Craft
Face to Face with... FX
The animator/director speaks on his latest idents for VIVA Germany and with UFO.
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Before joining directing collective UFO, François-Xavier - AKA FX - worked as a CG artist for a host of production companies, but was never quite satisfied due to lack of creative involvement. His recent title sequences for VIVA Germany however, saw him draught in a few rubber ducks from his own bathroom to feature on the sets he built in a DIY-style project.
Tell us about your name and how you got involved with UFO...
'FX' comes from the first letters of my first name. It's funny because a lot of people think it's because I'm a kind of super CGI nerd.
I joined UFO in 2007 with my friends Vincent Viriot and Mathieu Gastaldi. At this time we had just finished making a short experimental film called Destruckt which won the MTV Bloom contest. We were looking for a place to work properly and Guillaume Marien from Mathematic put us in touch with UFO. This was the beginning of our collaboration and Mathematic, which is still our base camp - it houses the six of us. We are represented by Les Télécreateurs in France and NotToScale in the UK.
Although we are still currently looking for that perfect relationship with a Rep in the US we have worked for a number of clients over there, notably BBDO New York, Fallon for The NYSE, Sony for the James Bond Music video for Quantum of Solace, and more recently with DROGA5 for a Puma commercial.
In the UK we worked on the La Roux Bulletproof video. Other things include loads of MTV projects including a film we directed called Soundsystem for the channel's rebrand that won a D&AD last year.
Tell us about the VIVA idents...
We were really happy that UFO had been consulted to direct these titles for VIVA. It's an ideal project from a creative stand point, they were both short format and we had the freedom to experiment with new ideas. The relationship with the agency was ideal; they gave us a great deal of liberty while at the same time being enthusiastic and helpful about our propositions.
The brief was to create title sequences that were more contemporary, while also respecting the guidelines of the channel's global rebrand. With VIVA WECKER we tried to respect this spirit using animation around the morning routine. We imagined a little universe that wakes at the sound of an alarm clock. The intention was to create a poetic film that doesn't take itself too seriously illustrating a typical early morning in a positive light.
VIVA FEATURING is a documentary show that delves into the daily lives of celebrities. The agency validated the idea of using a diary showing an intimate point of view, so we shot a book as it had its pages turned by a range people, evoking the different subjects in the programme. Each page became a little individual animated world, kind of like a small playground where we played with elements, graphics, CG, stop-mo, etc.
What's the best thing about using these techniques and how does it compare to real time/live action shooting?
Being able to use all these techniques, independently or at the same time, depending on the story you tell and the feelings you want to convey. In my opinion VIVA WECKER would have lacked a sort of poetry if it was just made in CG, while some shots really needed CG to make them happen. As a director and an animator, I like playing with all sorts of techniques, experimenting with new ways to tell stories. It's what makes the job interesting and fun.
I really appreciated building the handcrafted stuff for the film. It was so refreshing, compared to being sat in front of a computer screen all day long. The cool thing also with these techniques involved in VIVA films had a real 'DIY' aspect in making them. It's something I really miss in live action shooting, where everything can become so complicated and expensive. Here, we built a small set in our office, shot with a Canon 5D, and had the comfort of time to make things how we wanted.
What's it like being a part of a directing team, presumably there are benefits and drawbacks?
I would say that working alone is far worse than being part of a team. It's important in a creative process to be able to discuss with teammates about stories, ideas and technical issues. Enthusiasm is made to be shared. I guess that if I had really wanted to make things on my own, I would have stayed at home to do some paintings, but I would have surely fallen into depression!
How do you decide who takes each brief?
It's a smooth process. The decision is made naturally; it sometimes depends on who is free at the time. However each creative director has their own sensibility to projects that are indispensable to the whole team of us six guys. Sometimes it does happen, if a brief permits it, that we work on films collectively. Due to the fact that the studio is a reasonable size we can have a good working relationship and ethic.
What's your favourite piece of work by UFO?
I have two favourite pieces: a bunch of idents we made for MTV Classic and the Kap10kurt music video. MTV Classic was really cool to make because it was like playing with all the cultural icons I'd grown up with: vintage science-fiction, 8-bit video-games, and 90s hip-hop. it was like making my own personal Back To The Future movie! Even now as a viewer, I really enjoy watching them… it's kind of rare because most of the time after having spent two months working on a project I'm only able to see what's wrong with it or what could have been improved.
The other work I quite like is the Kap10kurt music video. From a creative perspective we were totally free, and after three months of intense work it was cool to hear all the amazing reactions from different people from all over the world. It was the first of our work to get such an audience.
WECKER is a morning music show, but what are you like in the mornings?
Like a zombie crawling from his bed to the office, in a never-ending struggle to be on time. I'm definitively not a morning guy.
One thing we liked was the egg turning into a duck; tell us about that idea...
It just came when thinking about elements and objects typical of a morning routine. I won these small coloured ducks at a Christmas party a long time ago and since then they've been in my bathroom, under my nose every morning. It quickly became relevant to put them in the film, but how? As ducks are birds it's logical that they come from eggs, et voila! I like the idea of breaking the yolk as if it was the shell, to surprise the viewer. These kind of unexpected details are always fun to see.
What have you seen, read or watched recently that's relevant to shots readers?
The video for Cassette of Schwarzenegger is my latest 'Like' on Vimeo. Also the project recently created by one of our team for the Guardian and Observer. The project was created for W+K London and for the paper's Film Season last year. It's a game you play where you need to guess the titles of 26 different films referenced in about a minute of animation. It's quite difficult and also quite genius.
What does 2011 hold for you?
Just simply Money. Glory. Fame. World domination for UFO, you know the usual.
"
'FX' comes from the first letters of my first name. It's funny because a lot of people think it's because I'm a kind of super CGI nerd.
I joined UFO in 2007 with my friends Vincent Viriot and Mathieu Gastaldi. At this time we had just finished making a short experimental film called Destruckt which won the MTV Bloom contest. We were looking for a place to work properly and Guillaume Marien from Mathematic put us in touch with UFO. This was the beginning of our collaboration and Mathematic, which is still our base camp - it houses the six of us. We are represented by Les Télécreateurs in France and NotToScale in the UK.
Although we are still currently looking for that perfect relationship with a Rep in the US we have worked for a number of clients over there, notably BBDO New York, Fallon for The NYSE, Sony for the James Bond Music video for Quantum of Solace, and more recently with DROGA5 for a Puma commercial.
In the UK we worked on the La Roux Bulletproof video. Other things include loads of MTV projects including a film we directed called Soundsystem for the channel's rebrand that won a D&AD last year.
Tell us about the VIVA idents...
We were really happy that UFO had been consulted to direct these titles for VIVA. It's an ideal project from a creative stand point, they were both short format and we had the freedom to experiment with new ideas. The relationship with the agency was ideal; they gave us a great deal of liberty while at the same time being enthusiastic and helpful about our propositions.
The brief was to create title sequences that were more contemporary, while also respecting the guidelines of the channel's global rebrand. With VIVA WECKER we tried to respect this spirit using animation around the morning routine. We imagined a little universe that wakes at the sound of an alarm clock. The intention was to create a poetic film that doesn't take itself too seriously illustrating a typical early morning in a positive light.
VIVA FEATURING is a documentary show that delves into the daily lives of celebrities. The agency validated the idea of using a diary showing an intimate point of view, so we shot a book as it had its pages turned by a range people, evoking the different subjects in the programme. Each page became a little individual animated world, kind of like a small playground where we played with elements, graphics, CG, stop-mo, etc.
What's the best thing about using these techniques and how does it compare to real time/live action shooting?
Being able to use all these techniques, independently or at the same time, depending on the story you tell and the feelings you want to convey. In my opinion VIVA WECKER would have lacked a sort of poetry if it was just made in CG, while some shots really needed CG to make them happen. As a director and an animator, I like playing with all sorts of techniques, experimenting with new ways to tell stories. It's what makes the job interesting and fun.
I really appreciated building the handcrafted stuff for the film. It was so refreshing, compared to being sat in front of a computer screen all day long. The cool thing also with these techniques involved in VIVA films had a real 'DIY' aspect in making them. It's something I really miss in live action shooting, where everything can become so complicated and expensive. Here, we built a small set in our office, shot with a Canon 5D, and had the comfort of time to make things how we wanted.
What's it like being a part of a directing team, presumably there are benefits and drawbacks?
I would say that working alone is far worse than being part of a team. It's important in a creative process to be able to discuss with teammates about stories, ideas and technical issues. Enthusiasm is made to be shared. I guess that if I had really wanted to make things on my own, I would have stayed at home to do some paintings, but I would have surely fallen into depression!
How do you decide who takes each brief?
It's a smooth process. The decision is made naturally; it sometimes depends on who is free at the time. However each creative director has their own sensibility to projects that are indispensable to the whole team of us six guys. Sometimes it does happen, if a brief permits it, that we work on films collectively. Due to the fact that the studio is a reasonable size we can have a good working relationship and ethic.
What's your favourite piece of work by UFO?
I have two favourite pieces: a bunch of idents we made for MTV Classic and the Kap10kurt music video. MTV Classic was really cool to make because it was like playing with all the cultural icons I'd grown up with: vintage science-fiction, 8-bit video-games, and 90s hip-hop. it was like making my own personal Back To The Future movie! Even now as a viewer, I really enjoy watching them… it's kind of rare because most of the time after having spent two months working on a project I'm only able to see what's wrong with it or what could have been improved.
The other work I quite like is the Kap10kurt music video. From a creative perspective we were totally free, and after three months of intense work it was cool to hear all the amazing reactions from different people from all over the world. It was the first of our work to get such an audience.
WECKER is a morning music show, but what are you like in the mornings?
Like a zombie crawling from his bed to the office, in a never-ending struggle to be on time. I'm definitively not a morning guy.
One thing we liked was the egg turning into a duck; tell us about that idea...
It just came when thinking about elements and objects typical of a morning routine. I won these small coloured ducks at a Christmas party a long time ago and since then they've been in my bathroom, under my nose every morning. It quickly became relevant to put them in the film, but how? As ducks are birds it's logical that they come from eggs, et voila! I like the idea of breaking the yolk as if it was the shell, to surprise the viewer. These kind of unexpected details are always fun to see.
What have you seen, read or watched recently that's relevant to shots readers?
The video for Cassette of Schwarzenegger is my latest 'Like' on Vimeo. Also the project recently created by one of our team for the Guardian and Observer. The project was created for W+K London and for the paper's Film Season last year. It's a game you play where you need to guess the titles of 26 different films referenced in about a minute of animation. It's quite difficult and also quite genius.
What does 2011 hold for you?
Just simply Money. Glory. Fame. World domination for UFO, you know the usual.
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- Production Mathematic
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