Experts’ words: Guillaume Bricout and Gary Jeannot, Studio Oracle

Guillaume Bricout and Gary Jeannot, both graduated from ISART Digital school. At first, they worked as CG artists separately: mostly as a freelance for Guillaume and at Method Animation (On Kids & Family) for Gary. In 2013, Guillaume founded the Oracle studio in Paris region. He works there as a producer and an artistic director. Gary has joined him in 2018 as a co-managing director, producer and creative director.

Guillaume, Gary, you met 10 years ago at ISART school. Was it an artistic “love at first sight”? To what extent are you complementary?

Gary: I met Guizmo ten years ago and I quickly saw him as an interesting person to compete with. And after our first assignement, I found out that I was right about him. Therefore I’ve decided to keep a close eye on him. We are complementary because we both developped a lot our technical and artistic skills so we can help each other out. In addition, we tend to leave our ego on the side and not to step on each other’s toes.
We also listen to each other and make enough room for thinking so that we can simply and efficiently collaborate.

Guillaume: Since school we’ve always respect each other and we’ve also shared this will of experimenting and understanding this new universe that was film animation to us. Our duo works thanks to this mutual trust and our strong communication skills.
We share our qualities and our will to engage in new challenges but it is our instinct that make the final decision: “I’ve a good feeling for this plan/character/picth”.

What is the proportion of 3D in Studio Oracle productions? What 3D modellers do you work with?

Gary: Using various techniques requires quick thinking, effectiveness but also quality.
3D is a very good answer to these requirements, though, we do not hesitate to use other techniques if needed. Our goal is to always keep the production smooth. We work with Maya and Zbrush for 3D.
Guillaume: To ensure consistency and uniqueness, we use 3D a lot but we tend to always mix it with other techniques such as photography, 2D, snapshot… The most important is to keep the light direction from the beginning to the end to make the implementation credible and let the magic begin :). It allows us to play on different elements such as in Who Framed Roger Rabbit or The Amazing World of Gumball for instance…

Both of you have been visiting lecturer in schools. To what extent does transfering your knowledge is important?

Gary:
I do not only transfer a technical knowledge. I reckon I must show the students that they need to always keep on learning. It helps them to demistify the professionnal reality and to bring some playful touch to it. Some of the students are not confident enough about their skills and worry for their future. It is my duty to ease them about this “irrational” fear.
Guillaume: Focusing on the teaching subject allows me to discover a lot. This is a kind of technological watch combined to a practical application: if I cannot explain it to my students it means that I didn’t understand it fully.
I had the great chance of having had committed, fascinating teachers so it really matters to me to also transfer theorical fundamentals and questionings to the next generations.
Leading them toward a thrilling, demanding and gratifying job in addition of making them grow by discovering their own ressources and skills is greatly satisfying!

Guillaume: That’s way too personal! Just kidding I would advise him to go back to production sooner. Indeed, being a freelance had some pros but also some cons. It is a demanding area where networking is really a thing and it is important to be aware of this at en early stage. It is really a pro to be surrounded by lead and senior.
As it is something that makes me really proud, I will encourage him to keep on experimenting video, photography, drawing, short movies and music!
And then, just because we’re curious, I will conclude with some emotional touch by bringing him with me to pay a visit to 2029 me :).