Imagining a Colorful Moon

Production designer

Celine Desrumaux

has become an expert in wild voyages and animated trips to the Moon. The talented French artist who worked on Fx Goby and Hélène Leroux’s George Méliès-inspired Back to the Moon, was working on John Kahr’s acclaimed VR short Age of Sail in Montreal when producer Gennie Rim surprised her. “She proposed coffee and showed up with Glen Keane!” she says. “In a way, you could say she’d set us up on a blind date to see how we got along. It’s really important that a director and production designer have good alchemy, they really need to trust each other. It’s essential in that creative combination!”

Coincidentally, Desrumaux had already planned a month-long vacation in China when she found out that some members of the art team would be taking a research trip in and around Shanghai. So, in March of 2018, she joined the team for a week to explore some of the classic Chinese water towns. “I am always interested in projects that are collaborative in every respect,” she says. “It was inspiring to get to know everyone with their different backgrounds. The movie gave me a chance to work with a fantastic and talented team — and Glen Keane — how can you say no to that?

Desrumaux says the character of Fei Fei caught her attention right away upon the frst reading of the script. “You could also tell the relationships between the characters were really powerful,” she adds. “I knew I would learn a lot from Glen, from his talent and all his experience. I also knew he wanted to be surrounded by a team that was fresh and that would challenge him. I’d already worked with Gennie and John Kahrs on Age of Sail and was excited to work with them again. I also know they put art center stage. Last, but not least, the world of the Moon (Lunaria) was a great design challenge with huge potential.”

The production designer says working with Keane was an amazing experience. “Watching him draw is hypnotic and relaxing,” she says. “Both he and the producers entrusted and

Celine Desrumaux

supported me, always encouraging to go beyond our comfort zone, and to show up with strong ideas. They really deferred color and lighting to me during production — -which is my favorite part, too! Glen was always open to hear thoughts and, on many occasions, art and design infuenced story and layout For example, the way I wanted to place the lighting infuenced the position of the characters on the set.

The Other City of Lights

Her biggest challenge? Creating the magical world of Lunaria. “Any artist that is tasked with creating an original world that is magical and wonderful will say that it is both exciting and scary at the same time,” she says. “Instead of having a city made with millions of detailed homes and buildings, we chose to have a city of lights, made of abstract shapes and vol

Magical Moonscape:

Desrumaux and her team were inspired by the iconic album cover of Pink Floyd’s The Other Side of the Moon and the work of Spanish painter Joan Miro.

umes of color. The less details you have, the more perfect every frame’s composition should be. Every exterior shot of Lunaria was art-directed.”

The team used real-world references to create Fei Fei’s beautiful town. “Wuzhen and Nanxun were our real-life references for that town,” Desrumaux says. “I took lots of photos on my trip through China that fed both the design and animation team. For Lunaria, everything started with the album cover for Pink Floyd’s famous The Dark Side of the Moon! We wanted something as bold and colorful as this cover. The art of Joan Miró also became our main inspiration. His paintings were a wonderful source of dynamism and color. There was also the simplicity of early Chinese paintings and artists, old 1950s animated flms, architecture (such as The Paris Philharmonic), and, of course, imagery of Chang’e!”

Now that the world gets to see her handiwork, Desrumaux hopes everyone will enjoy the flm’s magical moments and inspiring visuals. “I think every person who worked on this movie really put in a lot of heart, and you can defnitely feel that in the movie,” she concludes. “I think we made it ours, this movie has a special favor. From the deep and subtle acting in animation that made us fall in love with the characters to the colorful lighting that made us wish we were there with Fei Fei. Lunaria is a truly unique and very colorful world. We can’t wait to share the movie with everyone!” ◆