Stromae 'Carmen' by Sylvain Chomet
Cat Velez - 9th Apr 2015
Belgian hiphop star Stromae has explored the dramatic conflict raised in his music in a number of excellent music videos. Having gone to a film school to study sound, and exposed to the power of the visual medium, he's professed to writing music with strong visual concepts in mind.
Now, after the excellent vids for Tous Les Memes, Papaoutai and others, Stromae has broken new ground again, by recruiting Sylvain Chomet, the BAFTA and César-winning director of The Triplets of Belleville, L'illusionniste, and The Old Lady and the Pigeons, to direct his video for Carmen, and create a cartoon with a satirical bite about the perils of social media.
With Chomet's signature hand-drawn style - and character design that echoes the old Warner Bros cartoon classics - Stromae warns against the allure of the unmistakeable little blue bird. In the video, the one Stromae meets as a kid, just keeps getting bigger. Like nice Tweety Pie turning into the angry Chicken Hawk, and then into a very big blue bird indeed.
Set to the tune of Carmen's Habanera from Bizet's opera, the song and video parallel the opera by relating the often-absurd behaviour of being in love with those associated with Twitter use. And even if you can't understand what Stromae is saying (although the subtitles will help), Chomet's brilliant visuals say it all in a forceful yet funny way. Everyone 'on Twitter' is heading for oblivion...
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Cat Velez - 9th Apr 2015
Credits
Featured here in the credits?
Production/Creative
- Director
- Silvain Chomet
- Production Company
- th1ng th2ng
- Executive Producer
- Dominic Buttimore
Animation
- Animation
- Nicolette Van Gent
- Animation
- Andy Powell
Editorial
- Editing company
- th1ng th2ng
Grading
- Colourist
- Danny Atkinson
Agent
- Director's Rep (UK)
- Lock It In
Misc
- Writer
- Silvain Chomet
- Lead Animator
- Sylvain Chomet
- Lead Animator
- Neil Boyle
- Animation Producer
- Ru Warner
- Compositor
- Kirk Hendry
- Lighting Designer
- Kirk Hendry
- Animation Assistant
- Alan Henry
- Animation Assistant
- Aude Carpentier
- Animation Assistant
- Slaven Reese
- Animation Assistant
- Gerald Gallego
- Comping
- Shiv Panday
- Comping
- Sean Martin
- Comping
- Tim Sanpher
- Comping
- James Gifford
- Comping
- Corinne Ladeinde
- Writer
- Orelsan
Other credits
Background Artist
Marcin Lichowski
Digital Ink and Paint
Donna Spencer, Spidereye, B Animation
Cat Velez - 9th Apr 2015