Matthieu Saghezchi

Unicorn's house

2011-09-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some quick explorations for a hilarious TV series in a unicorn world.
And the final background, which is intended to be a little cheesy:

Venezia

2011-08-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

I just got back from an AMAZING trip to Italy: Milan, Rome, Florence and Venice are all so beautiful... Seeing so much art everywhere was incredible. I finally saw some classic Renaissance pieces I always dreamed of, and it does make a difference to see them in person.

I was inspired to create a new piece based on my own reference pictures (took 2500+). I started with the idea of wildly exaggerating proportions of the Venetian architecture...

... then I looked for moods and different times of the day...

... then I did a quick tonal study to make sure the layout and the lighting worked together, and I started painting from there.
I think this is the last "realistic" rendering I'll do for a while, but it was very interesting to do.
UPDATE:
I just uploaded a slightly altered version of the main image (I was not happy with the colors) and it's also a bit bigger.

1930s traveler

2011-07-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

This is another personal project... I'm trying to adapt to different styles, and to learn new stuff.
I will get back to my usual style eventually, but for now this is what you get!
I did enjoy collecting lots of reference, looking at vintage clothes and old Hollywood stars photographs. Up until now, I was always more focused on creating cool shapes, but it's also quite interesting to create a whole person's life from scratch.

Rooftop View

2011-05-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

"Secret plans and clever tricks"

2011-05-23T15:36:00.001-07:00

Another Roald Dahl Story that inspired me...
"The enormous crocodile" wants to have children for breakfast!
He has several tricks up his sleeves, including dressing up like a coconut tree to lure them.
Ok, it's a bit weird when you put it like this, but trust me, you should read it!

Here are some different styles attempts for the same image.
The enormous crocodile tells his pal he has "secret plans and clever tricks!"
Here's the coconut sequence (final image and thumbnails):

The motor boat

2011-05-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite author, Roald Dahl, wrote about his childhood memories in "Boy". He talks about the motorboat his family owned, and how cool it was to ride the waves and explore the islands in Norway.

Care for some coffee?

2011-04-29T04:24:00.000-07:00

My short film "Trevor" has been selected at several festivals, and most recently by the prestigious Seattle International Film Festival (May 19 - June 12).

But a new and very exciting opportunity was just offered as part of the festival, and I couldn't wait any longer to share it with you. It's HUGE!

SIFF is partnering with Starbucks to present seven SIFF short films in Starbucks Coffeehouses across the United States during the 25 days of the Festival. Each selected short film would be streamed on the Starbucks Digital Network offering these 7 short films enormous exposure nationwide. This special page would only be accessible from Starbucks locations and not accessible by searches or through the SIFF website.

UPDATE:
"Trevor" is going to get some MAJOR exposure thanks to this great opportunity!
So, if you're in the US on May24 to 26, get yourself a good frappucino and make sure you check out that page from the Starbucks Digital Network!

Miss Moon

2011-04-28T03:25:00.000-07:00

"Miss Moon" is the TV project I mentioned earlier, produced by Safari De Ville.
Here are some of the images I created for the show. It was a lot of fun!

All images: copyright Safari De Ville.

The Snow Queen

2011-02-28T07:03:00.001-08:00

Here's a new piece I did recently, based on Andersen's "The Snow Queen".
I wanted to get back to a more realistic type of rendering, as opposed to the retro-stylized work I've done this past year.

La pétanque

2011-02-25T12:41:00.000-08:00

Went sketching today... It was fun!

Sleep well...

2011-02-17T17:00:00.000-08:00

This is a design I did for a free postcard campaign I won as part of the Ganuta award in 2010.
I decided to use it to advertise Trevor in an unexpected way! The rear side will explain what it's all about, of course. Start looking for these in restaurants and bars in Lyon around March!

A very special lady

2011-01-28T04:51:00.001-08:00

>Here are a couple of images of the freelance job I told you about.
They actually are tryouts that didn't make it into the final project. Even though I'm not able to show anything from the finished product yet, that will do in the mean time.
This is going to be a very fun show!

Annecy-NYC-LA-SF-Paris

2011-01-28T02:56:00.000-08:00

After graduation, I thought I would need a long, well-deserved break... Well, that didn't happen until Christmas week!
Summer 2010 was awesome!
It all started with the annual trip to Annecy; where I was able to show "Trevor" to recruiters... French TV Channel TF1 even interviewed me! I was asked about the recruiting process only. Maybe next time it'll be about me, right guys? ;-)

After a couple of jobs in july, I flew to NYC and stayed there a couple of weeks, then I went to LA to meet with some friends who work at the Disney studios. I had always dreamed of stepping inside that building! I didn't do just that, actually, I had a grand tour of the place, meeting great artists who share their passion for animation and always had some time to spare for me. Seeing their cubicles, all the artwork on the corridors was just plain awesome! No pictures allowed unfortunately... But trust me, their next projects are going to be amazing.

Probably the best part of all this was going to the Animation Research Library, where they keep most of the artwork used in the movies. Seeing original Mary Blairs upclose is stunning: no book print will do justice to her colors!
Another dream come true was visiting the Imagineering building. They were far more secretive of their projects, and we weren't allowed to see much, but it was so exciting. When I was a kid, all I wanted to be was an Imagineer!

I then flew to San Francisco to continue my animation journey... to Pixar Animation studios!
Again, I'm lucky to have some great friends, so we had lunch there and got a tremendous tour of the place. Pictures were only allowed in the famous atrium! There was a lot of construction outside, we were told they're expanding the campus. A lot of Toy Story 3 artwork was on display, since this was their latest picture.
Another great place to visit was the Walt Disney Family Museum at the Presidio. Being a hug fan of Disneyland AND of models, I had a blast!

Going back to Paris was like returning to reality: a lot of work awaited!
I started working on the visual development of a new animated series as a freelancer, and worked during the day at TeamTo studios as an environment designer, but I'm not allowed to show anything just yet.

OK, just to say that this was not all about bragging, here are some digital sketches I did during that period!

Peter Pan

2011-01-27T18:22:00.000-08:00

This is a character design job I did back in july 2010 for a TV show. Those were just some little proposals actually, as they wanted to redesign the existing character's face.

Libre échange

2011-01-27T17:53:00.000-08:00

Back in june 2010, as I was graduating, I worked on a little animation project at Method Animation in Paris: the opening sequence of the live action film "Libre Echange" directed by Serge Gisquière. I was in charge of creating the panoramic backgrounds. The director was happy with the result, so he added more animated vignettes for the end credits.
Now that the movie's out, I can finally share some stuff with you here!

Here's the movie poster (not my design):

And here's the video (animated by Anne Calandre):

Libre Echange Title sequence from Anne Calandre on Vimeo.

TREVOR

2010-07-05T05:13:00.000-07:00

Here is my graduation short film made at Ecole Emile Cohl, which made me the valedictorian.
I'm really excited to have the video out there! By the way, if you like the soundtrack, head over to Thomas Mercier's website, he's a very talented composer. As far as the end credits gouaches, do not miss the gorgeous paintings of my friend Alexandra Huard - her input on the project was so helpful!

UPDATED:

FESTIVAL SELECTIONS:
Paris Courts Devant(France) 2010
Trois Jours Trop Courts (France) 2011
Les Tres Courts (International) 2011
The Bradford Animation Festival (UK) 2010
The New York City BamKids Festival (USA) 2011 and 2012
The Seattle International Film Festival (USA) 2011
Bumbershoot / 1-Reel Film Festival Seattle (USA) 2011
The Washington Kids World Cinema Festival (USA) 2011
The Short Short Story Film Festival (Northeastern USA) 2011
ICFilmFest (Chicago and the Midwest, USA) 2011-2012
Anifest (Czech Republic) 2011
The Bologna Future Film Festival (Italy) 2011
The Giffoni Film Festival (Italy) 2011
Anima Mundi (Brazil) 2011
KUKI International Short Film Festival Berlin (Germany) 2011

OTHER SCREENINGS AND ACCOLADES:
Screened in the "My First Media" program in 2011 (USA)
Showcased on the homepage of the Starbucks Digital Network in May 2011 (All coffeehouses in the United States)
Winner of a Ganuta Award in 2010 (Lyon, France)
Screened during the Carrefour de l'animation (France) and ADERLY (Japan) in 2010.

"Trevor" was recently added to IndieFlix's catalogue of short films. (Indieflix is an independent film distributor, lots of cool stuff to check out on their website)

A sleepy street

2010-06-21T12:31:00.001-07:00

"Trevor"'s opening sequence was quite an elaborate set!
The street was this flat world, almost like a pop-up book, yet it had to have enough depth so that we could look into those tiny windows and see the people who live there. To achieve a multiplane camera effect, I created numerous layers on top of each other.
Here's the final result:
Here is some of the early research I did for the street's design.
I partly took inspiration from the village in NYC because it can be a magical place.

Below are some of the reference buildings I used.
This tiny gouache was the first artwork I did for the film.
It was inspired by me and my brothers, we used to sleep together when we were kids!

COLORSCRIPT

2010-04-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

The camera world

2010-04-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

The cameras sequence is definitely a visual interpretation of Trevor's paranoid thoughts.
I thought it would be cool if it looked like a cold corporate world with the "eye" logo looming over like some kind of "big brother" presence.

Final backgrounds

2010-03-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

Times Square

2010-03-11T14:18:00.000-08:00

Trevor tries to picture what it would be like if time stopped...
The whole city would belong to him and he would rob the toy stores as bypassers can't move.
I figured Times Square would be a good pun (ok, not THAT good), but would mostly be the perfect location for a child's vision of a fun city.

In my first drafts, the camera was to be placed on different angles around his bed. While it allowed for more space in the shots to view the backgrounds, I realized I wanted to keep the character in the center of the screen as much as possible. After all, that was a very character-driven short, and it made more sense in that very flat, graphic world.

Designing the room

2010-02-17T17:15:00.000-08:00

Designing Trevor's room was a bit tricky. He suffers from insomnia alright, but he's a regular kid.
I could have made his world spookier but I thought it would be a lot more interesting to make it look like it could be anybody's room.
And I added a few little details from my childhood too, like the vintage Disneyland map on this desk (I used to draw thousands of theme park maps back then... Ok I still do sometimes).

Also, I had to incorporate all the elements that trigger his imagination in the next sequences: the odd wallpaper pattern, the mirror, the heater's pipe that makes noises, the little planets hanging from the ceiling... Here are some of the patterns I tried for the wallpaper.

Changing Trevor's character design

2010-01-22T16:11:00.001-08:00

One of the first thing to do was to adapt the design for animation...
I basically started over! There were so many directions I could go to.
But I opted for a flat, very graphic look.

From children's book to short film

2009-12-14T14:08:00.001-08:00

The year before graduation, I had written and illustrated a small children's book called "Les insomnies de Trevor" ("Trevor's Insomnias"). It was a great project for me because it allowed me to reconnect with my childhood spirit. Not that it ever left me...
After much thought I decided I still had stuff to do with this character, and I wasn't done with this world just yet. Also, I thought it might have some interesting filmmaking potential.
"Trevor" would now be my graduation film!

Tentacut

2009-10-15T04:07:00.000-07:00

"Tentacut" is just a joke, really.
Our assignment was to create a little after-effects animation that showcased an imaginary invention. For some reason, I always thought it would be cool to animate something a little trashy... I had a lot of fun doing it!

007 Years Old

2009-10-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

This was a project I started to develop for my graduation film... I quickly realized it would require a much longer production period, so I decided to put it aside and focus on "Trevor".

Internship work

2009-08-27T04:37:00.001-07:00

Here's some stuff I did during my internship at La Station Animation in Paris back in summer '09. I had to visually explore some locations for a potential TV musical project called "Le professeur inlassable".