One road show spawns another. For director Neels Castillon the first tour took a full year as he headed a crew capturing stunning visuals in 8K, lensing spectacular landscapes in locales ranging from the Namib Desert to Polynesia, Iceland and varied destinations in South America. Filmed in these settings were actors/dancers reinterpreting classic scenes from Homer’s “Odyssey,” playing characters such as Odysseus, Penelope, the Sirens, et al–the only character created in CG being Cyclops.
This footage–some 20 hours divided into 40 scenes–is integral to another road show that’s just gotten underway: Cercle Odyssey, a large-scale, 360-degree immersive concert experience. Currently playing in Mexico City, Cercle Odyssey–created by Paris-based Cercle, a Paris-headquartered music company founded by creative director Derek Barbolla–will arrive in Los Angeles for shows May 7-11. Another upcoming run is slated for Paris from May 28-June 1.
Castillon–whose global commercialmaking/branded content home is RSA Films, with sister shop Black Dog Films handling him for music videos–directed Cercle Odyssey via his Paris-based production studio Motion Palace.
The “nomadic” Odyssey concerts are staged in giant performance spaces (including the Los Angeles Convention Center) using 29 state-of-the art projectors, creating a 360-degree film panorama across five giant 50m x 12m screens. Each night a different music act performs on a stage surrounded by the visuals. The artists choose their own footage and scenes for their performances, which means every night concert-goers see a different version of the film. The artists include Moby, Paul Kalkbrenner, Empire of the Sun, The Blaze, and Black Coffee. Castillon helped recruit Moby for the project. The scenography is intended to create a vast window yielding a gaze upon the planet. Each concert is completely unique and unfolds like a living painting.
The visual tour de force rivals state-of-the-art LED presentations such as those being famously showcased at The Sphere in Las Vegas. However in the case of Cercle Odyssey, the projectors can be transported, making it possible for the show to hit the road and play assorted venues worldwide.
Concert-goers can move about to take in the experience from different vantage points. To ensure that every audience member can have a truly immersive, emotive journey/experience, cell phones are strictly forbidden. Thus without interruption or distractions, viewers can be transported to new realms, soaking in a sensory experience born from a blend of cinema, live performance and immersive technology.
Castillon, a 2018 One Club for Creativity/Young Guns alumnus, has a body of work spanning shorts, music videos, commercials and longer form fare. His ad clients include Meta, Louis Vuitton, Renault, Chloe, Hennessy, Range Rover, Lacoste, Nikon and Puma. Also among his notable credits is the “F Major” music video for Hania Rani, which captured a magnetic and meditative dance while retaining a sense of intimacy and contemplation against a backdrop of deserted Icelandic coastline.
SHOOT recently connected with Castillon who reflected on Cercle Odyssey.
SHOOT: Please provide some backstory. What drew you to Cercle Odyssey? How did you get the opportunity to work on the project? What was your original vision, and how did it evolve over time?
Castillon: Last year, Derek Barbolla, the founder of Cercle, reached out to pitch me the concept for a monumental, immersive music show. I immediately thought the idea was incredible.
Derek and I had been following each other’s work from a distance for some time, with mutual respect and admiration. When he called, he already had a broad vision–the venue’s design, and a strong artistic ambition. Initially, he imagined projecting landscapes from around the world to surround the artists on stage.
I was immediately drawn to the project, but on one condition: I wanted to add a narrative layer inspired by Homer’s “Odyssey.” As a director, I felt it needed characters, emotion, and storytelling depth. Derek agreed, and I went on to write around 40 scenes–which later became 80–shaping the piece into a nine-hours modular film that blends landscapes, nature patterns, performance, acting, and dance.
The goal was to create a film in several chapters, each conveying different emotions and rhythms. Each artist chooses which chapters they want to showcase based on their music. So every evening, the audience discovers a new version of Odyssey!
SHOOT: Was there a particular shoot or location that inspired you most? If so, can you share the story behind it and explain why it left such an impression?
Castillon: Each location offered something unique: the golden sands of the Namib Desert, the endless blue of the ocean in Tetiaroa, the untouched green forests of the Marquesas Islands, and the stark white of the Icelandic Highlands. We even filmed on the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia–a surreal, mirror-like landscape where earth and sky become one. It felt like filming inside a dream.
But the place that left the deepest mark on me was the forest in the Marquesas Islands. That connection wasn’t just visual–it was emotional. One day, local guides took us to a sacred site normally closed to the public–a hidden valley beneath a massive waterfall. It took four hours of hiking through thick jungle in the pouring rain to reach it. I was completely exhausted, convinced I had nothing left to give. But just as we arrived, the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the valley, transforming the rain into golden light. Our actress, Wan Lun, began her choreography in that moment, framed by the timeless, gigantic landscape. It felt surreal.
Later, during the rehearsal, I realized how immersive that moment had become. The audience felt transported–like they were there with us, under the canopy. That’s the magic I’m always chasing: when nature, emotion, and cinema converge in harmony.
SHOOT: The Odyssey is an ancient tale. Did you feel the need to reinterpret it to make it more modern and accessible? What creative or visual strategies did you adopt to achieve this?
Castillon: With Cercle Odyssey, I wanted to reinterpret the myth of Ulysses in a poetic and contemporary way. I cast four performers — two men and two women–to embody the same character. In Homer’s tale, Ulysses is cursed to wander before finding his way home. That sense of a physical and emotional journey became the heart of the film.
We imagined four visual worlds, each tied to a color and a landscape: gold (desert), white (Arctic), blue (ocean), and green (jungle). We shot in Namibia, Iceland, French Polynesia, and South America–choosing places where nature could drive the narrative.
The project combines acting, dance, and cinematic poetry to explore our planet–a visual odyssey in every sense. At its core is the idea of returning home. Like Odysseus, diverted endlessly by the gods, our protagonist travels through surreal, awe-inspiring environments, encountering mythical figures like Calypso, the Sirens, and Hades–reinterpreted through choreography and symbolism. It’s not a linear story. It’s a modular, immersive experience.
SHOOT: What was (were) the biggest challenge(s) that Cercle Odyssey posed to you?
Castillon: Honestly, the biggest challenge was the sheer volume of ideas to generate, scenes to shoot, and data to manage. We created nearly nine hours of 360° film spread across five screens–that’s 45 hours of total footage! Every scene had to be conceived in five directions at once, with immersion in mind. It was thrilling, but also incredibly exhausting.
One scene that stands out for me is Synchronicity. With choreographer Fanny Sage, we created a moment where all four Ulysses perform the same choreography–filmed identically, in four different parts of the world. During the show, they appear together on four projection walls, creating a shared rhythm across continents. It was logistically a huge challenge–but the result is stunningly powerful.
SHOOT: Would you share an example of the technology you used? Were there any tools that were particularly innovative or came with a steep learning curve? Did you develop any proprietary tools for the project?
Castillon: We developed a custom 360° FPV drone in-house with my pilot-engineer team–Josselin Cornil and Brieuc Lemercier. They designed and built it themselves, with a final resolution of 32K. Thanks to its maneuverability, the drone gives audiences the feeling of flying–like a bird gliding through the show. Since all screens are connected in a 360° immersive setup, it feels like the entire venue takes flight.
We also shot and post-produced everything in 8K across five screens, using the RED RAPTOR VV. To preserve a cinematic feel, we used Atlas anamorphic lenses. And to preview the emotional and technical connections between screens, we created a virtual simulation of the venue in a META VR headset– thanks to a custom app by Mathematic Studio. It allowed us to pre-visualize the show in immersive conditions during the edit.
SHOOT: What were your biggest takeaways or lessons learned from working on Odyssey? What did the experience leave you with?
Castillon: This project was a deep artistic journey for me–a chance to push boundaries and grow in unexpected directions.
I spent a lot of time studying visual storytelling and exploring how to create a sense of true immersion. I learned how to design for large-scale screens in a way that maintains emotional impact even at monumental scale. I also explored VR as a creative tool, using it to simulate and test scenes in a virtual space before shooting.
Beyond the technical side, I refined the emotional arc and narrative through countless rewrites, always searching for the most meaningful way to connect with the audience. I also learned how to rally a large, multidisciplinary team around one shared creative vision–and how a massive show like this is built, moment by moment, from backstage complexity to center-stage magic.
Most of all, I was reminded of the power of collaboration–and what can happen when curiosity and ambition come together.
SHOOT: How did you convince Moby to join the project?
Castillon: Derek Barbolla invited me to meet Moby backstage at his concert in Paris. We had just 20 minutes to pitch the idea and get him on board. I probably came in with a bit too much passion–and definitely some wide-eyed fandom–since his was the first CD single I ever bought as a teenager.
But Moby is deeply into film, technology, and the arts–so our 20-minute meeting turned into a full hour of conversation. By the end, he just said: “Let’s go.”
The funny thing is, he’s a bit enigmatic and we weren’t totally sure what he meant. We left the meeting laughing, asking each other: “Wait… did he just say yes?”
Turns out, he did. We collaborated closely to create the best possible show–and I’m incredibly proud of the result.
Los Angeles, we’re ready. We can’t wait to share it with you.
