It actually helped me in the journey of making this horror/thriller because its so different from the types of movies I'm normally involved in. However, the horror/thriller genre isn't what I've always wanted to do. It just felt right when I decided to make Hector Corp. The truth is, a film has a life of its own and sometimes you just got to let it grow into itself. Hector is meant to be a dark comedy and in my mind it still is, but I don't deny that it has evolved into something that contains some dark elements. I'm not the type of person who wakes up and dream of horror films, and in fact I watch very little of it. I hope people can find humor when watching Hector, because that is where it came from. Seeing it as a horror/ thriller isn't a surprise and in my mind it is actually kinda cool! Honestly I'm just glad there are people watching it and everyone should take it however he/she decides it should be. 

Q2) How much of a challenge was it making an animated/live action hybrid feature? Would you be interested in making a full feature film in this style?

In terms of the how to go about doing it is actually not hard but the labor of actually doing it is a drag, especially with very limited man power. I pretty much did all the effects for the film but there are a few areas where I had a friend who helped me out and by the way his name is Dorian Bustamante, a dear friend who i will forever be thankful for his contribution. But if you look at the amount of work that goes into doing an almost all CG project like this one, two people is just not the way to go about it. I love the format and I would love to do more but probably not by myself again. It makes more sense to have a team of people. Don't get me wrong, every moment i spent on Hector was a treat. I learned so much and watching it grow was a great sense of accomplishment. I learned a lot about myself throughout the project. Long story short, I would love to make a full feature in this style if the proper support is there. 

I think its all about immersing the audience in the story. I would assume people who do CGI in their film are trying to add extra elements to their story and not try to damage it. I've seen badly done CGI films and I feel that I'll let it slide when it is doing a benefit to the story even when it is badly executed. It becomes a problem when the CGI completely takes you out of the world of that film. It is unfortunate when that happens because you know it could probably be a better film by not having it at all. I don't consider the CGI elements in Hector to be perfect, far from it. However, my goal was to get it to a quality that you can at least immerse yourself in that world and hopefully people do when they are watching it. 

I do love horror films but I can't pretend to be a hardcore fan. It is the result of me looking over at my DVD shelf and analyze my movie collections ;)  Let's see, from the top of my head of the horror/ thrillers genre, here is the 5 (not in any specific order):

Rosemary's baby 

I got to say my dad really got me into watching films. When I was little my dad and I would rent a bunch of movies for the weekend and watch them one after another to see who stays up later. Before making films, I created some comics myself because that was my only outlet to tell a story but when i started to learn about the power of cinema, there was no turning back. There is one particular film that got me into CGI and animation and that was "Jurassic Park". Oh my god when I saw that as a kid it blew my mind, it literally did!! 

Q6) Finally, what does the future have in store for Gary Lee?

Keep making films! I love telling stories and I would like to do a feature. There are a few stories cooking at the moment, some more manageable than others. Hector is the first attempt and the good thing is that I am able to do more because of it. I need to choose the right one to be my next challenge before I dive into it. And hopefully I can talk about it with you again!