A meeting of two worlds
In the course of this Robinson Crusoe existence, he has befriended a creature that may look carnivorous, but with whom he has forged a strong relationship and mutual trust.
But Wilson falls ill, and is faced with a choice: survive by returning to Earth, or stay by the side of the woman who has become his friend for his last moments.
In this poetic fable reminiscent ofPi’s Odyssey, Robinson Crusoe and The Red Turtle, Emile Ménard, Vincent Gleizes, Laura Martinelli, Romane La Rosa, Noah Ross, Célia Safti, Lise Lett and Mallaury Labourse gently tell the story of a powerful and touching friendship.
Take a behind-the-scenes look with the team at the making of this film, as well as the artistic choices and technical challenges involved in this unique end-of-studies project.
Build a memorable duo, immersed in a world as mysterious as it is fascinating
To bring their two protagonists to life, Wilson and ‘Bibi’ (as the students nicknamed the creature), the team spent a great deal of time talking to each other. These iterations produced a highly accomplished result, rich in nuance.
“Wilson is in his forties, of average height and with shaggy brown hair. His years of life on this distant planet have left their mark on his body, but behind his shaggy beard and weight loss, there are still vestiges of his former muscularity”, explains the team, referring to the background that enabled them to build this taciturn hero.
His difficult existence is also reflected in the patched appearance of his ageing uniform, and in the poncho he has cobbled together from his aircraft’s parachute.
The creature, on the other hand, is perfectly integrated into its environment: “It looks like a feline, but also a reptile, and it is perfectly adapted to the environment of this extraterrestrial planet, and to that of the oasis in which it lives.
It can evolve on land as well as in the water, thanks to its dorsal fin and nasal cavity at the top of its head, enabling it to explore the waters while breathing most of the time.” A design inspired both by terrestrial marine fauna and fictional creatures such as those in Dragons.
As the team points out, it has been thought out and designed as a symbiosis with the flora and fauna of this ecosystem, with shimmering colours and patterns reminiscent of butterflies and softening its ferocity.
Both live in a world of great diversity, the result of extensive research by the team. “The design of the chosen environments aims to have a richness of detail while providing a grand, organic feel. To achieve this, we chose to draw inspiration from three worlds in particular: the classic Princess Mononoke, for its strong representation of nature; the HBO series Scavengers Reign, for its great success in creating an alien planet that is both complex and organic; and finally, the flora of Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind, for the ‘toxic’ aspect that these plants give off, allowing us to make the link with the theme of the hostile environment, and Wilson’s disease.”
These influences are in line with the aesthetic of artists such as Moebius and Pascal Blanché, a retro sci-fi style with singular colours that contribute to the unique atmosphere of the film.
Between the soft light and the peaceful mornings, it’s easy to understand the bond that binds our protagonists to each other and to their environment, making the plot completely coherent.
A subtle blend of gentleness and sadness, which had to be successfully embodied in this story. It was a challenge that called on all the skills of this team.
Multiple technical challenges
To lay the foundations for this film, Wilson ‘s team had to rival each other in inventiveness. “Our film takes place on an extraterrestrial planet, so we had to create concept art that brought together a wide range of inspirations to come up with a beautiful, colourful world that doesn’t look like ours but is still coherent.
But these rich environments also required the creation of a lot of FX, particularly because of its link with the aquatic element,” recalls the team. “A lot of water simulation, which means very heavy FX, and a very long R&D phase in both FX and texturing to arrive at a look that suited us.”
FX are usually built in interaction with the characters and should therefore be able to react to their movements, as in the case of the waving grasses in the film’s vast environments.
It was a major challenge, but one that the team managed to overcome by working collaboratively, in particular with other students from the same year.
“We started with a Houdini / Solaris production system, with a pipeline in USD format to simplify the management of these vast environments.
This involved a new workflow, and a new way of doing things, but we were able to regularly exchange around the problems encountered with other promo groups working on the same pipeline, which helped us to overcome these challenges.”
Inventiveness and teamwork, the recipe for a successful short film
Thanks to this collaborative spirit, Wilson ‘s team managed to pull off a number of high-stakes scenes, while giving the film its unique style.
“The stylisation of our textures also required a lot of iteration, given that our ambition was to make a semi-realistic film. We continued this stylisation in compositing, with a 2d passage that adds a pictorial note to the image, reminiscent of the concept art from the beginning of our production.”
Finally, the scene that was perhaps the most difficult to manage according to the team is also one of the longest shots in the film. “This one lasts almost a minute and the camera pans 180 degrees. The whole environment is present in this shot, and we had to construct a layout that only showed what was seen on the screen at the time. Otherwise, the scene would have been too heavy, and unmanageable.”
The ingenuity of this team of eight students has produced a visually striking result, coupled with a touching story of friendship.
Discover the film Wilson, available in its entirety on the ESMA Movies YouTube channel: