TOY PROHIBITION

Toy Prohibition (Jouets Interdits) is a graduation short movie made in 2023 at Creapole in France. Directed by Henri Arbiser. Enjoy !

When all forms of creation are forbidden by law, two young brothers risk their lives to keep on inventing.

Fun fact : In addition to the short film and a thesis, my school also requires us to create a physical booth to make the experience more immersive ! So, dive with me into the world of Toy Prohibition ! (More images of the booth and 3D impressions at the end ! )

INTRODUCTION

Before embarking on the creation of such a project, I wanted to ensure that my message would emotionally resonate with people, addressing real issues that spark interest. Here is a brief introduction on the themes covered :

Dopamine: it's talked about everywhere in the media. The impact of social networks on our motivation and abilities is alarming. Mankind is addicted. We are fed, yet never satisfied.

Technology can be a double-edged sword. Endless scrolling can numb the mind, but immersing ourselves in richer content nourishes us emotionally. Creativity is essential to our fulfillment. Let's use technology discerningly to develop our potential.

So, how to prevent pre-teens from becoming addicted to social media through an animation series that promotes creativity ?

To ensure that the viewer is as engaged as possible, I aimed to create anticipation by drawing from our current situation. There are two major themes that recur frequently worldwide. On one hand, human beings are wreaking havoc on the Earth, polluting heavily and overexploiting its resources. On the other hand, artificial intelligence is a growing topic of discussion. We are witnessing the colossal role it already plays in our daily lives (algorithms, text or image generation, etc).

So let's imagine what life might be like in the future :

In the near future, humanity, incapable of taking care of its own home, lives in underground cities administered and governed by AI. 

At the center of this futuristic city lies an immense hall where residents are scanned.

This place represents the surveillance exercised by GAFAM and other networks over us, the users.

Creation is prohibited in this futuristic world ! If human beings were to create again, they might start to overexploit and endanger their existence once more. However, AI is supposed to prevent this by surveilling the people.

Outside the purging site, the city consists of identical apartments, reproducing the same formatted structure, where residents live.

The living room of each dwelling is empty except for a TV and a sofa placed in the center of the room.

The exception to this repeated monotony is embodied by one unique place : the workshop.

This hidden area is the playground for our young brothers, for whom the Holy Grail is creation.

I've produced a mini pilot as part of a fictional series. In an ideal world, this series could be developed over 3 seasons, each with its own storyline but fitting into a broader quest.

My mini pilot represents the final episode of Season 1. In this episode, we discover how the two brothers are separated by the artificial intelligence that was supposed to take care of them.

ARTISTIC CHOICES

Set Design

Since I completed this project in 7 months (working for half a day at a time), I spent very little time on research/sketches in order to dive into the actual production quickly. It's not the ideal path, but it's the choice I had to make to finish on time, so my research will be limited.

Workshop : I created a .blend file in which all the trinkets of the scene were modeled, and then they were linked to the main scene. This way, once the cameras were placed, I only had to add details to the few props near the camera. The orangey light contrasts with the sci-fi blue that enters the room through the trapdoor in the background.

Living Room : Besides this smooth, personality-lacking, and excessively empty aspect, I wanted to design this space as falsely friendly. The room has rounded shapes that aim to be reassuring, yet also forming a pair of eyes that remind us of technology constantly watching us.

The City : Like the living rooms, the city is also standardized with only giant screens as points of interest. It is imposing and very vertical, to crush individuals, making the inhabitants invisible. I used Cyberscape addon as a base but without wanting to use volumetric light, the bulk of the visual treatment is built in post-production.

Purging Site : This place is very large and has a high ceiling : to weigh down individuals. The concentrated light along with the curved shapes give the room a sci-fi feel. The floor, made up of large tiles, reveals that the inhabitants are not free : they are metaphorically confined. The repetitive architecture marks a repeated monotony. The symmetrical construction alludes to places of worship, of power, which often employ such symmetry.

The exterior has colors similar to those of the workshop at the beginning. The distant field of vision and organic nature contrast with the futuristic world. A sense of freedom and exploration emerges. Organic reliefs are modeled and textured procedurally. The plants come from free libraries, and those in the distance are images on planes. Everything is scattered using geometry nodes. The sky is created using "Physical Starlight and Atmosphere."

ARTISTIC CHOICES

Characters

Soa was done using poly modeling, without sculpting, to speed up the process. I paid close attention to the topology from the start. I aimed to incorporate anatomically accurate deformation loops in certain areas. In other areas like the neck, I opted for a mesh that doesn't include the sternocleidomastoid muscle because it didn't make sense for the character's shape. In short, I sought to find the balance that would allow my character to have anatomically accurate deformations within the limits of its stylization.

My inspiration for the character art direction comes from Disney's Luca, so I spent time trying to find the right proportions for this style. Then, for the brother, I aimed to make him physically more mature. His head is slightly less round and large compared to his body, muscles more developed, and other facial features slightly adjusted to appear older. Soa's tousled hair reflects his spirited nature as an inventor who is always on the go. His older brother, Amichai, is calmer. Both of them have triangular hair, a shape associated with speed. Their heads are round to convey youthfulness and cuteness. Their bodies are slim to portray vulnerability and align with my inspiration.

Tne rig is made with Auto Rig Pro and Faceit for the base. Then, I added bones for the hair (which were ultimately not animated), and bones linked to drivers to avoid intersections. I had to adjust all the blend shapes and weight painting, but the bone structure was still a significant time saver.

The automaton, crafted by 2 children, needed to appear rustic and imperfect. Since they didn't have all the necessary elements for its construction, a screw replaces one of its legs. Likewise, a piece of tape and a hole revealing a ventilation system, show us that the conditions of creation were precarious. Yet, it's the imperfection of this robot that makes it endearing, much like the brothers themselves. In fact, he's their mechanical counterpart : round, feisty and full of life !

The robot has a spider-like rig, entirely handmade. The deployment of the propellers and the rotation are controlled by a single bone that triggers a pre-made action.

The mechanical arm represents the technology that is omnipresent in our lives and seeks to resemble us in order to lull our critical thinking. These arms are therefore anthropomorphic but still retain a slightly frightening aspect to implicitly reveal that they are a danger.

The artificial intelligence has a design centered around the gaze. I want to highlight that this technology constantly spies on us. So, I ended up giving it the simple shape of an eyeball. I added some sci-fi details to incorporate it into the artistic direction of the mechanical arms.

COLOR SCRIPT

My color script is composed of three major colors. Orange, found at the very beginning and at the very end, symbolizes childhood, renewal, light, and well-being. Red represents moments of urgency and danger. As for blue, it is the foundational color of this futuristic world, commonly associated with sci-fi.

SHOTS - BREAKDOWNS

The entire production has been designed from the outset to be flexible and optimized. Therefore, I've worked on my scenes with dynamic links, and my assets are as lightweight as possible. I achieve render times of approximately 2 minutes per frame under Blender Cycles with an RTX 4090, using 248 samples and a noise threshold of 0.02.

Bonus : 

Directed By

Henri Arbiser : As the director of this project, I've carried out the following aspects alone : script writing, storyboarding, concepts, modeling, texturing, rigging (including blend shapes and drivers), mocap, lighting, EXR exports, post-production and editing. 

Marylou Bort :  Main project animator. Under my supervision, Marylou took care of animating the majority of the shots in my film. As many of these shots were quite complex, I wanted to enlist the help of someone whom I find very talented in this field. I personally refined some shots myself and also worked on a few manually and with mocap.

Arthur Cormerais : The talented sound designer who composed the music ! Arthur was full of suggestions that I really liked, so he defined the basic sound of many elements himself. Like any director, I still provided a lot of feedback to make sure the final product would embody my artistic vision. Instagram

I sincerely hope that this project will have made you feel something ! The loss of creativity in favor of the frantic consumption of low-quality videos is a subject that deeply resonates with me, and I know that many of us feel the same ! So please, don't hesitate to share this short film. Thank you for watching ! :D