A few weeks ago, we told you about l’Odyssée de Cartier, a fabulous fresco featuring all of the company’s codes. More than a work of art, it’s a technological feat born of the encounter between Bruno Aveillan and Digital District.
When Digital District embarked on the Cartier adventure, beyond the post-production challenge such a project represented, it was also a way of becoming part of the history and experience of a legendary house. In a sense, to have the chance to express all his know-how and mastery in the field of post-production, for the benefit of a work that from the outset was intended to be ambitious and singular.
Bruno Aveillan and his team have succeeded in developing a strong and unique aesthetic approach for this film. L’Odyssée de Cartier is a timeless and universal work in its own right, a masterful celebration of the 165-year history of the legendary Cartier brand, with its rich historical and cultural inspirations, values and symbols.
The result of a collaboration between Bruno Aveillan and Digital District is a film with a Dantean allure… It’s an extraordinary visual symphony, conceived as an invitation to dream, a fantasy world inhabited by fascinating creatures and captivating settings… A truly suspended moment…
The panther, muse of the House of Cartier since 1914, is the heroine of this epic saga. She invites us to follow her as she races through space and time, from the classic cobblestones of Paris to the Chinese Wall, via the white Russia of the Tsars and the mysterious India of the Maharajas.
One of the major challenges for this film was to successfully translate all the grace and power of the panther, the real heroine of this odyssey, into computer-generated images with absolute realism. At all costs, Bruno Aveillan wanted it to be impossible to tell the difference between the real animal shot in situ, and the 3D animal used in several shots that were impossible to shoot in real life. Digital District’s artists redoubled their efforts and succeeded brilliantly in bringing to life an incredible virtual panther, truer than life.
As the director also tells us, this “great magic trick” uses a veritable “patchwork of all the technologies used in cinema”. “L’Odyssée de Cartier” never ceases to amaze with its dreamlike beauty, and the poetry that emanates from it plunges viewers into a daydream.
One of the aesthetic and technical challenges dear to director Bruno Aveillan, entrusted to the Digital District studio, was the “tête à tête with the celestial dragon” scene. The studio pulled out all the stops to bring the jeweled dragon imagined by the director to life.
In this sequence, director Bruno Aveillan refers to the Chimera collection, featuring a dragon with a body forged of gold, jade and precious stones. The realism of its interractions, combined with the fluidity of its movements, reflects the skill of the studio’s animators and flamencists, who impose this unlikely creature as a charismatic, divine figure.
Digital District’s expertise lay in its ability to make Bruno Aveillan’s magic and lyricism “real”. The director’s main wish was always respected: “That the special effects be as realistic as possible and never break the emotion”. The magic happens without the secret of the trick ever being revealed.
“In just 5 months, and without compromise, the Digital District team pulled off a dazzling job on the post-production of Cartier’s “L’Odyssée” film! There are very few companies of this level in the world today, capable of working with such mastery, enthusiasm and talent.” Bruno Aveillan
Here’s a patchwork of Digital District’s work.
DIGITAL.DISTRICT SHOWREEL 2012 from Digital District™ VFX Post-Pro on Vimeo.
Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)
