Tomm Moore ‘s Song of the Sea is inspired by his culture, his childhood and Celtic myths. Unlike Brendan, which is very much rooted in Irish tradition, there is a desire here to give the story a more universal dimension and to target a younger audience (7 to 10 years). The graphic style is more naive than Brendan’s, but we still find the Moore’s touch that earned its author (and Wallimage, therefore) an Oscar nomination for best animated film. Song of the Sea is co-produced by The Big Farm, a company formed by Iota, Melusine and Digital Graphics Studio, which will animate an important part of the adventures in Alleur. A great recognition for the Umé brothers and their team.
Until now, Minuscule has been a very popular TV series for young (and not so young) people. The second season, co-produced by Wallimage, was partly completed at Nozon at the Pôle Image de Liège under the supervision of Guyonne Leroy. A success! So, it’s decided, the nice little bugs will invade the big screen. Futurikon, which is still in charge, has found a new partner in Belgium: Entre Chien et Loup. To give you an idea of the size of this project, you should know that the live action shots require 65 days of shooting and that the animation work will take 45… weeks. In France, and in Belgium at Nozon. You don’t change a winning team.
The last file selected by Wallimage will be directed by… Louis Chédid. Why not? The singer is a film buff. He studied audiovisual communication at Inraci before becoming chief editor at Gaumont. All the melodies from the original show and record will be present, some in their entirety, others in short version. Two unpublished ritornellos will complete the story. All of them will be adapted, re-orchestrated, re-recorded to support the dramaturgy. Because it is indeed a question of creating a musical film where the dialogues and the songs will become one. The vocal cast is up to the challenge with Mathieu Chedid, Vanessa Paradis, Benabar, Alain Souchon, Francis Cabrel and Louis Chedid himself. Nexus Factory is co-producing the feature film in Belgium and part of the animation will be done at Dreamwall in Marcinelle.
These three projects will of course not be coming to us next year. To discover them, we will have to wait for many months. This is the mystery and magic of animation. In all three cases, the result should live up to expectations.
