How Theus Productions Organized the Flashmob Shoot

Do you know what "La La Land" means in English?

It comes from a North American expression: "living in a la-la land"

If someone says you are living in a la-la land, it implies that you are living in a dream, that you don't see reality, that you have your head in the clouds, and that you're embellishing the situation in your imagination. This beautiful expression inspired the film La La Land (2016) by Damien Chazelle. The title alone perfectly sums up the film's intent. Mia, played by Emma Stone, is a waitress in a Los Angeles café who dreams of becoming a big actress but fails her auditions. Sebastien, played by Ryan Gosling, aspires to be a great jazz pianist but is fired from his insignificant club. Faced with failure, they must choose between their love and their success, tipping one or the other into an illusion.

La La Land Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pdqf4P9MB8

Inspired by this emotional film and the song "Another Day of Sun" – the opening music of La La Land, by Justin Hurwitz – the Rencontres 7e Art Lausanne 2024 decided this year to surprise their audience by opening their film festival with a flashmob choreographed in the heart of Lausanne.

The goal was to offer an encounter between the public and the musical through a live recording. Imagine hundreds of amazed passersby in front of a Hollywood-style set on the esplanade of Flon.

In total, about thirty amateur and professional dancers from the Open Musical collective were directed by choreographer Myriam Kuhn.

The audiovisual equipment also impressed the spectators. Theus Productions – led by Michaël Theus – pulled off this feat by assembling a team of professional Swiss technicians.

We installed a 16-meter crane thanks to Sébastien Biollaz and his Video Ventura team. It's the largest crane in Switzerland.

For aerial shots, we called on the services of Drone GVA. They enhanced the video sequences, elegantly revealing the entire Hollywood-style set.

Finally, we used a steadicam Trinity operated by the talented Stéphane Kharraji. He even participated in the dance rehearsals of the Open Musical collective to best prepare himself to immortalize the choreography.

The support of Visuals Switzerland, an audiovisual equipment rental company, was crucial to the success of this event. Without their service, we wouldn't have been able to deploy such extensive resources, and the shoot would have lost its brilliance.

You can see the result of this shoot in the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeEM9yQ4Ciw

And our making-of video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV3mGPqeyGY

A huge thank you to everyone.

To the technicians:

Michaël Theus, Stéphane Kharraji, Blaise Villars, Sébastien Biollaz, Alain Moneta, Alejandro N., Nathan Blard, Scott Goedkoop, François-Régis Thevenet, Julien Parini, Romeo Jayawardene, Miriam Theus, Indra Crittin, Marc Despont, Rafael Cardinaux.

To the dancers:

Célia Chaillet, Cyril Tassi, Zoé Klopfenstein, Loïc Fleury, Loren Muñoz, Faustine Jenny, Maureen Béguin, Myriam Kuhn, Giliane Béguin, Nathan Pannatier, Marie Briand, Ludivine Bornet , Sarah Grimm, Corinne Dreyfuss, Florence Toulon, Lucie Grobéty, Sidney Vega, Anna Bossi, Célia Guyot, Loïc Valley, Solène Vigand, Lesta Maria del Mar, Karine Junod, Caroline Lasfargeas, Anastasia Nicolier, Michelle Sherpa, Sylvie Zuchuat

To our partners:

Open Musical, Giliane Béguin, Visuals Switzerland Sarl, Philippe Romi, Drone GVA Sàrl, Rencontres 7e Art Lausanne, Simon Laslandes-Vonlanthen, Thomas Lecuyer, Annick Porchet-Hubert, Alexandrine Kol, Matthieu M., Abel Zuchuat, Yann Shlaefli, Milena Martic, Kieran Steinhauser. City of Lausanne, Annick Porchet-Hubert

Photo: © Miriam Theus

We also take this opportunity to thank one of our digital partners: DesignRush.