La Mare au Diable

La Mare au Diable is a short 2D animated thriller centering around the struggles of farmers from deep rural communities in the center of France. The main goal was to make light of a population that is too often missing from the media representation-wise, and to let people discover the various myths and legends I use to hear when I was younger, coming from a family of farmers myself.

This film was made in six months during my graduation year as a 2D Animation student in Pivaut School (Nantes, France) in 2023.

                                 La Mare au Diable (2023)

Robin is the yougest son from a family of farmers in the deep centre of France. After a part of their livestock is brutally murdered, he decides to investigate by himself so as to find out about the mysteries and myths covering the case.

François is Robin's family great pal as he helps a lot around the farm. He's lively, down to earth and more often than not owns up to his storytelling abilities to talk about various anecdotes and amusing stories. Nevertheless he remains one of those big, loud, vigilant man and gaining his trust takes a lot of patience and tedious efforts.

Robin in his case is more introverted and keeps a lot to himself in the face struggles. His stubbornness often puts him in challenging situations from which he could suffer if he's not careful. Very admirative of François, he spends most of his time working with him and learns a lot, even if uninterested at first, from his various experiences.

The Demoiselles are folkloric creatures from the center region of France. Similarly to white ladies ghosts, they appear suddenly, bouncing and screaming, to someone who has done or were to do something unlawfully wrong. They usually revolve around lakes, ponds or creek beds where they lure their victim to drown them.

Always attacking in packs, only lucky survivors were able to escape to tell their story. This means we barely have any written traces of their appearances beside Georges Sand's novella Légendes Rustiques, and word of mouths passed down from generations to generations.

What did Robin plan to do ?

The backgrounds were made according to what I remembered of my childhood house's surroundings and what my parents had known from their life spent working in the farm. 

"Rural" does not mean uninviting at night or boorish, my goal was to keep a sense of mystery and familarity while maintaining that aspect of sharing communities and fantastic stories that you tell your grandkids during diner.

Quick colorscript which was fleshed out pretty early during the production.