For our third workshop of the year 2023, we had to work on a short story from Edgar Allan Poe, « The Devil in the Belfry ». We had to realise a short film inspired of it.
In order to better understand this story and the whole production chain that follows, here is a brief synopsis : In the peaceful village of Vondervotteimittiss, its residents seem to live to the rhythm of their clocks and their cauliflower. Nothing seems to be able to disturb them. But, one day, a few minutes before the big bell tower of the village rings noon, a mysterious character appears. This devilish stranger with a huge violin heads for the quiet and methodical village to cause chaos and disorder.
After focusing on the story and doing some research, we quickly agreed on an Artistic Direction revolving around Swiss cuckoo clocks, clockwork and wooden puppets. We were inspired of elements as the video game « It Takes Two » (Clock Level), the movie « Pinocchio » produced by Guillermo Del Toro or still the Doll House at DisneyLand.
The idea of the wooden puppets seemed to us very relevant and we wanted to give a very rhythmic and monotonous atmosphere phased on the « ticking » of all these clocks. The village and its residents would then be regulated like music paper.
In opposition to this regular cadence, we imagined an asymmetrical devil, disordered and fluid in his movements. This allows the spectators to understand who the disturbing element is : this rascal who comes to break everything when everything was perfect.
The setting in which the characters will evolve was very important to understand the general atmosphere. We started with metal and wood scenery combining 2D theater scenery and 3D scenery for all the main elements of the village. Thus the hills, the sky, the vegetation and even some animals are represented in 2D as if we had assembled wooden boards together. For the leftovers, the architecture of our buildings is clearly inspired by Swiss cuckoos and brings a more ornate side to the scenery. To finish on the environment of the film, the colors of the village are very shimering.
This story features two types of characters, the villagers and their animals, and the scoundrel also referred to as the devil. First, the villagers are all represented in the form of a family, all identical and all having the same habits and a similar appearance. We have the father of the family smoking his pipe sitting on his armchair, the mother preparing the meal in front of her pot, the three children assimilated to triplets. Finally, the animals, a pig and a cat, each wearing a watch on their tails. The only character in the image of the chief of the village, more imposing and rounder smoking a larger pipe, is the keeper of the belfry. We decided to represent this category of character in the form of wooden puppets, with very rounded shapes to emphasize their harmless and innocent side. Then comes the rogue or the "devil", an atypical character compared to the others because in total opposition whether in the forms or in the colors. He too is a wooden puppet but thinner, taller with an elongated nose, deformed arms and an asymmetrical outfit. His colors are darker and colder: black, purple and beige. His face is more expressive and brings out the evil, unhealthy side of the antagonist.
To conclude, this project allowed our team to explore all the stages of film production (short film here). Whether in the research and concept phase where we had to put our ideas in order to find an interesting scenario to work on and set up a complete and coherent storyboard. The production phase where we mixed modeling, textures, lights, cameras and others. And finally, the post-production stage to sublimate the final rendering and bring the last elements like sound and editing. The whole process brought us a lot in terms of technical skills, teamwork and investment.
With Inès Chmourrane, Clothilde Hugon, Salomé Raffort, Adriana Salas, Yann Del Castillo