Impossible Voyage

The Impossible Voyage Production

I composed a new electronic music score for the film of George Méliès ” Impossible Voyage” (1904). George Méliès was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was an innovative master in the use of special effects.

The project was initialized by Mr Daniel Kapelian, head of audiovisual and new media at French Embassy of South Korea and “Institut Français de Corée du Sud”. The film was shown to the audience in Seoul and Busan in October 2011 and I played live my music to accompany the movie during the performance.
I really enjoyed the Geoge Melies Impossible Voyage project. I’m honored to compose a music for this more than 100 years old fantastic masterpiece.

At the ages of silent film, the story of the movie was only expressed by the gestures and moves of the actors. I composed the music in a similar way as for a modern ballet. In each scene of “Impossible Voyage” one can see the characters moving and gesticulating, expressing their feelings with their bodies. I created rhythms synchronizing their gestures and making them move like dancers.

The music consists of five parts: The Preparation, The Escape, Into The Sun, Under The Sea, The Return.
Each part is written in an electronic music mood with beats, sonic atmospheres, sequences, gimmicks, special effects. I also used some ethnic samples of my recordings sessions of musicians from all over the World.
This new colorized version of the film, restored by Lobster Films – Paris is a 20 minutes story.
I played live for the opening ceremony inside Seoul Station of the exhibition “Souvenirs From Earth”.I also played on the 5th of October 2011 and for overture of the French Night the 8th of October at Busan International Film Festival.

For the performances I  used Ableton Live running on a Mac Book pro with an Akai apc40 as midi controller.

These events were sponsored by Louis Quatorze. It is an amazing lifestyle brand marrying traditional craftsmanship with a modern twist.

Impossible Voyage / Korean Tour

It was a busy time full of performances, press conferences, interviews and meeting about Impossible Voyage Project with many interesting people.
My stay in Seoul started on 27 of September with a press 
conference organised by the French and German embassies in South-Korea.
The following days I spent by visiting many art exhibitions and receptions in Seoul. It’s an amazing city of full of interesting and innovative pieces.
My first performance took place at Seoul Old Railway Station on 5th of October during the opening ceremony of the “Souvenirs from Earth” exhibition.
 During the ceremony, I performed live a music I composed for “Impossible Voyage” a masterpiece of Georges Méliès (1904).

The gig was good despite the rather poor acoustic quality of the place: a big station hall from 1925 that obviously initially wasn’t designed for concerts…But it all went well and I received great feedback from the people joining the performance.
A few days later I moved to Busan, a city in the south of the country where I performed Impossible Voyage at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF 2011).
My Korean “Riviera” staying in Busan started with the exhibition of Isabelle Huppert, a French well-known actress, “Woman of Many Faces”. The exhibition was followed by a reception on a terrace between the skycrapers of Busan – an amazing view over this modern city.
I rehearsed at the festival big hall the night before my performance and I encountered many technical problems which I was busy solving until early morning hours. The Busan Grand Hall theatre is an fantastic new place with changing color lights on the roof – a building that was finalised only a few weeks before the festival.
My performance in Busan the day after was at the opening of The French Night. My part was included between a 120 people-symphonic orchestra and the screening of “The Artist”, a French film by Michel Hazavicius with Jean Dujardin.

I must say, I really enjoyed playing there in front of 5000 people in a kind of “Blade Runner” landscape!!

The French Night concluded with a great reception at Novotel and a party at club 3F with DJ’s. I went to bed by watching the sun rises on the Yellow Sea: an amazing experience!

Following the Busan performance, I returned to Seoul to perform at a venue named “Globe” located at Itaewon which is a popular neighbourhood in Seoul with many restaurants, clubs and bars.
The Globe party theme was “The Unofficial After BIFF Party” an event by Vincent Sung. I played my Electro World and chill-out music – it was great to play my music in front of a really good and receptive Korean audience.

In the following days, I gave some interviews to ‘Han-Kook Daily’ and “Culture M” for Korean media.
A week later I played for the “Tache Seoul Fashion Week After Party”.

I returned to France on 21th of October after a 12 hours flight letting me the time to think about all the great people I met and the fantastic experience I liced!!!
This project was presented by “French Embassy of South Korea”, “French Institute of Seoul” and “German Embassy of South Korea” and sponsored by Louis Quatorze. Thanks to all of them for !!!