“Dr Tom ou La Liberte en cavale” by Stephen Vuillemin and Emmanuelle Walker

It’s no secret that some of the most consistently polished animation being made by students today comes from the French animation school Gobelins. Less often noted is how they are at the forefront of rejuvenating hand-drawn animation with fresh and exciting styles. The content of their films doesn’t do much for me, but in terms of artistry, their shorts consistently push the envelope and offer more creative ideas than a lot of professional work I see. Their graphic approach is the polar opposite of the trend towards slavish realism in Hollywood feature animation, and while many Gobelins grads go on to work in features, others keep exploring the possibilities of artistic, original, and beautiful cartoon design.

Which leads us to this new music video created for the release of “Dr Tom ou La Liberté en cavale,” a tribute to composer Franck Langolff. It’s directed by Gobelins grads Stehen Vuillemin and Emmanuelle Walker and designed by Aurélien Predal. There’s so many confident filmmaking decisions in the piece from the animation to the color to the production design. They make it all look so effortless.

CREDITS
Direction: Stephen Vuillemin and Emmanuelle Walker
Designs: Aurélien Predal
Animation: Lucie Arnissolle, Olivier Lescot, Manuel Tanon-tchi, Stephen Vuillemin, Emmanuelle Walker
Additional matte paintings: Anne-Laure To
Music and lyrics: Norman Langolff, Gaby Concato and Sylvie Arditi
Production assistant: Martin Casalis
Production: One More Production

(Thanks, Ed Bell)