YABUNOUSAGI is an entertainment design and production firm. Conceived in 2019 by Claire Matz and Félix Bulcourt, we specialize in storytelling strategy and narrative worlds design, to serve our client’s projects as well as our own.
Our storyworld
The word « YABUNOUSAGI » is the Japanese name of the European hare.
The hare can take care of itself from his birth; it is prolific, fast, resilient, free. Its symbol has always been used to announce renewal. When it is used in a group of three bound by their ears, it is the symbol of time flying and of the link that brings travelers together. Most likely brought from Asia during the 3rd century by the Silk Road, it is the symbol of thinking without borders and positive union of cultures.
This company's ambition is to reunite cultures and practices of entertainment between East and West, and therefore rethink production methods while being freed from traditions and local habits.
We chose this symbol because our business is composed of a symbiosis of three essential components, that we pursue at the same time at appropriate levels.
The Craftsman
Through this World Building service, we offer our skills in strategy and design of strong narrative licenses. In addition to strategic studies, we design and craft narrative, visual and literary bibles for our clients.
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The Companion
In order to support projects in the best possible way and ensure their narrative and visual consistency, we offer a Creative Consultant service.
Our studies and interventions are adapted to the needs of each project, to solve all problems and facilitate their development.
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The Creative
We love stories, and we are committed to those that make us dream. We want to share them with as many people as possible.
We produce cross-media works designed within strong and deep narrative worlds.
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PAST
In order to develop our narrative strategy skills and design our own tools, since 2019 we’ve been working on the creation of multiple narrative worlds.
Until now, most of our energy has been spent on the component named “the Creative” .
PRESENT
Today, we focus on the component named “the Craftsman”.
Thanks to the learnings of the past, we are now able to apply our methods on our clients’ projects. We offer a work-for-hire service of tailor-made, cross-media storyworlds generation.
SOON
A consistent narrative world is the guarantee to be able to produce multiple entertainment products. Because it is hard to respect a storyworld while adapting it to a moving world, we offer a creative consultant service with the component named “the Companion”.
FUTURE
Thanks to the growth of our teams, we aim to produce some of the original IPs that we will develop internally, and achieve the balance we seek between the three components of our company.
THE TEAM
YABUNOUSAGI was born out of the meeting of a creative producer and a global designer.
Félix Bulcourt
Designer, Anatomist and Teacher Researcher, Félix Bulcourt has worked for 17 years as a consultant and teacher specialised in project methodology and innovation.
After being the Head of the research and teaching Design department of the École Normale Supérieure of Paris-Saclay, he decided to travel to Japan and develop his narrative strategic skills.
Claire Matz
Trained in one of the world's best animation schools, Claire Matz is a director who worked as a production and artistic supervisor on animated projects for Netflix Japan in Tokyo.
After developing her skills on multiple projects in Europe and having worked in a lot of Japanese animation studios, Claire Matz chose to specialise in Creative Production.
Our Values
The place of the viewer:
Nothing is stronger than imagination!
If the narrative work is built within a deep and consistent universe, then the viewers will be able to project themselves into this world well beyond the story that has been told to them. We do not design stories just to entertain, affect and make the spectators think ; we also and above all want to nurture their imaginations and offer them a playground which will be the basis of a growing appetite for all the works developed within this narrative world.
Art applied to industry:
Art doesn't have to be made for itself!
Designing a story is about wanting to reach out to others. We don't want to talk about ourselves or tell stories to ourselves. Art must be at the service of the audience and seek to mark its time. We put our artistic skills at the service of the storyworlds that we develop. What we think is beautiful, what pleases us or amuses us, should not limit our work. Our art is applied to the World Building service that we create for the benefit of stories and viewers.
Licenses and cross-media:
For viewers, the diegesis goes far beyond anything that is said or shown in a single artwork. Therefore, our work cannot be limited to a single story.
A story must fit into a narrative strategy… a license.
From the beginning, we take into account all the potential productions and supports that the storyworld can sustain.
Feature films, series, video games, webseries, books, comics, toys, soft toys, fashion accessories, household ornaments ...
We do not consider the physical objects born from these narrative worlds like simple goodies, but rather like constitutive elements of the storyworld; they are another way for the viewers to immerse themselves in it.
Tools and methods
We developed tools and methods that allow us to create for you consistent World Building, without any limitation of style nor technical pipeline.
| Design Methods Methods of design have long been recognized as an efficient way to improve the creative process and develop innovative ideas. We adapted the methods of aid in creation which have proved their worth in other industrial fields. |
DPMT DPMT is a creative process organization and management software developed from the research work of Félix Bulcourt. It allows us to co-create, to get a global vision of the workstreams, and to keep track of every creative path that were or could have been developed. |
| Technical and technological watch The technologies applicable to the entertainment professions are many and evolve quickly, and they can often be found in other industrial areas. We maintain a permanent technical and technological watch. Every day, we train ourselves with new tools and look for solutions outside our usual professional environment. |
Artistic and cultural watch Because creation does not exist without the knowledge of what already exists, we consider that developing our artistic culture every day is an important part of our work. Relentlessly, we develop our artists' networks to get inspiration from contemporary aesthetics and problematics. |
THE CRAFTSMAN
Creating a narrative strategy and designing its global diegesis as a foundation for multiple consistent productions, where viewers can project themselves :
That’s why we created our World Building service.
We craft for our clients a tailor-made strategy and storyworld, with all the written and visual documents needed for their projects to enter production. Our skills, supported by the tools and methods we developed, allow us to offer our clients a World Building service without any limitation of style nor technical pipeline.
Our narrative strategy proposals are integrated into our storyworld, which take the form of a graphic and literary world bible, delivered in both paper and digital format. Thanks to this reference document, our clients have a better control of their license and of the communication between all the trades who will work together on the production of their projects.
Depending on the needs of our client's project, this bible can contain cross-media story concepts and pitches, the History of the narrative world, its geography and geopolitics, concept arts, the political and social context, maps, architectural plans, designs of various kinds (characters, environments, vehicles, animals, costumes, etc.).
We adapt our work according to the requirements and ambitions of each project. We provide a tailor-made service, so the above list is not exhaustive.
THE COMPANION
We offer a support service for projects that can take various shapes. Depending on the project, and if the client wishes to call on us for the World Building, or if he simply wishes to onboard us into a license or a project already initiated, we can offer him the following services:
Script analysis
Creative consultant
Problem-solver: we can put our customers in touch with experts or outsourcers of our network.
If we developed a storyworld for the customer, this service ensures that the works developed within this universe remain consistent, while incorporating new client settings in the storyworld if necessary.
A license should not be frozen in time, but must instead continuously evolve with the works that compose it; we are there to help and facilitate its development.
THE CREATIVE
The urge to tell stories is what drives us every day.
YABUNOUSAGI, through its creative division, produces works from World Buildings created internally and independently.
Our project catalog is made of cross-media projects, among which we develop animated feature films, shorts and series, but also video games, comics, live performances, AR objects, VR entertainment ...
We cannot give you details about these projects under development, but feel free to contact us to find out more!
CONTACT US
YABUNOUSAGI - 2021