Maybe not to the extent that Season 4 has been doing, but we’re definitely gonna try. Our main inspiration for lighting was Japanese anime and films from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

Believe it or not, one of the key examples that I noted to the animation team was a shot from Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke as a primary source of how to make the lighting reflect the character’s surroundings. It was that level of beauty and grandeur that I wanted to achieve and I stressed that a lot to the team.

Spike still is, Luna isn’t anymore. The Concept Trailer is fairly outdated now considering what we ended up changing in the script overhaul.

22. We’re currently at 978. We are so close!

Certainly. The film acts as a memorial for my grandmother, Leticia Sayes. A month after my grandmother passed away, I came up with the story for Journey of the Spark as a way of sort of coping with the feelings I had at that time.

Twilight and Celestia’s relationship in the film very much reflects the relationship I shared with my grandmother.

Also, thank you. Making this project has been incredibly hard at times, but the reception at BronyCon definitely lit a spark in me, so to speak. Things have just sort of gone uphill for us as a team ever since.

As stated in a question prior to this one, the script was given a major overhaul so that the story takes place in-between Seasons 2 and 3. The film picks up not too long after “A Canterlot Wedding”.

Our key reason as to why we opted to do in-between Seasons 2 and 3 was because it was a period in which Friendship is Magic was undergoing changes in direction. For us, the audience, it was the time in which the characters were growing and changing. It was a huge metamorphosis and many of the changes were scary for a lot of people.

To me, I found that it was a good idea for us to evoke nostalgic feelings for the audience by going backwards and showing people why the changes in Friendship is Magic had to happen. For me, it was a chance to analyze and examine the overall themes and expand upon the ideals set up by Lauren Faust in the first and second seasons. How does Twilight eventually go down the path towards earning her title as Princess? What was the history behind Celestia and Discord? What about their friendship do the Mane 6 see that makes them realize how important they are to one another?

These were questions swirling around in my brain that I was just so fascinated in exploring and while the movie won’t answer all the questions, it leaves open the room for new interpretations of the source material.