12 FEBRUARY 2009

BRENDAN ET LE SECRET DE KELLS

 

Film d'animation franco-belgo-irlandais, de Tomm Moore (1 h 15.) Sortie le 11 février 2009

 

 

 Brendan et le secret de Kells est un dessin animé irlando-franco-belge réalisé par Tom Moore. Il est co-produit par Cartoon Saloon (Irlande), Les Armateurs (Kirikou,  Les Triplettes de Belleville) France 2 Cinéma (France) et Vivi Film (Belgique). La réalisation est partagée entre plusieurs pays. Les dessins sont animés par Kecskemét (Hongrie), la mise en couleur est assurée par Digital-Graphics (Belgique), les effet 3D sont réalisés par Walking the Dog (Belgique) et le compositing est fait par Spirit (France). L'histoire se déroule en Irlande au 9^e siècle. Brendan, un apprenti moine de 12 ans, est élevé par son oncle, le sévère Abbé Cellach, au sein de l'abbaye de Kells. Cet établissement important abrite de nombreux moines copistes et enlumineurs (l'Irlande était à l'époque très réputée pour cet art).

Brendan rêverait de devenir enlumineur à son tour. Malheureusement, l'Abbé Cellach est absorbé par d'autres préoccupations : face à la menace des Vikings, il consacre toute son énergie à fortifier la muraille autour de l'abbaye. Obsédé par sa tâche, il accueille d'assez mauvaise grâce Frère Aidan d'Iona, le plus fameux des enlumineurs, venu chercher refuge à Kells. Mais ce dernier découvre vite en Brendan des talents insoupçonnés. Il décide d'en faire son apprenti, en cachette de l'Abbé Cellach... Au cours de ce parcours initiatique, Brendan devra aussi aller au cœur de la forêt (royaume des divinités païennes du monde Celte), où il affrontera les pires dangers et devra surmonter ses peurs..

Le jeune réalisateur Irlandais de 32 ans, Tomm Moore rend hommage dans ce film à ses origines ethniques et au symbole de l'Irlande, Le Livre de Kells. Les enluminures de ce livre lui ont inspiré un style 2D qui tranche avec la tendance 3D des derniers succès de l'animation. Mais n'en doutons pas, la 2D a encore ses fans, et Brendan est à la hauteur de ses prétentions. Le budget de cette adaptation a été de 6 millions d'euros. On est loin des budgets investis par les grands studios, mais en Europe, l'union et la passion font aussi la force.

Mister Tomm Moore, can you presents us  your training and background?  

I studied in Ballyfermot senior College in Dublin and I formed Cartoon Saloon while still in college. My partners Paul Young and Nora Twomey also attended Ballyfermot.

As a teenager I was a member of Young Irish Filmmakers in Kilkenny. Ross Murray the fourth member of our company was also a member. For our first years as a company we rented space in the offices of Young Irish Filmmakers.

My background has been as an animator, illustrator and director on short films, commercials and service work within Cartoon Saloon.

 

How old are you, may you tell more about your origins? 

I am now 32 years old and I was born in Newry Co.Down in the north of Ireland. I moved to Kilkenny at a very young age and grew up here. Kilkenny is in the south east of Ireland. 

 

When and how did you come to work on “The Secret of Kells »? 

It started as an idea in college. When we first founded the company we wanted to make a film about Irish art but we had quite a different script. When we began to work with Les Armateurs and Vivifilm we rewrote the story with a French screenwriter  Fabrice Ziolkowski. That was in 2003. We continued to search for funding until October 2005.

That was when we began full time production. 

 

Did you see the real book? What it is represents for you? 

Every schoolchild in Ireland learns about the Book of Kells, it is our national treasure. For me the book is the source of all so-called “celtic” art that we see everywhere . It is the high point of Irish visual art, its not something religious for me , more a symbol of the importance of culture, knowledge and art even in difficult times.

  

In what way did it inspire you for the film?

 

We looked at the decorations , the colors and the “mesmerising details” and tried to adapt those for animation. It was not easy but I am quite happy with the result. We also felt that the illuminators who made the book might have been a little like us, animators. We thought of how they spent their time working on this intricate and mediative artwork and felt we could relate a little to their dedication! 

 

What did Ireland represent for you? 

Ireland is my home and where my family are. It only represents that for me, as its part of my identity but I feel also part of the world more and more as we worked with so many countries on this production, even if its an Irish story and set in Ireland I hope we speak in a universal way to all people. 

 

How would you describe or characterize the “Spirit” of the film? 

I suppose we wanted to show some of the magic and inspiration that can be found especially in nature , even in dangerous or difficult times, we hope its a story of hope . We tried to say that art and culture are important , and worth protecting. Its also about growing up and finding our own way in the world.  

 

You’ve worked on several functions in a same time; why?  

I guess you mean about the different countries and different departments we ran at the same time? It was a necessity because of the financing and because of the talent we found in France, Belgium and Hungary.

 

How did you manage to do that? 

I had a great team , beginning with my co-director Nora Twomey, my art director Ross Stewart and supervisors who left Ireland to work in those countries . We also used a software called Hobsoft which allowed me to see the work being created on multiple sites and to check the work from anywhere with an internet connection!

  

May you tell us more about the work of a director? 

I took the role of Director , over all the other artists on the production. I was also a producer and responsible for the finance as well. As director I made the final call on all the artwork created, I had worked for several years on the visual development, the designs , the story boards and the universe of the film. This work was done in conjunction with Ross Stewart the Art director, and we made “rules” for the world that all the other artists could follow.

Nora and I cast the voices and we recorded them in Dublin in a sound studio there.

Then I worked with Nora Twomey on a very rough storyboard for the whole film. We then began preproduction and I supervised all the layouts and designs as well as the reference animation we made in Kilkenny (about 20 minutes) , I often posed scenes myself to show the animators what I wanted in the scene.

Barry Reynolds  , an old colleague from Ballyfermot college who had worked with us on some of the earliest development back in  2000 returned to our studio and worked on the final character designs unifying the work I had done ***on the main characters and designing the  majority of the extras,secondary characters, animals and  so on. We created a model pack of these final designs and Barry was responsible for checking the posing and animation done by  the key posing team in Kilkenny were on model.

The key posing stage was very important for this film, the final storyboards (which the 1st assistant director Remi Chaye worked  on with

us) were made in Flash  and we did quite detailed poses  to show the action, the acting etcetera , These storyboard poses would normally be used directly by the animators as reference but because of the tricky style we relied more on the "key posing "stage than usual productions.

These storyboard poses were then drawn on paper at the correct size for the animators to follow, the key posing team was led by Barry and Fabian Erlinghauser with many of the animators who worked in Kilkenny contributing there too. At this stage any extra acting or animation information not included in the storyboards was added to the layout pack.

 At this stage Martin Fagin made the clean up designs and worked with Serge Ume and his team in Digital Graphics to design clever ways to have some of the effects we wanted based on the Book of Kells style even with a limited budget. For example we found a way to thicken the outlines digitally during the Ink and Paint process.

 We also designed all the handdrawn and Flash effects here at that stage too, with a team led by another old Ballyfermot college colleague Jeremy Purcell. 

At the same time we made Background layouts which were made by a small team here in Kilkenny and the charcaters had to fit into the backgrounds as well as possible to suit the style. To check the whole image sat together well we  worked with two very talented young artists from france Adrien Merigeau and Lily Bernard  who worked with Ross Stewart to make the "scene illustrations" which were final background, final posing and EFX all combined to make a virtual "screen shot" at the very beginning of preproduction. This images became a "blueprint" for the rest of the production. I was able to refer to them as the project progressed thru' each department in various countries to see if we were still "on track"!

 

Then I traveled a lot! To Hungary, Belgium and France to supervise the animation there . 

In each studio we tried to find an “expert” animator for each character and as well as the supervisors (Benoit Feroumont and Marie Laure Guisset in Walking the Dog studios, Belgium, Fabian Erlinghauser and Darko Belevski in Hungary) we found individual animators who would specialize in their favorite characters. 

After the animation was “cleaned up” which means the final line is drawn and the in between drawings are added we had them colored in Liege by a studio called Digital Graphics. I worked with them to achieve a texture on the characters so they would fit with the Backgrounds. 

Then we composite all the scenes, I traveled to Angouleme in France where we made about 40 minutes of compositing, this was adding all the elements, characters, backgrounds, special effects and shadows and lighting.

We also did some compositing in Brussels and Liege. 

Finally I worked for 3 weeks with a French editor, Fabienne Giro  and we had a final cut. At this stage we began working with the composer Bruno Coulais who send me samples by email. I visited him in his studio twice and we worked on the final mix together. The Irish band Kila arranged and played the music in the final score. Nora and I went to Paris to work on the final sound design in Piste Rouge and then I returned with Ross Stewart to check the colors on the final print! 

Of course this is an abbreviated account of the process and it involved many more talented people not mentioned here! It really was a huge team work with me as the "ringmaster"!

 

  

May you describe us your role as story’s writer?

 I wrote the original screenplay with  a friend from college , when it came time to rewrite it I took Brendan who had been a secondary character and wrote a simple outline which made him the centre of the story. Ross Stewart and I made some illustrations to show this new approach and we began working on the screenplay with Fabrice Ziolkowski soon after.

  

How did you worked as producer?  

Basically , Paul Young was the Irish producer but we owned the company we made for the film, Kells Films together 50/50. I helped with the budget and the running of the studio as well as helping organize the workflow between all the other studios.

 

How did you work with the crew?

Day by day I would review scenes with them and/or the supervisor. When I could be in the studio I would work with them side by side if possible and make drawings to show the corrections I wanted or how I saw the scene. Nora Twomey also worked with me on this process during the animation.

During the compositing and coloring stage I would make Photoshop references for the crew and try to spend as much time as possible in the studio with them working side by side.  

 

Is it interesting to work with international team? 

Very ! And difficult too! But I made a lot of new friends!

 

How did you work on the « animation » aspect of the film (2D/3D…) 

It was all planned out in layouts and “scene illustrations” which we made in Kilkenny, the 2d animation was more my area of expertise and Nora , Fabian and I could draw directly with the animators. But for the 3d work we relied more on sketches and “model sheets” to show how it should work. The 3d animator would show me a simple version of the scene to get the movement correct and once that was working we would move to lighting and compositing. This was where I often made Photoshop references or asked Ross Stewart to make a sample image to show them how it should look when combined with the 2d elements. It was very important to us to maintain a “handmade” feel to the whole movie.

  

And what’s about the Brendan books (BD...)? May we hope an art book of the film? 

I am not sure about an art  book, maybe we will publish one if the film is successful. The Bds are a nice opportunity for me to work in comics which I love. I also have a chance to show a little more of the story and the characters history in the comics.

   

Who are your mentors, muses, the universes who inspired you? 

So many! But of course I am inspired by Miyazaki and European animation as well as the classic Disney movies. From a design point of view Mary Blair and Maurice Noble and Evyind Earle inspired us. Brad Bird and Genndy Tartakovsky  are very inspiring directors in the field of animation these days!

I also am very inspired by comic book artists such as Chris Ware and Craig Thompson and Jeff Smith.

 

To you, what is the most interesting, the most successful or the most complex scene you had to do for this film?  

I am very happy with the “mist cat” sequence, where Aisling sings a song and transforms Pangur Ban the cat into a mist -creature to free Brendan from his room.

It was animated in 2d with special effects and compositing  added by digital Graphics. I like how the visuals and the music work together.

  

Can you tell us how you did it?  

It was storyboarded carefully here and then posed out and prepared for the animators in Belgium. We recorded a rough version of the song for the animators to follow. Nora spent some time in Belgium helping the animators on this sequence. When it was animated I went to Liege and worked with the special effects animators and compositors to finalize the image and the lighting.

 

Could you tell us why you choose Bruno Coulais as composer? 

He was suggested to us by Didier Brunner and we were very happy to work with him because of his beautiful work on previous films. We already had agreed to work with the Irish band Kila and they made a great team.

  

Could you analyze the relationship you created between picture and music?

 It was very organic and very fast. The images were finished when we began to work on the music. Nora and I had selected a rough track made from previous work by Bruno and Kila to act as a reference while we animated the film.

Then we more or less forgot that and allowed Bruno and Kila to invent something fresh. They recorded the music in Sligo in the west of Ireland and it was a lovely experience. Very rough and ready and in the spirit of threw hole production. I feel Bruno's score and Kila's music add another emotional level to the key scenes in the film and underwrite the spirit we wanted over all. . I think the music was a success in the end because it was made with the same attitude as the images , to be original and modern but with a strong traditional influence.  

 

Are you working on another project? If yes, can you tell me about it?

 Yes, its called "Song of the Sea". 

Could you tell us more about it? 

We are just beginning to develop it now, I am working with a talented young writer Will Collins and we hope to work with many of the same artists and partners from “Brendan” on this new project.

It is a softer story more for younger children but again speaking about culture and folklore. We will pitch it in Cartoon Movie in Lyon in March.

 

What if you were offered your dream project…? What would it be?

 For now its Song of Sea! That's the dream project now!

 But someday I would love to be able to afford to just make comic books. Something substantial like Craig Thompsons' Blankets or Bone by Jeff Smith. 

 

I’ve read you had chance to go to USA, and you came to Lucas and Pixar Studios. Did Brendan have open you new doors in animation world? May you tell us more about that? 

It was great, I hope to return to Pixar soon to screen The Secret of Kells there. Suddenly I found myself not just an animator but a director and therefore plenty of new opportunities have surfaced. And even more will come if enough people come and see the film in Cinemas!

 

Brendan is your first film experience. What did you learn? What did it brought you, personally and professionally? 

I learnt the hard way that its a long haul . Its a marathon not a sprint. A friend told me that at the start of the production but I never really realized it until I was in the middle of it!

I learnt a lot about working with people and I learnt that to do a project like this it has to be a subject you really care about because it is so difficult and time consuming.

For me, it was the end of a long term goal and I am very happy to have brought it to fruition. I just hope people like it now!

  

What would you say for people who want to start working in animation? 

Draw a lot, collaborate and learn from your peers and colleagues.

  

Do you have any anecdote? 

Two of my favorite moments on the production - 

One day in Hungary I realized how truly international a production it was and how many lives we touched just by making the film. I was speaking to a Mongolian artist via Transylvanian translator and we were discussing how much we loved the work of a Polish animator! 

When the film was selected to be shown in L.A. we still hadn't the final music recorded. Paul and I traveled to Sligo where Bruno and Kila were recording the music. It was a long drive and we were very stressed and unsure of how it would all work out.

I walked into the little recording studio and Dee Armstrong who was quite pregnant at the time was playing the fiddle and the images of the final sequence were playing on screen. The music was so beautiful and pure and worked so well with the images , I knew we had a finished film to be proud of at last!

 

Do you have a last comment, for our readers, and your fans? 

Please go to see our film at least twice!!!!