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L'engrenage (Gears)
(
7 votes)
If the daily grind gets you down, just be glad you're not a cuckoo in a clock. In this unconventional love story conceived and created by a team of French animation students at Paris' ESRA (Ecole Superieur de Réalisation Audiovisuelle) ranging in age from 21 to 27 -- Cyril Cohen, Audrey Henneton, Virginie Kernel, Hélène Ourabah, Martin Reneleau, Jérôme Rouvelet, Sylvain Sarradin, Jérémy Soudjoukdjian, Marine Vaudour -- a hapless chick tries his best to find love and break out of his routine.
The idea came to the group during a brainstorming session at Martin Reneleau's house. "We listened to the 'coucou's ring," recalls the 27-year-old animator, Cyril Cohen. "Then Sylvain says, 'We got it!'"
"We wanted to focus the attention on the bird and his boring life," explains Cohen, who says they chose to give the character big eyes to reflect his emotions. "We searched for many funny situations (on his bath, in the bed and when the bird eats his breakfast)," and then to create a surprise ending, where the early bird doesn't exactly get what you'd initially expect.
Made with MAYA 3-D Software, Combusion for the compositing and effects and Photoshop, the short has been a hit on Daily Motion, where it's received over 81,000 views in the last month. Many of the filmmakers are in third year of school and are now getting work at such acclaimed French animation and effects houses as Buf, Froggy Image and Attitude Studio.
Cyril Cohen, Jérémy Soudjoukdjian, et. al.
Animation
5:19
Paris, France
Audrey Henneton, Jerome Rouvelet
Compositing/Rendering : Hélène Ourabah, Martin Reneleau
