Animation Timeline - Sylvain Chomet

Fig. 1 Portrait of Sylvain Chomet

Sylvain Chomet (1963 - Current) is a French animator and film director, that freed up future animators to go in directions that the animation had not gone in before. Chomet found himself fascinated with art and animation from a very young age and following from his graduation, Chomet began working on a graphic novel that he called The Secret of Dragonflies. Released in 1986, The Secret of Dragonflies paved the way for a number of other graphic novels and comic books. Sylvain’s growing reputation as an artist worth watching gave him the incentive to try his hand at animation, and in 1989, he started production on his first animated short film.

Fig. 2 The Triplets of Belleville Film Still (2003)

Chomet first feature-length animated film was "The Triplets of Belleville " (2003). Animated films rarely come as quirky and stylish as "The Triplets of Belleville " did. A wonderfully tale of club-footed Portuguese old lady, Madame Souza, and her quest to rescue her Tour De France-obsessed grandson from the Mafia. It is this feature film that Chomet owes a debt to because it was this film that started the 40-year-old French animator career off. Chomet’s main object, off making "Belleville Rendez-Vous" was because he wanted to things in animation that had not been done before. In an interview Chomet said "It's a very rigid medium in what people think it should be. It's always got to be for kids. It should bring good feelings, have bad guys and good guys, and end with a moral. But this means there are lots of subjects and things you can't show" (Bullock, 2003) In "The Triplets of Belleville "his aim was to go against that, and do something that wasn't aimed at kids. It's great that kids can enjoy the film, but it freed us up to go in directions that the animated movie hasn't gone in before.

Fig. 3 The Illusionist (2010) Film Poster

In 2010, Chomet released his second traditionally-animated feature "The Illusionist" based on the script by Jacques Tati. Though the films release was stalled for three years, the film is still heralded as a masterpiece of some of the cinematic brilliance of his previous work. This was the Chomet that everyone had come to adore and fear - a mind as brilliant as it was twisted and disturbed. "The Illusionist" "cemented Sylvain’s place as a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, with the movie called "delightful" by Variety and "beautiful" by The New York Times." (Nusair, N/A)

Bibliography

Bullock, Saxon (2003) Belleville Rendez-Vous. http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/08/27/sylvain_chomet_belleville_rendezvous_interview.shtml (Accessed on 04/04/2011) 　

Nusair, David (N/A) Sylvain Chomet Bio. http://movies.about.com/od/animatedmovies/a/Sylvain-Chomet-biography.htm (Accessed on 04/04/2011)

 

List Of Illustrations

Figure.1 Chomet, Sylvain (1963 - Current) Portrait of Sylvain Chomet. http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/2010/12/tragic-brilliance-of-sylvain-chomet.html (Accessed on 07/04/2011)

Figure. 2 Chomet, Sylvain. (2003) Les Triplettes de Belleville Film Still.   http://vjmorton.wordpress.com/2003/09/14/tiff-day-six-first-part-with-grades-from-days-9-and-10/ (Accessed on 07/04/2011)

Figure. 3 Chomet, Sylvain (2010) The Illusionist Film Poster. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEG2T2c_p8ssJJT7MoJt-ykZ3mxx_s0UIz71ZG7idJxNhS3gLgtU-x4Ud3oQGuIqiHWeyOkygOxiGVVbo8adluj8mmRYUdyiKn_WNBPiA96N4rDjLtEEJc5OB2vz4CAwk04d1KY3QX5LU/s1600/Sylvain+Chomet5.jpg (Accessed on 07/04/2011)