The Directors: J.A.C.K
Studio RM, the creative studio specialising in colour grading and post production across film, print, and digital, is partnering with Little Black Book to sponsor The Directors channel. It’s a space for celebrating directors who create aesthetically beautiful and nuanced imagery, the creative potential of technology, and diving into the trends in contemporary culture which these visionary minds so often spark. In this series, we’ll be highlighting directors with a distinctive creative voice, who are championing new and exciting visual styles through fashion, music, and culture.
Art school brought Camille Hirigoyen and Julien Choquart, known professionally as J.A.C.K, together by chance, and a trip to Shanghai cemented their working relationship. After all, taking on an unknown city and starting the road to a new career is much less scarier for a duo. It’s a decision they never looked back on.
Active since 2008 and signed with caviar in 2016, J.A.C.K’s work has evolved while retaining a sharp and distinctive directorial eye. In their work, they’re “definitely drawn to a powerful script featuring powerful women” - to date J.A.C.K has worked with Zendaya, Penelope Cruz, Serena Williams, Katy Perry, and Madonna. Luxury brands also often turn to the duo - Chanel, Dior, Hermes - entrusting them to evolve and depict the brand’s aesthetic identities with a deep respect for the codes and history that makes them stand the test of time.
J.A.C.K’s work with Devialet, an acoustic engineering company, is of particular note. The two have collaborated on multiple campaigns with J.A.C.K helping the brand to capture and communicate the sensations of sound through visuals, fusing music video-esque elements with artful flourishes. It’s a six-year relationship that’s very much on-going as the duo is currently at work on the brand’s newest campaign.
Below, LBB speaks to J.A.C.K about the role of communication in preserving the artistic integrity of their ideas, their long-term relationship with Devialet, and why working with bold characters is like “surfing a big wave.”
LBB> Camille, tell us when you realised you wanted to be a director and how you got started?
Camille> I grew up in the ‘90s, a fan of US TV series, playing with my sister in our bedroom, mimicking the TV shows and commercials in front of a VHS camera. I really got started with Julien in our first apartment in Paris, back in the summer of 2008, spending days and nights crafting a stop motion music video for our friends, Cocosuma.
LBB> Julien, tell us when you realised you wanted to be a director and how you got started?
Julien> As a kid I was very much into books, not for reading them but for the pictures inside…Then, later in art school, I discovered how to master the image maker’s crafts: calligraphy, animation, illustration, graphic design, photography, CGI… and I loved it, all of it! So I figured that making music videos would be a good way not to leave any skill behind.
LBB> We’d love to know when and why you began working together? Can you explain what the name J.A.C.K means?
Camille & Julien> One year after graduating from art school we decided to leave Paris and flew to Shanghai (we lived there for two years). Knowing nobody out there, we started to meet people and started a first job together as art directors/designers for Nike. Nothing was really planned about working as a team, at that moment in Shanghai it was more a question of survival, better be two than alone! But it worked out fine and we never stopped since then.
J.A.C.K stands for Julien And Camille, and we added a K to make it look right.
LBB> What do you look for in a script? Are there certain aspects or themes that you find yourselves drawn to?
Camille & Julien> We have an obvious affection for art direction, we love to receive a treatment that is well thought and crafted but it’s very important for us to feel that it’s not locked, that the door is still open for a strong director's point of view. We also love to direct women so we’re definitely drawn to a powerful script featuring powerful women.
LBB> How do you approach the treatment for a spot?
Camille & Julien> It’s a very visual approach at first. We start discussing together what could be the strong and memorable key-shots, the visual climax of the spot.If only one image stays, what would it be ? Once we have that, we build around it, with words and images.
LBB> You’ve worked with a lot of bold and fearless characters like Christine and the Queens, Madonna, Katy Perry and Zendaya. Tell us about what it’s like to direct them and how you approach working with such creative, strong personalities?
Camille & Julien> Working with such personalities is immensely energising. Most of the time it turns out to be quite fast and furious. It’s like surfing a big wave. You can’t go against it, you have to take advantage of the strong current. If you catch it, you can make something magical. We love that special moment when you realise that you finally gained their trust, it’s a very suspended moment, you can really feel the shift.
The choice of our team is also essential. Everybody should be on the same page: focused and respectful. We count on them as much as they count on us. We call it harmony, Julien and I love to work in harmony.
LBB> Your work for Devialet is full of kinetic energy, centring the body, and bringing an artful music video-esque feel to the spots. What's your inspiration behind the work and how are you evolving your and the brand's vision through each spot?
Camille & Julien> First of all, and without any hypocrisy, we must say that the sound of Devialet is amazing. Listening to your favourite songs on their Phantom is like hearing them for the first time of your life ! So, that in itself is quite inspirational. This long-lasting relationship with Devialet started six years ago when we met the founder. His vision for the brand was grand, it was all about sensations - how do you experience sound in your body and mind? What happens concretely to your flesh, your cells, the liquid living inside you, while listening to a Devialet device? What are the technologies involved and why, etc. We’ve always been drawn by music, movements, dance, bodies, sweat, energy and beyond so it was a perfect match. This vision still drives us for each new campaign we craft for them.
LBB> The luxury market and its aesthetic is evolving. Having worked with brands like Hermes and Chanel, how are you helping them reach a more contemporary audience?
Camille & Julien> We get to know the brand, to understand its roots, its vision, its legacy. A luxury brand always has a very strong identity that you have to respect to keep it unique and desirable. As soon as you know this perfectly, you can start to play with the image, the codes, you can shock because your vision still belongs to the true identity of the brand.
LBB> What’s the most challenging problem you’ve come across in the course of a production – and how did you solve it?
Camille & Julien> There’s always a solution to a problem, it’s part of the job. We prepare a lot for our films but even with perfect prep, anything can happen on the day of the shoot. We always keep this idea in mind in order not to be stuck in something. The show must always go on. We know we have to be ready to change everything, to adapt. The course of a production is full of problems, always. Often, our job is to solve creatively very down to earth problems. And this brings a lot of creativity.
LBB> How do you strike the balance between being open/collaborative with the agency and brand client while also protecting the idea?
Camille & Julien> We explain a lot, directly, to the people involved, we go and see agencies, brands, and speak with them. We invest a lot of time on this during prep, this is how we build trust and protect our ideas.
LBB> What’s your relationship with new technology and, if at all, how do you incorporate future-facing tech into your work (e.g. virtual production, interactive storytelling, AI/data-driven visuals etc)?
Camille & Julien> We’re super curious about how it will evolve, and also cautious about how to incorporate it into our work. For example, our experience with virtual production went into two opposite directions: one with the wrong people was a nightmare, and the other with the perfect team was bliss! So we think it still takes good people to make good stuff. As long as it serves the film, the concept, we’re open to everything.
LBB> Which pieces of work do you feel really demonstrate what you do best – and why?
Camille & Julien> Devialet Phantom I: pushing the concept to its maximum, directing talents, casting, movement, freedom.
LBB> What’s next on the horizon for you?
Camille & Julien> A new campaign for Devialet, pitches for the US, two commercials in post and a personal photographic project.
