Nov 29, 2019

How They Did It: Jeremy Clapin explains the unconventional production process of "I lost my body

Garlanded at Cannes, triumphant at Annecy, and picked up by Netflix (where it debuts today), I Lost My Body arrives on a tidal wave of hype - or at least as much hype that's possible for a low-budget independent European animated feature. Jérémy Clapin's feature debut, which was produced at French production company Xilam, is being lauded in many quarters as a masterpiece of hand-drawn animation. The reality is a little more complex.

Jérémy ClapinI Lost My Body revolves around Naoufel, a hapless young Moroccan immigrant in Paris. His storyline focuses on the run-up to the accident that costs him a hand; these scenes are intercut with episodes in which the hand itself, having escaped from a hospital freezer, scuttles through the city in search of its owner. On the way, it fends off various hazards, including a pigeon, a garbage truck, and a train. While the film is rendered in a sketchy graphic-novel aesthetic, the animation is actually a hybrid of 2d and 3d techniques, as Clapin explains below.

Like the director's short films Skhizein and Palmipédarium, I Lost My Body was animated in the software Blender, albeit with a novel pipeline that came together through much trial and error. The 3d basis allowed the team to experiment with dynamic staging, particularly in the action set-pieces involving the hand. Using one scene as a reference, Clapin walked Cartoon Brew through the pipeline. The videos show the scene's animatic, 3d animation, 2d animation, and final version (in that order).

I Lost My Body launches on Netflix in most territories today. Its limited theatrical run in the U.S. began on November 15.