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05/12/24

Daft Punk

animated pixel art sprites

I have been fascinated by Daft Punk since I was a teen.

My older brother taped their music videos off The Midnight Block of Toonami for us and we would watch on repeat. I could not get enough of Interstella 5555 when I found out they were making them into a full-length movie. Robot Rock and Technologic were in heavy rotation in my Winamp library on the family PC. I went absolutely bonkers for Random Access Memories in 2013. I cried when they hugged and accepted their album of the year award. I was gutted when they announced the end in 2021.

All that to say: Daft Punk has been in the periphery of my media consumption for a very long time; hovering in and out of my attention at various points. I recently found out that two of my favorite songs to dance to from back in the day, Music Sounds Better With You by Stardust and Call On Me (given to Eric Prydz ... it's complicated) were both produced by Thomas Bangalter. Full circle.

This is about to get a little silly and a little soppy, so like, I don't know, skip the next bits if you're not cool with that.

Their music scratches a really particular itch in my brain and gets me grooving without fail. I hype myself up before work cranking up their mixes in my car and imagining myself raving in the crowd. I never got to see them live but I feel like I'm transported right there everytime I listen to a set.

The characters and the world they built around their music is so wonderful and awesome. It may sound ridiculous but I like to think of them as my robot friends. It brings me joy in my little day-to-day life, especially when I'm feeling lonely.

The robots were my entry point into Daft Punk, but the humans behind the project have become an inspiration to me in terms of artistic vision, creative ownership, dedication, ingenuity, integrity, craftsmanship, partnership, and mutual support of both their influences and contemporaries from Nile Rodgers to Justice. They knew exactly what they wanted and they settled for nothing less. They created secret identities so cool everyone couldn't help but to play along with the fantasy.

Daft Punk 4ever.

A few months ago, February 25 2024 to be precise, after watching all the footage I could possibly find from Alive 2006/2007 sets and basically having a religious experience over it, I found myself falling in love with Daft Punk all over again. I listened to their entire discography including live DJ sets, side projects from Thomas and Guy-Man, watched and read countless interviews, watched my favorite two Alive 2007 concert sets again like five times start to finish, watched Electroma for the first time, re-watched Interstella 5555, bought fan zines, bought fan merch, wistfully perused rare and expensive official merch, browsed fan art, and then finally started making and sharing my own.

I started by animating little pixel sprites of the robots from Discovery alongside my avatar, then put their helmets on the front page of this very website! Then I made their stylish leather jackets from Human After All. Then the light-up Encore suits and the DJ pyramid. Okay, so I'm making Daft Punk animated sprites now I guess! Cool! My hyperfixation extensive research will come in handy.

For this project, I've made nine (9) unique animated sprites of Daft Punk through the years, from their debut album Homework in 1997, to the last appearance of the robots in 2016 for their collaboration with The Weeknd's Starboy. I chose their most iconic looks, all associated with an album, collaboration, movie, and/or live tour.

Reference images are included on this page with source links. Special thanks to The Daft Punk Historian, aka Daft Wub, for his comprehensive work on "Daft Punk: An In Depth History", in addition to regularly sharing images from his collection on social media.



references


⯈⯈⯈
Homework, 1997

Daft Punk's first studio album. Recorded at Daft House in Paris, aka Thomas Bangalter's bedroom. They wear various disguises during press and media appearances, including these whimsical carnival masks.


⯇⯇⯇
Daftendirektour/ "Alive 1997", 1997

Daft Punk's second live international tour. They incorporate trippy visuals on projector screens, synched in time with the music. A recording from Que Club in Birmingham is released as an album, Alive 1997. While they continue hiding their faces from the media, they perform DJ sets unmasked.

* flashing light visuals *

⯈⯈⯈
Discovery, 2001

Daft Punk's second studio album and the debut of their robot personas. The robots are designed in collaboration with Alex & Martin and produced by Alterian Inc with LED displays on their visors hard-wired into and powered by large matching backpacks, with optional gauntlets to control graphics in real-time during media appearances. Music videos are made in a collaboration with manga artist Leiji Matsumoto, then expanded into a feature film, Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.


⯇⯇⯇
Human After All, 2005

Daft Punk's third studio album, recorded and mixed in just six weeks. Daft Punk does no official press, only stating "the album speaks for itself". They now dress exclusively in matching Dior Homme leather jackets and pants designed by Heidi Slimane with their logo on the back. The LEDs are removed from both helmet visors, and Thomas' no longer has a smile.


⯈⯈⯈
Electroma, 2006

A film, written and directed by Daft Punk, expanded on from the music video concept of Human After All. The protagonist characters are named Hero Robot #1 and Hero Robot #2, portrayed by actors. Footage from this movie is used to announce the end of the Daft Punk musical project in a video titled "Epilogue" on 22 February 2021.


⯇⯇⯇
Alive 2007, 2006-07

Daft Punk's third live international tour, beginning at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California on 29 April 2006 and ending at NeverEverLand in Sydney, Austrailia on 22 December 2007. A 90 minute set featuring music from their entire history thus far mixed together into new songs with a choreographed LED show in a groundbreaking multimedia exprience. For the encore, they re-emerge from backstage shrouded in darkness with red EL wire details on their outfits which then light-up during the last musical drop.


⯈⯈⯈
TRON Legacy, 2010

A film score composed by Daft Punk for the sequel to TRON. They also guest-star as "Masked DJs" with "TRON-ified" versions of their robot costumes.

@Daft_Wub, Twitter
@Daft_Wub, Twitter

⯇⯇⯇
Random Access Memories, 2013

Daft Punk's fourth, and final, studio album. Daft Punk utilize both analog and digital instrumentation with a roster of studio musicians, and collaborate with artists who inspired them and their contemporaries. Graphics included in the extended version reveal names for the robots: TB3 (Thomas), and GM08 (Guy-Man). Heidi Slimane again designs their outfits for Saint Laurent, including sequined jackets in both black and silver/gold versions, tuxedo trousers, glittering boots, and silver/gold pyramid pendant necklaces to match their helmets.

Daft Punk - Lose Yourself to Dance (Official Version), Daft Punk, YouTube
@Daft_Wub, Twitter
@Daft_Wub, Twitter

⯈⯈⯈
Starboy, 2016

A collaboration with The Weeknd, including two songs and guest appearances in the music videos and a live performance at The Grammys. It's difficult to find definitive information about the design of these costumes, but the flowing capes, stiff layered uniforms with intricate silver/gold circuitboard details, and calf-length boots evoke an extraterrestrial and commanding aesthetic to me; like co-captains of an exploratory spaceship. This would be both the final appearance of the robot characters, and Daft Punk's last live performance. Some say they're out there ... in a faraway galaxy ... making musique together wherever they go ...

The Daft Punk Historian

poster

I am working on a poster print! It will look something like this:

Did you find some easter eggs in the video? Look again, then click here to reveal their secrets ...

Daft Punk had so many incredible looks through the years, it was hard for me to narrow it down! Here are some of my favorites that didn't quite make the project but I still made for the fun of it. Hover over the sprites for reference photos, click-through for links to videos.

made with love by Alexis Bee

This project is not affiliated with Daft Punk.

sprites: Piskel --- video: Kdenlive --- music: Voyager, Daft Punk

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