Stephane Halleux’s First Film, Monsieur Hublot
French sculptor and Coilhouse Issue 02 featured artist Stéphane Halleux is trying his hand at a new medium – animation. In response to countless questions, pleas, and threats he’s created a digital character after one of his leather and scrap metal sculptures, Monsieur Hublot. There is no word yet on the release date of the eponymous, seven-minute short, but we do know that Mr. Hublot [named thusly as a nod to Jacques Tati’s tragically inept Monsieur Hulot] is a bachelor accountant suffering from a host of obsessive-compulsive ailments. He lives in a small, gadget-packed apartment with his robotic dog, loves his leather trench coat and despises noise.
Together with Zelit Productions, Stéphane hopes to eventually develop the project into a feature-length film. Meanwhile, a frame-sponsoring system is in place, allowing interested fans to take part in the short’s development at up to 9EU per frame. From the Monsieur Hublot website:
In exchange, among other things and depending on the amount of images sponsored, they will get updates on the film’s production, a print of one of their sponsored images signed by Stéphane Halleux, the opportunity to appear in the the credits, etc. As for ourselves, this quid pro quo will enable us to complete the financing of the short film and to prepare the release of the feature film.
I love this idea!
Two charming animation tests from Monsieur Hublot have been released into the wild, so far. Watch below as the character gets his bearings and faces off with a light switch, then check out his outfit in more detail.
July 5th, 2010 at 11:13 am
Okay, I’ll admit it. I squeeeed.
July 5th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
eeeEeeee~!
July 7th, 2010 at 10:40 pm
I like the little bouncy steps he takes, and the crisp sound effects. The light switch thing when he went to the other room made me *lol* :)
January 22nd, 2012 at 5:30 pm
[…] were such a success that since 2005 he has devoted all his time to his sculptures. According to Coilhouse magazine and blog, Stephane Halleux is now trying his hand at a new medium: animation. Now why doesn’t this […]
February 26th, 2012 at 8:47 am
[…] out of the bunch. In the near future you’ll be able to watch this character come to life in a short film. {This is a DesignBreak by Gregory Larin} {Photos by Muriel Thies} {This is a Belgian World Break} […]
January 8th, 2013 at 4:50 pm
Nice article but you need to get your facts straight: Stephane Halleux is not a french sculptor but a belgian one. He is belgian, he lives in Belgium and works there as well (I know him IRL, so I can tell).
Just like the “french fries”, he may seam french but he actually belong to a small country just above called Belgium (small or not, it’s still the capital of Europe though…).
Regards.