I know that Cadence and Shining Armor (and now the opening narration) were cut from the film, but how else is the film differing in the aimed final product from what was shown at last year's BronyCon?
For one thing, its a hell of a lot shorter! XD
In all seriousness, Journey of the Spark has undergone such a huge evolution since we first began. We’ve experimented, improved, learned from our mistakes. The best way I can really describe how the film is differing from what we’ve shown is just that, everything feels more balanced.
The humor is a lot funnier, the drama is much more effective, the songs make a lot more sense, it just works. The dark atmosphere WAS toned down considerably, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The movie still has its dark moments, but everything just flows so much better. I was very self concious about the movie before, but now that we’ve made the changes and everything is rolling, I LOVE the movie we’re making.
Do you also plan to do any pony movie adaptations for any animated movies like those made by Don Bluth and Disney?
As I’ve stated before, we have no plans to do anything else pony related after Journey of the Spark. I cannot stress that enough.
With the opening narration cut, how does the movie fare as a standalone story that can be followed by fans and non-fans alike?
I think it fares extraordinarily well. Just wait til’ you guys see the first 10 minutes. I think it stands out really well. Obviously, I can’t really spoil anything, but the movie takes enough of its own unique twists and turns that it manages to become its own individual piece.
Personally, I think the script we have now just manages to ease newcomers in a lot better. There are minor references to canon, but they’re done so subtlely, anyone can follow it.
Are you and your crew fans of "Children of the Night" and if so, would you ever make a film adaption of the short or not?
We are fans of “Children of the Night”. The visual style and look of Journey of the Spark is greatly inspired by the techniques used in the short. But a film adaptation? Absolutely not.
We have no plans to do anything else pony related after Journey of the Spark’s completion. Not even if its requested by popular demand. We have a lot of other stuff in development that we wanna push forward. Another pony animation is, sadly, not one of them.
Would you ever do a collaboration project with Silly Filly Studios some time later?
This I’m pretty sure will not happen for multiple reasons. Even though we’re friends with many of the people from Silly Filly, they’re perfectly fine with doing smaller animations (for good reason since animation takes time) and running things in their own way.
We’re initially a lot more ambitious and we’re perfectly okay with them doing their own thing. Besides, we technically collaborate with Silly Filly a lot mostly because some of the VA’s from the studio are voicing in quite a few of our future projects.
