Foliascope edits the stop motion film 'The Inventor' with DaVinci Resolve

DaVinci Resolve Blackmagic It was the software chosen by the production company Foliascope to edit and grade 'The Inventor', a stop motion film about the life of Leonardo da Vinci.

Written and directed by the Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jim Capobianco, The Inventor is a film that combines volume and traditional animation techniques. To make this film a reality, in which his deep admiration for Leonardo da Vinci is deposited, Capobianco established contact with Foliascope, an independent animation studio in France: “From the beginning, we wanted to show the world of Leonardo da Vinci with a handcrafted, drawn aesthetic, rather than computer-generated graphics. For me, that had to be da Vinci's style. However, given that our budget was limited, producing a volume animated film would require using cheaper techniques that, at the same time, would still be charming and attractive,” explained Capobianco.

The CEO of Foliascope, Ilan Urroz, and his team undertook rigorous research in order to recreate da Vinci's legacy. When they recreated the artist's studios, machinery and accessories, they turned to archives and the artist's own drawings. It was not a simple project, as Urroz explains: “Films of this size and complexity represent a significant investment of time and money. Some projects last longer than 24 months, during which numerous production and post-production stages take place simultaneously, combining online and in-person work formats. All this requires that we distribute the work among various collaborators.”

After carefully studying what approach it should take for this production, Foliascope opted for DaVinci Resolve Studio to manage all aspects of animation editing. This gave Foliascope the possibility to continue editing, applying visual effects, of chromatic correction and of sound, and exporting files during production, which resulted in a more agile and efficient work dynamic: “DaVinci Resolve played a fundamental role in editing. "We wanted to produce a film that fused volume animation with traditional animation, so we developed a schedule to integrate both filming techniques and their particular elements," he says. Nicolas Flory, artistic director and editor at Foliascope.

Foliascope used a floating point working system based on openEXR and in the color management of ACES, an approach that simplified the conversion of study material from the original format to ones compatible with DaVinci Resolve Studio y Fusion Studio, and in turn provided greater flexibility in post-production. Additionally, Foliascope expanded its processes to include the audio mixing and mastering using the Fusion module in DaVinci Resolve Studio. This included dialogue, room effects and the film's original soundtrack, composed by Alex Mandel.

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