Picture a nail-biting race in which mythical creatures, mounted by pilots, blaze through the French countryside and EDF's various low-carbon energy production sites (solar, hydro, thermal, wind and nuclear). At the peak of the final sprint, the image cuts. We re-open on a living room scene and realize we were watching a father and his two children play a video game. The mother, tired of waiting for them, pulled the plug so they could finally leave the house. The idea is to remind French people that their daily lives are powered by EDF’S low-carbon energy.

The challenge was to create a captivating, magical world and insert EDF infrastructures (wind turbines, solar panels, a hydroelectric dam, a nuclear reactor) into it.

The whole film (creatures, riders, and environment) is CGI! The team boasted upwards of 20 artists, who spent four months creating this universe.

The workflow and techniques were fairly standard. Our 3D designer used Mathematic, but this project has allowed us to perfect our technical work on large-scale universes. We used Maya and Zbrush softwares to model and sculpt 3D, as well as Mari and Substance for textures. Yeti was our go-to for hair and furs. All images were then rendered with the Vray engine. Camera moves and character animations were done directly in Maya without any video footage or motion captures.