Blackmagic Design announced that DaVinci Resolve Studio to grade the stop-motion feature film “The Inventor.” In addition, Fusion Studio was used to composite other elements in post-production to bring the story of Leonardo da Vinci’s life to life.
Co-written and directed by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Jim Capobianco, The Inventor is a stop-motion and animation film starring Stephen Fry, Daisy Ridley, Marion Cotillard. Many celebrities made cameos as well, including Matt Berry.
Mr. Capobianco, who created this work, played an important role in making this grand project a reality. From the beginning, he had a deep respect for Leonardo da Vinci, and this developed into the concept of the theatrical film. In search of the perfect creative partner, he reached out to French independent animation studio Foliascope, believing he needed a new perspective on the project.
The company’s CEO, Ilan Uroz, and the production staff did extensive research to faithfully recreate Da Vinci’s life. The sets, mechanical devices, and clothing items were created based on detailed archives and paintings by da Vinci himself. The puppets, which are the centerpiece of the stop-motion and animation film, were meticulously designed and created.
How DaVinci Resolve was used in The Inventor:
A complex and large-scale work like this requires a lot of time and money, Mr. Uroz commented. Some projects last over 24 months, with multiple stages of production and post-production occurring simultaneously and a mix of offline and online formats. Such work requires sharing work with multiple collaborators. DaVinci Resolve Studio helps me combine different techniques to tell a story.
The company uses a pipeline based on OpenEXR and ACES color management that allows it to convert pristine images from the set into formats compatible with DaVinci Resolve Studio and Fusion Studio for post-production. provides a high degree of flexibility.
Editing Stop Motion on DaVinci Resolve Studio
DaVinci Resolve Studio handles all aspects of stop-motion editing in a single software, eliminating the need for round trips between multiple applications. This allowed the production company to simultaneously edit, VFX, color grading, sound, and export throughout production, making work faster and more efficient.
Nicholas Flory, Foliscope’s art director and editor, commented:
DaVinci Resolve played a huge role in creating the edit, says Nicholas Flory. The goal for this film was to combine stop motion and animation, so we had to create a schedule that would integrate these two filming techniques and their relationship to each other.
The company also mixed and mastered the audio with DaVinci Resolve Studio’s Fairlight tools. It also included dialogue, Foley, and an original soundtrack by Alex Mandel.
Mr. Capobianco: From the beginning, when depicting the world of Leonardo da Vinci, I wanted to use something created or drawn by humans, rather than CG. Personally, I felt that this was Da Vinci.
However, using stop motion on a small budget meant that the production needed to be done in a charming and interesting way, while still being cost-conscious. Like Da Vinci himself, I think the style of this work is appropriate and creates a piece that does not make you feel timeless.
