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Including an interview with director Edouard Salier

Including interviews with director Edouard Salier, and original photos from the set.

Last week, The Creators Project premiered the cosmic-meets-mystic music video, "I'm Aquarius," by dance rock virtuosos, Metronomy. The voyage was made by French director, Edouard Salier, and produced by Somesuch & Co. in conjunction with The Creators Project.

While the subject matter was galaxy-sized (excuse the space puns), every shot and scene was made in real life, a nod to the creative inspirations behind science fiction movies from the 60s and 70s. The team used hand-made props, painted backgrounds, and even miniaturized spaceship models--a la Ridley Scott's 1979 classic, Alien-- mixed with projection mapping and 3D models to make the music video feel both from the past, and of the future.

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To get a closer look into this mind-expanding, technicolor project, watch a behind-the-scenes documentary about "I'm Aquarius" above. And continue reading to see photos of the spaceship models, literal human models, and epic sets, as well as some thoughts from the director about his favorite sci-fi idols like Jodorowsky and the French comic, Métal Hurlant.

"Visually, we wanted to avoid it looking like a realistic space movie," Salier said. "I wanted to do something super slow and contemplative, taking place in a very colorful and artistic universe." To do that, he decided to re-watch his favorite work from the past, such as the "Making Of" documentaries of films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as revisit the sci-fi classics that you'd only find at a rare midnight screening, or deep in the crevices of Netflix's B-movie section. While the results are seamless, there was one quick snag in production:"The cats. We filmed with cats…and of course the trainer said these cats could do anything," sighed Salier. "The cats were out of control." Fortunately Salier was able to get creative and save the shoot: "We made the trainer lay down..and he was used as the mountain. And that's how we got the cats to stay calm."

In our interview, Salier mentioned Mœbius,Fabrice Giger, Philippe Druillet and other cult icons as his inspirations for the shoot. "It's so hard to find inspiration that's untouched," he said. "It's so hard to create an original science fiction movie since the whole genre's been mopped around, in every direction." Thus, he made a surrealist's homage to the astral greats from yesteryear.

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Furthering the connection to a rich history of sci-fi filmmaking, the team developed the spacescapes by drawing them, projecting the images on a backdrop, and then placing model space ships, asteroids, and other physical objects in the foreground and background of the set. The bespoke approach yielded "a very specific texture to the image, something fragile" that feels both modern and sleek, but purposefully rough around the edges.

With a wink and a nod to how filmmakers of past envisioned a sci-fi future, Salier created something unique and captivating in a year filled with many CGI heavy space-centric videos and films. "We trusted the magic of live shooting," he said, and the result was a stunning work that can't quite be placed in film history after a first watch.

Check out the final project, below, as well as some original behind-the-scenes photos. If you didn't know better, it would be near impossible to guess if "I'm Aquarius" is from the past, present, or future.