The Queen (above) uses the sap from the tree Axis to fuel her battle against the Vecaanoi.

Another drawback is that, unlike most animated features, this one does not have a clearly defined villain. The Selenites and their Queen are themselves victims of the crash of the Vecarian vessel some 600 years previously. Delaporte explains, “I felt that was closer to real life. I can't believe in villains who are evil without reason, the kind you often see in movies. I think that is such a caricature! I don't want to say, 'He's good, and he's evil.' I can't do that in life, so there really wasn't a reason for me to do that in the film. I really don't believe that true villains exist.”

In addition to its many thematic elements, the film is replete with references to sci-fi films, both American and European, and directors such as Wolfgang Petersen and René Laloux.

“I was a real science fiction fan when I was a kid. I'm less so today because I find it all too stereotyped.” Nevertheless, Delaporte claims that any reference to other films or directors was an unconscious one. “The surprising thing is, one doesn't realize the extent to which one draws on that heritage when one writes. It really is involuntary! At the same time, (the) questions raised in Kaena: The Prophecy arise from real human anxieties.”

The problem with a story that relies heavily on themes while remaining short on plot is that a director can soon lose sight of the forest for the trees. He can become so buried in the elements of his story that he doesn't see it as his audience sees it. He may have no idea as to what the film feels like as a whole. So while every scene and set piece may work individually, the overall impact may be fragmented, incomplete, or inconsistent, which is what has happened here.

Again, to Delaporte's credit, his role as the movie's director is not one that he aspired to, but rather assumed as a matter of necessity. “When we started Kaena: The Prophecy, I wasn't exactly sure what a director's role was. I was the author and artistic director, which seemed in a sense to cover everything, and I honestly thought we could get by with good intentions. But in fact, through lack of clarity and communication, we had a few months of total confusion.

“Until it sank in that if I wanted the film to reflect my vision, I had to direct it myself — and you can't direct a crew of 70 without a minimal form of hierarchy! So I took on the role, however pompous it seemed. I went to see Denis Friedman, and asked if I could direct the film myself. He agreed to this, on condition that I worked with a co-director, who happened to be Pascal Pinon.”

Delaporte’s visual style harkens to Japanese anime, while his story imagery is European.

A few technical points regarding the production: The company did not develop its own software. Instead most of the R&D centered on making improvements to existing production tools such alienbrain, a management control production software, which they improved for internal use, They also used 3ds max render pretty much as it was without upgrading. Unlike large American studios that will stop a production and go back and reanimate scene after scene it in order to employ the latest CG upgrade, Delaporte's crew didn't have the luxury of time or budget.

“If you want to finish your movie,” Delaporte cautions, “you have to say ‘stop’ at a given moment. You can't keep up all the time. We used the 2.5 version of 3ds max render, and by the time we'd completed the movie they were onto version 4. But the movie is not about breaking technological ground. It's a fine story which is part of a whole artistic context, and the way it works means that we're not really concerned with technical prowess.” Delaporte believes that no one in the audience, other than a few technicians, would really notice the difference anyway, and I'm sure he's correct — as long as the story is compelling, which in this instance is probably not the case.

J. Paul Peszko is a freelance writer and screenwriter living in Los Angeles. He writes various features and reviews as well as short fiction. He has a feature comedy in development and has just completed his second novel. When he isn’t writing, he teaches communications courses.