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Julia Gaudard and Benoit Créac’h are the owners of the studio Ben&Julia. Julia comes from Lausanne, Switzerland and Ben is from South France, together they form a duo of graphic designers-directors and they like to mix their different techniques: real pictures, computer effects, cartoons, puppets, claymation; they have even toothpaste to create their colored universes. Their latest creation, “1973,” is visually fantastic. We had the great pleasure of discussing this new short and the other works with this dynamic duo.

IT’S ART: Would you agree if I say you are craftsmen using modern technology to express your universe?

B&J: We totally agree! Before studying graphic design in Central Saint Martins in London, Julia started in design; she really likes to tinker with things. I was in film school then I had a formation in 3D with Isart Digital where I’m teaching today.

We like to create things ourselves, learn and develop new techniques, but at the same time we live with our time and we know what production is and what our obligations are: quality, meeting deadlines, cost, etc.

Before being represented, we worked directly with the clients. For our first two years we were like a mini-agency.

IA: Can you tell us more about how you started working with Tahiti Boy, for the “1973” music video?

B&J: It all started when we met with Greg Panteix from Stink Paris, who is now our producer. We were positively surprised that he was interested in our work and we tried to show him in return how interested we were in working with him.

He sent us the piece, asking us what we thought about it and if we had some ideas. We had many, too many actually, and then David (Tahiti Boy) liked the concept and the designs, he was attracted by our universe and loved the puppets and this is how the adventure started.

IA: You said in an interview that you started imagining the universe of this video by closing your eyes, but can we know a little more about the creative process from first sketches to the first shooting sessions?

B&J: Yes, we said that, and it’s true! In fact it was our dream to work like this, freely with the collaboration of other artists. In fact, it always is!

We wanted to get inspired from our dreams and we would sleep while playing 1973 over and over. After that, I started drawing a number of characters while Julia worked on the design and the creation of the puppets with our friend Lhaki Berger.

We created a real bestiary that kept growing until the last days of production. Of course, we don’t see all of them in the clip.

Julia took care of artistic production and the colors, while I worked more on technical issues, such as the animation and the compositing.