France 3 – Les Marmottes 2021
Following on from our work with Digital District on the 2020 France 3 Marmottes idents, we again collaborated with much of the same artistic and creative team, who have now formed Bordeaux vfx studio, Light.
The brief was as before, to help to create a series of hilarious, photorealistic cgi animated idents, for French national broadcaster. With this outing however the Marmottes would be making their final appearance, marking the end of this campaign for France 3.
We were again tasked with creating all of the 3d environments, this time for the skateboard, pole vault and hammer throw spots. We brought these three animations to life as well, starting with camera and shot layout and progressing right through to final character animation. More details on our work on these below.
Video courtesy of Light.
3D environments, layout, camera and character animation by Interference Pattern.
Breakdown – Assets
As with our work on this campaign last year, our dedicated outsourcing team which we call IPBuild, were tasked with creating the virtual environments and a wide range of supporting props and sports equipment, to be used across four of the spots. We expanded on our large stadium build from last year to incorporate a full athletics field, including pole vault and hammer throw areas. We also built a full skateboarder cross track and also a Tour de France stage inspired finish line.
With the marmots to appear at real-world scale within our photorealistic real-world settings, we had to take great care to ensure that we achieved the correct level of small scale detailing to pull this off.
Breakdown – Layout and Animation
Our team was again tasked with bringing some of the films to life, undertaking all layout and animation for three of the spots, hammer throw, pole vault and skater cross.
Layout is the process of defining the arrangement and staging of a scene, as seen through the camera. The camera lens and framing of the shot are considered, as well as camera movement and any large overall character motions.
Once layout was complete, our character animation team took over, again breathing life and humour into our cheeky furry cast. With the animation, we had the opportunity to bring our creative pedigree to the project and develop the initial basic storyboard actions into fully fledged sequences.
Breakdown – Finishing
Once all of our environment and prop and assets had been carefully crafted and the layout and character animations completed, the talented team at Light took over, taking our work, adding in crowds, fur and simulations, adding the final lighting and taking through rendering, compositing and final grade.
IPBuild is the name we give to Interference Pattern’s dedicated 3D asset outsourcing service. Working closely with leading animation and VFX studios around the world, our work can be found in many TV commercials, broadcast, film and game trailer projects. Our acclaimed team of artists deliver at all stages of production, from production-ready 3D assets ready to slot directly into your studio pipeline, layout and character animation, all the way to full shots, ready for final grade.
If you would like to find out more about the work that we can undertake please get in touch.