Are animators more sexy than the rest of us? Today’s new directors Joris Bergmans and Michélé de Feudis reckon so. We caught up with the Belgian animators and illustrators to chat about the corrupting force of kids cartoons and their awesome Team William promo You Look Familar.
We both studied at the same school, although Michélé was a few years ahead of Joris. After school we worked together by coincidence on various projects at different locations, but it became clear we functioned pretty well as a team, and that’s how it all started. We’re having a couple of cool projects in the works now, so this certainly won’t be our last collaboration!
What first attracted you to filmmaking and animation?
It sounds cliché, but probably the art of bringing a drawing to life. The fact that a drawing still looks like something crafted by humans, yet it seems to live on its own, is something that’s really interesting. In animation you have absolute control over what you see, hear and communicate. You are the creator of an entire universe, so it can be a very powerful tool for to express yourself.
And animators are just more sexy than ordinary people, so it’s a win win situation!
Love the You Look Familiar promo – a twisted take on the old school Felix the Cat animation – what attracted you to that style of animation? What was the idea behind the promo?
The overall song is really joyful and upbeat, but the lyrics have an edge to them. We saw that reflected in these old cartoons from the twenties and thirties. They feature a very naive and cheerful drawing and animation style, but back in those days cartoon characters surely weren’t the kiddy loving characters they are today. They were true little rascals often smoking and drinking beer, while chasing the women! Thanks to 50 years of bad Saturday morning cartoons, our perception of animation has changed, so the mix between the cute and rough has a somewhat awkward feel now, so it was a perfect match for the song!
What inspires you?
Anything can be inspiring, but most of our inspiration comes from what we think is sincere. That can be a brilliant work of art, but just as well a horribly bad song or an ugly sweater. If it has some authenticy, we think it always appeals in one way or another. We try to channel that, and want to create something that’s somewhere between that brilliant piece of art and the ugly sweater.
Where do you see yourself in ten years time?
We don’t really know. What we do know is that we want to keep on creating, and having fun while doing so. We want to keep the ball rolling and tackle new challenges and sharpen our vision. We want to connect to people and make a difference. We don’t know yet if we’ll have changed the world in 10 years, but it’s a worthy goal to try!
Aside from You Look Familiar, what pieces of work are you most proud of?
Joris recently refurbished his attic, and that turned out quite well. But apart from that, it’s hard to pick anything specific. Most of our projects feature something that we’re very proud of. Sometimes it’s the graphical style, sometimes it’s a just a cut that just works really well. At the same time, due to many reasons, we’ve also done stuff we try to forget as soon as possible. We still have to create our absolute masterpiece, so untill then, we’re proud of any good achievement we make.
Are you signed to a production company or looking for representation?
We are not assigned to a specific production company or agency, but we’re in good contact a few! If someone’s interested, they shouldn’t hesitate to write us!
To find out more about their work, check out Joris’ blog here and Michélé’s blog here.
