Face to Face with... AB/CD/CD

Partizan directing trio AB/CD/CD are as fun as their new promo for Singtank (AKA brother and sister Joséphine and Alexandre de la Baume) The Party, which sees the two band members climbing across a mountain of doors in a surreal chase sequence. With a love for the diversity and creative freedom that the promo medium allows, the directors also have a knack for shooting commercials and tell us what appeals about both below, as well as how they began working together and who they like to hang out with in Paris.

Tell us about your latest promo and where the doors idea came from...

It was actually a small part of a previous idea that we had. If we remember correctly, there was some kind of maze and at one point a particular room was full of doors. And that was based on a quick sketch that Arnaud (AB) once did. Then we realised it could be a video on its own, on top of being a pretty beautiful ‘sculpture’.

To be honest, we probably have a weird kind of obsession with doors. This isn't the first time we've used them — our Uffie Difficult video was also quite doors-heavy.

What was it like to direct a brother and sister?

It wasn't really an issue actually, they really are lovely. We've been lucky because we always work with artists that are really involved in the project, that are completely willing on set and wouldn't mind working for hours and hours to make something look as good as possible. Joséphine and Alexandre were fantastic in that regard, and considering they're brother and sister, they were also extremely peaceful. They have a strong connection.

How many doors did you use for the whole thing?

Somewhere around 200 in total; Géraldine Stivet (set designer) and her team did an amazing job. As we saw the little door mountains and rooms build up, it was more impressive than we expected... and we were expecting quite a lot!

When did you know it was the right time to start working together?

These things happen quite organically. We became AB/CD/CD long before doing our first job together, and we never questioned whether this collaboration would work or not because we had known each other for quite a while before coming together.

And all of your passion for film grew with your work?

Definitely. A lot of our projects aren't really films, as we see them. They're more like filmed performances. Sometimes, they are not even really directed, speaking in terms of the craft. An artist once told me she thought our Lily Allen video was done by an artist and not a director.

At the beginning we were really into creating objects, or filmed objects, rather. We are still interested in that, but as we continue to learn and experiment, we start finding our way in more classical forms – and we believe that’s a crucial skill.

What was it like working for/with Lilly Allen?

She's not in the video — but shh! Let’s not talk about that, it's a secret! No, actually she was great. She even asked to be in the video, after seeing it for the first time when it was about 75 per cent complete. That didn't happen in the end, due to scheduling conflicts. Although we have heard that she still thinks of Fuck You as her funniest video.

Which do you prefer, shooting music promos or commercials, and why?

Music videos are really fun. It's amazing to think how you can start by drawing a little sketch on a piece of paper, and it becomes some enormous construction in a huge studio. That's the great thing with music videos — they can be anything.

Commercials are different. There are a lot more people involved, from the client to the agency, so what you can do feels much narrower, but it's still a very creative process. It ends up being something like a very specific study on a subject, or a problem to solve or technique to achieve. Sometimes it's all three. For us, commercials are interesting, but the approach we take is much more studious than it is with music videos.

Do people ever tell you it should go AB/CD/EF despite the name being your initials?

Ha ha ha ha – did you know there's a band called AB/CD? They’re a hilarious Swedish copy of AC/DC.

Do you all hang out in your spare time and what do you get up to when you aren’t directing in Paris?

Sure we do! It might sound crazy but we are friends before we're colleagues. Of course, sometimes, after a few weeks abroad for a shoot spending almost 100 per cent of our time together, it's quite necessary to do something else once we're back home. But anyway, we have a sect of directors in Paris and we all hang out together. Vive la France!