a former ESMA student takes part in the film “Notre-Dame burns”
On April 15, 2019, a fire ravaged the illustrious Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. Realized with great means by Jean-Jacques Annaudthe film”Notre Dame is burning“, recounts the drama that moved the whole of France.
>> READ ALSO: In Toulouse, an exhibition looks back on the explosion in Beirut
Closer to reality
With a large budget, including the duplication of part of the church in the studio, the director concentrates on the rescue fight. The interior of the cathedral and its decorations were scanned, modeled and printed in 3D, to be inserted into the sets. Miraculously saved from the flames, the statue, the Virgin and Childis one of emblems of Notre Dame.
She regularly appears on screen, delivering a few surprises. For filming purposes, the statue had to be remodeled and adapted in 3D by the Parisian company Eiskospecializing in digital faces and digital doubles.
A Toulousain in the spotlight
If the production of the film largely concerns the capital, Toulouse has added its grain of salt. In the credits of “Notre-Dame is burning” appears the name of Gael Bourdeu. He is a former student of theHigher School of Artistic Professions (ESMA) of Toulouse. Diploma in 3D Animation in 2020, he joined the Parisian company Eisko in fall 2020.
It was at the start of 2021 that he was asked by the film’s production designer to remodel the statue of the Virgin and Child, working on facial expressions. In a press release, he underlines: “there were several challenges. The faces were not perfectly proportioned, we had to retouch them subtly so that they are more harmonious with the image, without distorting them”. A challenge taken up by the Toulousain.
>> READ ALSO: Appointment with Virginie Desarnauts, a Toulousaine who bursts the screen
A budding career
Participating in a big production was a first for Gael Bourdeu. “It’s a pleasure. It’s my first film at the cinema. I want to see it!”. Since then, the Toulousain has come a long way. In the space of two years, he who now lives in London and has specialized in work around the visual rendering of matter in 3D called texturing. Thus, he was able to collaborate with the Framestore studios, for which he participated in the horror movie Men and the future remake of The Little Mermaid. Now, he is in the texturing/Lookdev artist team of the MPC studio. He collaborated in the future Walt Disney’s Pinocchioand is currently working on the next Aquaman.
From the top of his 24 years, he says: “Such projects, with a lot of effects, it’s really interesting”. And to add: “when you are a student, you dream about it, and now I realize that it is possible. I watch these films as a spectator, and now I participate in them”. A success that he owes in part to his training at the Toulouse school. “At ESMA, we are well prepared to switch to the professional world. We are trained in a general way, which allows us to understand the projects. We already master the main software. -he.