Hot off the heels of their Street Fighter x Tekken success, Thousand Pounds Action Company started a kickstarter campaign to fund their new and exciting series, Clandestine. Since then the company have also made various fan made anime fights such as scenes from Naruto. With such a dedicated and ambitious team behind them there is no doubt that they will do well, so we took the chance to catch up with both Chris Cowan and Haile Lee to ask what Clandestine is all about. You can check out their Kickstarter page here.
Haile: Both. I feel the overall story is fueled by our main characters wanting to unite to find peace but there are those who feel threatened or don’t understand the new stance and fight against it. The story then becomes a question on who will comply with the new movement and who needs to be reasoned with, and/or destroyed to see the dream through to the end. I also want to add that no clan is either good or bad, they just have different views and motivations – overall, expect some interesting tragic moments throughout the series.
Your team have a wide range of skills; what influences brought you all together?
Chris: It has definitely been our teams’ love for martial arts, anime, video games, manga and comic books. We can nerd out pretty hard, haha.
What were your influences when you were younger to inspire you to take up martial arts?
Chris: I actually just started training in martial arts about two and a half years ago. I had always wanted to learn when I was a kid, but sadly never got the chance. I picked up a camera instead. But now I’m training in traditional Shotokan karate at Valley Traditional Martial Arts under sensei Taichiro Kaijima, and I absolutely love it!
How long does it take to make one of your short movies and how much work is involved?
Chris: It depends on the project really, but usually everything can be completed within a month’s time, given that the real world and day jobs stay out of the way. But that never happens.
What advice would you give any aspiring film makers looking to get into the industry?
Chris: To just get out there and make things. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a lot of money. Start with just a scene here or there. Try an effects test. Make a fake trailer. ANYTHING. Don’t let limited resources stop you from training in filmmaking. If you don’t have a camera at your disposal, grab your phone and start shooting with that!
Having now tackled Naruto are there any other animes you would like to attempt?
Haile: My big dream, like my….“I must do this before I die” dream would be getting the opportunity to adapt and do justice to Berserk and or First Gundam in a live action genre. I think both of those franchises are really well written and fantastic stories that not only Eastern audiences enjoy. I’m all about staying true to the source material, as you saw with Naruto, but I feel with an ever-so-gentle, slight change, Berserk and or Gundam would be amazing here. Now because I said this, watch someone go out there, grab the license and mess it up…. haha. Countdown starts now.
If Clandestine were to gain a strong following will you continue to a full or second series?
Haile: Yes, easily so. If successful, we already planned ahead for three seasons for the full story arc. 😀
Would you have cast Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile in the Street Fighter Movie?
Haile: No. “I’m going to kick that sonuvabitch Bison’s ass so Hard – that the next bison wannabe will feel it! ” …um yeah, no.
And finally, who is your favourite fighting games character?
Haile: Dudley from the Street Fighter series. Goh Hinogami from the Virtua Fighter Series. Kujo Jotaro from Jo Jo’s Bizarre Adventure and Steve Fox from Tekken. I’ll stop here…..this list can get pretty ridiculous if I keep going.
Be sure to follow Thousand Pounds Action Company’s progress over at thousandpoundsaction.com and subscribe to their channel over on YouTube. To show your support for the Clandestine project be sure to hit their Kickstarter page and pledge what you can. Here’s a little teaser of what you can expect to see in the way of choreography, if you are just too impatient.
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