Swifter, Higher, Stronger, Older – why the Daft Punk reference (more than just good timing given their new material is landing now?)
Haha no it has nothing to do with Daft Punk.
It’s taken from the original Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius.” ( Swifter, Higher, Stronger).
I’ve just added ‘Older’ onto the end.
How did the project come about?
The core idea came from an article in the Daily Mail I read a few years back about the World Masters Games.
The images have been in my references for ages and I always wanted to take it further.
I found a real beauty in these images, there’s a dark humour in there but they also have a real endearing quality which I wanted to get across in the film.
The erotic champagne shot – bit OAPorn? Is there something you need to get off your chest?!
Haha yeah it is a bit. it was never the original intention honest.
Tonally the piece feels like it’s in a similar world to your Kap Bambino and Ratatat vids and the Talk Show project in the sense that they’re all throwing familiar images that have been de-contextualised or remixed at viewers with an open invitation as to how to respond. Slightly surreal and a little bit off-centre. Do you like unsettling people?!
I don’t go out there with the aim of making something unsettling, I make things which make me laugh and hopefully other people will be into them too.
I used to have a blog called www.picturesfromthedailymail.com where I curated images from the Daily Mail site and laid them out all together on one page; it was a condensed overview of the worst of British culture.
After running for a year I received a ‘cease and desist’ from the Dms’ lawyers and had to take it down.
I still have all of the images archived and still collect them to this day, It’s a great source of reference for core ideas. I suppose there’s nothing weirder than everyday life.
There’s something of a comedy streak through some of your work – but that sort of very British discrete yet pointed Chris Morris / Charlie Brooker style satire… Is that something you’re conscious of? It’s almost like a genre of comedy that’s so delicate in terms of how it has to be treated that it’s perhaps more like a way of seeing the world?
I’m listening to the old Chris Morris BBC radio shows at the moment actually, it’s something that I have always loved and grown up with.
Armando Iannucci, Erwin Wurm, Chris Morris were all big early influences when I was at university, they have a great way of directing your attention to something you see everyday and showing you how absurd it actually is.
It must subconsciously make it’s way back in there somehow but I don’t purposefully reference or consider it when making a piece of work.
it all seems very normal to me : )
And alongside that you also have a strong fashion string to your bow – work for Kenzo, Moncler and most recently (and yet to be released) Prada. What is it you enjoy about those collaborations in comparison, say, to music promos?
Yes I’ve always had that duality with my work. On one side things are driven by technology and beauty and on the other it’s more about emotions and has a satirical edge.
I’m not sure how this came about but I try to make sure that they all exist in the same world with regards of the approach.
I love working in fashion because you already have such a great base to start from, beautiful clothes, models and a concept from the collection, It’s up to me to build upon this rather than try and reinvent it; which is a nice place to be as a filmmaker. It means that I can focus on developing a story and the world where all of this lives, and for me that’s the best part.
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