The Clone Wars recently welcomed a new member to its team of talented individuals responsible for expanding the Star Wars universe bit by bit every week: series producer Cary Silver.
Like the calm and collected Obi-Wan Kenobi guiding the course of battle, Silver shepherds the Clone Wars series from concept to final delivery as the production storms forward, leaving a well-crafted and compelling set of episodes in its wake.
We asked the new Clone Wars producer a few questions about the series' second season, and what differences fans can expect from the last:
At what point did you come into the Clone Wars production?
I joined the Clone Wars production about three-quarters of the way through Season 1. The first order of business for me was to help find a way to get the episodes delivered for broadcast on Cartoon Network, finish up production on the remaining Season 1 episodes and getting Season 2 up on its feet and rolling. All while trying to learn about a new production system and pipeline, a new company and hundreds of employees across all of the production entities of the Clone Wars series. Quite a challenging task as you can imagine but I can't tell you how honored and humble I am to be in this position. I fully realize that this is a special opportunity on a special project at a special company working with very special people and I try to let that influence everything I do on a daily basis.
Is there anything that distinguishes this production from ones you've been involved with in the past?
Only everything about it! First off, working closely with George Lucas on Star Wars is enough to distinguish this production from the rest. But in many other ways, this production is very different from anything I've ever worked on not only because of the content but in terms of the creative aspirations of the series. George is pushing for a level of complexity in terms of the storytelling, the style of animation and art direction that more closely resembles a feature film -- a Star Wars feature. We feel like we're making a mini-movie for broadcast every week.
There's also many specific aspects of the production system that other television series don't even consider doing or have the luxury of using, such as some of the proprietary software platforms that we've developed and use as integral parts of the process. Making Star Wars for George Lucas demands a certain level of sophistication across the board and we're pushing the boundaries on all sides of the equation -- from the creative through every part of the production. The other thing that distinguishes this series is the level of talent and dedication of the crew from our Supervising Director, Dave Filoni, through his team of episodic directors and the artistic and production staff. There really isn't a more talented and dedicated group of people to work with than what's been assembled for this series.
I understand the Clone Wars production moves at a pretty brisk pace -- did you have to hit the ground running once you started?
Absolutely -- but even that feels like an understatement. I feel like I grabbed onto the back of a train barreling down the tracks and had to crawl to the front to figure out where we were going and how to help steer and guide this train into new and different directions.
Can you describe the nature of your interaction with George Lucas and Dave Filoni?
I feel my role is to help support and find any way possible to bring to life the creative vision as set out by George and realized on a daily basis by Dave. With George, it's focusing more on the larger issues of the show and the technology as well as his concept of where he wants this show and the production system to be in the years ahead. I also go through the particular production, budgetary and delivery challenges with George so he understands not only what we're dealing with today but also how we're going to get to where he wants us to go in the future.
As far as my interaction with Dave, it's more on the ground floor dealing with the specific production challenges and difficulties of creating a show of this scale and complexity. Dave is extremely fluent in the Star Wars universe as well as George's story-telling sensibility and he's absolutely vital to the process and to realizing George's vision.
How would you describe the differences between the first and second season of Clone Wars -- the animation, the characters, the story? Can you hint at what we can expect from the third?
I think they're very different aspects of the same gem. Season 1 was a ground-breaking attempt at bringing Star Wars to television and it was a monumental achievement, not only in terms of the quality that was reached but in finding the voice of the show. In Season 2, things have just gotten bigger and better and you'll see that reflected in the episodes. The scope of the series has gotten more detailed and more complex across the board. The style of animation has been refined and become much more fluid and subtle, the style of lighting and art direction have really crystallized and the overall feel and crispness of the storytelling has found its rhythm. We're looking at some episodes in the latter part of the season that will just blow people's minds. I think the fans are in for a real treat.
