‘Just Dance: Decades of Hits’ Costume Designer Breaks Down the New Game’s Look and Not Using AI: ‘It’s Our Art’
Ubisoft’s *Just Dance: Decades of Hits* uses dancers in handmade costumes, wigs and make-up, filmed against a green screen, to create its on-screen characters. Costume designer and character lead Benjamin Jouffret says the team makes the designs without AI, describing the work as its art.
The Paris-based lead studio and its partner studio in Shanghai create about 100 costumes for each instalment. A typical character takes two to three weeks to design, followed by roughly four weeks of production and a single day of filming. The team considers how costumes work with choreography, draws inspiration from music and artists, and aims to represent dancers with different backgrounds and abilities.
- The game’s character designs are made by people, without AI.
- The studios produce about 100 costumes per instalment.
- Costumes are designed to work for dancers and choreography.
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Just Dance is Ubisoft’s long-running music and dance game series. Players follow dancers on screen and copy their moves, with each instalment bringing together songs, choreography and visual designs.
The characters are performed by dancers wearing costumes, wigs and make-up, then filmed against a green screen for the game. Benjamin Jouffret leads costume and character design at the Paris studio, which works with a partner studio in Shanghai; the teams make about 100 costumes for each instalment.
The designs help give each song and dance its own visual identity, while needing to work with the performers’ movements. The series also aims to show dancers with different backgrounds and abilities, making choices about who appears on screen and how they are represented.