The Production Designer in Animation: The Case of Persepolis - Text 5
Franck Miyet, head of drawing, prepared every sketch plan by inking a pose which served as a reference for the plan. In this way he determined the thickness of every line in order to give harmony to the whole. Next, Zaza, the production designer, took up this drawn pose in order to work on the image in its totality (decor and characters). For example, some lines were done in white so as to be visible. This is group work, with each person working on the entire film rather than only on their part. In this way incorporating the characters into the decor becomes easier, avoiding the reproach made by René Laloux, who writes about films in which “the drawn characters do not ‘stick’ to the decor, because they are not ‘incorporated’ into it,”[5] since each department worked on its own, at a different rhythm and with different objectives.
Following the production of Persepolis thus shines light on the way in which the work of creating the decor is carried out for an animated film: creating the drawing, but also the artistic materials used and the lighting, bringing this work close to the issues in play in decors made from live action photography while at the same time distinguishing it from such films.
