The brief was to create a music video that went far beyond simply promotional material for the song, it was to be a statement, a message a dedication. A State Funeral for a sex worker. The memorandum is delicate, the scale is demanding, the target audience is a global multi-cultural viewership, many of whom are yet to be introduced to Stromae with his style and articulation of storytelling through his music.

The combination of craft elements required to create a complete authentic picture; casting, choreography, cinematography, costuming, editorial, post and performance.

The idea came in 2 parts; craft and emotion, the mix and balance of both being key to creating the required authenticity and resonance. The craft was in finding and executing methods to create a believable reality in which said event would take place. The solution was to construct a partial history for the country, imagining the regions, the militaries the cultural groups their provenance and how they would play their part in the ceremonies. We designed and emblem for the state, for the society of courtesans and in production design developed an architectural language that mixed new-classical with brutalism, familiar and combined in a unique way, so for the audience it would feel that it was of our wold but undiscovered or parallel to our cultural perhaps. To achieve the scale in a tangible way it required a combination of real performers and set construction combined with post production.

Interestingly for achieving the emotion this wide and close combination also plays a part seeing the macrocosm and microcosm interspersed. The epic scale of the event creates one type of emotional impact on an audience, whilst the close up mournfulness in the crowd and the solemnity of the soldiers creates another. The drill choreography and the dance too had to be believable in provenance and heavily rehearsed to land with the pomp and grace befitting such an event. The movement of the dancing female regiment and the pall bearers especially had to feel emotive at it’s very core.

500 talent on set, with crowd plates and 3D to bring the total perceived number up to several tens of thousands. Composition of shots and the design of the film language itself also becomes a factor creating the right balance of close and real with wide and post extended shots.

- more than 19 million views in a month

- lot of press coverage

- music video appearing in best list for music videos