Interview With Carolina Ravassa

By Justin D Williams

Otakus & Geeks had the pleasure of chatting with actress Carolina Ravassa about her new film Morgan’s Mask which is now available on VOD.

Otakus & Geeks: What was your reaction when you read the script?

Carolina Ravassa:  There were a lot of things that I connected to.  My life isn't Morgan and I didn't experience things exactly like she did, but there were a lot of parallels I could draw from. I feel like, connecting to an online community was part of what I was doing during the pandemic, which she does. I definitely had to talk to my sisters and my parents on Zoom and do all the different FaceTime thing, apparatuses. So that was part of staying a little bit sane. I was in my apartment alone for a long time, so that definitely felt a little lonely and difficult. The script kind of like painted a picture of very similar situations during the pandemic with certain things that were different, but, you know, it just kind of like drew parallels. So it help me to connect to Morgan’s character.

Otakus & Geeks: One thing I really liked about this film is the fact that it's so real. Like this is something someone went through, and it is just like the stages of Morgan's character. Like in the beginning, she is upbeat, optimistic, but as the film progresses the isolation starts to get to her. A theme that I love in the film they use my favorite film of all time, It’s a Wonderful Life and it was just a new point of view of that particular film, where you see those parallels of where her relationship with boyfriend Arthur and the theme of sacrifice and selflessness, like, she's ready, she wants to go to New York Comic-Con and Arthur's like, no, you can do that next time. Can you talk a little bit about that dynamic of that, the theme of  when it comes to Morgan?

Carolina Ravassa: I think that Morgan was just trying to please everyone, well, yes, her boyfriend for sure and also make sure she connects with the online community because she thinks they need her. So when her socials do get blocked, she's like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do? It's almost like the external validation is very important and instead of  going, okay, what am I feeling inside and how do I focus on me and how I can be happy? She goes deeper into a path that wasn’t so good. I do think that even though her mom and sister were trying to help at that point, Morgan needed to sort of dig deep within herself, do some work and then be able to come back. Because I do think that her family was trying to be very supportive. Even her mom.

Otakus & Geeks: Was this film during the pandemic or was it film to capture the time period of Covid?

Carolina Ravassa: Yes, we shot at my apartment because we didn't have an actual set. So that's my apartment in the film.  Due to Covid Troy Baker, Madelina, we weren't going to see them in person. They shot by themselves with an iPhone. Then we would go on Zoom and talk stuff through. So they sent us all the footage and that was kind of cool because it was very real, which is what we were going for.  

Otakus & Geeks: You mention that you film in your very own apartment. What was that like filming in your own home?

Carolina Ravassa: Actually it ended up being perfect, you imagine building a set and filling it with books and stuff and but our budget was very minimal, so we did decide to shoot in my apartment and it's a literally a one bedroom apartment. It was one bedroom, the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, everything you see is where we filmed. That's why we were shooting from all different angles to sort of make it interesting. So if we were shooting in the bedroom the crew was there cameraman's there, sound guys there and everything else has been moved to my living room. All the equipment, all the boxes, all the people that are helping, they're just sitting on boxes like waiting for the scene to be done.  It was beautiful and chaotic, because at the end of the day I was like, okay, everybody get outta my house (laughing.) I want to go to sleep <laugh>. But you know, as soon as they'd leave, I'd sort of sweep and, and clean up the, the stuff that we could because the kitchen was always a mess on purpose because that was the set. So we couldn't move a lot of stuff, I'd go to sleep, wake up, do my yoga, and then just everybody would come back in. It was an 11 days shoot with 10 people in my tiny apartment. It became very tight at times.

Otakus & Geeks:  As an actress did you find it a bit challenging filming with nobody to play off with and being the only one on set?

Carolina Ravassa: So we had the other cast send the clips in first and we edited the stuff we wanted. For all the scenes with Troy Baker, I had the pre-filmed stuff on the screen.  I was acting opposite that because we left spaces for when I would talk. But it's tricky because, you're not getting a natural performance every time because he's already pre-filmed, but it was still good to like work off something. But sometimes I would just be looking at a screen and somebody else was reading lines off camera. I wasn't acting opposite the real stuff that we had just because we hadn't edited it yet. So I was literally just like talking to a blank screen or video of it.

Troy Baker in MorgAN’S mASK

Otakus & Geeks: How has your experience as a voice actor and voicing Overwatch, how did that help being filmed solo? I'm assuming in the booth your recording solo. Did you find it more easier to do this for live action when you're playing this isolated character it is as opposed to going in the booth?

Carolina Ravassa: Great question! I hadn't ever thought of that, but I think all the voice acting has helped because even recording for animations and other video games, we don't get to act opposite with other actors. A lot of times it's create those emotions inside of you and bring them out in that moment.  I think that that's definitely helped over the years, you know, doing that so much. It's just like we have to use our imagination and create the scenarios, that are happening and then just live truthfully in that moment. So that was definitely part of what I was doing with Morgan.

Otakus & Geeks:  You stated you saw parallels with Morgan to yourself how did playing Morgan helped you during the pandemic?

Carolina Ravassa:  We, as artists, we missed being able to meet up with people and do stuff. And I hadn't done on-camera work in a really long time, so it felt good to just be able to flex that muscle. I think just creating something during tough times can be really rewarding. It reminded me of the things that we need to pay attention to and that we have to focus on the things that we like to do every day. Morgan loves making costumes and she did something that she loved during that tough time. I've been actually learning how to play guitar and I've been practicing almost every day and it's something that I love, so I'm like, I do it because it makes me happy. You know, so finding that and, reconnecting with loved ones, all of that's important, you know? So, I think it was just a nice reminder for all that stuff.

Otakus & Geeks: The character of Morgan is a cosplayer. What was your favorite cosplay that you had to wear for the role?

Carolina Ravassa: , I have to choose Mercy. It was hard because the harness is tight and the wings were heavy, but it was just so beautiful. You know, Melanie Jasmine is the cosplay who did it. She is so talented and I loved that it was the final moment where it's, it's majestic and beautiful and there's all this light and it's obviously metaphoric for like, coming out of the dark hole. That was my absolute favorite for sure.

Otakus & Geeks: What do you hope people will take away from the film?

Carolina Ravassa: That not everybody's life is perfect on social media. That everyone's going through something personally, that there is hope, if you are dealing with anxiety or depression or have suicidal thoughts, I wanted gamers and cosplayers and anybody who has felt this in the pandemic or feels it now to find a little ray of light and some hope. Whether seeking help either through friends, family or professional help. Like all of that's really important because, there are ways to combat this, you know, and I think that we're still dealing with part of the fallout of the pandemic and the aftermath. It's tough because a lot of people still feel stuck. So it was just a little bit of inspiration for people to connect with what they love and who they love. I hope that they feel, even though it gets really dark, I hope that they, they find the, the positive sides of it and, and how Morgan manages to come out. So we just want to inspire people, give them hope.