Keyvan Nourian at Studio River in Paris: “We had the pleasure of producing the promotional video for the Greek National Opera’s ambitious new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s comic opera Falstaff.

“Working with carte blanche and driven by the theme of light, we wanted to show, in a very short and poetic way, the atypical journey of this singular character. For a long time poor and mocked, Falsatff was able to obtain what he wanted by dint of persistence.

“At the beginning, the character has nothing, just a dirty glass and an old bottle of wine in which he finds comfort. But the more time passes, the more his social condition evolves, the cheating that the card game suggests, and the casualness that he shows through the dance are the engines of his evolution.
 

“We tried to build a certain form of aesthetics in this emotional and material disorder. Because even if this man has nothing attractive at first sight, he always ends up enchanting the public.”

 
“With time the bottle of wine finally turns into a cloud of bottles of the best vintage ones. And to conclude Falstaff finally seduces the ladies of Windsor, gets married, and enjoys his wealth. He has finally risen.

“The character is described as a creator of chaos, paunchy, and full of flaws. So the idea in this movie was to introduce the chaos through a ballet of bottles that spin and twirl around him, through a multitude of elements that frantically adapt to his dance steps.

“We tried to build a certain form of aesthetics in this emotional and material disorder. Because even if this man has nothing attractive at first sight, he always ends up enchanting the public. Falstaff dances on the bar because he is drunk, he is a bon vivant, and he laughs and leads us in spite of ourselves into the light, a symbol of a successful quest.”
 
 

 
Client: Greek National Opera

Production: NGO / Creasenso
Director: Studio River
Script: Keyvan Nourian
Art director: Alexandre Scariot, Keyvan Nourian
Storyboard/Chara Design: André Barbosa Silva
Lead Animator: Alexandre Scariot
Animator: Alexandre Scariot and Keyvan Nourian
Rig/Posing/Fabric/Character Animator: Alexandre Scariot
Hair Character: Keyvan Nourian
Modeling/Shading: André Barbosa Silva, Alexandre Scariot, Keyvan Nourian
Lighting/Cam animator: Alexandre Scariot
Compositor: Keyvan Nourian, Alexandre Scariot

Music: Alexandre Scariot
Sound design: Keyvan Nourian