ARTIFICIAL PARADISE,INC. from Jp Frenay on Vimeo.
Your film Artificial Paradise, Inc. is very interesting. I really enjoy not only films but stories in general that bring you into a new world. The info given on the film states that it’s experimental. Can you elaborate on the film and what inspired it?
Artificial Paradise, Inc was born from a desire I had to move away from the commercial work and bring some of my friends together around a project like Sandro Paoli, the director of the 3D cell at Condor, which immediately agreed to help me with its team and Seal Phüric, musician/sound designer and manager of Ambivalence records. It’s a completely free project so the work was done in spare times.
It’s experimental in a way because it’s not a classical storytelling. This might intrigue or disturb the viewer because nothing is really explained.
The pitch is an anticipated future where a major corporation developed a unique software, based on organic virtual reality, which holds all the lost memories of humankind. A user connects to this database of the forgotten…what is he searching for?
I wanted to dive the viewer into a world, a system. Trying to create emotions through the unknown, leaving it open in sense to better interact with the audience’s subconscious. It’s a rather pessimistic vision of the future.
As an engineering student I’m familiar with programs like Autodesk. I’ve never done in depth work with and definitely not to this extent. Can you give our readers a little insight on how working with Autodesk enabled you to create something so visually appealing?
In fact, we’ve used different software’s to produce this movie. While Autodesk’s Maya was the main platform for the project, we’ve also used Zbrush and Realflow to create the organic parts of the movie. There’s a case study on Realflow’s website if you have interest in the techniques (http://www.realflow.com/n_cs_aparadise.htm)
The project was then finalized in Adobe’s After Effects.
Artificial Paradise, Inc. has been selected for various festivals such as Onedotzero (http://www.onedotzero.com) and Autodesk 2009 Siggraph show reel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj5tLOMxLOU&feature=player_embedded). As a creative person how do you feel about having your work gain notoriety and respect from your peers and other enthusiasts?
I really appreciate all the feedback and I, honestly, never thought the film would have such an impact. People are used to see tons of amazing things daily through the Internet so I was quite surprised to see the response on Artificial Paradise, Inc. I remember googling the movie for fun when I came across congratulations of Joshua Davis on his twitter and the post on Warren Ellis website. It’s always nice to be supported.
Your bio at http://frenayjp.be states that you started out as a “flame artist”. Can you elaborate on what that is and how you moved into directing?
Flame is actually professional visual effects software from Autodesk used for 2D/3D compositing work. I started my career on this software at the Belgian post-production company Ace digital House. I’ve worked there a bunch of years after my film school graduation mainly for commercials, music videos and cinema. I had the chance to work on interesting projects and develop my skills. I moved into directing thanks to one of my clients who saw my film school short film and gave me the opportunity to direct a music video followed by my first commercial. Afterwards, I decided to focus on directing.
Your bio also states that you’re a rock artist. Is there any music that is currently available on the web?
I’m currently finishing the album of a new multimedia project called: I, the phoenix. It’s experimental electro rock and will come out begin of 2010 on Ambivalence records. There’s nothing online at this time because we are still working on the web experience with a team of developers. The teasers will normally come out in about 2 months.
What are you currently working on in terms of film?
Beside my commercial work, I’m promoting Artificial Paradise, Inc in festivals. I’m also busy preparing the shoot for the trailers of the album. And the major thing, for me, in 2010 will be finishing the writing of a feature film.
Where can more of your work be found?
I’m still working on my new website which is not fully updated yet especially the photographic part but It already gives a good view of what I do.
www.frenayjp.be
Anything else you would like to add ?
Just wanted to thank you for this interview and the interest you have in my work
Johnny T. is the Video and Design page editor as well as a contributor to the music Page for IVYBetty.com.
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