Rescue: Let's talk about the making of this environmental short film - ARTFX Students answer our questions!

Gabrielle, can you tell us more about yourself and your short film Rescue?

We are six graduate students who made Rescue during our final year at ArtFx.
Featuring visual effects, in Rescue we follow Eli, an animal caretaker determined to save a creature from poachers.

What was your inspiration for sparking discussion around this topic? How would you say your short film explores or suggests a change? 

As nearly newly graduates, we wanted to create a film that would spark conversation around a current topic, but through a format that wouldn’t feel so documentary-like. Poaching was a subject we all felt passionate about, and as a VFX team, we wanted to bring a sense of wonder and magic to the topic, which led us to the fantastical style. We aimed to build a unique universe and character that would spark compassion in viewers, in hopes of making people more sensitive to our cause.

What was the biggest challenge you faced on the production of Rescue? How did you overcome it?

One of the biggest challenges during production was creating a gigantic creature that would feel believable to the audience. We studied the anatomy of large animals such as rhinoceroses and elephants to help us model a realistic musculature and appearance. We analyzed how these animals move, which helped us create convincing animations. We also devoted quite a bit of time to the compositing and integration process to ensure the creature felt grounded in its environment.  

Could you share to us a moment during your short film’s release / distribution where you felt that your short film truly had an impact on the audience? How did that feel for you, as the director? 

One moment that truly surprised us was the tremendous amount of attention and views Rescue received once it was released on public platforms. As students, we created this film primarily as a graduation project, and we never imagined it would be so successful or reach so many people. It was incredibly gratifying for us, because as filmmakers, our goal is to make an impact, to allow people to escape into other universes, even for a few minutes. Seeing that we succeeded in that endeavor was such an amazing feeling.

Tricky question, but one that sparks discussion among us artists: why do you create? What is your motive, and what pushes you to explore topics such as environmental change?

As artists, we create in order to move audiences and convey emotions, whether through storytelling, imagery, music, color, framing, action, and more. As filmmakers, we also have the ability to express our views on current issues. It is important for these messages to be shared through audiovisual media, as they leave a record of the historical and political context surrounding the topic.

The issue of poaching  is one of the defining issues of our time, and it deserves to be addressed. It has a significant impact on biodiversity, which is why we chose to explore it through our short film, told from the perspective of an animal rescuer. Although the poached creature in our film is fictional, there are real species in our world that are endangered due to human activity, and it is humanity’s responsibility to protect them.

In our film, this is achieved by limiting the actions of poachers, isolating the creatures, and eventually rehabilitating them in their natural environment. This is where, as artists, we are able to express ourselves creatively: the protagonist uses gadgets inspired by fantastical worlds, rescues an imaginary creature, and evolves within fictional environments. Through these artistic choices, we present a world that does not exist, while also showing that it is possible to protect biodiversity through action, just like our hero.

A lot of people on indie-clips.com are independent and/or beginning filmmakers. Can you share one piece of advice to our audience of independent filmmakers making their first short film? 

Things are going to go wrong, embrace it ! No, but in all seriousness, I think as young filmmakers, we all believe that with enough preparation, we can predict every little detail that might go wrong. We try to plan and plan, hoping we’ve thought of everything. But the truth is, things will happen, problems will occur, and that’s completely normal.

Instead of constantly trying to fix what’s already happened, desperately trying to get back exactly to the original plan, embrace the changes and unforeseen issues. Work with them, work around them. Things will not always go as planned, so be flexible and welcome the unexpected.

Any future plans? Tell us more about your upcoming projects!

At the moment we are all working in different VFX studios around Europe, so no plans for a sequel or a new team project just yet... but who knows, maybe one day will make Rescue 2 : the revenge of the poachers ... :)

Where can we see your work? Any way our fellow filmmakers can get in contact with you?

Gabrielle Terroux : linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-terroux-ab8857230

Margot Rousval : linkedin.com/in/margot-rousval

Pauline Luciano : linkedin.com/in/pauline-luciano

Léa Philibert : linkedin.com/in/leaphilibert

Noémie Alonso : linkedin.com/in/noemie-alonso

Mauran Perrone : linkedin.com/in/mauran-perrone