Étienne Daho Show - 2023 Tour
Invited by Mathematic studios, I embarked on the craziest adventure to create large scale content for French musician Étienne Daho’s new tour. Performing in some of the biggest venues in France, the mission was to bring each song to life with custom content reflecting their very essence. With two songs designated to me (which couldn’t be further apart in style and mood), I got to experiment with motion design, photoshop collages, live action and 3D designs. As a musician myself, this was one of the most exciting project I’ve ever been involved in.
L’Homme qui marche (The Walking Man)
This is a dark song which evokes the artist’s doppelgänger coming to haunt him. Seeing how the stage’s screens were composed to make one large rectangle when all on, I liked the idea of creating a gigantic box in which said doppelgänger would be locked in, trying to break free, to get to the artist performing right before his prison. From this idea, we were able to organize a shoot to get the visuals I needed: Étienne Daho moving towards and interacting with a large and blurry piece of glass, lit from the back. With other visuals focusing on his hands and their direct contact with the surface, I created the full video in a sort of dichotomy, the red and blue, the individual and the evil twin, the urge of connection and the incapacity to touch.
Behind the Scenes
Shooting the assets with Étienne Daho behind a foggy screen & my preliminary storyboards
Demo video from my After Effects Project
Lil’ Live Snippet!
Weekend à Rome
By far his biggest hit, it also became the hardest track to pin down visually for the tour’s scenography. I presented multiple visual leads playing with vintage looks, collages, colors and pop vibe, but none really spoke to the artist.
Wanting to try something more contemplative and contemporary, Etienne Daho proposed that we play with full color blocks, turning the giant screens into a James Turrell inspired box, the color pulsating to the song’s disco rhythm.
There but not quite there, the artist asked that we moved towards something more figurative but as minimalist. I proposed a series of simple shapes and transitions that would work through the chorus and verse and still play with the pulsation, between full color and full darkness on the screens.
Roman symbols in a minimalist look
The idea was to mix a series of very punchy visuals that immediately screams Rome to the viewer, a large scale Coliseum that almost becomes abstract if not for the recognizable negative shapes cut out in the light and color, two red vibrant hands touching, echoing those of the Sistine Chapel, and so on. Inserted between those, minimalist colorful shapes would transition in and out of light, giving the whole track a very contemplative and soothing rhythm that would contrast with the 4/4 steady disco beat.
New direction: Disco Pompeii
Once again, we make a full-circle shift to refine our process and assets, this time transitioning into 3D space. The vision is to introduce a new architectural structure on stage—an ancient Roman temple transformed into a pulsating disco club. This illusion would come to life through projection mapping, creating the sense of a vibrant party within its walls. At key moments, we will peel back the façade to reveal a vast, unexpected landscape beyond the temple, adding depth and mystery to the scene.
The Final Result
After four months of exploration and various creative directions, the artist ultimately chose to embrace light and color as the central focus on stage, accompanied by a lighter version of the James Turrell color blocks idea, and it was a HIT!
Client: Étienne Daho
Art Direction / Animation: Lili Boisrond
Executive Art Directors: Guillaume Cottet & Bertrand Avril
Production Company: Mathematic