Anthony Palacios
Hello! Thanks for your time, Anthony. Could you please tell us, how it's started on your side? How did you start to do, what you do?
I'd always been interested in art when I was young. I'd spend hours drawing superheroes and other characters in sketchbooks and scraps of paper. When I began college, art in general didn't really seem like a sustainable career choice for me as I wasn't a very good illustrator to begin with. A friend of mine mentioned he was majoring in graphic design and it peaked my interest. I looked into the field a little more and realized that I could actually have a steady paying career designing posters, CD and book covers so I jumped into it head first.I got my first gig working part-time designing websites for local businesses. At the time, websites were in their infancy so everything was uncharted territory, so it was a lot of fun setting my own standards and experimenting. When I graduated, I began working full-time doing small corporate brochureware sites and it just grew from there. I've been working in the field ever since.
Trigger, any specific idea behind the company name?
The idea behind the name was to create or trigger change. The owner and Executive Creative Director of the company Jason Yim, wanted a mantra to live by. So, as a company we're very involved in giving back. Each year we give proceeds to numerous charitable organizations throughout the world. Just this past month, a school construction project in Afghanistan was completed in support of CARE's Lower Community Based Education Project. It's something that we are very proud of.
You are mostly doing film stuff, how did you decide, that you want to work in this field? Are you planning to move into another spheres like doing car-sites?
In 1998, I stumbled upon the website for Independence Day. It completely blew me away and at that point, I knew that I wanted to design movie websites. Shortly after, I moved to Los Angeles and began working with Jason. As for the reason Trigger is focused on the entertainment industry, it was a no-brainer. We work in the epicenter of the entertainment industry, (Los Angeles) and we are all really into movies and video games. We have such a love for film and storytelling that it's a natural fit. Non-entertainment companies come to us to create 'Hollywood-style' products. We've definitely found our niche and it doesn't stop with websites. We are also creating games and content for the web, iphone, ipad, additional mobile devices and kiosks.
What is the most interesting and most worse part on working for film-companies?
The most interesting part of creating movie websites and/or games is when they are parts of larger marketing campaigns. Projects like District 9 and 2012 were year-long projects with multiple teams and departments involved which opens the campaign up to a lot of collaboration. The larger campaigns that involve social networks, games and ARG websites tell a broader story and provide an extended narrative for the film. The worst part is when the timeline is extremely tight and we can't put as much detail in as we'd ultimately like.
Could you tell us about the most interesting project you have done?
I've been in the business for over 14 years now so it's hard to pinpoint just a few projects, but I think the Spider-Man projects have been the most rewarding, because they were so personal to me. It's a character that I grew up with and to be given the opportunity to design and work on the 3 film websites with a great client like Sony Pictures was a huge accomplishment.
What are your plans for the future?
I'll continue contributing to the development of our company. We are really growing both in size and skill sets so it continues to be really interesting. Bigger campaigns, more games and additional development platforms are always on the horizon. The landscape is always changing so we tend to stay agile.
By working for film, you are probably invited to the movie premiers? Do you visit any of them?
It's actually difficult to get premier tickets, but our friends at the studios have been nice enough to invite us to a few premiers and pre-screenings over the years. For some it may not be a big deal, but I still tend to 'geek out'. I can forget about all of the blood, sweat and tears that go into a project and just be a fan like everyone else.
How many hours do you work per day, what are your other things that you are doing daily?
8-10 hours a day is pretty standard. There's a lot of work to be done and so many projects to stay on top of, you never really 'log off'. I make it a point of getting out with the team for lunch to get some air and reset. I also make it a point of spending time with the family as well. They are very important too!
I think movie sites are necessary to be viewed on iPhone, but they don't support flash. What is your opinion about that?
We've gotten around this challenge by creating unique iPhone experiences. We're now concepting and developing apps and games to promote our clients films. Packaged with the game or app are trailers, galleries, and basic film info and all of these apps and games are available to the general public at no charge through the iTunes Store. We've also created iPhone native movies sites so I think that need for iPhone specific content is being met. As the iPad and other tablets gain momentum, we'll be developing more content for those platforms as well.
I heard to get a movie-project, you need to do a lot of pitching and comping for the client. You are not getting tired of working so much on film stuff, overall?
I think it's different for every agency. We have a strong reputation within the industry and have worked with every major studio. They are familiar with our work, so there isn't as much of a need to do a lot of comping to prove ourselves. We still however, work very hard on every project and put a great deal of care, creativity and effort into each one. I don't think I could ever get tired of working on film related projects because each one is so unique. There is no 'cookie cutter' solution for our campaigns, there's always a different challenge or set of parameters we have to work with. It's always been fun for me.
So, the question is, your job is also your hobby? Or?
It's definitely a job. When you put so much time and effort into something, it's no longer a hobby. I love doing what I do though, I can't imagine doing anything else for a living. The industry is always evolving and it's fun to be part of that evolution.
