Filmmaker Interview: Justin T. Lee and Lindsay Lee

The “Miikshi: Cosmic Rays” mini movie series (above is the link to the first episode on the topic of µPS) is being made with the creative collaboration of filmmakers and a physicist to introduce new topics in muography. Using hand-made puppets, retro miniature sets and fantastic submarine/aircraft “mecha” props mixed seamlessly with digital special effects, Canadian filmmakers Justin T. Lee and Lindsay Lee describe how they, along with their creative team at Gazelle Automations, are creating these compelling films to educate and entertain audiences of all ages. “Miikshi: Cosmic Rays” is available in both English and dubbed Japanese.

Could you please introduce the storyline, characters and the environment of your action/adventure “Miikshi:  Cosmic Rays”?

Miikshi began as several short films (filmed in the tiny back room of a pizza shop), which then evolved into a series with Canadian broadcaster TVOkids, produced in partnership with Canadian production company Shaftesbury. “Miikshi: Cosmic Rays” takes place in the bustling city of Mibukiville, populated by anthropomorphic animals and their farm-inspired retro technology. In this story, Mibukiville’s new underwater tunnel is threatened by a volcano under the lake bed that’s reactivated after thousands of years — sheep scientist Miikshi must save the city from disaster before it’s too late!

What made you decide to make the main character, Miikshi, a scientist? How has science influenced or inspired you in your life?

Miikshi began as a silly joke between us. We were intentionally corrupting the English words ‘meek’ and ‘sheep’ into the made-up word ‘miikshi’. When we decided to make Miikshi the main character of our new project, as soon as we thought of putting her in a lab coat, it felt right to us; she’s a quiet scientist who is incredibly passionate about science. While neither of us have professionally pursued the sciences, we’re incredibly inspired by news of space exploration, deep sea discoveries and everything in between. We’re also fans of science-fiction works like Star Trek, which ignite viewers’ interest in the sciences and sometimes lead them to science-based careers.

How did the idea for the new “Miikshi: Cosmic Rays” mini movie came about? Please describe your collaboration with Hiroyuki Tanaka on this project.

We find Professor Hiroyuki Tanaka’s work in the field of muography extremely fascinating. After reading his papers about large-scale 3D imaging, new methods of implementing global positioning technology and improvements to clock synchronization, we were very excited about telling a Miikshi story to inspire viewers and get them just as excited about these real-world applications of muography. For “Miikshi: Cosmic Rays”, we began with the muometric technique we’d be incorporating (in this case, µPS) and crafted a story around it. We knew certain aspects of the science would need to be simplified for the film (especially as the characters are barnyard animals), so we worked closely with Professor Tanaka to ensure he was happy with how these elements were portrayed. We also really wanted him to perform the voice of Professor Dogwyn Tanaka, who ends the movie by explaining which part of the story used real-world science, and how muography is being explored today.

What were your first impressions when you started to learn about muography and muPS (the technique featured in the first newly released mini movie)?

We were immediately intrigued by muography when we started to learn about it — we’d never heard of it before! The wonderful thing we’ve seen happen, which was the goal of the film, is people having the same reaction we did. Our film crew all came to learn about muography through making the movie with us, and we’ve already seen audiences react that way as well. Because the field of study has such relatable real-world implications, we’re able to get our heads around the basic concepts (even if we aren’t scientists ourselves, sheep or otherwise!).

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when incorporating muPS into this new “Miikshi: Cosmic Rays” mini movie?

The most important thing to us was that µPS was depicted as realistically as possible, within the limits of a 10 to 15-minute mini-movie. Creating the simplified animation to visually describe the technique was a challenge, since we knew it had to keep the story moving, be relevant to the characters and still carry a sense of fun.

The 1960’s seem to inspire many aspects of the set and fantastic “mecha” invention designs in “Miikshi”.  What attracts you to this time period and is there anything you think we can learn or be inspired by when we look back at that time?  How do you think people’s attitude to science and technology has changed since then?

A lot of 1960s design put form ahead of function. Or at the very least treated them with equal importance. Chrome edges on jukeboxes, ridiculous fins on cars…the perfect stuff to complement an action-adventure story brought to life with puppet characters, we think! Seeing tape reels spin, lots of indicator lights flickering or having the characters pull large levers helps to inject energy into the image. And, you know, we also just think it looks cool! There was a pervasive interest and optimism about the future in the 1960s, which also feeds into Miikshi’s optimistic depiction of fantastical inventions. In terms of looking back to that time, it’s amazing to see how much has changed in terms of science and technology, and what hasn’t changed that much. The interesting thing we’ve noticed about 1960s predictions of the future was that much of today’s tech was imagined back then, but all as separate machines as opposed to the consolidated devices we use today. In Miikshi’s world, however, having one machine that does each thing is just more interesting for filmmaking!

What was it like to work on “Thunderbirds: The Anniversary Episodes” with some of the original cast/crew and what were the some of the ways you applied what you learned from that experience when you started to create “Miikshi”?

Creating new 1960s episodes of Thunderbirds in 2015 was a fascinating challenge, as we were re-learning and re-discovering things that a team of people had developed 50 years earlier. We had fellow crew members who’d worked on Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, James Bond, etc., and it was amazing collaborating with them and watching their problem-solving processes. We also loved that several of the original 1960s crew members were with us, ‘going back to work’ 50 years later. Since our Thunderbirds episodes were made as part of ITV’s 50th anniversary celebration, the goal was to do as much as possible using the 1960s puppet and model filmmaking methods. When we came back to Canada and started working on Miikshi, we carried over aspects of the aesthetic but used whatever filmmaking technique worked best for our very limited budget and resources, which could be anything from a handmade prop to digital set extensions and CG animation.

What influenced your decision to choose a “tangible filmmaking” approach to tell the stories in the “Miikshi” series by using only a small percentage of digital effects and by building/making puppets, props, and sets almost entirely by hand?

We wanted to give the world of Miikshi a very tangible, toys-come-to-life feel, and while digital filmmaking can pretty much achieve that today, with our resources the most direct way to achieve that is to put a puppet or model in front of a camera. However, “Miikshi: Cosmic Rays” benefited from the ever-expanding set of digital tools, and this marked the first time we incorporated AI-generated visuals and photogrammetry to create some of the film.

What are your plans for the future?  Will there be more episodes of “Miikshi: Cosmic Rays” coming soon?

There is another “Miikshi: Cosmic Rays” adventure in the works already, and we can’t wait to share that when it’s finished. Thank you!

Miikshi website: https://miikshi.com/films

muPS (popular science): https://www.newscientist.com/article/…

muPS (academic article): https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159…