Four 16-year-old teenagers and a game, this is the scenario of the new web-series "You prefer", with ten episodes broadcast on Instagram and Arte TV. A sparkling and humorous series that immerses us with authenticity in the complex world of adolescence. In each episode, we therefore find Djenba, Shai, Aladi and Ismaël, four young people from the neighborhood, on the Place des Fêtes in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. Between childish games, serial valves but also serious conversations, sex, love, religion, family are evoked. The opportunity to approach with lightness sometimes existential questions. On Europe 1, we take you behind the scenes of this phenomenon as well as the manufacturing secrets of this original and completely uninhibited web-series.
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Young and authentic actors
"Would you rather eat pork or not see your mother again?", Can we hear in the new web-series which is a hit, "You prefer". And it is on the basis of this simplistic game that four characters will evolve over ten episodes of ten minutes, currently broadcast on Instagram and Arte Tv. But the original idea of this series stems from happy encounters. Lise Akoka, before being the director for this web-series, was in charge of coaching young teenagers anxious to become an actor.
Thus during one summer, on the set of a feature film, she meets Djenba, Shai, Aladi and Ismaël. She discovers four young adolescents, dynamic, full of humor, with a fury for life and to learn who touched her. Between two shoots, they discuss and sympathize. And that's where the adventure begins.
"I coached them for a feature film. And on set we spend a lot of time off set waiting and talking. And I enjoyed hearing them talk so much that I recorded them during those weeks of filming. . These four had a talent for verb, a talent for eloquence, winnowing and chatting.They were so funny and quick-witted that I felt like watching a Ping match. Pong all the time, "says Europe 1 Lisa Akoka, the director of the film. And it is the authenticity of these young people with such different horizons that gave him the idea of this series with an unusual frame.
End of taboos and free speech
From Hélène and the boys to Soda to Skam, series for teenagers has always been a formula that works. But "You prefer" drastically changes the model that we have seen, reviewed but above all appreciated. The objective is to take the opposite view of these sometimes hyperbolic and caricaturistic series of what adolescence is. The search for realism without losing a sense of humor, such is the vocation of this web series. “We have a passion for realism. We really want to tell without taboo, without policing what teenagers usually say to themselves ", explains Romane Guéret, co-director of" You prefer ".
Using the game "You prefer" as a basis went hand in hand with this vocation. The rules are simple: choose between two bizarre proposals. A game that can lead to real existential dilemmas. Dilemmas faced with humor many times the characters in the series. "It's intergenerational. It's a game that you can play anywhere in any context, whatever your age. And thanks to that, you can talk about everything and nothing without losing the essence of the series, "says Romane Guéret.
Speech is therefore free and uninhibited. The two directors have decided to recreate the tones and patterns of today's conversations in their series. "We wanted to be as close as possible to what they are in life, to their real qualities and we wanted to build a dramaturgical plot that hooks the viewer with characters who evolve with the game" You prefer "as a tool, very good tool to spark debate and evoke important issues that cross society ", confides Lisa Akoka.
And what better than the web format to make this project a success because, in fact, "it is a format which corresponded well to the debate", explains Romane Guéret.
A "directed improvisation"
Ultimately, they are touching characters that we learn to appreciate. Although the word was free and totally open, the young aspiring actors were still prone to a certain modesty. A situation that can be explained by their young age. "There are subjects on which they are less comfortable. It's quite impressive to see their ease on certain subjects and their embarrassment on others. It depends on the mores, the culture in which they come, the Parental bans. Childish fears remain, "says Lisa Akoka.
Childish fears successfully mastered by Lisa and Romane who were able to direct the four actors by the almost oxymoric practice of "guided improvisation". "We rehearsed in improvisation for several months with the teenagers. We already have ideas for a subject and we see what works and what does not. The big job is to transcribe everything. And thanks to these transcriptions we make a scenario which is very written. We do not leave them completely free, we have to keep them to a minimum "concludes Romane Guéret on Europe 1.
This series has been a victim of its success since, with each episode broadcast, the reactions are massive, inevitably leading to debates between Internet users. A success which rejoices the two directors who remain touched by the involvement of the public "who speak of the characters as if they were their best friends".