58 - TOWER w Craig Staggs and Steph Swope (Minnow Mountain animation)

Month of Mayhem True Crime Series continues for our 2 Year Anniversary. On Ep 58 Paco, George and producer Will sit down with the Craig Staggs and Steph Swopes (Minnow Mountain) the animation director and producer of the 2016 documentary Tower. Tower is an animated documentary film directed by Keith Maitland about the 1966 shootings at the University of Texas at Austin. August 1, 1966, was the day our innocence was shattered. A sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the iconic University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes in what was a previously unimaginable event. TOWER combines archival footage with rotoscopic animation of the dramatic day, based entirely on first person testimonies from witnesses, heroes and survivors, in a seamless and suspenseful retelling of the unfolding tragedy. The film highlights the fear, confusion, and visceral realities that changed the lives of those present, and the rest of us, forever - a day when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others. The film is based on a 2006 Texas Monthly article by Pamela Colloff, "96 Minutes." Maitland originated from New Jersey and attended UT Austin. Maitland read the article in 2006 and asked Colloff to have lunch with him. He suggested making a film about the incident during the meeting. Colloff became one of the executive producers of the film. Early on Maitland realized that he and his team likely would not be able to film reenactments on the University campus and so they decided to opt for an animated aesthetic " to show the geography of the campus". Footage was mostly shot in Maitland's backyard and then animated by production company Minnow Mountain who was aided by pictures Maitland had shot around campus. Craig Staggs is an animator, illustrator, filmmaker and writer. His illustrations have been featured in publications such as The New York Times and the covers of Simon and Schuster’s Star Trek: Starfleet Academy book series. His iconic work on Richard Linklater’s cult classic A Scanner Darkly lead to a successful freelance animation career before founding Minnow Mountain with the goal of developing original feature films, television and web series. He is a Co-Producer/Director of Animation on Tower and the Creator of Earp. After earning a BFA in Photography from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Steph Swope began a diverse career in the visual arts. A veteran of the independent film industry, Steph rose from art department and photo/video research to producing award winning animation and video. She is a Co-Producer/Producer of Animation on Tower and Executive Producer of Earp. http://www.towerdocumentary.com/ http://igg.me/at/murderlake http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/96-minutes/

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