HANGING WITH : JONAS & FRANCOIS

shots kicks back and chills out with directing duo Jonas & Francois

Back in 2007 there was but one song on repeat on the shots iPod - Justice's D.A.N.C.E had us bopping along like the Jackson 5 were back in fashion. But, more importantly, it shone a light onto a some fab new French directing talent, in the shape of duo Jonas & Francois. Since then they've shots promos for the likes of Kanye West, Madonna and Justin Timberlake. Their latest promo is sexily crumpled post-house party affair for french artist Sébastien Tellier. We caught up with the boys.

What have you been up to since you were featured in shots?
We played crazy furious games like Connect 4, Boggle and Scrabble. We also worked on different projects - not only music videos or ads. We learnt a lot from these very dense, rich and staggering years! We learnt from our success and our mistakes - well it's just as if we were away training in the mountains with a great sage and that we are now climbing down the valley with the envious task of carving out some amazing videos with a sabre…

So where did the idea for the new video come from?
The idea was to show Tellier like a Gainsbourg-Timberlake-Guru. We wanted to make some kind of video where [Tellier] was a sexually worshiped star, with lots of girls around smelling his musk but in a French way.

The idea was to show a genius in his element, with some halucinatory periods (3D glasses), his raging hunger facing the camera, some nice ass to pinch once in a while. We wanted a gentle and sweet madness just a bit sensual…nothing exciting nor provocative, some calmed down and numb atmosphere. Only the hotdogs are overexcited, the rest is quite conventional after all and it's exactly THAT we wanted to play with. It's just good like a video which has a very good intention at the start but is funny at the end, like a Richard Clayderman's video in fact.

What are you working on next?
Difficult to talk about things that are not done yet! Let's just say that we are back on some really awesome music videos, with new ways of directing. We are also working on some advertising scripts, and meanwhile thinking about making other surprising little pieces.


Any side projects?
We are discreet like ninjas.

Favourite recent ad or music video?
Rob Roy - Fur In My Cap - (Dir: Ethan Lader). This video cheered us up. http://vimeo.com/3569139


What was the last thing you watched?
The light switch.

What was the last thing you read?
An upside down magazine cover, in the toilets. Or what was given to read on a fruit juice carton.

What's getting you angry this week?
A white hair.

Are you bothered by the recession?
No, we don't really feel it actually. We keep on receiving plenty of projects, regularly, sometimes more that others…it's more up to the seasons or may be if the weather is rainy.

Plans for the summer?
A holidays video, with a shaking camera, unzooming, zooming, unzooming, zooming "hello to the camera". Hop to two secs of naked breasts on the beach, paf a balloon straight into the camera…bip bip low bat.
Answer
Transfer