Final Fantasy VIII The Movie: Cosplay Fan Film Interview
Interview Conducted by Aesthel
Final Fantasy VIII The Movie is a fan project put together by cosplayers and fans of the game, hoping to recreate the opening cinematic of FFVIII as exactly as they can, shot by shot! We had the joy of interviewing this super talented team and learning about their inspirations and the work that has gone into this project over the years so far! Follow the project on their YouTube channel and their Facebook page! You can also see more from these wonderful cosplayers in the Final Fantasy issue of Cosplay Realm Magazine, available now!
CRM: Hello Everyone! You are the team behind the fan made Final Fantasy VIII The Movie project! Could you please introduce yourselves to the Cosplay Realm readers?
FFVIII The Movie: Hi everyone, our work team is mainly composed by:
> Giovanni Spatola aka Softtm17 (Squall): Our leader, a huge FFVIII fan and our 2d / 3d graphics, photography and video composer and director.
> Saily Ivett Del Llano Aroche aka Lilitherz (Rinoa), that deals with tailoring, costume design and digital design.
> Giuseppe Gambera: Our second 3d graphics modeler and animator.
CRM: This project is a huge endeavor that includes work with studios, rendering, video and photography, and of course cosplay! What have been some of the most interesting parts for all of you to work on so far?
FFVIII The Movie: There is not exactly one more or less interesting part of the others. In each sector there are difficulties, but once we reach that small goal we always have our satisfactions and we never stop surprising ourselves by learning new and more advanced things.
CRM: In addition to it being a huge project, it is also entirely self funded. What have been some of the biggest challenges for you all working on the film?
FFVIII The Movie: Well, MOVIE is a big word ... that would be more a dream and for sure we will never be able to do it without the help of a huge company and without the authorization from SQEX. That’s why we are now aiming for the opening and an extra video... but despite this, considering the quality we want to give to all FFVIII fans; the greatest difficulty is not so much having X budget to buy / rent equipment or anything else, but it is to find the right locations to shoot certain scenes and especially WHEN to shoot them. A big problem that made us lose 1 year, was the lawn of the opening which, due to the climate and the rains, instead of finding the perfect lawn, visited 1 week before, when we went shooting one week later, we found completely another environment in front, totally different from what we expected and had to postpone everything for 1 year.
CRM: You mentioned that you are trying to recreate the opening cinematic frame by frame, down to the most invisible details. You must have studied the original cinematic so many times! What have been some of your favorite details to include?
FFVIII The Movie: It must be said that having seen all the videos of the game over and over, frame after frame, there are more errors that I can try to avoid putting than the details that can be found there ... In any case, apart from the various errors, one of the particular details that can escape everyone's sight can be the bullet shell that is seen to jump off when Seifer goes to rage the squall scar.
CRM: You all have been working on this project for a few years now! Can you tell us about what first inspired you to start on all of this?
Giovanni: Madness? No no no just joking (maybe), however the passion was the main hype, once I met and saw my girlfriend who looks incredibly like Rinoa, the fuse lit up from there and I thought I wanted to do some cosplay videos ... But thinking on it, considering our qualities and friendships, we decided to open this ambitious project as a challenge, a little as a game / amusement.
CRM: In order to dedicate yourselves to a project like this you must all have a really strong connection with this game. Can you tell us about what this game means to you and what you love so much about it?
Giovanni: I always speak as a founder ... This game for me is, and was my childhood. It taught me many morals, made me dream, made me fall in love. It is difficult to explain what FFVIII means to me, but it really helped me in my childhood / private life to go through difficult moments and above all I saw myself a lot in the protagonist ... this also influenced more in identifying myself as Squall and living the whole FFVIII story the fullest. Consider that I finished it 74 times plus I also finished the Challange No junction & No level up ... all on youtube!
CRM: Final Fantasy VIII is a story with a heavy focus on character development and relationships. In fact both of you who cosplay Squall and Rinoa are in a relationship in real life! What have been some of your favorite memories of cosplaying together as a couple?
FFVIII The Movie: We spent a lot of moments in it; for example doing stupid stuff in cosplay among the crowd during an FF-themed concert. But one of the moments that remained most dear to us was when at the end of the dance scene we had done on stage, the judge got up moved and came to congratulate us and hug us both.
CRM: As the project moves forward do you hope to add cosplayers of the other characters in the game? If so, what plans do you have for the other characters?
FFVIII The Movie: Currently 100% finished we only have Squall and Rinoa in their 2 versions. Mandatory, because of the opening, we will soon show the other couple: Seifer and Edea. Other "to be confirmed" characters that we will include in the extra video may be: Ultimecia, Biggs and Wedge, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, and Zell. Obviously, scenes still to be decided and implemented.
CRM: In addition to the fantastic cosplays featured in this project, we’re also super interested in the production side involving 3D modeling! Can you explain some of the ways that 3D modeling is being used in this project?
FFVIII The Movie: 3D is the key to everything. Having 3D printers, all accessories / weapons are modeled and printed directly by us, you can take the gunblade or the belts that were first printed in plastic and then casted in aluminum and made TRUE, as an example. Apart from weapons and accessories, of course, there are locations that do not exist in reality and therefore we will resort to realistic photo video rendering to be used as a background as seen in the great films of cinema.
CRM: The main focus of this project is recreating the game’s opening cinematic, but you have mentioned that you are also looking to create an extra video with other scenes from the game. Can you tell us about some of the other scenes that you hope to produce? What are some scenes in the game that have been the most inspiring for you?
FFVIII The Movie: For sure we will try to reproduce a scene "inspired" by the demo of FFVIII in which we will put a fight against X-ATM092 and we will use invocations like Ifrit and / or Quezacotl. Then we have various scenes in mind, always taken from the game, obviously scenes that are not complex to do (at the level of 3d rendering / effects etc) so as not to waste too much time. There will also be parody scenes from the game in the finale, but an important scene that we will 100% certainly do is when Squall has to accompany Rinoa to Esthar across the bridge of F.H. The exact moment Squall changes and opens to Rinoa.
CRM: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer our questions! Is there anything else that you would like to say to the readers?
FFVIII The Movie: We hope that regardless of whether this madness is successful or not, you keep dreaming with us through these renderings / photos / moments that we slowly publish step by step. We also hope you understand the various difficulties and madness that these few people who are working under this project are undergoing. I repeat, project is self-financed and if you want to support us or make us understand that you are there, even just a simple comment like or sharing is enough to be rewarded by the efforts we are making over all these years. Thanks again to everyone who supports us! A special thanks to our collaborators that we would like to mention: Andrea Campo, Andrea Guerreri, Emanuele Spatola, Francesco Siscaro, Luca Barone, Luigi Balsamo, Walter Lupo. Thanks you guys for helping us in all this!