French 3D artists Frederic Colin and Florent Bizec, at the invitation of Motion Plus Design, merge their contrasting styles into this pensive branded content project created for festival sponsors Adobe and Maxon.

Kook Ewo, founder at Motion Plus Design: The concept of the project is simple: we invite talented artists to create short films showcasing the tools and software of our main sponsors to bring their ideas to life in a celebration of creativity and craft.

Frederic Colin: “‘Mortem’ specifically highlights the collaborative element of creative endeavors. It brings together artists with their own distinctive styles and encourages them to create something unique from their differing influences, and approaches.

“Kook contacted me to ask if I’d like to take part this year and from there I reached out to Florent, with whom I’d worked before, and whose visual style was an interesting counterpoint to my own.
 

“We both agreed early on that we wanted to create something that wasn’t ‘just’ beautiful. We wanted to include an element of storytelling – even if we told that story largely through mood and abstract image.”

 
Florent Bizec: “I’m always drawn to personal, more fictional projects; that’s what attracted me here. Fred and I both agreed early on that we wanted to create something that wasn’t ‘just’ beautiful. We wanted to include an element of storytelling – even if we told that story largely through mood and abstract image.

Frederic Colin: At the planning stage, we discussed the global themes that we’d like to explore, and began to plan the technical approach. For instance, we knew we wanted to tell our story in part through composition and lighting. We also had to remain conscious of what was possible with just two of us working on the film.

“Our deadline was short but we wanted to challenge ourselves, and step outside of our comfort zone a little, both creatively and in terms of technical areas, such as the software we were using. This was particularly true for the characters, for instance.

“And so, working with a character, bringing him to life, movement, rigging, having him move always from left to right – all of these were areas that were somewhat in development for us, and required a lot of work.”

Watch the making-of video:
 

 

 
Client: Adobe, Maxon, Motion Plus Design

Director/animator: Frederic Colin, Florent Bizec

Audio: Echoic