Keytales recently made their debut to the animation industry with their new short film, Wildheart.
About Wildheart
Wildheart, set in 1960s Japan, captures the essence of protagonists Kenta and Makoto. It explores individuals like them—passionate, free-spirited, and undeterred by societal norms in their quest for identity and belonging.
As they navigate the complexities of urban life and familial ties, Wildheart resonates with their firm spirit and unyielding resilience in the face of change.
“We wanted Wildheart to unfold as a universal tale set against the backdrop of a critical time in Japanese history, lived through the lives of three generations. Our central characters’ obstacles are as relevant to today’s audiences as they were to the times. We encounter the trials of close family, found family, and friendship, all impacted by separation and social and economic adversity,” said the film director Marceau Nakayama.
This short film is their first step on a much bigger journey for Wildheart. Keytales has much more planned down the line and are excited to finally be able to share a first glimpse into their project.
Visual style
In the realm of merging 2D and 3D visuals, Keytales aimed to create something distinct from anything produced in recent years. Their goal was to infuse CG filmmaking with the charm of anime, drawing inspiration from animated classics such as My Neighbor Totoro and Tokyo Godfathers.
Keytales wants to lean into their inspiration from the designs and storytelling of Japanese manga and anime, while also exploring a visual language that has not been seen before.
One crucial influence on the overall look and feel is the era in which the story is set.
The 1960s in Japan marked a period of societal and cultural transformation. It witnessed the nation’s post-war recovery, rapid economic growth, and the emergence of a modern consumer society. The era reflects a blend of traditional Japanese values interwoven with the influences of pop culture and Keytales wants to make sure to capture this essence.
Furthermore, big inspirations in the making of Wildheart are filmmaking legends like Ozu or Kurosawa.
“Their films shaped our understanding of cinema and how a story can be structured. Their way of telling a timeless story for young and old is something we strive towards. We want those long introspective shots to make the ones watching understand the subtleties and emotional ups and downs of the human condition,” said Nakayama.
Production pipeline
To meet their visual goals and efficiently iterate on ideas, Blender has been Keytales’ tool of choice. From previs, animation, 3D modeling/ set-building to lighting, and shading, it was a crucial pillar in their workflow.
“We’ve rendered our environments in Blender’s Cycles render engine to give us better lighting accuracy. We tend to work out our sets as much as possible in 3D, so we can quickly make changes on a bigger scale if needed.
Once the environments and lighting were in place, we created countless paintovers on separate layers, which we comped on top of our rendered sequences in After Effects. Ultimately we ended up with the 3D/2D style you can see in our short. However, while this sounds pretty straightforward on a technical level, we did quite a lot of iteration to make it look and feel right.
The characters on the other hand we’ve rendered with Blender’s Eevee engine, to make use of its stylised shading capabilities. We’ve combined them back with the environments in After Effects. But to get the same visual quality and style as our environments, we’ve also painted a lot on top of our characters after the rendering. In terms of efficiency, it depended on the scene. For some scenes, we painted on top frame by frame to make sure everything looked right,” the film’s producer Matteo Paolini explained.
Below you can see some work-in-progress images of what some of the steps in Keytales’ production looked like.
Keytales has an expansive lineup of stories to tell, all to come in the future. The studio is currently planning a feature-length film from the Wildheart universe.