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The first promo shoot
The first shoot of La Cour des Rêves took place over the last weekend of November at the Château de Courtanvaux. The team arrived on Saturday to prepare for two days of filming scheduled for Sunday and Monday. This preliminary time was essential to set up the overall organization, allow the cast and crew to meet, and lay the foundations of the project.
Saturday was dedicated to welcoming the participants and holding costume fittings. Casting was done through a mix of social media outreach and personal connections, with a clear desire to prioritize local talent while also welcoming a few profiles who travelled from farther away, drawn by the project and willing to make the journey. In the evening, a shared meal helped create a strong group dynamic ahead of the shoot. Costumes played a central role in the project. They were sourced from a professional costume house and enriched through a partnership with Helga La Douce, an amateur dressmaker who generously loaned several of her creations. Each outfit was carefully selected according to the envisioned scenes and the measurements of each model, ensuring visual coherence, comfort, and artistic accuracy.
Sunday began early. Two hairstylists and two makeup artists were on hand to prepare the cast, following extensive preparatory work on visual identity, particularly through moodboards created by Linda. Once ready, the cast and crew headed to the château to officially begin filming. The morning was devoted to group scenes and ballroom sequences. Waltz lessons helped synchronize movements before filming began. At the same time, two photographers were present on set: one focused on fantasy portraits, while the other documented the project through reportage and behind-the-scenes imagery. A true luxury, allowing for a complete visual record of this first production. In the afternoon, filming continued with costume and atmosphere changes. The château’s outdoor spaces were used extensively, along with several striking set elements, including the presence of horses on set. These sequences were designed to enrich both the Once Upon a Ball project and broader content for the La Cour des Rêves universe.
On Monday, filming continued at a sustained pace and wrapped very late at night in the forest. These nocturnal scenes explored a darker side of the universe, inspired by fairy tales and their shadowy undertones. Conditions were demanding, with fatigue, cold, and long hours, but the weather was remarkably kind, with no rain throughout the entire weekend. Team cohesion was one of the project’s greatest strengths. Despite the intensity of the schedule, shared meals, mutual support, and good spirits kept everything running smoothly. People who had never met before worked together with ease, making it possible to carry out an ambitious project within tight time constraints and challenging conditions. This first shoot marks a foundational milestone for La Cour des Rêves. It allowed for large-scale organization to be tested, a clear artistic direction to be affirmed, and the groundwork to be laid for an immersive universe destined to grow.
A huge thank-you to the entire team for this absolutely incredible experience. Thank you to Bo Francisco, videographer with a precise and committed eye; to Eva Mythwood for her invaluable help upstream with planning and writing; and to the beauty teams, Linda and Institut Maliia, for their work, attentiveness, and dedication. Thank you as well to Léa Grandperrin for the fantasy portraits, and to Laureen Keravec for the reportage and behind-the-scenes coverage that now allows this adventure to be told from the inside.
Special thanks to Terres de Liberté, and especially Ilona and Thibault, for coordinating the horses on set, for their professionalism, and for their trust. Finally, heartfelt thanks to the cast, who were absolutely incredible throughout this extended weekend. Above all, this shoot will remain a human adventure, driven by generosity, shared passion, and the collective desire to bring the slightly mad dreams of a great dreamer to life.
