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Earlier this year, French writer-director Pierre-Luc Granjon (The White Wolf, co-director on the 2023 feature The Inventor) took home the Oscar-qualifying short film Cristal at Annecy for his beautiful and thought-provoking film The Night Boots (Les bottes de la nuit). The black-and-white short, which centers on the friendship between a young boy and a strange creature he meets in the forest, was made using the pinscreen method (first invented by Alexandre Alexeieff and his wife Claire Parker in their studio in Paris in 1932) using a side-lit screen filled with movable pins.
“My advice for young animators is to keep in mind why they chose animation: pleasure, excitement, passion for an art that combines narration, visuals, movements, sound and music. The industry can be very harsh and heartless, and if that’s the case, then run!”
— Director Pierre-Luc Granjon
“When I started writing The Night Boots, the world news was very dark — it hasn’t got better since — and I didn’t want to add darkness to it,” says Granjon. “It is important to keep tenderness alive even when so many things seem going the wrong way.”
The French director says he had two specific images in his head: a child stepping outside his house at night, while his parents had guests, and the second was the same boy getting home two or three hours later. “These two scenes would be the beginning and the end of the movie,” he recalls. “I had to imagine what happened in between. I am also inspired by many different directors like Yuri Norstein, Jérémy Clapin, Suzie Templeton, Miyazaki, Greco/Buffat … I really enjoy the work of many directors.”
Pins and Needles
Granjon originally wrote the short and drew the storyboard in 2019, just before co-directing Jim Capobianco’s The Inventor for more than two years. The Night Boots’ production started in March 2023 and ended one year later. The film was completely finished a few months after.
The director opted to use a classic pinscreen (l’écran d’épingles), a metallic frame in which 277,00 white tubes are stuck. In each tube, there is a pin, 5mm longer than the tube. “When all the pins are pushed inside, one can see the cut of the tubes, and the screen is white. When pins get out, they project a shadow on the surface (we use only one projector to light the pinscreen) and these shadows create different greys, and black,” he explains.
“I decided to use the pinscreen because I felt it was the right tool for my project, which is set on a night of full moon in the countryside,” Granjon explains. “When I draw on a pinscreen, I have the feeling of sculpting the light and the shadow (the chiaroscuro). When all the pins are out, the screen is black (it looks like a black velvet). I use little tools in glass (a pointy bulb could work) and when I pass it on the screen, the light appears, it’s a kind of magic!”
“I started it with the shot of the boots on the corridor, with the shadow of Eliot,” he adds. “Then, I decided to keep on with the next shot, following Eliot in his room, then in the forest. In a way, I was following the same adventure as Eliot, discovering for each shot what the pinscreen could propose and offer me. Of course, the pinscreen needs to be in a dark room, with only one projector. To be in that kind of cave for 12 months was not the most pleasant. I had to go out regularly, to enjoy the light, and look at the horizon.”
Looking back, Granjon says the creation of the short ended up being a labor-intensive but wonderful adventure, thanks to all the people he collaborated with. “First, my producer, Yves Bouveret (Am Stram Gram), who tried to be the cloud gobbler of my film, trying to keep the sky clear above my head during all the process!” he says. “I also think of Loïck Burkhardt, the sound designer. We worked together for several weeks, giving life to the forest and its different creatures. And there is also Timothée Jolly, my musician, and Cédric Lionnet, the film mixer, and Bernard Bouillon, the voice of the creature, and so many others — Brieuc Laudet, Antoine Rodet, Xavier Drouault, Sara Sponga, Christophe Gautry, Eymeric Jorat.”
When asked about the impact of his work, Granjon says he wanted the film to be tender, and to make the audience feel that. “The core of the film is this encounter between the boy and the creature, two solitary beings, and the birth of a friendship,” he notes. “There is no antagonism in the movie, which is another important point for me. Most monsters are no longer monsters once you know them: It is ignorance that creates them.”
“This year in Annecy, I saw many movies from all around the world,” Granjon mentions. “I know that it’s often said that there is a crisis in animation — well, that is said in France anyway. That is certainly true about the animated series industry, but when we talk about shorts and features, it is amazing how rich and diverse the productions are. My worries are more about AI, but I know that part of the audience will always appreciate movies, shorts and TV shows made by humans. Perhaps we need a new label: 100% human-made.”
You can find more information on The Night Boots at cnc.fr, unifrance.org or by following Am Stram Gram on Instagram.
