Hello everyone.
In this video I'll show you
something incredible, which defies the imagination
and the laws of physics as
today we are going to interview...
an iPad.
But not just any old iPad, as it will bring Louis XIV back to life.
Even speaking in the same voice he would have had in the past.
Let's start!
Louis XIV, wesh wesh, as they say these days.
It's a pleasure to meet you.
Good day, Mr. Wesh Wesh.
The pleasure is all mine.
Oh yeah right, that's me... Mr. Wesh Wesh.
When you were a child, five years old to be exact
you fell into a fountain and almost died.
How did that have an effect on you?
Did you, for example, develop a fear of water?
Hmm. That fountain story is a bit of a myth.
I really fell into one of the lakes
in the Palais Royal garden.
and I was fished out at the last moment.
The gossips said that I developed
rather too much of a dislike for water
including when washing.
Yes, it's true that it has been said you were a bit mucky...
But, if I'm not mistaken, that wasn't the first time you almost died.
When you were a kid your health was a bit fragile.
What with chickenpox, a tumour, gonorrhoea and typhus...
It's true that my medical record reads
a bit like a horror novel
or thriller, as you call them these days.
On several occasions, I came close to losing my life.
But with the miraculous attention and talent of my doctors
I managed to live a long life.
Don't be so modest. You must have had a strong constitution.
And what is impressive is how you managed to live such a long time.
Your reign was one of the longest.
I was king for 72 years, 3 months, and 18 days.
Not bad!
The young Elisabeth II
has reigned for only 66 years, so far.
But she certainly has the advantage of still being alive.
Anyhow, you were so old when you died
your great-grandson was your successor
Louis XV.
It is said that on your death bed you told him
"In my life I have loved war too much".
What did you mean by that? Can you clarify a bit for us?
Well, it's true that I told the young Louis
that I had gone to war too often and liked building things too much.
But, you know, gangrene tends to make
people a bit grumpy.
I see.
So, speaking of dying,
what did you think of communism?
Your epoch is still quite baffling to me.
That's OK. I think we can arrange
an interview with Karl Marx.
He'll take the time to explain his
vision of the world to you.
Your grandfather, Henry IV, issued the Edict of Nantes
to improve relations between Catholics and Protestants.
I remember that this gave Protestants the freedom to pursue their religion
and you, a staunch Catholic, decided to revoke the Edict.
Can we talk about that?
Well, you often get bad advice. What can I say?
Vauban advised me not to do that and maybe I should have listened to him.
Really? So, you are passing the buck onto your advisers?
So Lolo, how did you like your life in the royal court?
In the court, with all absolute power
how many people were really sincere?
But I do miss the parties, the pomp, and the plays.
I really do.
That's a bit depressing, old boy.
Anyway, for the last few years, on French TV
there has been a popular series called Versailles.
Can you say a few words about it?
I worked all my life
so that my reign would be admired for all time.
So, I was very happy to hear about such a show
320 years after I died.
I'm sure Canal+ is happy about that too.
And did you think the series is an accurate portrayal of your life
or is it all a bit romanticised
to make it a bit spicier?
Well, of course it was!
I spent entire days working with my advisers.
Who would be interested in that?
In my time we also liked to have fun.
That's not changed much.
Would you please say, into the camera
"Long live the sixth republic!"
Or even better: "My dear comrades, a good day to you all"
I'd really love you to do that.
It's for my video.
Ha ha. My dear sir, it wouldn't be proper for the King to do as you ask.
OK.
But, as a gesture of my good will
I reverently bow down to your followers.
And so we are coming to the end of the interview.
Would you like to add anything to finish off?
I must go now, but rest assured
that I hold you in the highest estime
and wish you all the very best.
Thank you, Louis XIV, for spending
a little of your precious royal time with us.
Until the next time!
With Karl Marx.
Now we come to the second part of the video and this time I'm not alone.
The iPad has transformed.
Hi!
Why did you create that voice?
Well, we created that voice for
the third and lastest season of Versailles
that will be broadcast on Canal+ at the end of April.
We noticed that Versailles, the series,
had made quite a stir, in the press
and the fans of the series were very keen.
Everyone had an opinion about it.
But we realise that the only person who never
had a voice in the series
who couldn't take part in the debate
because he was dead
was Louis XIV himself.
We recreated his voice to allow him to express himself .
How on earth did you decide which tone of voice to use
for someone who had been dead for 300 years?
We gathered as much information as we could,
with the help of the historical adviser of the series
All this data was then sent
to a speech therapist who helped us
to convert this historical data into vocal data.
Then this vocal data was used
by Voxygen, experts in voice synthesis
to create the synthesised voice of Louis XIV.
So, did you have any specific information
on how his voice sounded or...?
The first clue: he was tall, 1.82m or 1.83m.
And the longer your vocal chords the lower you voice will be.
Of course, this is only a generalisation.
Secondly, he liked to sing in an opera called Atys
arranged for him by the composer Lully.
And in Atys, the parts are for bass voices.
Another clue that he had a low voice.
And, as well as that, we worked with the paralinguistic data
in the King's medical record.
The King had problems with his mouth and teeth due to a cleft palate
that made his voice very nasal.
He also had a tendency to breath through his palate
or through his mouth
because he suffered from fluid passing through his palate to his larynx.
Very glamorous!
Yep.
So, reconstructing a voice is one thing
but performing it, that's another.
But what about his phrasing, what was his speaking style?
Everyone has a slightly different way of speaking.
How did you copy that?
In the same way, based on evidence from his contemporaries
and these resources suggest that Louis was not very talkative.
He measured his words carefully.
Perhaps this was a way to express his status as King.
Secondly, he rarely lost his temper.
Almost never.
He saved that for his private life.
So when he spoke he didn't raise his voice.
His voice was always rather bland and unemotional.
Everyone realises that this, after all, is just an interpretation
and the team are aware of this?
Of course, it's an interpretation
but, to recreate the voice exactly we'd need Louis XIV's body
and as you know
his body vanished after the Revolution.
We'd have to scan his vocal chords to get the voice exactly right.
So yes, what we did is an interpretation, based on the information we have
or data, as we call it today.
As you will have noticed in the first part of the video
we followed a script to conduct the interview.
There are a certain number of pre-recorded responses
which are relevant to a wide range of questions.
Exactly. There are about 100 responses on a wide range of topics
that are relevant to the lifetime of Louis but also to our times.
So now people can have a discussion on the Internet
using Louis XIVs Twitter account.
So, in manner of speaking, Louis XIV has been brought back to life
to give his opinion on the series
and also on the world in which we now all live
with all its craziness.
It's a real blast to follow him on Twitter.
It certainly is, yeah!
These is no shortage of questions
that he can answer.
- Thanks very much! - Thank you!
Thanks for watching my video.
As you will have realised, this is a production in collaboration with Canal+
for the start of season three of Versailles
which takes us back to life in the court of Louis XIV.
If you want to ask him some questions
as I just did
you can now do it on Twitter.
The account name is @Louis XIV_CANAL
This would be great opportunity to have some fun and
to test the limitations of the application.
So go and try it!
I'd like to give special thanks to the Chateau de Chamarande
who welcomed us here to record the interview.
It was really kind of them.
If you have the chance to visit the castle and its grounds
it's situated to the south of Paris in l'Essone.
It's a great place to visit.
Thanks to everyone for watching.
Don't forget to give us a thumbs up, like and share.
We'll see you again very soon for another historical video.
Bye!