The story and elements in Sun Limet's "Magic Circus" are an animator's dream come true. There is a spooky carnival set, a magic lantern complete with a Genie and a magical chalkboard. There's even a flying amphibian gag just in case you weren't able to exorcise your inner Chuck Jones.

This 20-something Frenchman pulled plenty of all-nighters and called on friends and businesses to help him finish his labor of love, a 5 minute animated short film. All the effort payed off, because "Magik Circus" really has a gorgeous look and feel and is a lot of fun to watch.

Currently, Limet works with Attitude Studio, which realised the intriguing animated feature film, Renaissance. Limet is also a member of PLANKTOON, an art collective, with some of his friends. This talented group, which also brought us the outstanding short film "Do Penguins Fly?", includes several talented directors, illustrators and animators seeking to create high quality animation for commercials, TV and film.

"Magik Circus is my first short film. I began to work on this project in September 2003. I found it very challenging to accomplish. Since I was working without financial support, I had to find another way to create it.

I opted for the D System.*

3D animation studio Sparx lent me their hardware, and they provided me with several apprentices. When I began, I expected to finish the movie in 4 months. In the end, it would take me more than 3 years.

The reason the film took so much longer than I anticipated was that I had to hold a full time job. Unfortunately I wasn't paid for working on this movie, and I hadn't counted on having to work on the side in order to earn money. So I had to be patient.

I worked 2 or 3 months each year on my project, with help from many friends whenever they could spare the time. Going through this process has really made us great friends. Along the way, I met a lot of gifted artists who graciously helped me even if I could only pay them with coffee or chips. I am very thankful to all of them.

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I began the project by drawing many sketches of backgrounds and characters. I am a fan of animation and I have millions of ideas. I wanted to make a really great movie with millions of characters and amazing backgrounds and effects everywhere. Of course I was so naive at the start...

Before long, I was confronted by the reality of things. As I started exporing different techniques for the film, I started dealing with things like a fur shader that wasn't very intuitive, and I realised that this kind of technique was going to steal valuable production time. As I began designing and thinking about building characters, I also saw the scope of my film would need to be smaller. The millions of characters became a frog, a girl and a magician, and all wonderful backgrouds became one circus.

"Unfortunately I wasn't paid for working on this movie, and I hadn't counted on having to work on the side in order to earn money. So I had to be patient."         --Sun Limet

As for the story, I tried to just write something simple, because, to be honest I am not really a good storyteller. I tried to find a subject which appeals to children because I wanted to make a story for them and not another of those stories about robots or something like that. The circus was the perfect place for my story. It's a magic place for children and it evokes some kind of mystery.

The animation is very classic in nature. I trusted my animators - we discussed the classic animation techniques I really wanted for the film, and then I just let them go at it. But I also included some 2D sequences because I love hand-drawn animation.

I am currently working as a renderer, and so lighting and compositing is where I spent most of my time because that's what I have a lot of experience with. I didn't use complex rendering techniques because I didnt have much computer power for rendering.

In the end, the movie is very different from what I expected when I started the project, but I am proud of it. Of course it is far from perfect, but it is what is, with a little of each person who worked on it.

I have learned to work with a team, and it is more difficult than I thought it would be. But the team kept me on the right path even if sometimes I was lost and discouraged. It was a wonderful experience."

       --Sun Limet, MAR 2007

*"D System" - French, slang. To choose an easier way to do something without money, ie, pay your CG artists with chips, use your little sister's computer to render the film...