The purpose of a music video, besides selling massive product, is to add imagery to a song. Some videos are mere abstractions inspired by the song, others contain enough plots and subplots to fill a motion picture.
For Around the World, the second single from Daft Punk's debut album Homework, Michel gave the song lifeblood. Literally each part of the song is represented by a dancing quartet: the bass by super-tall humans, the spry glissandos by synchronized swimmers, the vocoderized "around the world" by robots, etc. As the melodies progress, each group's performance evolves.
The setting is a black studio with a colorful backdrop that ascribes to the scene the look of a living jukebox, with dancers forming a universal groove. At the climax of the song, the camera views the scene from above, revealing that the dance is being performed on a record. The song fades out, and so do the lights as the "jukebox" turns off.
"This was my first try to do choreography and I was sick to see choreography being mistreated in videos like filler with fast cutting and fast editing, really shallow," Michel told RES. "I don't think choreography should be shot in close-ups."
In 2005 Chris Cairns directed an homage to Around the World with Daft Punk is Playing at My House by LCD Soundsystem. The video features characters from Around the World dancing around in someone's living room.
In 2006 Sarah Chatfield did the same, turning the turntable into a fabulous disco round for the Freemason's Rain Down Love.
