Behind the scenes
on an April Fooll

This wasn’t your first April fool, where did the idea come from?

April the 1st is a time for letting go when it comes to videos and trying out something a bit less formal than usual. That was my inspiration, the chance to surprise and amaze people with something a little bit unexpected because people are more likely to go for that kind of thing at this time of year. I get inspired by so many different things…

I watch a lot of stuff and get indirectly inspired by it: comedies, sketches, stand-ups, YouTube videos, things I read... But I didn’t write this video by myself, I came up with it with Léa the community manager!

Does improvisation play an important role?

Not really, my videos are generally quite structured before we shoot, and I more or less know what I want before switching on the camera. However, within that defined structure, I let my imagination go and give actors a bit of freedom, which often leads to funny scenes that nobody was expecting.

For example, in the April Fool video, I let Philippe (the actor playing the person who was relearning to ski with the instructors) do his own thing and improvise a line that I hadn’t written “Look over there, the mountains are beautiful, let’s enjoy them”.

It ended up being hilarious!

How long does it take to make a video like that one?

There are several different phases to it; a reflective phase to find the idea, a writing phase, a planning phase, a filming phase, an editing phase and a tweaking phase before you post it online. This kind of video takes at least 2 weeks’ work as it requires a fair bit of logistical planning because it involved getting several of the resort’s services to work together!

But like I said, I’m not on my own on this type of project, Léa the community manager played an important part and really helped, and Thibaut, the marketing manager supported us the whole way through!

How do you know that a video is going to work before you shoot it?

We never know! There are a few rules to follow for social networks that tell us if a video is going to work but we can never really know in advance.

What’s important, I think, is to really know your community and to give them the content they like. We’re lucky in Val Thorens to have a community that enjoys our silly jokes!

What equipment do you use?

For this video I used a Sony A7SII as well as a GoPro Hero 9 for some of the wide shots. And because the sound is important too,
I also used a lapel mic for the interviews and an ambient mic for everything else!
 

Finally, to conclude:
who is your favorite director?