IA : What was your favorite sequence?

Sylvain: I liked the sequence where the medicine man, using his stick, propels a magic jet into the ground. I think it’s one of the best sequences in terms of cinematographic aspect. And the transition with the 2D part is well done. As for rendering, and I was in charge of this along with compositing, my favorite sequence is when the children stand up in the background and the medicine man is in the shadow. 

Mathieu: That is hard to say… I might not have any favorite. Well, maybe the last scene where all four characters are in the tipi. There are sequences that I like more than others, mostly the ones that show cinematographic esthetic.

 IA: Your short is filled with humor not only for kids but also for adults, did you worked hard on this point?

Sylvain: Yes we did and it took us a long time to get to a compromise. We wanted it to be comic but not enough to make it a comedy. We wanted it to remain a serious story without boring the viewers and that’s where jokes played their role. We have introduced a character that is a bird and we made a lot of jokes on this poor creature.

Mathieu: We wanted the movie to be entertaining and poetic so we needed equilibrium between humor and seriousness. The problem that we faced with this movie was to maintain a rhythm to keep the viewer attentive. Our characters are sitting around a fire inside a tipi and their movements are limited which also limited the action in the movie and we had to concentrate much more on the acting that is necessary for the story. We had to make things light and we found that in the 2D universe where we were able to insert some jokes. The 3D part was more serious with fast jokes just to keep a smile on the viewers face. 

IA: One can feel how free you were in choosing your themes and tonalities, was this freedom a gift from your school?

Sylvain: Yes indeed our school gives us the freedom to choose most of the aspects of our shorts. There are no predefined subjects and we can choose the theme we want and our professors are ready to help and support us. For instance, our scenario professor helped a lot when we were writing down the script and added some important ideas to the story. Once we started the production our professors kept an eye on the project without intervening unless we asked.

Mathieu: I think that the difference is in the format of our movies that are usually longer (average of 7 minutes). Our work requires a different screenplay that is closer to the ones used in full time movies. We want to tell a story and not only show our technical capacities and this is what our school trains us for. Our professors are there to support us and advise us and help out as soon as they see that we are taking a path that might not lead to the objectives set. I think that our school is doing a great job in leaving us the freedom to choose the subjects of our movies. They truly encourage us to fully express ourselves. Once we start working in a studio we will no longer have this freedom and our professors know that and want us to create our own identity and style before getting there.

IA: Tell us a little bit more about these teacher/student exchanges. Have your professors added things that you haven’t thought of? Did they oblige you to take in their advices?

Sylvain: Not really, there were no obligations whatsoever. They helped in bringing to our attention certain ideas to the scenario and they gave us important advice that we took and adapted to our own ideas. The 3D teacher helped us in the technical parts, especially for the fur and the soft body for the simulation of the medicine man.

Mathieu: Our professors were our guides, they were always very attentive and gave us directions and corrected our mistakes over and over. Their experience helped in answering most of the questions that we couldn’t resolve. They helped in both the scenario writing and the 3D production. We had some issues of course and we had to agree with them sometimes after taking a step back and realizing that the experience of the teacher allows him/her to recognize a path that will lead nowhere from the beginning and that all they were trying to do is to help us save time.

IA: Were there sequences that you couldn’t finish from lack of time or technical tools?

Sylvain: We finished everything that was in the storyboard but we needed a little bit more time to work on details on the kids’ animation. At the end of the movie we were not able to make it clear that the kids got the legends lesson and that they came to help the medicine man to stand up. Anyway, we did what we could in the time given. 

Mathieu: I think that we did well to have a simple story with few characters. That saved us so much time and we were able to manage the unplanned problems that would suddenly appear.