Ada – Anaïs Vachez

PRIX : BEST VFX - BUDAPEST MOVIE AWARD 2024 

Context: the new short film by Anaïs Vachez

Following the success of her short film Le Petit Monstre, Anaïs Vachez once again called on our VFX department for ADA. This poetic short film features Ada, a little girl who, night after night, watches her parents argue, until one night their argument takes a monstrously surprising turn.
Broadcast on OSC, it was also screened out of competition at the Paris International Fantastic Film Festival(PIFFF).

Performance: the ADA monsters

For this short film, we produced all the special effects: 43 shots in all. As the ferocious beasts are central to the plot, we made several artistic proposals to find the perfect aesthetic to match Anaïs Vachez's idea. Once the final design of the monsters had been validated, we were able to model them before shooting, which saved us precious time during post-production.

We designed and 3D printed two templates of the monsters' heads to make it easier for the actors to work.

On the shoot, our VFX supervision consisted of managing the motion capture carried by the two actors, so that the movements of the two parents who had become monsters were as fluid and consistent as possible. We also took care of the overall reference shot, including the lighting, which plays an important part in this film.

Once the images and movements had been captured, we proceeded to animate the two ferocious beasts, as well as producing the special effects needed to tell the story. Our biggest challenge on this project was managing the grooming, i.e. managing and animating the hair on the two beasts. The fur was divided into several parts so that each part could be managed independently of the others. So we had to take into account the length, thickness and the way in which the hairs are brushed.