5 - Background Design

So we had a script... Now we needed Backgrounds to illustrate this story. Mister Didier ask the contribution of two very talented Background designer : Zaza and Zyk (or Zazyk like they like to be called.

Zaza and Zyk worked on many other different Animation films such as Persepolis or Lucky Luke. On Ernest and Celestine they were responsible of the Background creation of the film, working on their artistic style and chosing the technic to draw them. Quite soon, we decided that the backgrounds were to be made with watercolor instead of working them on computer. We wanted to be as close as Gabrielle Vincent's technics

I'll talk about the way we made the background later. For now let's talk about those first research. Zazyk really should be considered as the creators of the artistic design of the film. All the sets you can see in it were made after a long and minutious work of research. After they read the script, they started working on it. Here is some example of a set described by Daniel Pennac and right below, how Zazyk interpreted it into a picture :

1.Int. underground WORLD / DORMITORY FOR YOUNG MICE - NIGHT

We pull back to discover a large dormitory in a high-ceilinged, vaulted cellar with tiny beds lined up beside one another. The little mice, wearing white nightgowns, are all gathered around Celestine’s bed. A lit candle sits atop each of their night-tables. 

3. Int. ernest’s house – early morning

ERNEST’s house is in a sad state of disarray. Decrepit furniture, dust and spider webs, an old piano along with other musical instruments: cymbals, a drum, an old accordion slinking down towards the ground,… the dishes and the cleaning seem to have been neglected for months.  

16.Int. The underGround World - day

The Underground World are the sewers that have been entirely taken over and settled by mice. All rooms are of normal proportions, as are the sewers, the catacombs, the quarries or the roman ruins that riddle subterranean Paris. 

Those 3 drawings you are seeing were the first shot. Of course in order to make those drawings, they studied Gabrielle Vincent books and paintics so they could be faithful to her technics. They tried t be as close as she used to draw and paint. Here is some example where you can see on the left a drawing of Gabrielle Vincent, on the right a drawing of Zazyk

On the left “Ernest and Célestine have lost Simeon”

On the right, a research for Ernest house

On the left “Ernest and Celestine, musicians in the streets”

On the right a research for Leon's bedroom

This first step is necessary. It helps giving us a basic idea of what the film will look like. At this time evrything is possible, we can try a set to look like this or this, houses can be green or yellow or red, we have to decide what is the best. I will tell you more about the technics of the making of the backgrounds later.