Pioneering French electronic outfit KCPK team up with creative collective PANAMÆRA for the visionary visuals of their single ‘ATOM’ – WATCH ‘ATOM’ HERE
Directed and produced by PANAMÆRA’s Quentin Curtat and Cédric Richer (Kendrick Lamar, Netflix, Balmain, Vogue, Lancôme, Nike, Givenchy) from an original idea by Quentin Curtat, with production and post production by EIGHTY4 (Dua Lipa, Selena Gomez, Rosalía and Travis Scott) and music by KCPK, in PANAMÆRA own words; “‘ATOM’ isn’t a fully narrated story about the death of our sun nor is it about those few humans observing it, ‘ATOM’ is about the cosmic laws that bound us all together and how every single one of us witnesses it in a different way.
To create the surreal and audacious sci-fi universe of ‘ATOM’, PANAMÆRA shot across three different locations scouted by renowned photographer and urban explorer David De Rueda, including an abandoned coal wash plant in Montceau-les-Mines, a stone quarry in Saint Paul Trois Chateaux, an abandoned NATO Navy base on top of a mountain – which antenna and location play a big part on the storytelling of the visuals.
Sharing their approach for the short movie, Paris production company says; “the amazing cinema of Andrei Tarkovski and the scientific mind of Carl Sagan could easily be considered as the main references for the visual DNA of ‘ATOM’. We wanted every scene to potentially be extracted from the whole and be framed like a beautiful painting with a meaning of its own despite them being connected in the bigger picture. If you look closely, you’ll also find a hidden narrative around the concept of time and evolution”.
PANAMÆRA is a collective of visionary creatives and a production company based in Paris, working across creative projects from music videos to advertising. Quentin Curtat is a director and photographer with a knack for creative lighting, who honed his skills in some of the best photography studios in Paris, working in deep collaboration on creative writing and directing with Cédric Richer, whose expertise as an art director, motion graphic designer and skilled editor gives life to every single frame of the pieces they direct. Yann Bigay who, in bringing everyone together, was fulfilling a dream conceived during his time in the music industry, working alongside some of the best-selling artists of the decade, both on the French and international music scene.
KCPK have been making their mark on the French electronic circuit over the past decades as incubators of the Rémoise scene with the likes of Yuksek, Brodinsky and The Shoes. The multi-faceted outfit have worked with the likes of Woodkid, The Chemical Brothers and Two Door Cinema Club, created PANIK, a night club which has hosted the likes of Groove Armada, Laurent Garnier and Amon Tobin. Born from the creative minds of Alexandre Brovelli, Fabrice Brovelli and Christophe Caurret, KCPK are known for their work in advertising as creative directors. It was this fertile environment which led the band to powerful visual collaborations for their music videos. ‘Who Wants It’, featuring rapper STS, was chosen as the backing for Louis De Caunes’ video of Yves Saint Laurent’s ‘Black Opium’ digital campaign. Accompanied by stunning cinematic visuals from acclaimed rising director Nicolas Davenel, premiered on Dazed and featured on The Creator’s Project among others, the video was nominated for ‘Best International Urban Video’ at the UK Music Video Awards. For Nowness-premiered music video ‘The End’ they enlisted former Luc Besson’s Steadicam operator Loïc Andrieu known for his darkly cinematic shorts, to envision a hellish future world produced by Soldats.
KCPK and PANAMÆRA visionary short film for KCPK’s single ‘ATOM’ is out now – WATCH ‘ATOM’ HERE
| ATOM CREDITS |
| Directed & produced by PANAMÆRA |
| Coproduced & post produced by EIGHTY4 |
| Directors: Quentin Curtat & Cédric Richer |
| Original idea by Quentin Curtat |
| Music by KCPK |
| Executive producer: Yann Bigay |
| Director of photography: Gary Bialas |
| Set design: Sarah Ilitch Weldon & Istan Arnoux |
| Wardrobe: Stéphane Hardy |
| Make up / SFX: Thomas Robert |
| Location scout / manager: David De Rueda |
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