A prestigious success in 2024 (with a host of festival selections and awards, including Venice, Geneva and the XRMust Awards), OTO’S PLANET was also released on stores before the end of the year. Now accessible to everyone, this French-language production (Luxembourg, Canada, France) is a successful bet on interactivity that is both relevant and always at the service of the story. Here’s a look back at its conception, from Luxembourg and Canada, with creator Gwenael François, and producers Julien Becker (Skill Lab in Luxembourg) and Nicolas S. Roy (Dpt. in Montreal). Part 1.
A look back at our first interview about the project: “OTO’S PLANET is an interactive work that reflects on the absurdity of our contemporary society” – Gwenael François, Julien Becker (Skill Lab)
OTO’S PLANET, a critical and public success
Gwenael François – I was lucky enough to travel all the way to the end of 2024 to follow the festival selections, and with a lot of luck meet the public. I love seeing the faces and smiles under the headsets, it’s always very nourishing. Getting feedback from people is the most important thing. We do it for them. A little for us, but a lot for them.
Julien Becker – And I stayed in the office! I go with him when I can, but it’s mainly Gwenael who has to travel. I’m very proud of what he’s done, the result is really magnificent. It’s a great joy to see that the project is so popular and that he can travel so much. To introduce ourselves in a few words, Skill Lab is a production company in its own right, not a design studio. Originally we did a lot of advertising and motion design, which is what made us famous. Now we focus on fiction and documentaries, and take on our own projects as directors or producers. This logically opens us up to co-production and to working with service providers for production – particularly in Luxembourg, where the animation industry is particularly strong.
Nicolas S. Roy – Dpt. is basically a studio, but also a producer. We define ourselves as a company that creates real and imagined spaces in which stories are experienced rather than simply observed. So we make immersive projects, whatever their format. Our first big XR project was THE ENEMY, which came out in 2017. It allowed us to meet other producers, develop co-productions (like OTO’S PLANET) and continue our journey into the wonderful world of immersive. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to follow OTO’S PLANET at every festival – it’s a bit more complicated when you have to cross the ocean every time. Perhaps I’ll be able to be more present in North America in the coming weeks and months, as we continue to present the project at events.
Skill Lab & Dpt. a successful co-production
N. S. R. – We met during the Atelier Grand Nord XR 2021, an annual event organised by SODEC that brings together producers from Quebec and the French-speaking world (Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Belgium, etc.). Normally, we meet in a hotel in Quebec for a week (I like to say it’s like a benevolent Shining). Unfortunately, that year it was a Atelier sur Zoom. But I had the pleasure of meeting Gwenael and Julien. That planted the seeds of our collaboration, which blossomed a little later.
J. B. – Talking of international co-production, OTO’S PLANET was initially supported in France at the writing stage, which enabled us to open discussions with Small Creative, but then we didn’t get past the development aid stage. This bad news forced us to reconsider our strategy. At the same time, we really enjoyed our discussions with Nicolas (on this project, on other possible collaborations…), whom we contacted again 6 months after Atelier Grand Nord. So we went back to work together on OTO’S PLANET, while keeping Small’s French team in the loop, and that’s how production got under way.
G. F. – The project has evolved considerably, but its main characteristics have always been there: telling a story around a small planet, etc. The initial idea has been a persistent thing for more than five years. The original idea has persisted for over 5 years. Although at the outset the story was much simpler, and probably a little more Manichean too, it was the work on the script around the Great North Workshop that enriched the experience and added to its substance. By the time Dpt. arrived on the project, the script was virtually finalised.
J. B. – The work around the Workshop was essential in moving from something very childlike to a story for a more adult audience. All the support we received was in this direction, with more subtleties and themes for a more informed audience.
N. S. R. – At Dpt. we like to use immersive creation to have a social impact. Our projects have to make sense, without necessarily becoming heavy-handed every time, but we try to find projects with a purpose, a meaning and a relevance too. OTO’S PLANET is a perfect example of something that is both entertaining (maybe not necessarily for children, but my children loved it), and where adults might read it differently. That’s one of the aspects that’s interesting here.
OTO’S PLANET, a pop culture object?
G. F. – As far as the artistic direction was concerned, we worked together, with studios located in different countries and with different skills. The main setting, the planet, was created by Dpt. in Canada. For the characters, some of the assets and the animation, we went to Zeilt Studios in Luxembourg. In the end, we had art directors and graphic designers on both sides of the ocean as part of a global research project. I obviously had a few references to give to each of them, to feed the discussion and define this artistic direction with several hands.
N. S. R. – I can say, though, that when we were presented at Atelier Grand Nord XR, there was already a fairly strong visual universe, and that’s what immediately appealed to us and motivated us to take on the project. When it comes to immersive experiences, in the past we’ve often been confronted with heavier, more serious subjects, often documentaries… Here, we were immediately projected into a Pixar-style project, and that was very refreshing. We came up with a pop, happy, colourful universe, while dealing (all the same) with serious subjects, such as colonisation, environmental protection, and so on.
G. F. – It was a big challenge to have a script that was completely written, with the question of what format to adopt for a ‘flat’ story. How was it going to be transformed into volume, without cutting into the story and so on? It’s a huge sequence shot. To achieve this, we had to make a tool that is at the crossroads between storyboarding and animatics, but in volume. We made a planet, with the obvious shape it was supposed to have, and placed the essential set pieces on it: the hammock, the tree, the crash… This allowed us to test things out, understand the length of each sequence, eventually find something to occupy space and time…
J. B. – The set itself was also inspired by ARDEN’S WAKE (and GLOOMY EYES, THE LINE), which showed us the use of small models and miniature characters. It was from this device – the unique, round, miniature set – that the story of OTO’S PLANET was imagined.
G. F. – I don’t know if it’s easier to do humour than in any other medium. If you tackle humour in general, it’s not easy. When I wrote OTO’S PLANET, I didn’t say to myself that I was going to make people laugh, that wasn’t an objective. I write a story, and I like to add a few little jokes, references and humour. But it’s still traditional fiction writing. You could ask yourself the question of volumetric humour, playing with space, dimensions and the environment. It doesn’t exist yet. There are so many things to invent!
Sound design and music, a fundamental element
G. F. – I’m very attached to music and sound in general. This was already the case before, when I was making music videos or commercials. For me, in terms of results, it’s 50% between sound and image, you could even say 70/30 in absolute terms. And 70 isn’t the image, it’s the sound. It’s the sound that’s going to give you the emotions you need. It’s the music that’s going to transmit them to you. Sound is just fundamental to creating all that, to nourishing it. Mad Trix in Luxembourg took care of the sound design. And here again, it’s not easy because there’s the creation of the sounds on the one hand and the integration into the Unity engine on the other – in agreement with the people at Dpt.
G. F. – As for the music, I contacted Chapelier Fou, who I’m a big fan of, hoping he’d be interested in the project. And indeed, he agreed, and the collaboration went really well. Pure pleasure.
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