← Two worlds in development · since 2018

#mayday

An experimental animated film in seven short films. Two children enter Real, a digital universe, to find their older sister, who took refuge there rather than face real life. A fable about the fascination that social networks and video games exert on young people.

Form

2D animation, seven short films

Author

Francis Leudjeu: creation and writing · Abyl Studio

Where I stand

Characters, first three worlds, script and storyboard of the first short film

Looking for

Co-producers and patrons

Gola, the first world of Real: an orange chained mask with a black horn, above running black silhouettes, in a film-strip frame. — Drawn by hand, on a tabletGola, the first world of Real. Digital painting.

Why this film

I want to address the sometimes morbid fascination that social networks and video games exert on younger generations, and to make people understand the danger of these worlds when you get lost in them.

It is a personal message, addressed to my brothers and sisters, to my children and, more broadly, to young people. I watch, helpless, the slow descent into hell of a connected generation, trapped in the infinite scroll, unable to focus on what matters. This hyperconnection weakens families, isolates individuals and smothers sincere relationships.

The two heroes, Simo (alias Cifer) and Maffo, embody two opposite behaviors in the face of this fascination: being subjugated and holding back. In the film, the corruption these worlds exert on the mind becomes a descent into hell where each level corresponds to a deadly sin, from overconsumption to sloth.

A form: the griot and rock art

#mayday is an inverted initiation tale: the rise in power comes with a spiritual fall. It is a cry of alarm, a poetic fable carried by the voice of Luci turned griot, who returns to sacred orality to denounce modern excesses.

It is also a formal exploration: a griot’s panegyric tale, inspired by African rock art, set in motion by traditional 2D animation. The camera never enters the scene: the tableau lives, and the spoken word animates it.

As a producer of animated films (Mboa Matanda, Noël au Continent), I am also looking for ways to produce strong, original works in a precarious context like Cameroon’s, where film financing mechanisms, and animation financing even more so, are nearly nonexistent. #mayday asks whether we can create differently: cheaper, more artistic, more relevant, and resolutely more original.

Silhouettes and ink research

In Real, characters are ink silhouettes, in the spirit of rock art. In the real world it is the opposite: black characters with colored faces.

Sheet of ink silhouettes: full-length figures, a sun, a moon, a tree made of spirals, a bed. — Hand-drawnFigures, sun, moon and a tree of spirals.

Ink silhouettes: a little girl, a boy whose face sits in a frame, a man in overalls, a woman with a basket, and a room where a bed is linked by a cable to a computer. — Hand-drawnA little girl, a boy with a framed face, a man, a woman. Below, a bed linked by a cable to a computer.

Two ink scene sketches: a room with an IV drip and relatives around a bed, a cable reaching a computer, then a close-up of the bed. — Hand-drawnScene research: the room. Samira lies in the bed, linked to the computer by a cable, during the children’s adventure.

Two ink silhouettes of creatures with spiky outlines. — Hand-drawnInk research for creatures.

Silhouettes in motion

Hand-drawnAnimation test, 21 seconds: a fight between Cifer, in a white hooded tunic, and black silhouettes, on a blue background.Animation test made by Roland Oka (Côte d’Ivoire), from Francis Leudjeu’s characters.

Synopsis

Simo (alias Cifer) and his sister Maffo enter Real, a mysterious digital universe, in search of their older sister, Samira. Rather than face real life, she took refuge there, under the name Luci26. Real is a land of promises and traps, divided into seven worlds, each ruled by a corrupt Regent embodying a major digital vice. An odyssey, both inward and symbolic, begins for the two children.

They first face Gola, the Infinite Scroll. Cifer, seduced by the euphoria of fighting and playing, forgets their mission. He ends up defeating Gola and absorbing it, gaining a horn, a stigma of corruption, and the power of the “Regent Devourer”.

In the following worlds, they meet Invidia, the Tree of Deification; Luxuria, the Trader of the Intimate; then Ira, the Regent of flames, Avaricia, Ego and finally Acedia. After each victory, Cifer absorbs the Regent’s powers and a new horn grows on his head. Maffo, a helpless witness, tirelessly tries to bring him back to their original goal: finding their sister.

Read the end of the synopsis

At the bottom of Acedia’s domain, they find Samira. She is now Root, the administrator of Real, also bearing seven horns, proof of total corruption. For her, Real is a refuge where dreaming your life is better than living it. Cifer fights her and, by breaking her horns without knowing it, fulfills the condition of her liberation.

But when he in turn tries to leave Real, he discovers he cannot break his own horns. Alone, transformed, he returns to Root’s lair and puts on the administrator’s mask. He becomes, in turn, the guardian of the digital world. In the real world, it is now Cifer who lies in the bed, while Samira, freed, makes videos warning about the dangers of Real.

First song: The edge of the real

The script of the first short film is written: seven sequences, from the edge of Gola to the edge of Invidia.

Cifer and Maffo arrive at the edge of Gola. Maffo looks for their older sister, Luci26, a legend of Real, in the players’ directory: she is no longer listed. Meanwhile, Cifer finds he can swallow Data effortlessly, and that it draws every Data to him.

Hand-drawnAnimatic of the first song, 1 min 41, no sound: the film on its film strip, drawn in pencil.Animatic made by Raul Goufo, Abyl Studio’s animation director, from Francis Leudjeu’s script.

Ext. Edge of Gola · dayMaffo looks for Luci26 in the players’ directory: no result. Cifer snuffs out Data with a flick, then devours one. They all rush toward him.
Ext. Forest of Invidia · nightMaffo crosses the forest without picking a fruit. Players promise her fame and swamp her with their tablets; her battery drains.
Ext. Edge of Gola · dayGola comes down to Cifer and proposes a duel. If he loses, he simply carries on with his quest. Cifer accepts.
Int. Gola’s domainGola takes on a massive body. Cifer beats him. Gola offers him his power: a white horn pierces Cifer’s forehead.
Ext. Forest of Invidia · nightMaffo slips away from the players. The serpent Invidia offers her the golden fruit and the absolute knowledge of Real. She refuses and he attacks. Cifer lands beside her, and both vanish.
Int. Invidia’s private domainCifer cuts off the serpent’s head and absorbs him. A second horn grows at the back of his skull.
Ext. Edge of Invidia · dayMaffo finds her brother and notices his two horns. A player recalls that Luci26 came back from a one-on-one with a Regent with a horn on her forehead. Maffo asks if he is still her big brother. They jump into the well toward the next level.

Script by Francis Leudjeu.

Real, a seven-level fresco

Cifer and Maffo travel through Real from top to bottom, a symbol of the fall, or of drowning. Each level is a world under the authority of a Regent who appears as a giant mask. When the players meet the conditions the Regent sets, he makes a well of water, full to the brim, appear; the heroes must let themselves fall into it to reach the next level.

Each world has its own color and frame. The first three are created: orange and film strip for Gola, green and triangles for Invidia, purple and hearts for Luxuria.

Golathe Infinite Scroll
Invidiathe Tree of Deification
Luxuriathe Trader of the Intimate
Irathe Regent of flames
Avaricia
Ego
Acedia

Gola

The Infinite Scroll · orange

The Regent presides over an infinite banquet: he lets Data fall and the players devour them to gain notoriety. Cifer challenges him, beats him and absorbs his power: his first horn.

Invidia

The Tree of Deification · green

A forest that is a single giant tree: the higher you climb, the brighter and more prestigious the fruits, up to the golden fruit at the top. The Regent, a giant serpent whose scales are monitors, promises the absolute knowledge of Real. Cifer cuts him down and absorbs him: his second horn.

Luxuria

The Trader of the Intimate · purple

The third world. It shows a stack of 10.000 banknotes, scales, a face with one half a heart.

The characters

Pose studies of Cifer: a black silhouette in an elongated white hood, white tunic and baggy trousers; below, more and more horns, flames in his hands, a spear. — Hand-drawnConcept art: poses of Cifer, without horns then with horns.

Simo (alias Cifer)

14 years old

An impulsive young man, passionate about games and fighting. He represents addiction to networks and the difficulty of telling the real from the virtual. He discovers Real with fascination, then disillusionment.

His costume recalls traditional Bamileke clothing. Horns grow on him one by one as he absorbs a Regent, until he has seven.

Maffo

9 years old

A wise, composed and steady little sister. She never loses sight of their mission: finding their sister. She embodies memory, the inner voice, ancestral wisdom.

In Real, she wears a black-and-white dress shaped like an 8.

Samira facing the camera: ebony skin, purple face, black block nose, red braids, orange hoodie, on a lilac background. — Drawn by hand, on a tabletSamira, facing the camera. Digital painting.

Samira (alias Luci26)

The eldest

She is the object of Cifer and Maffo’s quest: they enter Real for her. Rather than face real life, she took refuge in this digital world, where she plays under the name Luci26.

In the real world, she is drawn by the rules of my style: ebony skin, colored face. See the eight rules

Root

Samira, administrator of Real

The missing eldest, she has become the administrator of Real. Convinced she has found freedom, she is in fact a prisoner of her illusions. Her seven horns symbolize her complete corruption.

Root is connected to monitors that show her, in real time, everything that happens in Real.

Cifer concept art: from the first silhouette to the seven horns

Cifer from the front, side and three-quarter view: an elongated head with a black slit, white tunic and baggy trousers. — Front, side and three-quarter research.

Six silhouettes of Cifer in motion: lunges, leaps, kicks. — Motion research.

Cifer with seven curved black horns, drawn in ink. — Cifer with seven horns.

Style: the real world and Real

In the real world, my characters follow the mask-face rule: ebony skin, only the face colored, eight rules that hold them together. In Real, they become ink silhouettes, in the spirit of rock art. I first imagined Real as a classic video game; I ended up dropping that direction.

Samira, facing the camera: ebony skin, purple face, black block nose, red braids, orange hoodie. — Drawn by hand, on a tabletThe real world · Samira, facing the camera. See the eight rules

Luci26 in the game: red dreadlocked afro, blue face, green suit, a red mechanical arm stretched out, the other hand raised. — Drawn by hand, on a tabletDropped direction · Luci26, Samira in the game, with her red mechanical arm: the “video game convention” universe.

Luci26 in the earlier version

Two drawings of Luci26’s design, Samira in the earlier version of #mayday, very much a conventional video game: red dreadlock afro, green suit, red mechanical arm.

Luci26 head to toe: a blue face on black, a large red dreadlock afro, a green suit and bow tie, a red mechanical arm, red shoes. — Drawn by hand, on a tabletLuci26, head to toe.

Luci26 in a fighting stance, the red mechanical arm stretched out in front of a glowing red disc. — Drawn by hand, on a tabletLuci26 in a fighting stance.

Where the project stands

#mayday has been in development since 2018. The characters are drawn, the first three worlds are created, and the script and storyboard of the first short film are done.

The next step is funding. The animation team will come afterwards: I do not want to gather animators before I can support them.

Co-produce or support #mayday?

Write to me in three lines: your organization, what interests you in the project, your deadline.

francis.leudjeu@yahoo.comOther contact details