Music: animator Simon Landrein takes viewers on a journey through futuristic cities and into outer space in Silkie's Love Affair music video (+ movie).
Landrein was briefed by Distal – who owns the Anarchostar record label – to create a video that would reflect the label's own "strong visual identity".
"They developed a futuristic story in which Silkie has a fictional character that plays tracks for only a few rich people that live above the rest of the world," Landrein told Dezeen. "For me that was a good starting point to develop this animation."
The action of the film takes place in a square central frame, which Landrein chose because it was "a bit like looking through the keyhole".
Depicted in a colour palette of green and yellow, a spaceship piloted by a masked figure takes off while people in the city beneath look on.
The rocket speeds to its destination, and the film cuts to a mysterious hatted and caped figure who appears on stage to perform at a nightclub attended by a three-eyed alien.
As the faces of the audience are melted by the music, the spaceship pilot – raygun in hand – is embroiled in a fight with the club doorkeeper.
The concertgoers are lifted into the air, and it is revealed that the pilot and the caped performer have been working together all along. The pair fall between burning buildings before landing on the rocket ship and blasting away.
"The label used an illustrative approach for the rest of their artwork, so I felt animation would keep some consistency with their imagery," Landrein said.
"Live action looks awesome for sci-fi but we would need to have a stratospheric budget to achieve it properly."
For visual cues, Landrein referred to classic sci-fi movies including Alien, Total Recall and Blade Runner, as well as copies of French horror and sci-fi magazine Métal Hurlant.
The animator first drew the film in a series of storyboards, which were approved by the label, before being developed into a full animated sequence.
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Colours, textures and sound effects were added afterwards using Adobe Photoshop and After Effects software.
"It's probably not the right way to work, but I find it convenient," the animator said.
Of the somewhat obscure narrative, Landrein explained: "I see it as part of the story that the label developed. It's an episode of a larger story in which an unknown character is rescuing Silkie from the strange upper class that keep him captive to play music for themselves."
Love Affair is taken from Silkie's album Fractals, released July 2015.