Les amants perdus

The legend

The story is based on the legend of the two lost lovers, which has been made into a book recounting their love and tragic fate. Charlie, our young hero, loves the book, especially as his precious pendant has the same pattern as the book does, which he doesn’t know will be the key to solving the mystery.

The characters

The film doesn’t have any dialog, which we decided early on in the project. Because of that, we had to design characters who were very expressive, and could convey the story entirely through their expressions. For this, Auriane and Thomas teamed up, and worked on the main trio.

Charlie

Turnaround of the character of Charlie, a young child with fair skin and orange hair. He’s wearing a green cap, a green shirt and green shorts. He has a brown vest and brown shoes. His socks are white and knee high. He has a medallion with a blue stone on it. He looks kind and playful.

Charlie is a bright and curious child, independent as well. He was designed by Auriane, with lots of references from famous orphans. His colors are muted and his clothes practical, as he spends his days running around, and some of his nights as well as we see in the film.

The only exception is his pendant. We don’t know where it comes from, in the story, but it is key to unlocking the secret of the legend, and reuniting the lovers.

Concept art page for the character of Charlie, a young playful child. On the left are color variations of a front view of the character. On the top right, variations of head proportions as well as turns. On the middle right there is a full body turn of the character, without clothes. On the bottom right are hands in different poses.

The princess - Daphne

Turnaround of the character of Daphné, a medieval princess. She had waist long blond hair, a long lavender dress, and fair skin. She is wearing a golden crown.

The princess, named Daphné, represents love and tenderness. We chose muted, pastel colors for her, to give her a soft feel. Her design is based on medieval illustrations and tapestries, as it is the time during which the two lovers got cursed and turned into statues.

Concept art page for the character of Daphné, a medieval princess. On the left of the page are different color variations of her dress. On the bottom, variations for her hair and face. On the right are different outfits, a portrait, and a statue version.

The knight - Elias

Turnaround of the character of Elias, a medieval knight. He hair fair skin, shoulder length brown hair, and a gold and grey armor. He also wears a green cape.

For the Knight, we wanted to use the romantic image of chivalry, rather than the more common idea of war and violence that we usually associate with knights. Elias is brave and charming.

Concept art page of the character of Elias, a medieval knight. On the top is a turnaround of the character’s head, as well as different version of the face. On the left are versions of the armor and details of the sections, as well as color tests. On the right are swords, a statue version of the character, and details of the cape.

Other characters

To make the city feel lived in, we designed additional characters to populate the market. There’s also two characters who Charlie interacts with, a builder in the city streets, and an old man at the port. We designed those characters early on, and so the third one, a woman who Charlie asked a question to in one of the streets, didn’t make it to the final cut. Those three were designed by Charlotte.

Lineup of the secondary characters of the film. On the left is a tall man wearing a cream shirt and green pants. He has broad shoulders, brown hair and mustache, and tan skin. In the middle is a woman wearing a pink dress and white apron. Her hair is blond and tied in a bun, and her skin is fair. On the right is an old man wearing a gray suit and hat, with a blue shirt and cravat. He has small glasses and gray hair and a mustache.

The other background characters were designed by Lara S.

Lineup of the background characters of the film. In order from left to right: a woman with an orange skirt and brown hair and shirt; a woman with a fancy brown and pink dress and a hat; a tall man with a brown suit and hat; a little girl with a green dress and hat; a boy with a red vest and hat; a woman with a big blue dress and blond hair; an old woman with a brown dress and apron; a tall man with a brown vest and gray pants and hat.

Lara also adapted the characters of other movies made in our year, so they could be a part of the background. We’re proud to say we’ve included one character from each of the other 9 movies!

Lineup of the main characters from other film made by the class during the same year. In order from left to right: Quand les pruniers pleurent, Broken heart factory, Rouge brique, Orange, Butterfly, Tide of change, Cambradin, Six pieds sous mer, La chasse.

Backgrounds

Lara S was lead for the backgrounds, and she’s the one who made the film look and feel like it does. Early on we decided to use impressionism as one of our main references when it came to the look of the backgrounds. We wanted something that was accurate to the time where the film takes place, and it allowed us to create beautiful pieces as well. We kept the painting technique and the vibrancy of this style.

Color palettes for the film and the paintings they are inspired by. On the left are shots from the film, in black and white layout versions. In the middle are color keys and palettes. On the left are the reference paintings and a gradient of the colors changing throughout the day.

The story happens over a whole day, and we knew we wanted to have vibrant colors no matter the time, so we made sure that the night scenes were still filled with color, and clearly visible. Using references from impressionist paintings, we created different palettes for each time of day, which we then used to make the backgrounds.

Concept art page of the backgrounds elements of the film. On the left are building facades of the 19th century, as well as signs and elements to be found in the street. On the top are rocks and a map of the temps. On the left is a front view of the church. Background of the market, viewed from the sky. The market has a bright red roof, and people are walking around it in the street. Background of a city street with a statue in an alcove. Background of the port. The sea reflects the setting sun. Background of the market at night. It’s empty, and the statue is lifeless in the middle of it. Background of a field at night, with the city visible in the background. Background of the clock at night, 3 minutes before midnight. In the background, roofs and the sea are visible. Background of the entrance of the temple. The door is closed, and viewed from the top. Background of the knight in the temple. He is a statue. Behind him, stained glass in shades of blue and pink is visible. Background of the princess in the market at dawn. She is a statue, and we can see only her torso and head. Background of the clock tower as the sun is rising, at 5 in the morning.

Animation

Thomas was the lead when it came to animation, and he taught us to use Harmony Toon Boom, which we used for every step including compositing.

Here you can see the different steps of our process, illustrated through a single shot.

The music

We decided early on in the project that we wouldn’t have any dialog, which meant the music was especially important. We worked with Antoine Galvani to create themes for each character, and then once the tiedown animation was done, he created the entire piece to the animation. This means that the music is custom made and best suited to translate the mood of the story. Baptistine Mortier lended her voice to the princess, and the end result is a magical and breathtaking piece of music that complements the visuals perfectly.

Check his website

Team and development

We worked on this film for the entire school year, from October to June. The scenario was written during our second year by Morgane, but revised with Lara C at the beginning of the year. The two also worked together on the storyboards for the film. At the same time, Auriane, Thomas and Charlotte worked on the concept for the characters, while Lola, Estelle and Lara S worked on the backgrounds. Thomas gave help for the color palettes and designs of some features of the buildings. In December drawing the layout started, while we finished up the storyboards and the character designs. In early January all the layouts were done, and as background painting got started, the color script and posing were being made, as well as animation tests for the characters and the music. In April all the rough animation was finished, as well as all the backgrounds, and the lineart and color started.

Thank you for your interest in our project! We hope you liked what you saw, and if you have any questions here's where to find us so you can know everything about the film.

You'll be able to find links to the individual portfolios of everyone on the website, so if you're wondering what other work we do, you can head there. For extra content, there's always the instagram account! Lola and Charlotte worked hard to make some really cute illustrations of our characters, and you can get to know Charlie and his new parents after the story ends.

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Morgane Baud

Morgane Baud

Production management, animation

Hey, I’m an artist passionate about trying new things and exploring character motivations and limits. Trying out comics, animation, writing and plenty of other mediums made me passionate about art in general rather than a specific medium.

I did most of the management on this project, through excel and trello, but I also know airtable through personal projects. I like learning and I’m not afraid of trying again and again until I can make it work!

Currently working on a webcomic and animation project, I’m also available for freelance work.

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Charlotte Billaud

Charlotte Billaud

Character Designer/ Props, Illustrator, environment artist

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Thomas Dermirkol

Thomas Dermirkol

Lead Animation, Design and Layout artist

Animation’s Lover and creator of shimmering characters, my role is to supervise and participate in the animation section but we call me the “professor”.

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Estelle Blanc

Estelle Blanc

Environment Designer (sketch, layout, painting)

J’adore tout ce qui ce qui est coloré et qui donne vie à une image. Que ce soit du décors ou des personnages, j’adore créer une histoire de A à Z.

Pour ce projet j’étais essentiellement sur les décors, du croquis de départ au rendu final. Ça m'a permis d’apprendre de nouvelles techniques de painting tout en travaillant vite. J’ai adoré faire la colorisation des décors ainsi que celle de nos animations pour ainsi donner de plus en plus vie à notre film.

Je souhaite devenir illustratrice mais surtout webtoon artiste afin de partager mes histoires haute en couleur avec des personnages attachants et charismatiques. Je souhaite faire voyager chaque lecteur et les transporter dans mon univers fantastique et farfelu.

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Lola Duchene

Lola Duchene

Layout/Environment artist, animatrice

Touche à tout et curieuse, j’adore expérimenter de nouvelles choses. J’anime et j’ai dessiné certains des décors de ce film.

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Lara Charousset

Lara Charousset

Storyboarder, posing, animatrice

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Lara Scesa

Lara Scesa

Direction Artistique, Layout/Environment artist, Animator 2D

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Auriane Labat

Auriane Labat

Chara designer, animator

J’aimerai faire principalement du manga et de l’animation 2d. Mais j’aime aussi le Chara Design et le storyboard.

Pour ce court-métrage j’ai principalement travaillé sur le Character Design ainsi que sur l'animation.

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