ESMA alumni make history by participating in the “Arcane” series – part.2

Used by more than 80 million players worldwide, League of Legends is the world’s most popular strategy/action video game. It allows players to compete in teams and online in a fantasy world. The animated series Arcane, based on the League of Legends universe, is now available on Netflix. This super production is signed by the Studio Fortiche Production to which Riot Games, at the origin of the game, gave its confidence. ESMA alumni have worked for the studio Fortiche Production on this latest production. We met them!

WHAT IS LEAGUE OF LEGENDS?

Do we need to introduce League of Legends? Created in 2009, League of Legends (LoL) is without a doubt the most famous MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). Clearly, it is a game of action, strategy, in a fantasy universe, where teams composed of several connected players compete.

League of Legends, created by Riot Games, is a game on the model of what is called free-to-play. This means that it is possible to play LoL without paying a cent, but that there are many opportunities to spend money to enhance the game

RIOT GAMES AND FORTICHE PRODUCTION STUDIO, HAND IN HAND

Riot Games, a game development company based in Los Angeles, has had only one game published in more than ten years, the famous League of Legends, whose success is perennial and gives it a worldwide aura.

The American firm has entrusted the production of its latest production, the Arcane series, to the French studio Fortiche Production, based in Paris & Montpellier (France) and Las Palmas (Spain).

This creative production company is able to take charge of all the stages in the making of an animated film. It includes producers, directors, storyboarders, animators, composers and editors. Several former ESMA students have been able to work for this company and develop the skills they acquired at our school. They tell us about their experience.

Rémy TERREAUX (Animation Supervisor, class of 2008)

“Fortiche is the most respectful and creative company I have ever worked with.”

“I was lead animator and then supervisor on the project. As lead, I supervised a small team of animators and followed them in their daily work. As a supervisor, it was several teams at a time that I followed and validated the final work.
To be honest, not being a gamer I only knew LoL by name. The whole universe of the game being unknown to me, it allowed me to bring to the project my experience of the feature film by bringing new ideas while respecting the expectations of the public on the game. The challenges were probably to bring a freshness to the world of animation, to do something that is not done anywhere else while pushing the limits each time. To have a graphic animation but very solid and realistic at the same time, to allow the viewer a total immersion in the series and to feel the strong emotions that the characters face.

What I enjoyed most about my job was the teamwork. Motivating and leading people to work together. The job of a lead or a supervisor is not to be a good facilitator but to be a good manager and therefore to listen to his team. If you manage to weld them together and work with respect, everything can only go well. Fortiche is by far the most respectful and creative company I have worked with so far.”

Quentin GARAUD (Animator, class of 2020)

“An exciting and extremely rewarding experience

“I worked on the animation. The animation is done manually, without capture. I was given shots. From there, I was in charge of shooting reference videos to define the acting intentions. I could then start animating the characters in the shots in question according to the reference selection.

As this was my first professional experience, I fully invested myself in the project in order to prove myself in the business, without particularly caring about its fame at the moment. The LoL universe is not familiar to me, Arcane attracted me above all by its style and the richness of its universe. For me, it is above all a lucky coincidence. I am very grateful that I was able to meet the right people at the right time. My work matched what Fortiche was looking for at the time. It has been an exciting and extremely rewarding experience, especially at the beginning of my career.

For me, the most important and exciting challenge was the style of animation, whether it be through posing, facial expressions or body mechanics. Hence the importance of filming references. It is both what will allow to set up the acting intentions, as well as to reach the desired level of subtlety in the animation. The references themselves are a real challenge, as it is, in short, about playing actors. It’s particularly exciting to start bringing the characters to life by acting in the references.

In a way, working as a team is a continuation of the training at school, during the graduation film. On the production of Arcane I was surrounded by very talented, passionate and inspiring professionals, with whom it was both very pleasant and formative to work and exchange.

I really appreciated the fact that I was able to be in charge of the main animation as soon as I arrived at Fortiche, which quickly allowed me to animate complex shots. Obviously, I can only invite you to go and watch Arcane on Netflix!”

 

Christophe GIGOT (Superviseur du département Groom, Promotion 2016)

“Fortiche is work, but it’s also family life

“There have been several big challenges during these 5 years! The first one is obviously my rise from graphic designer to lead, then to sup.
I joined Fortiche at a relatively young age, as a junior ++, then through hard work and perseverance, I was lucky enough to have Pascal Charrue and Jérôme Combe as my bosses, who trusted me and gave me the responsibilities of a department. So I had no right to disappoint them. Then there was the visual challenge of not only finding, but above all making this novelty, the Groom de Fortiche, work in a production.

The particularity at Fortiche is that the Arcane project started from scratch, everything had to be created and developed. The Fortiche studio had never really done a groom on the characters in previous productions. So we had to find and create a hair style that fit perfectly with the unique aesthetic of Arcane. When I arrived, there were only about 30 of us. The studio was quite small, with a very family feel. To finish the series, there were up to 350 people at the same time. You have to keep researching, nothing is taken for granted. It can be quite intense, especially with the pace required. We must not forget that we have made a series, with a feature-length quality. It is therefore a balance to be found between “Artistic First” and feasibility. The bosses of the Fortiche studio are the directors of the series and graphic designers above all. It’s quite unique, they have the will to go further and further visually and scenaristically.

This is an essential aspect here that gives the teams a huge boost. However, the family spirit remains. The teamwork has remained extraordinary from start to finish. This is also why Arcane is what it is today. Fortiche is work, but it is also a “family life”. There are plenty of anecdotes! It would take too long to mention them all, but the life of the studio is really cool, with all the parties… There’s always a good occasion to decorate the studio, to celebrate events with everyone, the potpourri…”