Night cap with Wednesday with Goddard

An interview with Nicolas Ménard, director of Wednesday with Goddard

 Did you draw every part of Wednesday with Goddard by yourself?
The film features an extensive set of pencil drawings by Manshen Lo. On my end, I drew the characters and prepared the layouts.

 How did you work on the shapes and colours?
I prepare layouts on paper and I finalize the artwork on Photoshop. The challenge was to keep a certain spatial harmony between the characters and the pencil drawings, which are not always used like traditional backgrounds.

 Why did you want to confront the realistic and figurative styles?
The film being a collaboration between Manshen Lo and I, we developed this style to combine our contrasting sets of skills. I have a graphic design background and Manshen has more of a fine art background.

 Are you mostly amused by or interested in the search for meaning?
I am both.

 In your opinion, why did the way to God have to be harmful?
Whether it is harmful or not is a question of interpretation.

 What are your future projects of short films?
I would love to make a new short film soon. I’m still wondering about its scope and subject.

 What sort of freedom would you say the short format allows?
I don’t have experience with long formats so I can’t speak in terms of comparison. As long as the production stays independent, you can do as you please, and I love the concise nature of the thing.

 If you’ve already been to Clermont-Ferrand, could you share with us an anecdote or story from the festival? If not, what are your expectations for this year?
This will be my first time.

 Where is your film showing next?
The film was completed in 2016, so it’s heading toward the end of its festival run. I’ll be promoting further screenings on Twitter, so stay tuned if you’d like to catch it on a big screen.

 Are you taking part in other events during the Clermont-Ferrand film festival?
I will be at the festival with Manshen from the evening of February 8. Looking forward to see you there.

Wednesday with Goddard is being shown in Lab Competition L1.