Xombified - 07/07/2004 Author: Skye-McCloud | Interviewee: jamesfarr The Newgrounds community has shown to be home for many great flash series, produced by equally great flash animators. Recently, I was able to get in touch with James Farr, the creator of the Xombie series, to talk to him about his hit series. What I discovered was a lot more surprising than I ever imagined. Thanks for taking the time for this interview, James. I can only imagine how busy a person like you must be. As a fan of the Xombie series, I can easily say your efforts are not going to waste. But anyway, as a fan of Xombie, I would like to know what other projects, besides Xombie, are you working on? It is easily guessed that you have other projects, since it took you five months alone for Xombie Chapter 4. Thanks. Yes, I have several other projects which I'm juggling simultaniously. I recently pitched a children's show and got that sold, which we'll hopefully be seeing on TV very soon. It's called My Pet Robot, and I've been nurturing that along for the last 6 or 7 years. Everything else is in the early development stages. I don't like to devote a lot of energy to something unless it can get me excited in its most basic form. So the trick is hitting on a concept which is fundamentally cool, then adding to it. Hopefully the new stuff will pop up on Newgrounds pretty soon. What originally inspired you to make the story of Xombie? Would you say it's been a hard road up to this point in making Xombie? Xombie is an idea I've played with for almost a decade, before I even knew about Flash. I thought the idea of a coherent zombie hero was fascinating, and could not believe that it hadn't been done. It also seemed like a great platform to challenge myself artistically, and commit myself to producing something that would force me to keep getting better. The fact that I can only work evenings on the show has made it hard, but the end product has been really rewarding. I can see where I've improved, and chart my progress since the first chapter. So at least in that respect, I've achieved exactly what I wanted. As a big fan of Xombie, I've taken notice to the fact that you don't have chapter 1 released on Newgrounds. While a lot of people like the Xombie series, not all of them have gone to your site to see chapter 1. Do you have any plans to release chapter 1, or remake and release it, to the Newgrounds community? Yes. I notice a lot of confusion in the talkbacks, wondering why the story seemed to "begin' with chapter 2. The main reason I haven't uploaded it is due to the massive artistic differences between 1 and 2. It almost looks like a whole different show. I'll be cracking it open and fine-tuning some things eventually, and bringing the character artwork up to date. Once that's done, I'll add it to Newgrounds - which will hopefully put any confusion to rest. Throughout the Xombie chapters, viewers can easily notice a change in the characters. Do you plan on going back to the older chapters and redoing them once you achieve the final designs you want for the Xombie series? I hope to. The character Zoe has probably undergone the most substantial changes. Since Xombie is largely an artistic exercise, the characters are bound to evolve slightly from chapter to chapter, as I take audience reaction into consideration, and try to fine tune things. Once this initial story arc is complete, I hope to go back and tighten things up. I'll probably keep the originals though. I think it's interesting to see the how the style has developed. In order to help stem off rumours and help people understand some truth, I figured I'd ask this. Where did the inspiration for Cerberus' design come from? This was addressed in one of your FAQ's for the Xombie series, but given the number of people who still ridicule you for this, not a wide number of people must read your FAQs. Yeah, if I've learned anything from the Xombie experience, it's that people don't read. Or at least angry people don't. =) The Cerberus character was originally based on my German Shepard, Paws. Being that I was so uncomfortable with four-legged movement and locomotion, I looked to movies like Balto for reference material and animation guides. As time has gone on, I've gotten more and more comfortable with the character, and need reference materials less and less. This is partly why Cerberus loses his face in Chapter 4. It gave me an opportunity to give him a design update that made sense in the context of the show, and would hopefully satisfy the angry Balto fans. By the time Chapter 5 rolls around, Cerberus will have a brand new look. I certainly didn't sit down and think "Ha. Nobody on earth has seen Balto!" Come on, people. Why exactly is it that Dirge uses the embalming fluid? We know it helps stop his body from decaying, but, given the fact that he's now a zombie, wouldn't he rather just let his body decompose? What kind on influence does his self-awareness have on Dirge? Good question. In the Xombie universe, dead humans and animals alike are echoes of their former selves. They retain pieces of their personalities, which not only shape who they are, but how they act. Even what they fear. So like most any human, Dirge has a psychological pre-disposition to delay his eventual "end" as long as possible. Not to mention a nagging sense that he's meant for greater things. All the Xombies are, in fact. Even if they don't know it yet. Wow, is it just me, or did you manage to cover most of the important questions in your FAQs for Xombie? Haha... Anyway, this next question is something that confuses me quite a bit. Given that he's dead, Dirge seems to have a high level of agility. Is his agility related to his past life, or is it just good ol' movie magic? Speaking of his past life, is there any details you can tell us about Dirge? The series has yet to touch on the zombie virus very much, but it will. The virus responsible for re-animating the dead is called Nekrosis. (There's a little info to be found on xombified.com) The virus, in some ways, displays a sentient behavior in the way it overtakes, and assumes executive control of dead brain tissue. Not only does it kick-start the rudimentary functions of the body, but pumps the system full of endorphins, endowing the victim's limbs with unnatural strength and resilience. The virus is highly adaptive, and as a result, its hosts tend to share this trait. The secondary answer to this question is...do you want to see Dirge fight monsters or not? As for Dirge, his entire backstory will eventually be explained. If not in the flash series, in the top-secret DVD series. =) There is just so much backstory going on, it's impossible to cover it all in little 5 minute increments. Something has always risen my curiosity whenever I watch chapter 3. When Zoe first dives behind one of the stands (in order to hide from the clown zombies), a large shadow is shown on the ground. However, this shadow doesn't seem match any character shown to date. It looks like something you'd expect from a vampire. Can you tell us who's making that shadow, or will that be revealed soon in the story? Sorry to disappoint, but it's just the zombie tiger. The shadow was actually taken directly from the tiger's outline. But it does kind of throw people off. In chapter 3 you gave a small glimpse to the character Nephthys, and in chapter 4 you fully introduced her. After taking notice of how she acts, I've wondered if she is going to be meant to be an ally along side Dirge, Zoe, and Cerberus, or if she is going to be the first major villain (Or the only major villian) of the story. Can you give us some insight on this? I can tell you that, either way, you'll be a seeing a LOT of her. She definitely factors heavily into the story, though her origins might not be fully explored in this series. Very possibly the sequel series, though. (There are three series currently planned) But I can tell you that there are some new characters coming VERY soon. And they are most certainly evil. As being recognized as one of the best flash animators to ever grace Newgrounds, a number of people, some currently flash animators themselves, or soon to be flash animators, look up to you. What advice do you have for these people, and for all flash animators in general? (Blush) Thanks. Firstly, I would highly recommend developing a story of your own. Your own characters. Your own plot. Imagine creating the most amazing cartoon of all time, but you can't market it or profit from your creation in any way because you used somebody else's copyrighted material. If you push yourself in an original direction, there's no end to the cool stuff you can come up with. Secondly, don't ever feel you have to resort to stuff like swearing or gore to get attention. A good animation will stand on its own. Especially one that everybody can enjoy. Other than that, practice all the time. Draw something every day. Animate something every day. And always enjoy what you're doing. If you stop having fun, you're doing something wrong. =) Well, since I seem to be all out of questions, I guess we'll finish up here with this question. What can we expect to see from the Xombie series? Give us any details you can. It helps build up the Xombie hype. DVDS! Toys. Video games. Lots of stuff. The Xombie story is so big, that it looks like we'll see a feature film hit DVD very soon. The Xombie saga was originally written (back in 1996) as a trilogy of three feature-film scripts. The flash episodes are small 5-minute snippets from the 'first film.' So what we'll see, eventually, will be a super-charged version of the series, directed by myself, but animated by an entire team of professionals. As details become available, I'll post them on the site. I'm really excited about it. That's all. Thanks again for your time, James. Can't wait to see the next chapter of Xombie. Thanks very much for thinking of me. Glad you guys like the show. Check out these Portal submissions by jamesfarr: --select-- Website: JamesFarr.com Age: 30 Gender: Male Habitat: Tulsa, OK Job: Animator / Weirdo Favorite Films: LOTR Night of the Living Dead Donnie Darko Favorite Bands: Orbital E.S. Posthumus Clint Mansell