The Best Work You May Never See: Agency Marcel, Director Lucas Posson Conduct Soccer Coaches' Symphony For Prime Video

To promote the Ligue 1 Uber Eats show, Prime Video presents its “Ligue 1 Symphony,” a hymn created using the gestures and body languages of the Ligue 1 soccer coaches who swap their sideline pacing for the role of orchestra conducting, leading musicians and singers. It's a symphony for football, by football.

Each weekend, on the soccer field sidelines, the coach is a bona fide orchestra conductor, directing and guiding its “artists”--the players.

Prime Video and Paris-based creative agency Marcel wanted to highlight this parallel with the world of music through “Ligue 1 Uber Eats Symphony,” an original composition in which the maestros are Ligue 1 coaches, virtually directing an orchestra of 70 musicians and choristers.

A single camera was placed in front of each coach to analyze and film their gestures. These movements were then picked apart and sorted based on their coherence and amplitude. Prime Video teamed up with Saycet, a French composer of electronic music and film soundtracks, to create this symphony, inspired by these movements.

“The coaches’ movements have inspired the way the music is written”, explained Saycet. “That’s where the heart of this project’s challenge lies. We needed to essentially do the work backwards.”

To interpret this original composition, 70 musicians and choristers were gathered in the auditorium of the Niemeyer space in Paris. In the place of the orchestra conductor, a screen broadcasting the recorded gestures of the coaches gave instructions and set the tempo, conducting the musicians. The result? A rhythmic symphony which re-transcribes all of the intensity and emotions of a football match.

The “Ligue 1 Uber Eats Symphony” has been developed into two videos now available on the Prime Video Sport platforms, including this behind-the-scenes short directed by Lucas Posson.