The Story: The Travel of Anselme and his Big Blue Metallic Suitcase is a tale of self-discovery, taking us on his physical and spiritual journey. This short film develops the idea that the people we encounter are integral to our development. In our modern society, the effect of the many distractions from human interactions available to us equal a lack of physical communication. The sweet and naïve character of Anselme seeks to counter this, meeting an array of interesting people with open eyes and ears when he hitch-hikes his way to the sea. Everyone seems to be carrying something significant around with them on their own journeys, something that tells a story. The people he meets load him into not just their cars but their lives, unloading their stories and problems onto Anselme. Lucky for them, Anselme has insightful and intuitive advice to pass on, that he was given by his British best friend Lenny. When the enigmatic Anselme reaches his destination, his big blue metallic suitcase opens for his load to be revealed and freed.
Through a series of vignettes and ligne-claire’s, we are transposed into the colourful, playful, beautiful world of Anselme.
Director’s Statement:“When directing this short movie, I want to push the sweet, childish, fairytale-like naivity of the script. The film will have a palette of primary colours only, making the colourful aesthetic reminiscent of the Roger Hargreaves Mister Men illustrations. Wes Anderson and Jean-Pierre Jeunet are influences for my vision of the actors’ performances, which will be unrealistic and similar to comic strip characters. The camera shots we will achieve are also inspired by Wes Anderson and Nicolas Winding Refn/David Robert Mitchell, particularly for their use of ‘ligne claire’ that is also commonly used in classic French-Belgian comic strips. Sounds will be onomatopoeic and there will be one piece of music, varying with each scene. The movie is chaptered and each one begins with a handmade miniature, in the spirit of Michel Gondry’s special effects, which look as though they were hand crafted by Anselme and Lenny. Using these techniques we will achieve the desired effect for the movie: soft, sweet, delightful, delivering a message full of love and hope!”
Meet the cast!
Anselme has met a lot of wonderful people on his travels. Thanks to his likeability and the love his friends have for him, Post Production is free!
We will use a Sony A7S camera: a small, brand new, high quality photo-camera. It is actually the first of its kind which can be used for cinema! It is the perfect size for shooting a road trip and its ability to shoot by night and restore the light as if it was day (it creates a high quality, stylish day effect) means our days shooting in November won’t be cut short by nightfall.
Our talented composer Marc will be creating an original score specifically for the film. Each chapter in the film will have a different variation of the song composed. We cannot wait to see the work he brings to Anselme’s journey!
We are submitting The Travel of Anselme and His Big Blue Metallic Suitcase to film festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand, St Maur des Fosses and Cannes in France and to British film festivals such as Raindance and BFI. If we go above our target, the money will be spent on further festival submission fees internationally.
This project genuinly means a lot to everyone involved and we believe it is channelling a touching and personal message.
Your contributions to the film make every difference.
Bon Voyage!