According to the Coup de soleil team, the relationship is obvious: both the former and the latter shun the sun’s rays like the plague, and the choice of Montpellier, in the south of France, is anything but ideal!
This end-of-study project, with its shimmering colours and endearing look, combines situational comedy with characters that, like the film’s protagonist, you want to munch on and enjoy. Coup de soleil, which uses 3D animation to create visuals reminiscent of clay animation, stands out for its rhythm, built on the structure of a cartoon, offering a real moment of pleasure for fans of animation and comedy in general.
How did this short film come about, and what tools did Margaux Rougier, David Delaunay, Emma Siegl, Elisa Cavalli, Thémis Cavene-Perez, Loriane Dantas, Laura Ecale and Oriane Gomez use to bring the project to fruition? Find out more here.
A cartoon structure to simplify the narrative
While the desire to make a comedy about a vampire in the South of France was always at the heart of the project, it evolved considerably between its first spark and the final narrative structure. This is what the team tells us about their writing process. “The original idea was actually quite different, even though the comedy and die and retry principles were already there. Petru, our protagonist, was a jovial vampire determined to discover the South of France as a holidaymaker, by imitating the locals. But in this context, the character’s motivations struggled to provide sufficient impetus to the narrative.”
After a few weeks of complicated writing, the team decided to change its approach. From a holiday episode, the film returns to a more classic cartoon structure, with a silly, nasty and bloodthirsty protagonist who tries every means possible to drink from the necks of the Marcels, the harmless inhabitants of Saint Quignon les Bains.
What could be funnier than a vampire trying to survive in sunny southern France? In any case, it’s this situation that allows the team to deploy all their inventiveness, and to offer an equally inspired aesthetic.
A warm, sunny world of pétanque
For its artistic direction, the team has drawn on all the charm of these French regions: warm characters, model-like sets inspired by santons, and a rendering reminiscent of the models and figurines specific to this tradition.
For the Marcels, it was a question of bringing together the clichéd characteristics of the southerners: gruff, nonchalant and endearing all at the same time.
This aesthetic contrasts with that of the vampire, inspired more directly by the well-known creatures of the night such as Nosferatu, but also the character of Jack Skellington.
“One of the biggest challenges was to make our characters expressive without using dialogue. Petru doesn’t speak, and the Marcels don’t even have visible eyes, which deprives us of one of the most powerful means of conveying emotion. So we had to redouble our efforts on body animation, postures and rhythm so that they could express their emotions and arouse empathy.”
As a backdrop, the fictional village of Saint Quignon les bains is more real than life, a stylised postcard that the team has worked on with great finesse, to reproduce a world that is both familiar and idealised of what the south can be like.
“We were inspired by the small, sunny village atmosphere of the film Luca, particularly for its treatment of small coastal villages and its summer atmosphere. Real-life places like Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert and Èze also fed into our artistic direction, with their narrow streets, typical southern architecture and authentic charm. Finally, as we explained earlier, we drew on the aesthetics of miniature santon villages, which inspired the model aspect of our décor. We also used LAIKA studio films to help us understand the miniatures.
A host of technical challenges
By their very nature, some of these sets were a real challenge for the team. This is particularly true of the lavender field, whose fleeting appearance in the film required the creation of a dedicated pipeline, and a good dose of patience, adaptation and reflection to achieve this stunning result.
“It was a unique set in the film, no other shot resembled this sequence. From a technical point of view, the density of the set made the scene considerably heavier, which slowed down the software and made the work more laborious. Added to this were a number of technical problems: difficulties with rig stability, corrupted animations when exported, and textures that refused to display correctly.”
Another major challenge is that the film, as the sharp eye of the animator will see, is made up of two frame rates: Petru, the main character, is animated in 24 fps, while the Marcels are animated in 12.
“This deliberate difference, intended to mark out their contrasts and reinforce the effect of a gap between them, made the animation and management of the shots more complex. Added to this was the difference in height between Petru, who is long and slender, and the inhabitants, who are round and small. This made the framing particularly tricky to balance, in particular to keep the actions legible while respecting the staging.”
To overcome these difficulties, the team developed a script converting the Alembic caches of the animations to 12 fps for the characters concerned, which made it possible to maintain technical consistency while preserving the original artistic intent. Thoughtful, legible and effective use of composition, framing and out-of-frame helped overcome the problems of scale, while maintaining the film’s aesthetic.
Finally, Coup de soleil also benefited from a tool developed by David Delaunay and Louis Bonnaud, another student in the ESMA 2024 class: Pinpin, a pipeline manager created by this duo, greatly simplified asset management for this production, as well as those of the other teams in the ESMA 2024 class. Find out more here.
“In a small team, it’s essential to remain versatile”.
On Coup de soleil, the team quickly divided up the main tasks according to each person’s strengths and weaknesses, while remaining flexible and available according to the needs of the project.
“In a small team, it’s essential to remain versatile. We planned the tasks in advance to ensure that production ran as smoothly as possible. That said, our cohesion was sometimes put to the test. Working with eight people in a small space, under tight deadlines, naturally led to some tension. That’s part of the human challenge of this type of project, but these moments were also an opportunity to develop our ability to manage stressful situations.”
Because this type of production, the culmination of a 3D animation training course preparing students directly for a career in the highly specialised animation film industry, remains a major challenge. A challenge that was met, despite the artistic challenges and complex choices that the team was able to manage collaboratively, while remaining motivated throughout the process.
“In the end, this experience was as much a learning experience in human terms as it was in technical terms, and we hung in there right up until the film was finished,” say the students. “What made the difference was, on the one hand, hard work, and on the other, a great ability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances, as well as the exemplary motivation of certain members of the team. This dynamic, combined with real determination and the need to complete the project, enabled us to go all the way.”
Do you have any advice for students making their own films?
For the team, now delighted with the experience and the critical and public response to the film, Coup de soleil is a source of great pride and satisfaction. Without forgetting the challenges that this impressive project has presented.
For them, the ability to invest themselves fully in the process while distancing themselves from the stressful moments is essential if they are to succeed in overcoming the marathon that is making a graduation film.
“It’s a considerable effort that requires a lot of time, energy and resilience. There will be times of stress, doubt and overload, that’s inevitable. But the important thing is to be able to step back when necessary and take care not to put your health at risk. Be prepared to give a lot… but also to learn a lot. With discipline, stamina and the necessary distance, it’s a very formative experience.
Sound advice to avoid burning out like their unfortunate protagonist.
Discover Coup de Soleil, ESMA’s 2024 graduation film, now available in full: