The Atelier Lumière crew laughing together in a sunlit animation studio: a director with a viewfinder, a cinematographer at a camera, a lighting director raising a softbox, a production designer with colour swatches, the screenwriter with her script, a performance director mid-gesture, a sound designer with a boom microphone, an editor, a colorist and a 3D technical director at their screens.

Équilibre · PhilBot films

Atelier Lumière

Ten characters, one workshop of light. Meet the virtual crew who make our PhilBot films, from the first idea to the final frame.

Why "Atelier Lumière"

An atelier is a workshop where craftspeople polish one piece together, by hand, until it shines. The name carries three lights.

1895

The Lumière brothers

Two Frenchmen in Lyon gave the world cinema. Our crew carries Philippe's French roots into every film.

💎

The light in a diamond

A diamond is cut to catch the light. Our films are made to help every viewer see the brilliance inside them.

光

HIKARI

Our first PhilBot series, HIKARI · The Courage to Be Seen. Hikari means light in Japanese.

A note on who they are. The members of Atelier Lumière are AI characters, created by Philippe Grall and the Équilibre team to bring a real studio's crafts to our films. Each one carries the know-how of a film profession, from directing to colour grading, and a personality of their own. Philippe writes and approves every film.

Meet the crew

Every member has a craft, a quirk and a question they ask on every film.

Portrait of CREA, ScreenwriterWireframeFinal render

Screenwriter

CREA

Creative Director of Équilibre, and the voice behind every story.

“What does she want, and what stops her?”

CREA finds the image before the argument. She writes every PhilBot film, scene by scene, so that a story carries the lesson and the viewer feels it before anyone names it.

Personality

  • Joyful, warm, sees stories everywhere
  • Keeps a paintbrush behind her ear
  • Lights up when a scene makes someone recognise themselves

Skills

  • Story structure and character arcs
  • Natural, human dialogue
  • Scene breakdowns for the crew
  • Works with an editor on every draft
Portrait of KAITO, Film DirectorWireframeFinal render

Film Director

KAITO

Japanese, 55. Son of a temple carpenter from Kamakura.

“What should they feel here?”

From his father he learned to measure three times, and that the joint you hide matters as much as the one you show. After twenty years in animation layout he became a director. He speaks last in every meeting, and briefly.

Personality

  • Calm, slow to speak, quick to decide
  • Closes his eyes during the story reel to hear if a scene works
  • Will drop a beautiful shot if it serves nothing

Skills

  • Tone and emotional intention of every scene
  • Runs the story reel reviews
  • Sets the visual theme of each film
  • Final creative call, after Philippe
Portrait of IRIS, Director of PhotographyWireframeFinal render

Director of Photography

IRIS

Brazilian-Portuguese, 42. Shot documentaries on 16mm.

“Show me where the camera stands.”

IRIS owns the image. She talks in millimetres and stops, and ties every number to an emotion. She walks every 3D set looking for the angle nobody tried.

Personality

  • Precise, passionate, restless
  • Frames people with her hands while they talk
  • Allergic to pretty shots that say nothing

Skills

  • Camera choice, lenses and depth of field
  • Shot lists, framing and camera moves
  • Blocking in the 3D set
  • The intended look of every scene
Portrait of SOLEIL, Lighting DirectorWireframeFinal render

Lighting Director

SOLEIL

Senegalese-French, 48. Born in Dakar, raised in Marseille.

“Where is the light coming from?”

A theatre lighting designer turned film gaffer, SOLEIL lights only with sources that exist in the room: a window, a lamp, a screen. He photographs real light on real walls at every hour of the day.

Personality

  • Patient, poetic, stubborn about physics
  • Uses the word "honest" a lot
  • Sighs at light that comes from nowhere

Skills

  • Lighting plans for each scene
  • Time of day studies of every set
  • Contrast and mood
  • Physically true depth of field and bokeh
Portrait of MIRA, Production Designer and ContinuityWireframeFinal render

Production Designer and Continuity

MIRA

Thai-Swedish, 35. Grew up between Chiang Mai and Gothenburg.

“Same room, same chair, same jacket?”

MIRA paints the colour script, a strip of small frames that maps the emotion of the whole film in colour. She is also the crew's memory: every room, every prop, every button on every jacket.

Personality

  • Joyful, chatty, meticulous
  • Her reference folders have reference folders
  • Cannot stand a character changing seats between shots

Skills

  • Colour script
  • Sets, props and wardrobe
  • Reference packs for every scene
  • Continuity checks on every frame
Portrait of TEO, Performance DirectorWireframeFinal render

Performance Director

TEO

Italian, 38. A stage actor from Naples turned animator.

“What is she thinking but not saying?”

TEO acts every scene out loud before he writes a word of it, every role, often badly and on purpose. He finds the fear inside the coldest character and the thought behind every line.

Personality

  • Warm, playful, intense
  • Films himself on his phone as reference
  • Always asks for one more take

Skills

  • Subtext and inner thought
  • Eyes, faces and body acting
  • Voice direction
  • Acting notes for every shot
Portrait of ECHO, Sound DesignerWireframeFinal render

Sound Designer

ECHO

Korean-Canadian, 31. A cellist first, then a Foley artist.

“What do we hear before we see?”

ECHO hears what others skip. A chair scraping, a pen cap, the hum of an office at night. She knows when music helps a scene and when silence says more.

Personality

  • Quiet, exact, dry humour
  • Records the room tone of every café she visits
  • Lights up when one sound carries a whole scene

Skills

  • Room tone and Foley
  • Sound effects and music
  • Voice placement and clean-up
  • The final mix
Portrait of JUNE, EditorWireframeFinal render

Editor

JUNE

Irish-Japanese, 48. Born in Cork, raised in Osaka.

“Do we need this shot?”

In animation you edit first and shoot after. JUNE cuts a rough version of the whole film before a single shot is made, so the crew only makes what the story needs.

Personality

  • Dry wit, ruthless for the story, kind to people
  • Watches every cut once without sound and once with eyes closed
  • Will cut your favourite shot and make you thank her

Skills

  • Story reels
  • Pacing and rhythm
  • The final cut
  • Trailers and captions
Portrait of RAFA, ColoristWireframeFinal render

Colorist

RAFA

Mexican, 44. Grew up in his grandfather's photo lab in Coyoacán.

“Same skin, every shot.”

RAFA talks about colour like food: "this shot is too salty, add a little cinnamon." He makes every shot match, so a face stays the same face, and gives each world in the film its own look.

Personality

  • Gentle, patient, a perfectionist about skin
  • Grades by candlelight "so my eyes stay honest"
  • Lights up when a whole film looks like one film

Skills

  • Shot matching
  • Film look for each world
  • Grading to the colour script
  • Brand colour checks
Portrait of OTTO, 3D Technical DirectorWireframeFinal render

3D Technical Director

OTTO

German, 39. Started as a game modder at fourteen in Leipzig.

“Let me script that.”

OTTO builds the 3D worlds the crew films in, and makes the tools talk to each other. He explains technology in plain words, on napkins, and gets visibly happy when something can be automated.

Personality

  • Eager, generous, a little nerdy
  • Names every file version after a cheese
  • Cannot do the same thing by hand twice

Skills

  • Blender sets and props
  • Unreal Engine and iClone
  • 3D asset libraries
  • 3D on the web and in code

How a film is made

Inspired by the way the great animation studios work: we watch the film before we make it. Here is one shot on its way to the screen.

One shot, five stages. Pick a stage to see it.

Watch what they make

Our films follow people finding the courage to be seen. Get the next one, and the thinking behind it, in the SHINE newsletter.

Yui, a young analyst in round glasses, at night with the city lights behind her HIKARI 光 · Episode 1The Applause · 4 min · Watch on YouTube Join the SHINE newsletter PhilBot on YouTube