Elise CARRET

A look back at your ESMA years

Why did you choose to study 3D animation and special effects?

What made me want to work in animation was quite simply a love of character stories! Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved telling the adventures of my creations using different media: comic strips, illustrations, puppet theatre, live-action and stop-motion short films, animation on lacartoonerie.fr.

Animation won an ultimate place in my heart with the release of Wallace and Gromit: The Mystery of the Were-Rabbit (Aardman Studios, 2005). Following this feature film, I realised that I could create a film myself using a simple camera and a clay puppet. The second revelation came with the release of Ice Age 2 (BueSky Studios, 2005). Watching the making of over and over again, I discovered that you could make a living out of it! Between chara-designer, modeller, animators, editor, dubber, director, story-boarder… There’s plenty of choice for a lifetime of fun!

Why did you choose to study at ESMA?

I ended up at ESMA thanks to their short films! On a desperate night at school, I decided to enrol in a graphic design school with a film option, even though I wasn’t very convinced. I didn’t know where I could find a better place and I went to all the open days at schools near me.

By pure chance, I found an old video on daily motion that my best friend showed me years ago (2007): REPLAY. This short film really moved me. Eventually I got carried away by all the other videos: Jungle jail, Dans la tête, Mon ami Charlie etc. Until I found out that it was an animation school! And that a school was opening in Nantes at the beginning of September! “It was the sign of destiny calling me”, I said, unsubscribing from the graphic design school and filling in an application form directly for ESMA before even attending the open day.

The most fascinating part of the story is that my future teacher at ESMA, Anthony Voisin, is none other than one of the directors of Replay… Coincidence? I don’t think so!

What did the training bring you?

This course has given me all the knowledge I need to be a professional by the end of my studies: IT tools, the basics for all disciplines, rigour, perseverance and above all teamwork (the key to success). Many other schools don’t allow you to have a year devoted to working in a group on a common project.

That’s the real strength of the course! The studios come to recruit us because of that. As for my professional speciality, I already knew that I wanted to be an animator. Most of my classmates discovered their vocation during their studies.

Was there a subject that you particularly liked?

Well, I’d have to say animation! Our teacher was so passionate about animation that she didn’t just teach it, she lived it! I can still see her moving around all over the place to explain certain movements to us, like actings, which are fundamental to animation!

However, I really enjoyed the other subjects: modelling, charadesign, storyboarding. Everything that had a direct link with the characters and the story.

What did the teaching and the teachers give you?

What the teachers gave us most was their passion for animation! They were often the first to ask us if we’d seen the latest software, conference or film. We could spend hours listening to their professional anecdotes – we never got bored! They instilled in us the desire to go further and further in our projects, to seek out information on our own to perfect a detail, to never give up on achieving what we set out to do. Perseverance, the need to surpass ourselves all the time.

They were always there to encourage us in our creative delirium! I can still remember our script teacher spending hours discussing a project to unblock a production, or our animation teacher running after his train to spend more time helping us! The emails from the rig teacher who spent the whole weekend looking for a solution to a problem. The list of memories is endless!

How did your professional immersion go after graduating from ESMA?

It went very smoothly! I was lucky enough to find a job straight from school. After a few stressful moments choosing my career path, I ended up at Illumination MacGuff, in a very young team with a lovely manager!

It’s often easier to fit in when there are lots of new people in the same boat! What’s more, I arrived in the middle of production on The Grinch, so the film was finally on the right track to move forward. It was fabulous to be able to watch a film that I love grow before my very eyes!

Your career path

Since leaving school you’ve been working at Illumination MacGuff as a Marketing Animator. Can you tell us about your current job, what it involves and what you like about it?

My job is to animate the characters, like in feature films. Only here, we work on the Illumination MacGuff short films and the adverts to promote these feature films. Basically, we animate the same characters as in the films, but with shorter sequences! Occasionally we do still images for the film posters, or turn statues for the Universal Studios theme parks.

What skills and qualities are required to do this job?

As with all creative jobs in the film industry, you need patience, rigour and team spirit. These 3 elements form a kind of “virtuous circle”.

• Patience is essential if we are to survive all the stages of validation of our work: validation by the Lead, then the Animation Director, the Director, the co-directors in Los Angeles and finally the Producer.
• Which explains why we also need to be very rigorous. The slightest mistake has repercussions on all the studio departments… You can’t afford to waste time!
• Finally, ‘team spirit’ is the link between the other 2 elements. You need rigour to work together. Team spirit creates a calm atmosphere that enables us to concentrate and be patient. Otherwise we go crazy with the tons of retakes/retouches we have to do on every shot we animate!

Secondly, to become an animator, you need to have a sense of constant analysis. Whether it’s a figure, a movement, a reaction, an emotion, etc., you have to be able to analyse everything. Your daily life becomes your source of inspiration for breathing life into your characters. You need to be eagle-eyed, always on the lookout, always ready to dissect your ‘prey’.

Let’s move on to passion. In the past, I would have said that you had to be passionate to do this job. Well, to my great surprise, you don’t have to be. However, it helps enormously if you don’t want to lose your motivation and remain rigorous, patient, a good observant team member, and so on. “The virtuous circle.

Why did you choose this studio?

Because I really like their style of animation: somewhere between cartoony and realistic. But also because they have good teaching tutors.

I was lucky enough to be spotted by the animation director Patrick Delage when I left school. Otherwise I wouldn’t have gone there for fear of not having the level! This studio is a great springboard between the school and the world of animation. You feel like you’re still at school and you’re constantly making progress.

The leads and animation directors really want us to improve our skills, to the benefit of the quality of the film. The fact that they speak French helps us to focus on the animation and not on the language. Now I feel ready to animate anywhere in the world!

Can you tell us about the projects you’ve worked on?

I was able to work on The Grinch as a crowd, the extras if you like. It was an incredible experience because it was my first step on a feature film! It gave me a really good insight into life at the studio and how a film is put together. After the crowd, I went into marketing, first crowd-marketing and then main-marketing (character in the foreground). I worked on the short films for Xmass Minions, Super Gidget, Art show, and finally Minions Monsters. I’ve worked on a number of adverts for the Grinch, Comme des bêtes 2, and Minions 2. That’s a lot of Minions ahah!

How do you feel now that you’ve left school to work on films for the big screen? Isn’t it impressive or stressful?

It’s so exciting! To see a film being put together, evolving board by board, from anime to anime, from render to render… Until you see it on the big screen! It still moves me ahah! Being shown on the big screen in front of so many spectators gives meaning to our passion. An animation that isn’t shown or played is an animation that doesn’t thrill anyone, so it’s an inert animation. The real aim of animation is to move an audience, not to remain hidden away in a computer.

Curiosity: have you seen these films in the cinema?

Oh yes! All of them! First with the whole film team at private screenings, then with friends in the cinema.

What’s it like working on this type of film, with so many people involved in its making? What are the working relationships like with colleagues and different departments?

It’s different every time you change projects and teams. Some experiences are just great: you can exchange lots of ideas between leads, graphic designers, animation directors and so on. It makes you feel really creative!

And sometimes it’s exactly the opposite. You feel small, insignificant, uncreative and under pressure. We just have to redo work that’s already been redone 3 times for reasons beyond our control… But let’s stay on a positive note. Relations within the French studios are going really well. Let’s not forget that graphic designers are big kids in grown-up bodies! So we’re never safe from a nerf gun ball, a desk full of toys, a ukulele battle or outright giggles… just like at school!

What did you expect when you left school? Did you have any definite plans (about studios, jobs…)?

I was so stressed when I left school! Which direction to choose? Too many choices! I didn’t have any particular plan apart from finding a studio where I could blossom and whose projects I would love!

Is there a project you’re particularly proud of?

I’d say it’s the short film Minions Monster, because that’s the project where I was able to animate absurd, very cartoony shots, with quite a few technical challenges. AND I love a challenge, especially a silly one!

Achoo and his journey around the world

You were part of the team that worked on the short film Achoo. Can you tell us a bit about that experience?

Wow! Hold on dear readers:

The short version: It comes from a very simple situation: I was very late with my script assignments.

The long version: One Friday lunchtime, I realised that the first synopsis for our final year films had to be in by 1pm. I had 30 minutes left. Panicking, I started a battle against the clock. Looking around me for inspiration, my eyes fell on one of my old MANAA paintings. The canvas depicts a ‘European dragon’ with a drip in his nose, whose sneeze burns the frame of the painting. We often played with the support of the work.

My brain then went into overdrive: “a dragon with a cold… makes for explosive sneezing! Like fireworks. I’ve got my story… A dragon that spits out fireworks! Is that a Chinese invention as well? And they’re crazy about dragons! New Year’s fireworks set off by dragons! I love the idea. But it’s hard to spit fire with a drip down your nose… So why use a dragon with a cold? “Put yourself into a scenario” advised Mr Méteyer. That’s it!

When I was little, I had a lot of colds and allergies… Here we are. An allergic dragon! Allergic to what? To the explosive powder in fireworks… It’s all a bit pointless and problematic… A dragon with a cold wants to be accepted by his dragon community by taking part in Chinese New Year, and he has to spit out some nice flames. It’s impossible because he’s allergic, but thanks to his sneezing, he’s going to create Fireworks!

I’ve got 10 minutes left to write it all! It’s probably too complicated, or even too ambitious… Anyway, I’m going for it. At worst the script won’t be selected, at best it will be reworked… Not only was it selected, but despite numerous attempts at rewriting it, it was this first ambitious version that remained! In my head, it’s an explosion of joy, followed by mega-anxiety… WHY DID I WRITE THAT! Sorry team, the challenge is on!

It’s been an incredible year making this film! A lot of joy, a lot of laughs, a lot of discussions, a lot of rushes, a lot of hard work. All in all, some very good memories!

Our team of 6 quickly got involved in the project. After quickly retyping the script, we moved on to production: staging, charadesign, set design, props design, rig and fx research, pipe creation, etc. Then production began in January with a storyboard that changed very little. Then production began in January with a storyboard that changed very little.

Everyone found their role in the production chain: Pierre in full set design, Maoris in chara surfacer, Camille in layout, Charlotte in fresco, Lulu in all the shots, and me in chara modelling and facial rig.

And then everyone got together! The 3 boys on lighting, rendering, compo debugs, the girls on animation, research paintings, mate paintings, credits etc. The warm and happy atmosphere in the class really helped the projects to run smoothly. We all had our laughs and kept smiling even in the worst moments of stress or demotivation. We supported each other with ukuleles, songs, balls of nerves, absurd debates and so on.

If I was offered the chance to do it all again, I’d go for it!

Achoo is a short film that has been selected for many festivals around the world. You attended several of these festivals. Can you tell us about this experience?

It was an intense and completely crazy experience! If I hadn’t been working, I would have done anything to get to all the screenings! In Portugal, Brazil, Reunion Island, Greece, Romania, Japan, Australia, Canada and so on. We’ve really been lucky to have travelled the world thanks to the Oscars and all the other festivals that have shown us everywhere.

My desire to go to festivals came with the Oscars, because I had to fight to be able to go. I was really lucky to be in Paris and not on the other side of the world or even in London. My location in the centre of Europe meant I could travel quickly without too much expense.

It’s an extremely rewarding experience. Very often, you give your all to produce your final film. You see it at the end-of-year screening and that’s it. You get a job and move on. But I got to experience the rest! The life of a finished film that travels around the world! There’s a very rewarding sense of achievement. Meeting an audience gives you such indescribable sensations. You have to experience it to understand. Seeing so many different spectators laughing in different ways, receiving so many thanks from a touched audience, hearing their applause, chatting to them… You’re no longer watching a film, you’re living a film!

Achoo was shortlisted for the Oscars. You went there. How does it feel, for your first film, to end up at the Oscars?

Yes, I never imagined that one day I’d be invited to the Oscars! So impressive! So unlikely! So young, and for a graduation film. And yet it happened. It’s incredible! But that just goes to show that anything is possible… even the most improbable things!

I remember telling my parents when I was very young that the day I directed a real film, I’d have made a success of my life. Well, it’s done! I even feel that I’ve gone further thanks to this experience of projectors and red carpets. But I’m lucid and aware that it was a fluke, and I’m very grateful for that (there are so many incredible films released every year)!

What’s more, I shouldn’t forget that the best reward is not just the prizes, but the laughter and applause of a happy audience.

Any final words on Achoo?

Bless you 😉 And stay home if you sneeze fireworks! It’s probably the covid-20.

In conclusion

The films for the new class (2019) are now being released. Are you following them?

Absolutely! Especially with Œil pour Œil, which went to the VES Awards and has already scooped a whole bunch of prizes! I’m lucky enough to have a very good friend in the team who shows me all the news live! I hope it goes all the way to the Oscars!

What are your plans for the future?

I’ve got lots of plans! After 2 years travelling the world, I’m back in the game again! I’m slowly getting back into digital painting and modelling. I’ve produced a book of illustrations in Indian ink about the French Revolution (originally a simple Inktober… but it’s grown too big!).

I’m currently taking part in evening courses on 2D animation, storyboarding and scriptwriting! In other words, I’m going back to school at night! I’ve already got too much homework! It’s been a long time hahaha!

A lot of your friends go off to the four corners of the world to work. Didn’t you want to do that too? Would you like to travel abroad?

I told my friends that I wouldn’t stay in France after my studies… Well, I’m still in France and they’ve already travelled around the world ahahah! And I have no regrets! It was easy for me to take part in promoting Achoo and to visit Europe at weekends thanks to our beloved French capital. But the desire to discover new countries and cultures remains the same as when I was studying.

Finally, would you have any advice for students and future students?

Enjoy every day of your life! Whether you’re in a rush, on a break, at work, in your free time, as part of a team, on your own, struggling, travelling, and so on. Live your life as an exciting adventure that you’re writing!