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The behind-the-scenes production of the Oscar-nominated animation "I lost my body" revealed
2020-03-04 09:28:11 big coffee Interview Oscars Oscar
The Oscar-nominated animated film "I Lost My Body" was broadcast on Netflix globally, with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 97%, and was awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. It can be said to be very popular. SIGGRAPH interviewed the film's producer Marc du Pontavice and director Jeremy Clapin. Let us learn more about the behind-the-scenes production of this film.
SIGGRAPH: What made you decide to adapt the novel Happy Hand into an animation?
Marc du Pontavice (producer MdP): When I read this book in 2011, the only thing that attracted me was its "point of view character writing technique" (POV). It is the hand that missed the body, not the body that missed the hand. It captures my imagination, and I think it can trigger a very strong metaphor about the fragments of the spirit and its desire for wholeness.
Jeremy Clapin (Director JC): What I like about this book is the unique experience of looking for its body from the perspective of a hand. This is an epic journey through the city, and also a journey of remembrance of the protagonist's past. Let us dig into the world of characters hidden under the surface bit by bit. We experience the world by hand for the first time. Through our hands, our sense of touch is awakened, and we are physically connected to the world. This is a universal experience. It strongly evokes our childhood and guides us to travel truly.
I also like the use of fantasy in this book. When the element of fantasy erupts in reality, it allows us to observe the real world with a whole new look. From the external and internal perspectives, it highlights some topics that are difficult to deal with positively, such as destiny, self-seeking, and the incompleteness of existence. I like the poetry produced by this dialogue between fantasy and reality. Of course, in addition to the appeal of the book itself, one of the reasons I met with the producer was also one of the reasons. We have a common passion for movies. I want to make animated movies more in line with the tastes of adults, more creative and more styled.
SIGGRAPH: Can you briefly talk about what you are most interested in animation media? Where did you get the inspiration for this project?
Producer MdP: The biggest challenge of this story and the biggest problem of film as a medium (only great directors can answer) is: How do you create empathy for a character who has only five fingers to express himself? Only animation can achieve this. The goal, because it can completely control the desired picture. At the same time, I am also very happy to have a story without dialogue. I have done a lot of these things in animated comedies in the past, but I have never done them in movie theaters.
Director JC: Animation brings distance to reality. It has the ability to question our gaze and our relationship with the world. In order to better understand our world, it created a world. My inspiration comes from both live-action movies and cartoons. Quentin Dupieux's movie "Rubber" is a live-action version, which tells the story of a tire coming back to life. If it is possible to give life to a tire, I believe I can also give life to a broken arm. And the animations that inspired me are undoubtedly Kon Min’s "Millennium Actress" and "Tokyo Godfather".
SIGGRAPH: Can you review the production and release history of this movie with us?
Producer MdP: Since Jeremy took office, it has been a long journey. In terms of storytelling, he has great ambitions, so he has spent many years trying many ways, from scripts to storyboards to editing. In addition, the work process is also very innovative, so our preliminary preparations are complex and sufficient. However, the difficulty of obtaining funding has given us a lot of time to find technical and creative solutions. In five years, we failed to convince a third party to join our team, so we decided to start this project with our own money. It was in 2017, at the moment when the decision was made, we felt that after so much preparation, the movie we wanted to make was so clear in our minds-we couldn't give up. Finally, when the film was finalized and screened at the Cannes Film Festival, Netflix presented us with a plan that clearly showed their enthusiasm for the film. We know it has found the best destination.
SIGGRAPH: Share what shots or scenes you are most proud of in the movie and why?
Director JC: It's the scene where Naoufel and Gabrielle talked over the intercom for the first time. They are not connected physically, but connected through their imagination. Through Gabrielle's voice, Naoufel reconnected with the world in a perceptual way. This set of relatively static shots lasted 7 minutes. The biggest challenge of this set of shots is to successfully put the audience and the male protagonist Naoufel in the corridor, but the mind can go to another place with Naoufel, which is pleasant and unexpected. This is a decisive scenario because it proves the legitimacy of all future actions of Naoufel. That was the moment he fell in love. Technically, this is a fairly simple set of shots, but it is much more complicated in terms of narrative and rhythm. I presented the entire scene with a storyboard, and then made a lot of rhythm adjustments with editor Benjamin Massoubre to make it look natural.
SIGGRAPH: The relationship between the soundtrack and animation is the key to the audience's understanding of the film. How does the team work closely together in this regard? What does this mean for the film's animators?
Director JC: The role of music is to keep us away from reality, away from the city and environment of daily life, and to sublimate the audience's feelings to a more wonderful level. Music can bring a sense of modernity to creation. Music can emotionally connect different timelines in a movie. Music can break into city walls, get lost, and be reborn in sound design.
The above details are probably some introductions I gave to our composer Dan Levy. Before Dan joined, in order to find the atmosphere, emotion and rhythm of the movie, we first produced analog music. This allows us to determine the ultimate goal. Editing at this stage is relatively locked. When Dan came, everything was simple. We talked for a while and he didn't even listen to it. In order not to be affected, he deleted all the analog music. [Laughs] Then, he played the movie in a loop and started to create music freely. This is a very visual method through which we can define the music pattern as a whole and avoid getting lost in the details. A week later, Dan has laid the foundation for almost all the music for this movie. We just need to distribute these works in the right place and mix them together in detail. Then, we spent a lot of time polishing and making the music interact with the sound design. Sometimes it is difficult to know when to start and when to end. My meeting with Dan was a godsend. This is a real encounter between art and humanity. There is no doubt that he is one of the authors of this film. As I always say, if the movie is a planet, then music is the universe that makes this planet work.
SIGGRAPH: Taking a hand as the protagonist of the movie is already a very unique challenge. So technically speaking, are there any other challenges in the production process?
Director JC: I want to create a realistic movie, but I want it to be drawn with charcoal and a little "rough" lines. I also want something very cinematic, with lighting, specific atmosphere and immersive camera action. We must use a combination of CG and traditional 2D technology to achieve this. All the production of this movie was done on Blender.
We modeled all the scenes and characters in a basic way, and then made animations with CG (characters and camera actions). This allows us to get a more "realistic" stage, with different angles and lens movements more evolved than traditional 2D movies. When the audience starts from the perspective of "hands", they will feel the surrounding space, which is a more intense experience. Next, the animator redesigned everything to make the movie finally appear. Animators can draw directly on the CG, thanks to the Grease Pencil tool in Blender, which gives us valuable time. Then, we spent a lot of time compositing in order to incorporate this very cinematic aspect into the picture.
The main difficulty is that this movie is completely mixed and new. You need to know when to stop CG and when to start 2D. Things are not that simple, we were clumsy at the beginning. We must develop scripts internally to facilitate and speed up the work. It took 18 months to make this movie, which is quite a short time for an animated movie.
SIGGRAPH: This film has been nominated for an Oscar. What do you think this means for adult-oriented full-length animated films in the future?
Producer MdP: This means that our industry wants to diversify. Many people want to create and feel different things through the medium of animation. "I Lost My Body" is a living example that proves that animation can convey the emotions and complex stories of adults. In the animation, we have found a world where we can tell stories.
Director JC: This means that the feature film comes after the short one. So far, this industry has set some restrictions (home movies, marketing, etc.), and we need to wake up and educate adults in animation. In this industry, people's understanding of short film culture is still relatively lacking. There are creators who are good at making human animations in the industry. If people want to see more adult animations, we need to leave more space for these creators.
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