Minuscule (TV series)

Minuscule
Format	Animation
Created by	Hélène Giraud Thomas Szabo
Directed by	Hélène Giraud Thomas Szabo
Country of origin	France
Production
Producer(s)	Phillipe Delarue Jean-Jacques Benhamou
Running time	6 minutes
Production company(s)	Futurikon
Broadcast
Original channel	France 2 and Disney Channel
Original airing	October 25, 2006

Minuscule—the private life of insects is a French-made series of short video animations giving "a bird's eye view of insects' day to day existence, distorted through a burlesque, yet poetic lens". The characters are computer-modelled in 3D and set against natural scenery. Each animation has a self-contained and usually humorous storyline. The audio is a combination of genuine insect and ambient recordings with artificial sound effects. The various protagonist insects often perform anthropomorphic activities, displaying ironically portrayed intelligence, enjoyment and, sometimes, pathos. The background settings are generally of rural France, and include farm houses, fences, cars, road surfaces, drains, gutters and garbage bins. Humans appear only peripherally (e.g., as mute drivers of intrusive vehicles) and large farm animals are the main reluctant witnesses to the variety of insect, spider and mollusc activities.

Storylines

The series has an overall feel very much like that of the 1996 movie "Microcosmos: Le peuple de l'herbe" with the same European country farm setting (for most episodes), similar camera angles and shots, and an almost identical musical score consisting largely of open-ended, repeated piano phrases. The creators also cite the Warner Bros. cartoons of the 1950s as a model for the series, and they are aimed at both young and old alike. Episodes tend to follow one or more insect characters through a specific situation and have involved storylines such as multi-insect races reminiscent of the pod race sequence in Star Wars:The Phantom Menace, a spider becoming trapped on a helium balloon, and a grasshopper maliciously launching other unsuspecting insects from a catapult made from a blade of grass.

Production and distribution

Created by Thomas Szabo and Helene Giraud, Minuscule is produced by Phillipe Delarue. Although made in France, its generalized country settings and avoidance of spoken dialogue enable universal accessibility and appeal. The series has been sold to more than 70 countries on television and 30 countries on video.

Characters

Minuscule portrays an array of eighteen or more recurring characters, limited to one or two in each episode, each displaying distinctive personality and behaviour. Among the more commonly recurring insect characters are:

Ladybugs
Grasshoppers
Flies
Ants
Spiders (two varieties)
Snails

Other occasional insect characters include:

• Mosquitoes
• Butterflies
• Caterpillars
• Dung beetles
• Dragonflies
• Cicadas
• Bees
• Wasps

Episodes—Season 1

Volume 1

1. La coccinelle
2. Catapulte
3. Bouse de là
4. Deux chenilles
5. Les Fourmis
6. Prisonnière
7. Rêve d'escargot
8. Love story
9. Grasse matinée
10. Top guêpe
11. La nouille
12. Le pont de la rivière Bzzz
13. Zzzeplin
14. Une bonne éducation
15. Rêve de chenille
16. Chewing gum
17. Un monde de brutes
18. Coup de vent
19. Silence
20. La fourmilière infernale

Volume 2

1. Libellules
2. Cigale do Brazil
3. Hoquet
4. Tomate cerise
5. Sans coquille
6. Bananes
7. Les vers sont dans la pomme
8. Le convoi
9. Bouse au carré
10. Fourmis à la noix
11. Hyperactive
12. Le moustique
13. Salade
14. Il pleut il mouille c'est la fête à l'escargouille
15. A fond la caisse
16. Pique nique
17. Une nuit dehors
18. Tire au flanc
19. Ventilo
20. La chenille qui voulait voir la mer

volume 3

1. La bonne graine
2. La chenille et le ruisseau
3. Un radiateur pour deux
4. Patrouille de bzzz
5. Le chant des cigales
6. Petit trouillard
7. Escargot qui roule n'amasse pas mousse
8. L'attaque de la sucette rose
9. L'heure de la sieste
10. Moche
11. Petit repas entre mouches
12. Narcisso
13. Coccinelles
14. Le Totem
15. L'évasion
16. Tenace
17. Pas de chance
18. King size camembert
19. Chenille des villes papillon des champs

volume 4

1. À tes souhaits
2. Mon beau Sapin
3. Top départ
4. Mouche bizarre
5. Torpedo
6. Toiles d’intérieur
7. L’union fait la force
8. Un après-midi de moustique
9. Grosse mouche bleue
10. Pot de colle
11. La conserve
12. Nuit blanche
13. Mouche folle
14. Poule mouillée
15. La horde sauvage
16. Halloween parano
17. Hop
18. Fourmi rose
19. C’est noël

External links

• Official Minuscule Website
• Minuscule at the Internet Movie Database