In early July, Daft Punk posted a set of images labeled “Archive #307,” revealing two prototype sheets dated September 2005 from the design files behind the helmets that made the French duo at once unrecognizable and unmistakable.Ad 0:00 Click for sound 0:00 / 0:00 The first sheet shows a marker drawing beside a physical bust: a black head with a circuit board set into one cheek.
The second lays out the full silver helmet, a black bodysuit, articulated gloves and a “back panel / switch” for the electronics worn underneath.The prints are not from the robots’ chrome-and-gold Discovery era in 2001, but concepts from their Human After All period and the legendary Pyramid shows captured on Alive 2007.
The helmets were built by Alterian Inc., a renowned Los Angeles effects studio, in a collaboration that lasted roughly 15 years.Founder Tony Gardner, an Ohio-born veteran whose credits run from The Return of the Living Dead to the GEICO cavemen, was introduced to Daft Punk around 2000 by the director Spike Jonze, who had made the duo’s ‘Da Funk’ video.
In interviews, Gardner has described a shop teaching itself to vacuum-metalize fiberglass, program LED faceplates, and tint the visors through an Ohio firm known for astronaut helmets.Each helmet reportedly cost around $65,000 to produce.
For Daft Punk’s Electroma, the duo’s 2006 avant-garde feature film, Alterian designed and fabricated the robot helmets, created the prosthetic makeup effects and developed the practical effects used throughout the production.Beyond that project, the company also collaborated with the duo on visual effects projects including TRON: Legacy....