The Illusionist US Trailer

The US trailer for Líllusionist is now online and some of the scenes ( parts of ) that I worked on have been included, which of course is always nice. It is also highly likely, the only time, I will or any other animators (amongst other trailers) be able to share our work from the illusionist online in some capacity or another due to quite strict contractual agreements. A topic in itself. Two of the scenes that were included featured Andre Pierdel, the old man with a top hat and wearing a purple suit who I was luckily enough to animate, and for me the most is enjoyable character I have worked on to this day. Pierdel is an actual person in real life, a magician, and an actor who played various parts in Tatis films. I believe Sylvain Chomet included him in the film as a small tribute to Pierdel for his career and involvement in the Tati films as well as his help in showing and sharing his knowledge of Magic that was used as inspiration for The Illusionist. Laurent Kircher a senior animator did the wonderful design for Pierdel which I think really captures him well. I have included some real life photos of him so you can see who the real man is and how he was caricatured in the film, and even though there are only snippets of the scenes you can at least see the similarity in the two. Of course watching the film you will see the whole scenes and get a better idea of character as the scenes are about 10 times than what you see in the trailer. Better than nothing though.

The first scene Tati and Pierdel show off their magic to each other ,but its one of those scenes you work on and that you really get into , knowing though, that a lot of it will be obscured by more important foreground action. When you see the full scene in the film it actually works out ok and you can still see, or feel you could say, whats going on without being too distracted from the main action. Part of the Tati style of film making.

The second scene Pierdel walks downstairs with Tati and Alice and he Introduces Tati to some prospective producers and then they are all trodden on the foot by a small man. The characteristic quirkiness and slasptick again that you see in his film.

The third scene that I worked on was actually the first scene that I animated on and the last scene in this trailer. I animated and clean-up the audience all reacting in some slightly polite but bored manner to Tatis performance. Was a good warm up an introduction to the style of the characters. You can view the US trailer by clicking on this link.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony/theillusionist/

So thats it, my little bit. Or a sample at least.

Rudolf Rough Animation

I put together a bunch of rough animation scenes I did while working on the Rudolf TV series here in Cologne at local studio called JEP Animation. Its not specifically TV showreel stuff but more some samples of scenes that were fun to work on. These samples I took from five different episodes, sometimes a couple of actual scenes connected and sometimes not, so there isnt a great deal of logic in the way they are arranged its more to get an idea of what we had to work on. The final product has been cleaned and composited in Flash but the animators could choose to either animate it more traditionally with paper and then shoot it, or to draw straight into flash. I think in the end most animators decided the paper method which would then be taken into flash by using the movie file and then cleaned and Composited in Flash respectively. The quality of the video isnt great but hopefully I can find a better compression.
All animation is copyright © JEP Animation.

Rudolf Online

The TV series Rudolf that I worked on last year is now online at Canal J. There are about 13 episodes and I worked on 'Dino Parano' and 'Ca Chauffe chez les Penguins'. I did most of the animation on both these two episodes but all the animators are credited for all episodes, I guess for practical reasons. Anyway, check it out and click on the link below, they're good for a giggle.
http://www.canalj.fr/La-tele/Dessins-animes/Rudolf/Videos/Les-episodes/

The Illusionist

Some pictures have been finally released by Pathe from the film I worked on in Scotland that had the working title "The illusionist". It is a film directed by Sylvain Chomet and is his second feature film after first making the Triplets of Belleville. Thats a must see by the way if you haven't already seen it. I have no idea though when the film is due to be finally released , so I am curious like a lot of other people as to when we get to see it in the flesh, on the big screen.



The image above is from a scene I actually worked on: I animated and cleaned-up the Shepherd and Tati and Olivier Malric did the sheep and effects and Jean-Pierre Bouchet did the compositing. I cant remember who actually did the layout and background, but as you can see it was done really well and has a great atmosphere.

There is another blog entry on the film as well as some other atmospheric stills. Its not a lot, but it gives you a good taste of how the film will look. In the mean time we must wait and see when it will come, but I will certainly blog it once I know.

Later.

Rudolf

Well its been a while between drinks and since my last blog I have been working on a new TV series called Rudolf. Its a real contrast to the stuff I worked on in Scotland, going from realistic to a completley cartoony style. The character Rudolf basically goes from door to door selling something different each time ( episode that is) to an unsuspecting customer or should I say its more unsuspecting for Rudolf. Either way it ends up being a chain reaction of funny gags that have a cause and effect that liken it to Ren and Stimpy somewhat, just not as subversive and caters more for kids and adults alike.
Its produced by JEP animation and they have set it up in a way that each animator animates a whole episode which are approximatley 3 minutes long.This includes most effects as well as all characters. Which is great as you basically or almost have the episode to your name from a raw animation point of view and of course you dont need to worry about how scenes hook up as you are more or less dealing with yourself with regards to this. So far I have 3 episodes under my belt with a couple more to come and it has been really quite a fun experience and a refreshing change from the more traditional stuff I have worked on.
The director is a Belgian chap named Rudi Mertens who also does all the storyboards . For him its all about good laughs, so as long as you produce a chuckle he's a happy man. A good philosophy you'd have to say. I think it will be a really good to watch , its the kind of humour we all need when you have had a crap day at work and need a good laugh to calm the nerves. You can check out the trailer that was animated by Rudi at the link above at JEP animation and just go to" productions" and there it is "Rudolf".
I 'm not sure exactly when it comes out but it will be at least another six months I guess, but I will announce it as soon as it does and put some rough animation from the episodes I worked on online.