Felix & Paul: Nuclear Forum of Belgium

nuclear

In this ménage à trois of live action, 2D and 3D, directing duo Felix & Paul (through production company TRS) envision a low-tech Minority Report interface to illustrate the pros and cons of nuclear energy. (Lower res English version here.)

This is typically the sort of project that succumbs to the siren call of the One Long Shot school of mograph—but thankfully Felix & Paul stayed the course, using simple cuts to transition from the metaphoric space of pure graphics back to the drawing board (at :31, for example). I know that may seem terribly obvious, but for some reason or another, making a cut is a courageous act in contemporary motion design.

Along the same lines, the two alternate angles of each hand near the completion of the spot break free from the overhead shots preceding them to great effect. It’s a simple but powerful use of metaphor that encapsulates the ambivalence of the narrator.


Credits

Client: Forum Nucléaire
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Brussels
Project Managers: Ariane Grosemans, Nicolas Pignatelli
Creative Director: Jan Teulingkx
Copywriter: Damien Veys
AD: Didier Vanden Brande
Head of TV: Paul Vanwijck
Production Company: TRS Brussels
Directors: Felix & Paul
Producer: Mitchel Elsen
Post-Production: Felix & Paul (Montréal), TRSBrussels.com
Music Composer: Chris Christoffels
Audio Post: Think N Talk
Media: TV, Online, Print

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About the author

Justin Cone

/ justincone.com
Together with Carlos El Asmar, Justin co-founded Motionographer, F5 and The Motion Awards. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with is wife, son and fluffball of a dog. Before taking on Motionographer full-time, Justin worked in various capacities at Psyop, NBC-Universal, Apple, Adobe and SCAD.

15 Comments

oddfew

This is simply brilliant.
Live action and cg never looked so comfortable together.. :)

BrandonLori

This is the most elegant and seamlessly executed spot I’ve seen in awhile, in part to the cuts, first noted by Justin. Is it possible to get an interview with Felix & Paul, and have them discuss their techniques throughout the piece?

higa

we’re in touch with the directors – hopefully additional goodies are on the way :)

geralfc

That was pretty intense. I am sure a ton of work went into that tiny clip. Animation is truly something.

Simon Robson

it’s a great spot for sure. And i agree, having one hand disagree with the other is a nice analogy. But part was me was just focused on the fact that this guy could draw so well with both hands, and how improbable that is. Of course probability isn’t something you expect in our abstract world of motion graphics, but something just jarred about this amazing ambidextrous man…

temple16

Agree, it’s good work… but doubting this guy is ambidextrous. It’s more likely that they used one hand and flipped it for either the right or left. Hopefully the directors will respond and we’ll get to find out for sure…

notfelix

He was indeed ambidextrous! Although drawing with both hands at the same time proved to be too difficult, so we made things easier for him by doing multiple passes with motion control…

Thanks for all the positive feedback so far!

temple16

Cool, thanks for the clarifying… good stuff.

Loay

That was cool

hoeveler

Brilliant. It’s a shame that the English-speaking narrator didn’t pronounce ‘nuclear’ properly though. There’s not a vowel directly before the L. Please don’t let George Bush be the American ambassador to the English language. ;-) At least the woman at the end got it right.

Bravo on the piece though. Very cool.

jfzilla

What a great piece, truly fantabulous, quite inspiring. Thanks guys.

pushandpull

Incredible execution…The balance of conceptual and technical ideas is very clever. Fantastic after effects manipulation and control!…

This is MASTERY

pushandpull

Balance, execution and mastery

soloman

One of the best pieces I’ve seen. Brilliant idea and excellent execution.

uninspired_overstimulated

Loved it! The ambidextrous man was a nice touch. Reminds me of the older Disney and Warner Bros. animations where the animator’s hand would interact with the cartoon and that makes me smile.

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