French brothers Didier and Thierry Poiraud have returned to the U.S. commercial market after releasing their feature debut, ATOMIK CIRCUS, in Paris last week. With leading commercial production company Tool of North America, the brothers co-directed a spot for HPs Printing division, PRINTER, which has been airing in key markets in Western Europe since June. Together with François Vogel, the Poiraud brothers direct U.S.-based projects through Tool satellite company Paranoid Projects @ Tool.
Key ingredients of The Poirauds world include a fascination with American pop-culture and the science fiction films of Tim Burton, Ray Harryhausen and Sam Raimi. As Tools managing director Phillip Detchmendy explained, You get hints of these influences throughout their work..
Last spring, Thierry Poiraud took some time during post on ATOMIK CIRCUS to respond to a set of commercial storyboards from the creatives at Goodby Silverstein & Partners for HPs Printer division.
This new spot, together with other commercials Poiraud has directed (including a recent spot for BNP Bank from Euro RSCG in Paris), showcases a talent in combining live-action with visual effects. A lot of people think of Poiraud as being effects-driven, and while they do have a very strong aptitude and ability in effects, they're not looking strictly to do effects-based work, Detchmendy clarified. Theyre these incredibly inventive people, and to them, the story and the characters are critically important in the work.
The brothers are very visual effects savvy and theyre very curious about how things work, but they are definitely more comfortable with comedy and on-camera stuff, Letessier agreed. Asked about the types of projects that may interest the brothers for upcoming commercial work, Letessier offered these thoughts, It's very hard to consider the brothers as a director who will reproduce storyboards; instead, they will try to come up with an incredible added value that makes sense within their own universe.
R!OT Santa Monicas colorist for the project was Clark Muller. Claus Hansen at R!OT served as flame compositor/online editor.
Paris-based BUFs visual effects team consisted of producer Olivier Gilbert, coordinator Guillaume Rafi and technical advisor Jam Abalanet.
Established in Santa Monica in 1995, leading commercial production company Tool of North America (www.ToolofNA.com ) represents a group of world-class directors via representatives in L.A., Chicago, New York, Toronto and Paris. Owner and award-winning director Erich Joiner continues drawing international acclaim for his high-profile commercials.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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