Citadium.
Heading South.
01 / 02
The short film. / 02:10
The extended director’s cut of Heading South. / 16:52
Three friends. A road south.
For the opening of Citadium in Marseille, we took the story out of the store and onto the road. Three young people, a car, chance encounters and a journey through France.
The original idea was to make a trailer for an imaginary film. The stores were not yet open, so the journey became the story: friendship, detours, freedom and the promise of somewhere new. The director’s cut gives that journey more time to unfold.
Heading South was also screened in cinemas in Paris and Marseille.
Co-direction: Raphaël Méchet & Olivier Blaecke · Production: FastProd
After hours.
On the road.
Co-directed with
Olivier Blaecke.
2010–2013
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A little freedom.A lot of ideas.
Between 2010 and 2013, Olivier Blaecke and I made three films for Citadium. Each started with a different story: mannequins coming to life after closing time, the launch of the online store, then a journey south for the opening in Marseille.
The client gave us plenty of creative freedom. We could play with the store, its clothes and its characters, mixing live action, visual effects and a sense of the absurd. The films were made for social media and for the shop’s façade and outdoor screens.
Store.
01 / 02
The first Citadium film. / 02:27
On set and behind the visual effects. / 02:37
The store closes. They wake up.
Our first Citadium film begins after the last customers have left. The mannequins step off their plinths and make the store their playground: dancing, music and a night of doing whatever they like.
The making-of shows the other side of the illusion: performers wearing green masks, choreography on the shop floor and compositing that turns their heads into blank mannequin faces.
Co-direction: Raphaël Méchet & Olivier Blaecke
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eStore.
FILM
The online store launch film. / 02:07
The shop goes online. Things get weird.
For the launch of Citadium’s online store, we returned to the shop and pushed things further. Staff, clothes and products become part of a playful chain of visual gags, animated graphics and surreal transformations.
The film’s music was created for Citadium by Yuksek. I rearranged the track to fit our edit. The images also had to work on their own: the in-store screens and giant outdoor screen played without sound.
Co-direction: Raphaël Méchet & Olivier Blaecke · Music: Yuksek
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Room to play.
What connected these projects was the freedom to invent a situation and follow it through. The clothes and the store belonged to the story, whether the characters were mannequins enjoying a night out or friends travelling south.
Olivier and I worked as a directing duo throughout. Each film found its own balance between performance, camera work, editing and visual effects.