JUST THE FACTS: Age - 25; Hometown - Marseilles, France; Education - Studied film and animation at Supinfocom, France; Employ - The Mill since Oct. 2004.

BEST WORK: Sony PSP's "A Day in the Life", which follows two Lego-like battlebots doing their best UFC death match until one falls apart in a shower of music notes, film strips, controller and camera icons. The frenetic images are accompanied by driving staccatoed music. "Sound is important to me," he says. "It has to be linked with the emotion in the pictures, so you can have very strong effects on the spectator."

MOMENT OF PRIDE: A short animation called "Loop" he did in school about a snail in a world of falling geometric shapes. "It's simple and efficient. It's a style I like."

WHEN ASSIGNED A PROJECT: "I try to understand what the main ideas are and the message. And try to give myself to the clients and come as close to what they want on the screen."

GETTING INTO IT: In his teens, Baertsoen was impressed by the graphics one could manipulate with computers, "so I found some software and tried to do that at home on my crap computer." His father didn't approve, but eventually made him a deal - two years of engineering in exchange for animation school. Seems to have worked out.

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