In his music video for Disclosure’s She’s Gone, Dance On, Director Vincent Catel creates an eternal island party where the rules of time no longer apply. Visually, Catel renders this party with a distinctively over-saturated, and purposefully mesmerising aesthetic that feels like a throwback to MTV music videos of the early 00s. With heightened colours and rhythmic cinematography, he draws the viewer in, entrancing them to the hypnotic powers of the British electronic duo’s music. The video is less than four minutes in length but its seductive qualities create a strange, elongating feel that needs to be experienced. DN speaks with Catel below about his creative collaboration with Disclosure, the plastic screensaver aesthetic he was looking to emulate with the video’s visual language, and the experience of collaborating with a choreographer for the first time to create the video’s synchronised club dance vibe.
When did your involvement on this video begin? Did you pitch to Disclosure or was it vice-versa?
The music video preproduction kicked off when the Disclosure’s label reached out, asking for a creative concept to accompany the track. They only had one request: a dance video, and sent along a few photos of Ibiza’s party scene in the 80s. Beyond that, the brief was open-ended. As a filmmaker, I like to draw from personal experiences, and having spent the previous summer in Ibiza with some friends, I already had the perfect inspiration.
I remembered envisioning this surreal concept when I was there, based on the fleeting nature of time. An endless party where the laws of time and space no longer apply. A house where you can see the sun rise every thirty seconds. Where days repeat themselves, light keeps moving, flowers bloom and die, yet everyone keeps dancing. Timelapse and slow-motion combined.
What about your initial conceit evolved after your discussions with Disclosure and their label?
Originally, I envisioned a poetic, naturalistic approach, but after listening to the track’s high-pitched vocals and fast-paced rhythm many times, I realized it needed a different edge. The early 2000s house music vibe inspired me to tap into that era’s hyper-saturated, almost plastic, visual language. A sort of screensaver aesthetic that I recall being mesmerized by when watching MTV at home as a kid. Naturally, it brought to mind videos like Madonna’s Ray of Light and Demon’s You Are My High which quickly became references for my video, as well as obscure euro-dance clips I stumbled upon on YouTube afterwards.
The early 2000s house music vibe inspired me to tap into that era’s hyper-saturated, almost plastic, visual language.
When writing the film, I really focused on getting the structure of the video right first. My obsession was to make that concept visceral for the viewer. I really wanted every shot to illustrate that time paradox where the characters are in slow-motion but the world around them is moving in timelapse. As the video progresses, the days accelerate but the party keeps going. To maintain that focus, I kept the actions simple: dancing, kissing, swimming, moments that would become surreal under the distortion of time. Also, I wanted the scenes and characters to feel reliable. I like this idea of a grounded naturalistic narrative combined with dreamlike elements.
It’s a video with so many gorgeous locations. What were you looking for when scouting?
For locations, we scouted a few spots in the South of France. I didn’t have anything specific in mind, but I wanted something isolated, weathered by time. We found an old fort on an island off the coast of Marseille, a mysterious, rave-like venue, but unfortunately weather forced us to switch 24 hours before the shoot. Luckily, we had a backup. An old house built on a bunker facing the sea. The owner had let nature overrun the place, and it felt beautifully authentic and perfect for the video.
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The dynamic between your performers carries the video, with their lively, uninhibited nature. Was that something you were seeking out during the casting?
Casting was critical. I wanted to portray a contemporary, free-spirited group of friends reminiscent of the golden days of Ibiza. Right from the beginning I knew I wanted the casting to be a mix of actors and dancers. We were lucky enough to have some dancers from the Ballet National de Marseille with us who knew each other prior to the shoot. It really helped creating this sense of togetherness and sensuality on camera. Plus, they nailed the choreography quickly.
Could you take us through the development of that choreography?
I had never worked with a choreographer before so it was a real challenge for me to explain with words to Malik Le Nost what I had in mind. I wanted the dance to feel like a synchronized version of a club dance. Something expressive and natural, synched on the beat but without any over-complicated moves or group dynamics. In the end, he came up with these moves you see on screen and the cast learned it in only one afternoon of rehearsal.
I wanted to blend the kitschy stock timelapse footage I had sourced with something more refined and visually elevated.
I’m really intrigued by this idea of a “screensaver aesthetic”. How did that transpose to your approach with the camera?
Given the screensaver aesthetic we were aiming for, shooting digitally was an obvious choice. My Cinematographer Jeff Bierman and I wanted to blend the kitschy stock timelapse footage I had sourced with something more refined and visually elevated. We shot on the Alexa 35 with Leica Summicron-C lenses, which gave us the clarity and precision needed for the intricate lighting effects.
To achieve the dynamic timelapse look, we used a variety of LED lights mounted on different moving rigs; dolly, crane, drone, and handheld, to create the sensation of time speeding up and slowing down. One of the biggest challenges on set was recreating the movement of light on the characters. For daytime scenes, we could only alter the sky in post-production as you can’t really beat the sunlight. But for the sunset and night shots, Jeff rigged moving lights on a jib to simulate the shifting sunset, and we used a drone light to mimic the movement of moonlight across the night scenes.
The challenge was to make a ten hour shoot feel like an endless party so I had a very precise breakdown with all the actions listed at different moments of the day. There were a few slots for improvisation but I had such a precise editing of the video in mind that I knew I had to get my shots right before. To be honest, the shooting went so fast that I can barely remember anything, only that it was a joyride most of the time. Every cast and crew members came with their best energy and you could feel a true sense of dedication at every level.
One of the biggest challenges on set was recreating the movement of light on the characters.
When you arrived at post-production, was it a similarly rapid process?
Post-production was a sprint. The label had a tight deadline, and the goal was to get a rough cut locked quickly so that the VFX team could start working. Fortunately, the mood video, breakdowns, and stock footage I had gathered earlier helped streamline the process as we didn’t have much time to try out versions with the editor. We ended up working hand in hand and quite late at night, taking shifts sort of, to get it right. The post-production team at Royal Post in Paris deserves immense credit, especially for the stunning, surreal shots of the sky in constant motion, a visual that truly brought the concept to life.
You’re right. That effect of the sky in constant motion feels like the linchpin that brings the whole idea of the video together, how did they pull it off?
I knew that nailing this effect would bring the music video to life, but with our tight schedule, we couldn’t afford extra studio time. So, I made sure to shoot against a clear sky for the day and sunset scenes, leaving most of the sky replacement to post-production. The VFX team had to work fast, tweaking numerous shots, and because the sky’s texture varied, they relied on a mix of keying and rotoscoping to isolate the characters. Another challenge was matching the scene’s lighting to the timelapse stock footage to get an optimal integration.
What does the future hold for you?
There’s a part of me that really enjoys envisioning films for others, like brands or artists, and get a bit conceptual. On the other hand I think it’s time for me to start telling my own stories in a longer and more personal form. So I guess the future will be made of these two parts that I’m sure can coexist.
