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Entertainment

Meet Ludovic Houplain: One Half Of Parisian Graphic And Animation Studio H5

Aesthetic risk-takers close the gap between old school French graphic design and the digital revolution.

Ludovic Houplain and Antoine Bardou-Jacquet started their graphic and animation studio, H5, after leaving school because they said they would rather “struggle together” instead of working for other companies. They were able to visually capture the beginning of the “French Touch” dance music movement, making music videos for bands and musicians like Air, Étienne de Crécy, and Alex Gopher.

Their clean graphic animation technique eventually caught the eyes of advertisers, leading them to design campaigns for esteemed luxury brands like Dior, Cartier, Hugo Boss, Volkswagen, and Gatorade. Here we look at three of their most monumental works.

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Röyksopp: “Remind Me” (2001)

Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp brought in H5 to direct the video for “Remind Me,” which illustrates a day in the life of a woman working in London’s Square Mile. But instead of unfolding like typical chronological animation would, the visuals are shown entirely in infographics. The video won a MTV Europe Award for Best Video in 2002.

Massive Attack: “Special Cases” (2003)

Trip hop pioneers Massive Attack called up H5 on Christmas Eve to ask if they could shoot their video for “Special Cases” eight days later on New Year’s Day. If that wasn’t already enough of a stretch, the band requested that the directors present their ideas on Christmas Day. The directoral team sure do work well under pressure, as you can see from the highly-detailed, live-action music video above.

H5: Logorama

Right before his death, George Harrison asked H5 to work on the video for his last single that had to do with consumerism. When he passed away, the project died, but the short film Logorama was born. Using over 2,000 logos and mascots from some of the world’s most well-known companies, the 16-minute film paints a very familiar picture of freedom of speech, and might also act as a personal reflection on some of H5’s commercial work. Logorama gained critical acclaim by opening the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and won a 2010 Academy Award for Best Animated Short.