Interview with Camille Marotte - Motion Designer and Director
Today I’m introducing a new category on the blog: interviews! This will let us discover different workflows, backgrounds, and tools that vary from one creative to another.
We’re starting with Camille Marotte, former motion designer at ventes-privée, now an independent and talented director!
Below, you’ll find his showreel and a few of his creations:
You can find more of his work on his Vimeo profile
What led you into the world of motion design and directing?
I remember discovering Deviantart in 2002 — it completely blew my mind, and I wanted to understand how all those images (2D or 3D) were made. I immediately downloaded a demo of Photoshop, threw on three filters — it was hideous, but I was amazed by the possibilities.
Soon after, I tried my hand at 3D with Lightwave and Vue d’esprit, inspired by the works of Stéphane Belin and Neil Blevins. At the time, my drawing skills were about as good as a blind piglet’s, but I quickly quit Epitech (programming bored me to death) to join a graphic design school. It wasn’t a sure thing.
What kind of education did you follow? How did you gain the most useful knowledge for your job — school, web, self-taught?
My first years at school left me with a deep sense of doubt about myself. Most of the teachers were slightly bitter old-school artists who wanted to make life hard for young students “threatening” their profession by using software they didn’t even know by name. So everything was traditional (painting and other stain-producing substances), and computers were “for later.”
But I found huge motivation on the internet, in forums where people encouraged you, and especially in the Gnomon DVDs, some of which I watched on repeat.
Ryan Church, Feng Zhu, and Scott Robertson were my real teachers at that time.
What gear do you use — computer, camera, software?
I work on PC. I’ve hesitated (still do) about switching to Mac, but I use a lot of small programs in my workflow that don’t exist on Mac (like VirtualDub, for example).
Otherwise, the Adobe suite of course — mainly After Effects and Photoshop. I actually do almost everything in After Effects, even my edits; I like having all the tools within one software. It’s sometimes slower, but it trains your zen side.
For 3D I use Cinema 4D, which is very intuitive and far less of a headache than Maya or 3DS.
For cameras, I’ve gone from a Canon HF100 to the 5D Mark II, which I couldn’t live without today (except maybe for the 5D Mark III :) ).
There’s a real photographic quality in your films. Is photography important to you?
Alongside design school, and to produce images quickly and build my portfolio, I’ve always relaxed by taking photos. I constantly carried a camera — first a compact, then a bridge, and eventually reflex cameras that just kept getting bigger (so did my pockets).
I love spending time working on color grading and giving those images a true atmosphere. I’ve always seen it more as relaxation than real work, and I often spent my evenings retouching photos instead of working on school projects.
How important is music in your creative process?
People often say music makes up 50% of the work, but I think that’s way below the truth.
You can listen to a beautiful piece of music alone and get chills, but watching beautiful visuals without sound just makes you want to strangle baby beavers on a rainy November afternoon.
I believe music sets the entire mood, and the visuals simply enhance it.
Which project are you most proud of?
I always hope it will be the next one :)
What are your plans and goals for the upcoming months?
I’ve just become fully independent, so right now I’m trying to make as many interesting connections as possible.
I hope to work as a director on commercials, both in France and abroad, and gain as much experience as I can to move forward with exciting projects.
How long would it take you to count to a billion?
Well, about the same as anyone else — a bit over 82 years.
I tried once, but then I got sleepy and went to bed.
Thanks Camille for this interview, and best of luck for what’s next :)
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About the author
I am the Founder of Mattrunks. I work as Creative Director and Motion Designer in my studio. I also create video tutorials to share my passion of motion.