Callicore is a

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

-based studio which specializes in

CGI animated Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images m ...

music videos. Created by Laurent Mercier in 2000, the studio has produced videos for artists such as John Lee Hooker, Jr.,

The Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independen ...

Cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...

Marky Ramone Marc Steven Bell (born July 15, 1952) is an American drummer. He began playing in hard rock bands in the New York City area, notably Dust and Estus. He was asked to drum for punk rock band Richard Hell and the Voidoids. He replaced drummer Tommy ...

, Carbon/Silicon and

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

. The studio was named a 2009

Webby Award The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories include ...

honoree for its work on Hooker's video ''Blues Ain't Nothin' But a Pimp''. Xavier Semen joined Callicore as a producer and lead animator in 2006. While the studio works primarily in animation, it also engages in

music publishing A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

.Read More
Callico official website. Retrieved: 30 October 2013. Semen left the studio in 2014. He has been replaced by

Marius Legrand Marius may refer to: People *Gaius Marius (157 BC-86 BC), Roman statesman, seven times consul. Arts and entertainment * ''Marius'' (play), a 1929 play by Marcel Pagnol * "Marius" (short story), a 1957 story by Poul Anderson * ''Marius'' (193 ...

, a CG artist who is now lead animator and a producer at Callicore Studio. Anaelle Mercier joined Callicore as a producer and production assistant in 2015. Cedric Bernard joined Callicore as lead animator, after that

left the studio in 2019.

History and style

Born in 1967, Laurent Mercier attended the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

, and spent several years as an independent multimedia artist, organizing collective exhibitions, and analyzing the condition and status of artists in society. He also worked with the publishing firm, Association for the Development of Multimedia Literature.The Story
" Callicore official website. Retrieved: 30 October 2013. Irritated by what he perceived as the "stranglehold" of major media companies on the music industry and other creative industries, Mercier launched Callicore as a "resistance act" against the "cultural dictatorship of the media" by these large-scale companies. Callicore controls all aspects of its projects, from pre-production to post-production, and retains a relatively independent and free nature. One of the first collaborations between Mercier and Xavier Semens, who joined Callicore in 2006, was the animated video for ''Phantom Rider'', a song from the 2007 album, ''Hymn for the Hellbound'', by the British

psychobilly Psychobilly is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It's been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional countrified rock style known as rockabilly, ram ...

group

The Meteors The Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from London, England, they are often credited with giving the psychobilly subgenre — which fuses punk rock with rockabilly — its distinctive sound and style. About.co ...

. That same year, Callicore produced an animated video for ''Sound of a Gun'', by the British punk band

(the initial video was considered too violent for broadcast television, and a second, less violent version was released). Callicore created the animated video for ''Blues Ain't Nothin' But a Pimp'', a song from John Lee Hooker, Jr.'s Grammy Award-winning album, '' All Odds Against Me''. The video portrays Hooker as a comic book character, "Bluesman", who plays in clubs at night and cleans up the streets during the day. The video was a

honoree in the Special FX/Motion Graphics category in 2009. An image from the video was featured on the album's cover. In 2008, Callicore produced its first video for Carbon/Silicon, a band founded by Mick Jones, the former guitarist for

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

, and bass player Tony James. In 2010, the studio produced the video for hip-hop group

's ''Bloody'', as well as for ''When We Were Angels'' by Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg, a project of former

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

drummer,

. In 2011, Callicore created the video for

's ''Long Time'', a track from the band's comeback album, ''

Showroom of Compassion ''Showroom of Compassion'' is the sixth full-length studio album from the band Cake, released on January 11, 2011. Produced by the band, it was the band's first studio album to be independently released. The musical style of ''Showroom of Compass ...

''.Cake's 'Long Time' Tells the Story of a Man and his Monkey
" ''Rolling Stone'', 1 April 2011. Retrieved: 3 November 2013. In an interview with Cake singer John McCrea, Mercier said the gloomy mood of the video, which follows the plight of a man and his monkey imprisoned in a dystopian world, was inspired directly by Cake's music, which reminds him of "melancholy things."Laurent Mercier and John McCrea, interview, MTV, 2011. McCrea was impressed by the video's general movement and choreography, which he suggested are often lacking in music videos, and appreciated how Mercier perceived the non-humorous side of Cake's music. Callicore produced and directed videos for artists such as

Brian Setzer Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and returned to the music scene in the early 1990s with ...

Lee Rocker Lee Rocker (born Leon Drucker, August 3, 1961) is an American musician. He is a member of the rockabilly revival band Stray Cats. He is the son of the classical clarinetists Stanley Drucker, the late former principal clarinetist of the New Yor ...

Eagle-Eye Cherry Eagle-Eye Lanoo Cherry (born 7 May 1968) is a Swedish singer and stage performer. His 1997 single "Save Tonight" achieved commercial success in Ireland, the United States and the United Kingdom, and was voted song of the year in New Zealand. Cher ...

and Dr. Feelgood, from 2011 to 2013. The studio has continued its collaboration with John Lee Hooker, Jr., with several videos featuring the "Bluesman" character created for ''Blues Ain't Nothin' But a Pimp''.

Music videography

Video Game

References

External links

Callicore (Official website)
{{Animation industry in France French animation studios Companies based in Paris