Eric Zaragoza

Eric Zaragoza is known for Incoming (2018), Starian (2018) and The Last Scout (2017).

Dust Films

STARIAN

Q & A

If the world you created in your film became a reality, is that a world you would want to live in? Is there a Sci-Fi world you’d buy a one-way ticket to?

Absolutely! A place where you can explore planets freely with your friend is a world I’d want to live in. I would buy a one-way ticket to the Sci Fi World of Treasure Planet if I were to go into an animated world. Fifth Element would be my live action choice.

Name a Sci-Fi character you relate to on a spiritual level? Who is your Sci-Fi spirit animal/spirit alien?

Yautja across the board I relate to on a spiritual level. I respect the Predators for their adaptiveness, willingness to learn and they hold a code of honor, even among other species.

Friend or Foe: humanoid robots with advanced artificial intelligence? What if robots start making their own Sci-Fi films? Will you support them in their endeavors?

This is a complex question. But If I had to choose it would be Friend. I’d support robots making their own Sci Fi films, because I’d learn from them.

In 1996, Bugs Bunny recruited Michael Jordan and Bill Murray to form the greatest basketball squad of all-time, the Tune Squad; you’re Bugs, who’s on your Sci-Fi Tune Squad?

Lol. A Yautja, Xenomorph, Major (Ghost in the Shell), and Gamora.

You’ve gotta go through some bad ideas to get to the good ones. Tell us one of your bad ideas. How do you get past the bad ones to find your spark?

One of my bad ideas was a generic idea of an invisible infiltrator taking out the enemy in the wide open desert. That film will never see the light of day. How I get past the bad ones to find my spark is to tell stories based on my ideas out loud to an audience. When I’ve captivated them I know its a story worth the visuals, especially when they ask if they can see it. And boy do I have a lot of stories to tell.

Do you consider yourself part of a sci-fi community? Or when your brain is in the future and your body’s in the present, is that isolating?

I don’t think I am part of a sci fi community, yet. I figure, if my tales of sci fi are loud enough they’ll find me. It is very isolating when I think and tell others about the future. I feel like they are worried that I am not living in the present and spending too much time thinking about the future.

Do you consider yourself more of an analog or digital person? What kind of balance do strike between the two? Is there a disconnect between the technology you make films about and the technology that you make films with?

I consider myself an analog and digital person. It is whatever suits the moment. The balance is simple, sometimes the situation requires a physical approach like practical effects and sometimes to a digital effect because we’ve yet to figure a safe/inexpensive way to the situation. I don’t think there is a disconnect but an encouragement. Pushing our current tech to the limits is what pushes, encourage and leads to our future tech. I always ask myself “here is my current tech, how do I push it to its limit, how does it lead us to the future?”

When you’re creating the props and sets that make a new world, where do you look for inspiration? How do you create objects that are relatable but unfamiliar?

I love pinterest, instagram, DeviantArt and architectural books. They’re are so many visual content out there is pleasantly overwhelming. When I create objects from the future, I think of its purpose. Then I think of the closest object to what we currently have and take out all of its inefficiencies or clunkiness to create the physical future object.

Lightning round: Star Wars or Star Trek? Philip K. Dick or William S. Burroughs? Practical or CGI? Dystopia or Utopia? Post Apocalypse or Pre Apocalypse?

Star Wars. Philip K. Dick. Practical. Utopia. Post Apocalypse.