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Few people can claim to have always known which career path they were going to take. François understood early on that his creativity would serve him well. As a child, he drew a lot and watched cartoons differently from his classmates: I watched cartoons in slow motion. I did it frame by frame. Suddenly I saw how cartoons worked. I understood that they were sequences of images. I was already analyzing it, wondering how it worked, how to draw it. “
At school, his teachers also noticed him “He was absent-minded, he was thinking about something else, he was upset, he was always drawing”, They noted it in his communications notebook. “In high school, we started asking questions about orientation. I already knew what I wanted to do. (…) I worked hard to get a bachelor’s degree because it was my goal to get a bachelor’s degree and then do what I really wanted to do. » He wants to work in animation.
“I realized that hand-drawing was starting to become less busy and animation was moving towards 3D. Anyway, I saw this in my video games as well, and I also saw the boom in 3D, which I found beautiful as well. »
Without being rushed, he inquired about possible courses and found his future school: ESMA in Montpellier, the Higher Vocational School of Arts. “I sent the documents myself and they received me kindly. I had to leave Tahiti to follow my destiny. »
He chose a 3D Animation Film course and also took some architecture and visual communications courses. “It wasn’t mandatory, but I decided to upgrade in applied arts to try to get my hands on everything and see if this was the film I wanted to do. I dabbled in architecture, drawing, painting”He said.
At the time, 3D animation training was still in its infancy: “It might have been just three classes before, but they were already starting to get noticed at animation festivals, and three years later, with each class, the school gained reputation and professionalism. »
The first animated film to win an award
At the end of the course, François and three of his classmates produced an animated film, Hugh, which was screened at the Annecy Film Festival and won the UNICEF Award. “You should know that there was a lot of competition from schools, really a lot (…) We won in the UNICEF category because our film had a message of hope for children. Our film was very widely distributed. It traveled around the world, we won awards all over the world, even in China. »
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The film’s success opened the door to an animation studio that was working on a confidential project at the time: A Monster in Paris. “They looked at my book. They liked the 3D, but I remember they were mainly focused on one drawing. They looked at each other professionally, without saying anything, pointing and nodding. My drawing was of a monster with a harpoon in its back, and it looked like it was being hunted. In fact, it was a bit like their movie. In The Paris Monster, it was a flea that would transform and become a monster that would be hunted. It was impossible to have known about the project before because it was top secret, and they were surprised to find a lot of similarities.”
François was hired and moved to Paris. This was his first professional experience in 3D animation and one he will remember forever… “It’s a big studio. You arrive at a place with hundreds of people, and everyone speaks a different language. For example, my neighbor at the table is Swedish and we have to speak English to understand each other. Only original people, in the end, (…) you say to yourself, well, I’m not a UFO, there are a lot of people who are a little bit like that. »
Francois explains that in this world, permanent contracts are a rare commodity. He works as a freelancer on multiple projects. “Not all success stories”, He admitted. But one other thing stood out: “Before returning to Polynesia, I shot the film Minuscule in Belgium. It’s an adaptation of a TV series. It’s an animated short without words. The insects communicate with funny sound effects. » His job is “Character modeler.” “They give me drawings and say, ‘Francois, can you turn this into a 3D sculpture? We want the rest of the team to animate it.’ There are a lot of requests from directors.”
After a few years away from Finnu, he missed his family. Therefore, François decided to return to Tahiti. But here, it was impossible to work in animated films. Therefore, he turned to architecture… “I met an architect who then trained me on the job (…) I still had certain ideas that would work for me. I worked for this architect for a few years and then the opportunity came up.”
CCISM contacted him. A digital art school was about to open: Poly 3D. He taught there for five years… until the corona crisis. There, he decided to return to more personal projects. He started working on an animated film again. A confidential project that should be released soon…
Since returning to Fenua, the artist has also taken the opportunity to fulfill several of his dreams… including illustrating children’s books. His favourite is Toru, the story of a little turtle setting out to meet Hina, the moon goddess. “He’s amazing (laugh) I wasn’t throwing flowers at myself, but the kids were talking. This book is very popular. I remember last year, it was the publisher’s bestseller and I also won Natyrewa« .
François will soon be back to teaching. He will be one of the teachers at the new Digital Creativity Academy. male The center will open in August. He will work part-time. The artist remains open to other challenges…
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