LÉONARD DUPOND
ANDROID STORIES
Android designed their Being Human Is animated docuseries with the intent to introduce “musicians, athletes, filmmakers and others from around the world, fulfilling their passions and bringing their ideas to life […], using technology to tip the scales of daily life. And finding new ways to expand what they can do. Driven by a desire to be heard, to create, to make their world more inclusive.”
The Project
The episode “The Magic Makers” features a group of young filmmakers from Nigeria, The Critics Company, whose dreams of shooting a sci-fi film set in future Nigeria came true with the help of Android technology. Gorgeously illustration by Léonard Dupond and masterfully animated by team WTBR, made up of Nico Carbonaro and Tuesday McGowan, the captivating video tells their story and depicts their film’s lift-off. The task for Léonard was to illustrate Raymond Yusuff and his Critics Company colleagues’ creative and technological process, while WTBR gave animated life to his images. Léonard’s streamlined style, the fluidity of his lines and his striking color palette convey a vibrant and unique atmosphere, and make these young filmmakers, their dreams and aspirations, their doubts and excitement, alive and accessible.
In the making
Here is Leonard’s take on the project, in his own words.
To begin with, I have rarely been able to work in such good conditions as with WTBR.The organization was perfect and that helped me a lot. Nico and Tuesday gave me confidence and invited me to participate in the conception of the film. I set up a Miro board to get an overview and to get feedback on my proposals.To start, I read about TCC, watched their youtube videos, and was very impressed and proud to have been chosen to draw their story.I started by drawing small doodles of the scenes from the movie, including the cold opening and the intro.I quickly realized that I had trouble visualizing the shots if I didn’t draw the action, what happens before and after the Key Shot. That’s why I quite naturally proposed storyboards, even if I was a bit afraid of overstepping my role.I have the feeling that the work was very fluid because Tuesday, nico and I were very complementary and they were particularly open to proposals.As for the end of the film, Nico’s first storyboard was already great and I loved the idea of hearts beating in unison. But I felt that the end of the movie lacked a bit of science fiction because it starts with an epic intro so I wanted an epic ending sequence too. That’s why I proposed that the house takes off, and passes in front of a screen the size of the moon.The sequence was complex to visualize, so I tried to make a storyboard to visualize it better.The whole team was admirable and it was a real joy to work on this project.Thank you
LD
