Another hand-drawn feature length animated film from France ! LE CHAT DU RABBIN . I'll say it again: thank goodness the French did not get the silly memo (or they ripped it up) from Hollywood that decreed "2D is dead".
Trailer for THE RABBI'S CAT -
THE RABBI'S CAT - LE CHAT DU RABBIN - TRAILER from Banjo Studio on Vimeo.
There are several "Making of..." videos on Vimeo:
Making of Le Chat du Rabbin - Banjo - from Banjo Studio on Vimeo.
The film (directed by Joann Sfar and Antoine Delesvaux) is adapted from the graphic novel by Joann Sfar .
The studio Autochenille Production was launched in 2007 by Joann Sfar, Antoine Delesvaux and Clément Oubrerie with the aim to make "author-driven, challenging films to appeal to children and adults.".
The Rabbi's Cat was the company's first project. The production was made in collaboration with TF1 and France 3. It was pre-bought by Canal+ and CineCinéma and had a budget of 12.5 million euro. (17.5 million U.S. dollars)
One of the directors' sources of inspiration was American animation from the 1930s, and in particular from the Fleischer Studios, which Sfar described as characterized by multi-ethnical production crews and for portraying darker aspects of society, in cartoons such as Betty Boop and Popeye. In order to generate more personality for the drawn characters in The Rabbi's Cat, some of the scenes were staged in a Parisian suburb loft in the summer of 2008, with props and the cast fully costumed. As the actors performed and invented their characters' personal motion habits, the design team observed closely and drew what they picked up.
More making-of videos here:
http://vimeo.com/user6584121/videos
