Playlist: Dent de Cuir

The directing duo Dent de Cuir (made up of Benjamin Mege and Jean-Philippeare), are famed for their GIFs and meme-tastic mash-up music videos and films.

Previously the pair have helmed projects for artists including The Shoes, Metronomy, Breakbot, Dye, Play, Neosignal, Modeselektor, Siriusmo and many more. Now the duo let us know what's on their Playlist.

What’s the best promo you’ve seen recently and why?

JP: Young Thug - Wyclef Jean – Love the aspect of unexpected sense of reality in what was supposed to be a set up performance. The output is such a good crisis management lesson.

Ben: Bonobo – No Reason, Love how the concept is simple, bold and poetic. Apparently, all is done in camera. Very clever.

What’s the first promo you remember being impressed by?

Ben: IAM – Je danse le MIA I was impressed by how Michel Gondry managed to tells a consistent story using this new zoom transitions. I particularly loved this video because it looked more like a visual experiment than a music promo back in the days.

JP: R.E.M. – Imitation Of Life, back in the days, this video just blew my mind by the conceptual aspect of it. I think this was the very first time I realised that a music video could be a piece of art rather than the 'typical' promo films where the artists would perform in a pretty set design (or abandoned warehouse depending of the genre). The best thing with that video is that even 15 years later, the execution feels relevant & cool.

And what’s your all-time favourite music video?

Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer, This video was released 30 years ago but it’s fresh and young as ever. Execution, transitions, ideas still feels contemporary. Even some details that feels like imperfections (the animated singing desynchronized mouth among other bits) makes it even more iconic.

What other directors/artists do you look to for inspirational?

At the moment we feel very inspired by Bauhaus movement & still life photography.

What are you listening to at the moment?

The latest albums of French band LA FEMME and Montreal based CHOCOLAT band
#WhatsChauvinismAnyway?

What’s your favourite bit of tech, whether for professional or personal use?

JP: The OS TextEdit app, still the best thing to write and keep up with TO DO lists and stay organized.

Ben: This system which geolocalizes your keys when you lose them.

What artist(s) would you most like to work with and why? 

There is a lot of them. We are attracted by artists willing to take risk and reconsider the promo object & path. Arcade Fire and MIA did great in this field. Let's push things further.

How do you feel the promo industry has changed since you started in it?

Since we started we feel we’ve been through different approaches in music videos (homemade, interactive, etc). Even if the form is changing, the industry still keeps looking for its own next big revival and we love it.

Music videos have had a resurgence of late; where do you see the industry being in five years’ time?

We hope we won’t call them music videos anymore. Music videos is a great experimental field for filmmakers/artists and we’re pretty sure people will find new ways to promote music & define the music video object & format.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

When we are not shooting together, 5,508 km is separating the two of us. We have secret telepathic skills.