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En Passant

34

This incredible movie by Chris Burton is going to be one of the icons in Blender's history.

Chris writes:

Hardened by her violent upbringing, a young woman goes on a night of mayhem, and crosses a very dangerous personal line.

This is an animated musical short directed by myself (Chris Burton), with a score by Leeran Z. Raphaely. It was produced using the open-source software Blender over a period of two years. Over 40 artists, musicians, singers and actors from around the world collaborated on it, all without funding.

It's festival run culminated in winning both of its nominations at this year's Jerry Goldsmith Awards in Cordoba, Spain - scooping up both Best Soundtrack for an Animated Film and Best Song for Leilah's Ballad.

More information: http://www.enpassant-movie.com

About the Author

Avatar image for Bart Veldhuizen
Bart Veldhuizen

I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.

34 Comments

      • YEA Take that "Les Misérables" ;)
        seriously this was great, i hope to see some tutorials from u guys on the making of the movie, it would be nice.
        Well Done

  1. Great film, congrats on completing it! I'm sure you all put in a ton of hard work on this, and it really shows.

  2. It was very interesting to see what features in Blender they used in this film, such as dynamic paint for the rain, as well as the props they utilized well from BlendSwap. This animated film does a lot for showing of the usefulness of those features and assets. It'll definitely serve as a great testament of Blender-centered production! I really like the music production, as well. Just overall a solid production, and a great collaborative effort. I commend you for seeing it through to the end, and completed so well. Congrats on your awards, as well--it well deserves them!

  3. What a great piece of work and what a showcase for Blender and on top of all that it has what all great films possess a great story line. Thoroughly deserves its recognition.

  4. " its going to be one of the icons in Blender’s history" is one of the most correct sentence we can said about this film. And technically amazing, it even looks like it follows the guides of the Blender Foundation:

    Just like Sintel. A sad beginning with a more sad end. No atonement, no options for redemption. Humankind descending into darkness.

    Those of us who believe the open community will provide enlightenment ideas, saw that in most of the cases, the better production, like this, show our darkest side.

    I am not blaming any author, as Central American I have to see cases like this every day in the news papers and ten times worse. But I believe if we just focus on showing the truth without any hope, destroy the hope we all have, and make it almost impossible for us to change our reality.

    I do want to believe there is hope in Humankind. We had fight and won over many evils. I want to believe we can still defeat drugs, fear, violence.

    I hope I am not alone

    • I do wish the story was brighter and I do see your point, but nonetheless, I look at these kind of productions objectively and I tend to just focus on the technical aspects. You're not alone, but then again, I don't look at these productions for hope. ;)

    • Not alone on this one... That was my only disappointment about this film. I agree: Excellent quality! But I believe all stories need even some kind of satisfying resolution.

  5. This really is a phenomenal piece of work! Congratulations to the entire crew! I was very impressed with everything about this, from the music and animation to the cinematography and lighting! Thanks for showing what the Blender community is capable of accomplishing!

  6. Great scenes, rendering and lighting! The scenario is very good and the music and songs are amazing!
    Congratulations!

  7. this by far the best complete production I have seen out of blender thus far, great work people ....applause............

  8. OK, what else can you say about this that hasn't already been said? Everyone on this team deserves spectacular praise for their contribution to it. This is way beyond blender.

  9. Yep, totally epic, this is brilliant at any level. I'd like to see less 'dark' stories being told with blender, but nonetheless epic all the same, congrats, a very well put together production both technically and story-wise and it is truly a new feather in blender's cap. Also a feather in the cap of everyone involved, great music, great singing, great directing, great job by everyone involved...

  10. "The Dark Side Of Blender !" :-)

    Nice film, very original !
    Very good sound too. Very clean vocals !

    Bravo !!!

  11. Chrome Monkey on

    In further proof that there's always a nay-sayer out there, take a look at this ridiculous YouTube comment from the lone "dislike" of the video:

    ======================
    golemkonty 1 day ago
    This old styles of music are really painful to watch!I certainly cant stand so slow songs! I am from a younger type of generation, and we listen a faster types of music and dont necessary like these slow kinds of music...
    I stopped it on the 9th minute, I cant stand it any more! Plus, the characters in the old movies of Tim Burton were thousand times better
    and I dont want to hurt the feelings of noone with this statement, I just want to express my honest oppinion.Please, dont bombard me with negative answers, or, to be more precise, DONT ANSWER ME ON THESE, PLEASE, I AM NOT INTERESTED IN STUPID DISCUSSIONS!!!!
    ======================

    Well, that's quite the comment there, "Golem Konty"... now back to the kiddie table with you, the adults are trying to having a more intelligent discussion than you appear to be capable of.

    • Just because something is extremely well-made doesn't mean everyone has to like it.

      Although I have to admit this guy(that you're quoting)'s tone is rather petty and offensive, I have to say, I don't really like musicals of this type either. It's just always kinda bothered me when characters break out into song in the middle of an otherwise serious scene, not really "realistic" etc.

      That doesn't mean that I can't recognize that the craftsmanship here is incredibly good, it just means the genre it's in isn't my cup of tea.

      Although I can't completely defend this guy you're quoting, just because his tone is rather snotty, but I don't like your attitude either. You come across as if you think that because a film is well-made, EVERYONE has to like it and if they say they don't then that's unacceptable and you have to "defend" it.

      I don't think people should be so quarrelsome about this sort of thing. People have differing tastes.

      • Chrome Monkey on

        I was amused only by the fact that the sole complainant spoke with the very tone that you perceived. If it had been someone as well-written as you I would not have even noticed, much less taken issue. As you said, people have different tastes and there are sensible ways to express them. I didn't actually make any judgment on the work itself, and I am actually at a loss as to how this could have been inferred. Perhaps it's the old saw about sarcasm not translating well on the net. For what it's worth, it's not my cuppa either, but it doesn't have to be. I wouldn't want to be the sole arbiter of what qualifies as either art or entertainment, I would not carry it very well, much less do justice to the responsibility.

  12. Excellent! Well Done! Beautiful! Great Music!
    I do have one question though:
    What was the writer thinking when he spouted this tragic story? I can only wonder what would inspire someone to think like the girl does.

    Well done guys! I give it a thumbs up!

  13. Truly brilliant.

    Story, editing, music, animation, everything, just simply fantastic.

    If I had to nit pick, I think the SSS you used was a little too translucent.

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