Julie Delpy’s new Netflix series On the Verge opens with these carefully composed stop-motion titles crafted by a small team at production and VFX studio Fugu in Paris and set to a jaunty tune by Chilly Gonzales.

Gilles Pointeau, founder and title designer at Fugu: “Julie Delpy sent me an iPhone video showing her tearing apart pictures of women and stacking them together. I liked the idea but it was a little bit too violent.

“I suggested showing something more engaging, where different parts of different pics combine to create a bigger picture, like in a punk fanzine.

“So I proposed the idea of using paper-cut and stop-motion. We discussed with Julie, her producers, and librarian about personalities to star in the work and begin to make a file with a large choice of pictures.

“Then talented motion designer, Lea Zhang made the animatic in After Effects, testing and searching about the right balance between humor, sensibility, and impact.

“Once the animatic was locked we decided to shoot it in stop motion in order to have this smooth light mood, play with transparency between different types of papers, and something that After effects or CGI can’t offer in a very short schedule.

“Stop-motion animator Mathieu Maillefer made it, and he put his unique sense of animation into it. And Voilà! The job was done in 1.5 months by this great team.”

Watch animator Mathieu Maillefer at work:
 

 

 
Client: Canal+ (Fr), Netflix (US)
Showrunner: Julie Delpy
Director: Julie Delpy, Mathieu Demy, David Petrarca
Producer: Michael Gentille, Lauraine Heftler.

Production: Fugu
Creative director: Gilles Pointeau
Animatic/motion designer: Léa Zhang
Stop Motion: Mathieu Maillefer

Music: Chilly Gonzales