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CG artist, supervisor, and director Florian Petiteau reveals the secrets behind his latest project: a quirky music video for a French band named Swirls. It features a an alien, a style reminiscent of stop-motion animation, and a lot of energy!
Below, you’ll find the music video and an interview about its creation. RenderMan and Nuke were among the tools used by Florian Petiteau.
3DVF: Hello Florian! You directed and created the music video Young Blood for Swirls entirely on your own. What was the artistic vision and initial pitch? What inspired you, and how did you collaborate with Swirls?
Florian Petiteau: Hello 3DVF! The France-based band Swirls approached me to work on their song Young Blood, which is about the childhood of their singer Sam Sprent. Born in Jersey, the song reflects on his move to France, his first days at school, and discovering a new environment. For a video centered on childhood, the band found animation fitting for the theme. I decided to illustrate the lyrics by depicting the countryside and school while adding some distance from reality by replacing the boy’s story with that of an alien.
My inspirations were very diverse, drawing from 2D, live-action, and stop-motion works. These ranged from a lens effect in a live-action Foster the People video to the clay-like texture of the CRAWL! music video by IDLES. I’m an avid consumer of music videos, so I had a rich library of references to draw from. I particularly love the aesthetics of early 2000s music videos like Starlight by The Supermen Lovers (directed by the Nicolas brothers) or Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The grungy, rough style of 90s MTV logos also influenced me. I wanted to bring that look to Young Blood through image distortions, grain, textures, and 2D effects.
After an initial conversation with Sam, I quickly put together a pre-production document with visual inspirations, a rough pitch, and sketches of the main character and interesting shots. Once the script was approved, the band trusted me, and the process was smooth. I sent them images and animations, and they provided feedback via email.
3DVF: The main character is a very cartoonish alien. Could you tell us about its character design and the animation process?
I aimed for a character that was simple yet expressive, without needing to animate an entire face or body. I stuck to the classic “little green man” trope with a large head for instant recognizability. I gave the alien exaggerated eyes and mouth proportions to focus the animation on these areas and draw the viewer’s attention. I spent time ensuring the rig allowed maximum flexibility for deformation.
For the animation, I used loops for certain shots, like the choruses, and aimed for the smoothest animations possible. Building the layout alongside the rigs allowed me to define specific needs without creating unnecessary controllers.
3DVF: Let’s discuss the rest of the 3D-animated band, the cow, and the psychedelic sequences. What technical and artistic challenges did you face?
For the band members, I wanted to visually contrast them with the alien. I decided to use a single faceless model differentiated by accessories (a beanie, a cap, and glasses). This choice was also strategic: one design equals one 3D model and one rig, reducing potential issues threefold.
The cow’s design came quickly. Since it mostly grazes or gets abducted by a UFO, its modeling and rigging were straightforward. Each element followed this approach: create a rough model, rig quickly, and integrate into the layout to adjust animation needs.
The psychedelic sequences were a blast to work on, though setting up and animating the characters interacting on a spiral floor was meticulous. Nuke was heavily used for these backgrounds. I imported the meshes from the animation scenes to create the spirals in Nuke, avoiding the need to render them in 3D and allowing flexibility in achieving the desired look. I rendered characters in 3D or loops for floating objects like schools and desks, then composited everything. This time-saving approach let me render some elements in 4K to maintain sharp quality.
The artistic challenge was maintaining visual cohesion across sequences with differing aesthetics: 3D for the foreground, 2D/3D for the verses, clay-like textures for choruses, and purely graphic shots with text.
3DVF: Can you discuss the rendering process? Working solo without a renderfarm must have required optimizations. What rendering engine did you use?
I used Pixar’s RenderMan, mainly because I’m highly familiar with it. I learned it during my three years at French digital art school ESMA, used it at Dwarf Animation on My Dad the Bounty Hunter, and continue using it for personal projects. It was also cost-effective, as its non-commercial version is free. While Blender could’ve achieved similar results, staying within Maya simplified my workflow.
Rendering a 3D film over three minutes long in full HD, including two 30-second/720-frame choruses, on a single machine was a major challenge. I analyzed each shot to determine what required full rendering, what could be static, and what could be reused. Although tedious, this process significantly reduced render times and energy consumption while ensuring on-time delivery.
Fortunately, RenderMan released an update to their software with an optimized XPU, which allowed me to render some parts very quickly [Editor’s note: XPU is RenderMan’s new rendering engine that utilizes both CPU and GPU]. However, my machine still had to run for several nights to calculate everything.
I worked with the Prism pipeline, which saved me an enormous amount of time and helped me stay organized with my file hierarchy while easily managing all imports/exports and asset/animation cache publishing. I first tested it on a small animation I released during the holidays last year called MERRY CHRISTM(A.I.)S! and later used it again on a project with more shots for Terminus Studio, where I staged their logo. It’s truly a tool that’s now embedded in my workflow—simple, effective, and exactly what I need for projects of this scale.
3DVF: The music video sector often operates on tight budgets. You worked alone over 3–4 months. How did you manage planning and project tracking? Any unexpected challenges?
The budget was very tight since I produced the entire project independently and without funding, from the initial pitch to the final rendered pixel. I dedicated three full-time months to it, carefully managing costs, including electricity. Financial and time constraints influenced the creative choices, determining what we could tell and show.
I used Google Sheets to track assets, shots, and editing progress, while Prism efficiently managed exports and asset publishing. Thanks to this system, there were no major surprises, and I completed the video as initially envisioned.
3DVF: Looking back at your first steps in the animation industry, your ESMA graduation short Comme un ours was well received. How has your career evolved since then?
Everything happened quite quickly after I graduated. Thanks to the job fair organized by ESMA after the film screenings, I was able to meet several studios, including Untold Studios, which at the time was only a few months old, had no website, and nothing to showcase. They invited me to join them in London in November for an initial contract, which I extended until the summer of 2020 when COVID slowed production schedules and somewhat forced me to return to France. It was an incredibly formative experience to work alongside many former professionals from ILM, Weta, and some of the largest VFX studios in the world, who generously shared their expertise with young artists.
After returning to France, I joined Brunch as a modeling/surfacing artist for a Lidl commercial. I then spent several months at Kombbo as a generalist, where I also gained experience with pipelines and project supervision. In 2021, I began working with Dwarf Animation on their Netflix series My Dad the Bounty Hunter as a character surfacing artist. Afterward, I returned to Supamonks, where I had interned in 2018. I started as a lighting/compositing artist and later became a CG Supervisor for a Rabbids/UNICEF project and trailers for Clash of Clans and Clash Royale.
After a year, I moved on to Unit Image, working for several months as a rendering generalist on a trailer for Marvel Rivals, and then joined Hari Studio as a lighting/rendering/compositing supervisor for Grizzy and the Lemmings Season 4. I also completed short-term assignments as a generalist at Nki and Neels Creative Studio in 2023 and 2024 for various commercials.
Following these experiences, I transitioned into freelance work, enabling me to offer my services to international studios, such as Passion Pictures in London, where I recently worked as a CG Supervisor on the trailer for MySims, or with Buck more recently. Freelancing also allows me to propose my skills in directing and designing animated or still 3D projects, both in France and abroad.
3DVF: Any upcoming projects?
I am currently working on posters created using CG. I’ve already created a few over the past weeks, which are available on my social media, and I’m finishing up some others. Eventually, I’d like to sell them on my website, so I’m also researching where to print them and how to handle shipping, create merchandise, etc., all while prioritizing short, local supply chains as much as possible.
My first experience directing a music video has also left me hungry for more, and I hope to have new opportunities soon for short animation projects, whether they are music videos or short films.
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