Award-winning animated short film Au 8ème Jour weaves a cautionary tale – Colossal
“It took 7 days to create the world; only 1 to destroy its balance,” reads the slogan of an award-winning animation produced by a team of French students. “Au 8ème Jour,” which translates as “The Eighth Day” in French, uses CG, or computer-generated animation technology, to create a three-dimensional world in the form of stop-motion animation.
In the film’s otherworldly realm, many of the vibrant animals and landscapes are sewn from fabric, each tethered to a yarn that connects them to a central energy—a vibrant, tightly wrapped skein of yarn in the sky. But when mysterious tendrils of black fiber begin to seep into this idyllic world, the family and the herd must run for their lives.
What caused this change—and what the black line ultimately led to—seems beyond imagination. However, this fantastic situation is not that far removed from the familiar situation at home.
The United Nations now acknowledges that its Paris climate agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise from greenhouse gas emissions to 1.5 degrees Celsius above “pre-industrial” levels is impossible. The science-based target was set in 2015 to limit the harm of rising global temperatures. Although set in a fictional world, “Eight Days” is a beautiful, stark, and poignant reminder of the dangers facing our planet.
“Au 8ème Jour” was created by a team of fifth grade students from Piktura School in Roubaix, France, a school focused on animation, illustration and video game design. Directed by Agathe Senechal, Flavi Kalin, Elise de Bruin, Alicia Macetz and Théo Duhoutos, the film has won more than 250 awards. It won 60 awards, including Best Animated Short at last year’s Bend Film Festival and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Check out more from Piktura on Vimeo, and read to the end of this article to get a glimpse of the detailed behind-the-scenes digital process.
