BunnyDojo interview

[bazzah]

[attachment=11461:av_35269.gif] Here it is, the interview with the legendary BunnyDojo!

The cover World Stuff

- Where did your nickname come from?
Drawing NES-style character sprites, one of the resulting images was a bunny in a karate outfit. For reasons unknown, it stuck.
- What part of the world do you come from?
The greater New York City area
- What got you into designing covers in the first place?
I came upon a thread on DVDTalk.com about people creating custom covers. I love film, I love graphic design, what happened next was only natural.
- Is there anyone on the cover making scene that has inspired you?
Most covers in the earlier days were very rudimentary, so my main source of inspiration would have to be the creator of DVDCoverArt.com just for putting the idea out there. A fan favorite named Darth Vong was another strong source early on. Seeing him come up with a cover set made me want to try to do so, then seeing him use something other than posters made me want to give that a try, and so on.
- What would be your best advice to any up and coming designer?
Technically, I would suggest trying to copy a retail cover’s style to begin with. Sizing and placement issues plague most early covers. Really, though, the only important thing is to enjoy what you are doing.
- What’s your favourite cover you have made?
My favorite is whatever I have completed most recently. For the sake of giving an answer, I really like how my DVD cover for The Manchurian Candidate came out.
- What’s your least favourite cover you have made?
I made a few HD DVD covers using posters based on friends’ requests, The Holiday and The Matador. They are fine designs, and I am happy to have helped a couple of pals out, but I get no sense of accomplishment or ownership when I look at them.
- What’s your favourite cover that someone else has made?
ShokXoneStudios’ cover for Firefly immediately comes to mind. The Drew Struzan-style front design is so beyond what you would expect one of us custom cover whippersnappers to come up with.

The Personal Stuff

- What is your real name?
Tim Gengler
- What do you do for a living?
Graphic and web design
- Any kids (that you know of)?
No
- Any brothers/sisters?
One older brother
- What was your childhood like? Share an interesting "growing up" story.
I would call it a friendly childhood overall. My parents and brother were strongly loving and supportive; you would be hard-pressed to find anyone better in my book. I always liked being creative, coming up with different names and voices for stuffed animals, making all sorts of greetings cards and paper crowns, constructing ridiculously complicated board games and sports to play with friends. I remember getting in trouble a few times for mixing up all of the shampoos and soaps in the house, exploring what kind of new scents and textures I could come up with. Amazingly little has changed.
- What is your favourite food?
Eggplant parmesan, maybe?
- Tell us about your best vacation.
Disney World as a kid has to be at the top of my list, I don’t know if you can ever match that level of wonder.
- What is your favourite type of music/band?
Pop/rock is probably the best classification. The Killers and U2 are definite favorites, but I enjoy listening to everything from classical to rap.
- What is your favourite movie of all time?
To Have and Have Not
- What one place would you like to visit?
Italy would be nice, Tuscany in particular.
- What other hobbies do you have besides movies & graphics?
Writing, and playing and watching basketball
- What is the best thing that ever happened to you?
The best is yet to come.
- What is the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you?
I would say some of the silly back and forth that has happened on cover sites over the years is always high for embarrassment. Heated discussions over things like bar codes and cover ownership, as important as they seem at the time because of how tied I get to my designs, just feel so ridiculous the second after I hit “Add Reply.” The bar code debate from maybe five years ago was probably the worst. Most real life embarrassment can be brushed off or turned into something positive, so I don’t look upon it unfavorably.
- What is your favourite colour?
For graphic design my favorite color is orange. For clothing, it would have to be green.
- What is your favourite animal?
Chimpanzee, preferably wearing a tuxedo
- Who is your favourite actor?
Humphrey Bogart
- If you could meet one person, who would it be, and why?
I’d love to meet someone like the manager of The Killers or the marketing head of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment if it meant having an opportunity to work with/for them. Today, though, I’m going to have to say actress Amanda Seyfried. As for a reason, she’s cute. I tend not to take too grand of an outlook on life’s questions and problems, so that’s all the reason I need.
- If you could be one person, who would it be and why?
George Clooney: the money, the women, the villa, the interesting film projects, the influence and power to help people in need.
- What super power would you have, and why?
Flight: fresh air, infinite possible destinations.
- What is your favourite car or motorcycle?
Lotus Elise
- Are you a night-owl or an early-bird?
Night-owl
- If you knew you had 24 hours to live, how would you spend that time?
That’s hard to say. Perhaps I would sit down with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman to watch The Bucket List. It would be a treat to meet the two of them, and, after the film, I wouldn’t be afraid of dying... not because of its message, but because any fate would seem better than giving that film a third viewing. Bazinga!

Some strange stuff

- Have you ever been shot?
No
- Have you ever shot someone?
Not with anything not made by Nerf
- What size feet do you have?
11 (US), which I think is 44 or 45 in Europe
- Do you like Spam?
I’ve never tried it.
- Do you like Spam mail?
I’m a big fan of Karl “The Mailman” Malone. I’ve never seen Spam play, did he finally turn pro? (One of those “Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer” situations).
- What's your favourite colour of sky?
Blue
- Did you go out last night?
No
- What’s your worst nightmare?
Failure
- Pick three people of your preferred sex, and decide if you would marry, sleep with, or throw them off a cliff.
Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, Betty White. Step one is to throw Angelina off the cliff (with a parachute, so it could be filmed and turned into another Tomb Raider movie). Step two is to hire Scarlett Johansson as the nanny. Step three is to enjoy a rich life of delights with Betty White. And, since this is Hollywood and Scarlett Johansson is the nanny, we all know what happens with the nanny.
Anything else you feel like sharing with the community?
I think “rich life of delights with Betty White” pretty much covered it.

[easylife]

Nice read m8

[Arkflip]

Where's Darth "The Pink Thong" Vong? Good interview Tim

[Droogs]

nice read mate.

lol @ "not because of its message, but because any fate would seem better than giving that film a third viewing. Bazinga!"

cheers

[Fubster]

Excellent interview - that makes 3 in a row! Thanks for sharing so much, B.D.!

[Demonology]

Always a interesting read when it's Tim in the hot seat....

Nice interview and who is Betty White (goes to check google)

[bpmford]

Great interview Tim, a legend of covers in my eyes!

[kylumi]

Nice one Tim.....but, what I want to know is this, who is Karl “The Mailman” Malone?

[BearStyle]

I havn't had much contact with you so this was a nice read. Some insights to the mastermind behind the bunny

[wessim]

Great interview m8