Nicolas Lesaffre or “Niko” is a talented freelancer based out of Paris and Hong Kong. A graduate of Supinfocom in 2004, his short film Hernando missed out on the wave of celebration the internet now bestows on every film from that institution, nonetheless he has subsequently carved out a seemingly successful career in motion and print advertising.

Today we’ve got two works for you from Niko—Hernando, made with classmates Thomas Bernos and Jerome Haupert, and a short self-promotional effort titled Vinyl’s Attack.

What is quite delicious about his work is the manic, effervescent energy his productions seem to possess, full of bright colors and charming, contemporary character designs, influenced strongly by the vinyl toy market which he also works in. (Indeed you can purchase the robot from Vinyl’s Attack if you’re so inclined)

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Hernando is a bizarre, tongue-in-cheek, pirate-influenced musical number. These guys would make great comedic relief in a Disney film, and indeed, the extravagant Busby-Berkeley choreography and trippy final vision sequence, would fit nicely in the new post-Tangled world of 3-D “princess” films. Being 2004, some of the refinement in the character looks and motion are not there, but the team made up for it with sophisticated camera movements, transitions and background design.

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Vinyl’s Attack, with its B&W palette, affects a retro look of post-war robots, only to reveal itself as retro in an entirely different way. At just 1min30, it would be nice to see this aesthetic in an extended treatment.

As talented as Lesaffre is, I never would have heard of him if 3 weeks he hadn’t placed his entire portfolio on Vimeo. Now I can’t wait to see more.