first live-action film – a techno-spiritual thriller set to be completed in 2008 through his company Budget Monks Productions.
{ 1 trackback }