Treatment

Joy Division - Disorder [Treatment]

Links with Books

Throughout the project we looked at a lot of books to help us with inspiration and ideas as well as gain a better understanding of music videos and of Joy Division.

The first book we looked at and probably the book that gave us the most knowledge was Saul Austerlitz's Money For Nothing. This book contains "A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes". Although the book was general in its approach to music video, they was still sections with relevance to Anton Corbijn and Joy Division, which were great help during preliminary research into the band and its style. The book was also a great help when researching music video in general.

The Bible of Music Videos

The second book that we looked at was Deborah Curtis's Touching from the distance. This is a in-depth biographical account of the legendary lead singer of Joy Division, written by his widow. The book gave us a great insight into the band again and the singer, because we were in a way basing our character on Ian it was a great way of understanding the man himself.

 

The last book we looked at is Kevin Cummin's "Joy Division". The book is a heavily illustrated celebration of Joy Division. We used the book as source of inspiration for the style of all three components of the promotional package.

The Band as a Brand

As i have pointed out before on this blog, Joy Division ended back in the early 1980's after Ian's death.
So any sense of a brand they would of had, would by now only be seen in their artwork, style and image which is present in films about them (Control "Anton Corbijn") and memorabilia and references to them such as articles to them in music magazines (such as NME).

When Joy Division were at the height of their success, they were touring Europe and "were" scheduled to tour America. This means they would of had a reasonable following but because it was the 1980's Bands didn't really create a brand due to the fact that the band were only seen at their shows, and on TV and back them TV wasn't a huge part of life compared to more recent times. The only bands which really created a brand were the bands that gain a lot of media coverage such as The Beatles.
       In the more recent times due to Globalisation, Internet and explosion in TV we are able to view every aspect of bands anytime, this has caused bands to be able to sell their image more then Joy Division could.
For instance nowadays bands are making a killing of merchandise and products that are not even relevant to music such as Britney Spear released a perfume.

Britney Spear "In Control" perfume

 The collage of images to show Joy Divisions brand show images of the band performing, album arts, a book and a film about the band and images of objects that are relevant to the band or band members such as large coat and cigarettes which are relevant to the lead singer of JD.
     

Existing Videos for Ideas

These are a few existing Fan - Made videos for the song we are making our video for.
None of the videos can really be linked to our idea apart from the second video which has the only link to our idea which is that it is in black and white.

• This video is just clips taken from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and matched to the track.

This video is just clips of Joy Division performing and other random clips mapped onto the track.

This video is just a stop motion video of some household objects performing the song.

Links with TV/Film

With Film:

Control [Anton Corbijn][2007]:

• The film control is a bioptic of Ian Curtis's life, Ian was Joy Division's lead singer and a large part of our idea is based upon Ian Curtis.

Requiem For A Dream [Darren Aronofsky ][2000]:

• Requiem for a Dream is a film directed by Darren Aronofsky, the follows 4 characters as they struggle to overcome additions to drugs. Our music video is linked to this for two reasons, the first is that our music video is based on a character who is overcoming a drug addiction, the second link is that the film uses a Snorri cam, the snorri cam is a device that attaches to the chest and it creates a shot is that quite "different", For our music video i created a snorri cam to use for different aspects of the video.

Trainspotting [Danny Boyle ][1996]:

• The film follows a character called Renton in the Edinburgh drug scene as he tries to clean up and quit drugs. 
• The film has a very convincing cold turkey scene which is why our music video is linked to the film, Ourselves we are created a cold turkey scene which will be similar to the one in trainspotting.

With TV:


This is England '86 [Shane Meadows] [2010]:

• This is England 86, is a social realist drama set in Sheffield, coming a bunch of young adults   in everyday life in 86 and their struggle to fit into normal society. 
• The setting is really in a council area which is why it is linked to our film, we intend on filming parts of our music video in areas with council flats and council housing. 

Mood board

This mood board shows different aspects of our idea as well as imagery relating to the band.
They are images relating to the locations we intend on filming at, Images relating to the band such as album art, photos of band members and directors work plus equipment we are planning on using.

(The mood board was scanned in)

CM - Similar Band Case Study: Echo & The Bunnymen (draft)

Echo & The Bunnymen are currently a 5 piece Post Punk band, though the bands line up has changed a lot since their formation in 1978. The original line up consisted of f vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine.

The band have up to date released;

• 11 studio albums
• 9 live albums
• 9 compilation albums
• 8 EP's
• 30 singles 
• 5 music albums 
• 22 music videos.

Which is quite a collection, the response to the albums in particular has been very varied, with the album Porcupine released in 1983 reached number 2 in the album charts and album Reverberation (1990) didn't even make it into the charts.

The band have been through many changes in its career, the biggest change was in 1988 when the band split up after McCulloch quit and another member was killed in a motorbike accident. In 1994 two of the members started to work together again under another name but after a third member joined the double they reformed Echo.

Music Videos

The band have released quite a collection of music videos over time  and i will look at 5 of their biggest music videos and try and find similar codes and conventions within the bands style and how well this fits into the Post Punk genres code and conventions.

The Cutter 

• Performance video
• Mainly performance video in a pretty dark room with a projecter shining on the lead singer, typical shots for a performance video. Band in typical 80's fashion.
• Interlinked with sony are short clips showing nothing more then a cold icey location. In some of these shots they use a person smoking.

Bring on the Dancing Horses

• This video is the dark horses of the lot (if you pardon the pun), this could be because the video was directed by Anton Corbijn, ceebs going into it now its also pretty dark.

Lips Like Sugar

• This video is in two location/ pats. All the shots which are not performance are in black and white,
• Follows a lone figure with a guitar on his back, walking through a city, the person passes three people and they enter a room and the performance aspect kicks in. It is once again in a dark room. They is a gaint eyeball behind them during performance aspect. The lighting in the performance shot is a blackish purple. At points it jumps back to shots of the long figure.

Porcupine

• Performance
• Opens with shots of old WW2 imagery of posters, then clips (anchored with title) of war time russia.
• The band then slowly fade into shot playing the song (in the cutter the band are playing in a dark room)
• The rest of the song is merely repeats of the start but in different order linked with more performance shots.

The Killing Moon

• Performance video with hints of concept
• Imagery of moons and stars and different planets
• Recurring shot of cloth blowing in the wind.
• Performance mainly focus on lead singer for most of song of him performing, framing of just his face with a constant swinging light bulb lighting up his face.
• Dark mood and setting

JH - Similar Bands: Depeche Mode (Case Study)

Depeche Mode formed in 1980 in Essex UK, and still tour and record albums today. They are an electronic band, that have been hugely influencial since they first formed; Q magazine branding them "The most popular electronic band the world has ever known".
The band consist of vocalist Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher, and have been a trio since 1995. That being said, session musicians often feature at live performances.

Depeche Mode have sold over 100 million records around the world. Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993) and Ultra (1997) earned them UK number one albums, with SoFaD also taking the US number one spot. Their latest album Sounds of the Universe (2009) reached no.2 in the UK, showing they're still hugely popular today. The band have not had any number one singles in the UK or US, but are still regarded as one the biggest and most influencial bands to come from the UK for a considerable time. Songs such as Enjoy the Silence, Personal Jesus and Just Can't Get Enough are just three of their biggest hits.

Due to the length of their career it is understandable that Depeche Mode's musical style has changed. They were originally part of the New Romantic movement in the UK, with their debut album Speak & Spell often classed as "synthpop". Notably this was the only album featuring Vince Clarke as chief songwriter, which would explain the dramatic change in sound. Their later releases are much more industrial sounding than previous tamer efforts. There is much dispute about Depeche Mode's genre even between their own fans, as seen here. Gahan's lyrics signify a gothic side to the band, and it is undeniable they are a much darker band than they used to be.

For a great link to all of Depeche Mode's music videos click here.
They have so far had 57 music videos, and wikipedia has a good entry listing them all here.

Early Videos

Just Can't Get Enough [Speak and Spell][1981]




- Depeche Mode's first music video and the only one featuring Vince Clark. It was directed by Clive Richardson.
- Lots of close ups of the keyboard signifying the bands focus on electronic music and synthesisers. It also helps establish them as a synth pop band. The fact that the camera focuses on the synth for such a length of time also connotes that riff is a large part of the song, and iconic of the song.
- Our first shot of the band at all is of the singer at 0.24 when the vocals come in.
- The band are all dressed in leathers and in truth the video has a very "camp" feel - like a lot of 80s pop videos. Not lease by singer Dave Gahan's dancing... They are signified as a rebellious but fashionable pop group eg. wearing aviator sunglasses. Woman dance around them.
- The set up is best shown in a long shot at 1.18 revealing the band consists of 3 synth players and the singer - notice at this point the band do not play instruments such as drums or guitar. The singer is also the focal point in this shot and the whole video. They are in one room throughout the video, and it simply has a grey background with a shadow of a fence. Little colour is seen.
- Interestingly Dave Gahan (singer) avoids looking in to the camera (something we normally expect from pop group videos). In some ways the band are signified as being quite shy throughout especially in the none performance footage.
- A succession of two shots with the band looking through notes happens at around the 1.30 mark. Strangely these shots seem almost out of place but show the band in a different light - just normal people. Likewise is the outdoor long shot of the trumpeteers at 1.45. A similar shot takes place at 2.58 with the band in the foreground.
- At this point the band are signified as leaning towards a young female audience.

Stripped [Black Celebration][1986]


- Last video to be directed by Peter Care. Depeche Mode by now were starting to gain a much darker sound than previously, and the video follows this change. They were now classed as "darkwave".
- The video uses very dark lighting, and more gothic aspects such as smoke are included to match Gahan's ever more gothic lyrics.
- Lots of shots use overlay transitions which works well with the smoky appearance given to the video.
- Like with JCGE our first shot of a band member is of the singer when the vocals come in, at 0.21. We pan down to see Gahan again wearing black leathers, but here is much more gothic in appearance with black gloves, pale skin, no sunglasses.
- Blue filters have been used to further signify that almost horror style of film. This is further connoted with shots of band members holding flowers as if it were a funeral almost.
- The band are shown destroying a car with sledgehammers. No performance is shown apart from them lip syncing to the lyrics. This further signifies them as being rebellious but now with much darker tones.
- Interesting projections are used such as at 1.21 and 2.36. These very often are distorted almost as if signifying the distortion in the band's new sound.
- Lots of shots feature some sort of destuction or distortion. This video in many ways acts as a transition towards their new sound, so old aspects are featured such as Gahan's dancing, but they are clearly trying to move away from their past. In contrast to their earlier shy portrayal, they name seem miserable but confident.
- This video appeals to an older, more male audience. They have tried to include old aspects to keep old fans but a lot of the video seems to signify destroying their former image. The video is perhaps what you would expect from a rock band if there were more performance aspects.

The Anton Corbijn Years

A Question of Time [Black Celebration][1986]

- Their first video to be directed by Anton Corbijn. Many more followed...
- The video is performance/concept based, and though being his first with the band many of the techniques seen even here would be carried through all their videos.
- Opening shot is of a crowd before we cut to a close up shot of a man's face. The fact that this video features performance aspects, is a continuation from the change to more of a rock band style that I discussed about their video for stripped. If it shows they peform well live, they can tap into that audience too.
- Corbijn's trademark black and white with high contrast is seen here. This creates much darker shadows to match the dark vibe of the song.
- The narrative/concept side to the video is left ambigious so the audience can interpret it for themselves. This suggests an older, more sophisticated audience. The concept of the video is very often strange when directed by Corbijn, and this is no different.
- A technique seen here by Corbijn is to blend the concept side of the video with the band side, such as at 2.56 where Gahan and the band are seen holding the baby.
- This strange sequence with the baby acting as clock hands at 3.18 again shows Corbijn's abstract nature. It also though relates to the lyrics ("Time"). In this sequence, we also see the band posing as they lip sync. This is something we wee in other Depeche Mode/ Corbijn videos.
- The use of shadow is important as when mixed with black and white, creates some very varied tones, making it visually interesting.
- Also important is the way he combines very long takes with very quick cuts, to keep it entertaining. He also at some points cuts to the beat.
- This video shows Depeche Mode's continued efforts to disassociate themselves with their past.

Personal Jesus [Violater][1989]

- This was Corbijn's first colour music video for Depeche Mode. Even then most of the scenes are in sepia, and colour does not feature prominently.
- It also the first Depeche Mode song to centralise on a guitar riff. This could be the reason that guitars are featured at many times in the video such as at 2.34.
- Saul Austerlitz desrcribes in Money For Nothing: "Corbijn favored stark, resonant imagery for his Depeche Mode work, often invoking deserts, empty rooms, Western flavored setups, and other markers of classical muscluar individualism... Corbijn turns the Wild West into a sexual wonderland."
- Unlike many earlier Depeche Mode videos, this one does focus a lot on the woman that feature. They are now a much darker, adult orientated band focusing on sexual obsession  rather than the innocence of Just Can't Get Enough and See You.
- This video has a very dirty, grainy look to it which links to early Western films.
- Lots of use of shadow again. This is most clearly seen at 0.58 with a shot of the four band members silhoutted in an arch way.
- Lots of looking into the camera both from the men and women. This could signify the video is aimed at both men and women. There are lots of suggestive shots such as just the bottom half of a woman at 1.21 and also Martin Gore's suggestive mouth movement (which MTV cut out) at 2.17.
- Interesting jump cuts of same movement at 3.16. This is not cut in time to the beat here which is something we might expect. There are a few sequences similar to this throughout the video.
- Each shots has an artistic quality to it. Lots of use of symmetry and creative framing, and you can see how being a photographer has influenced his work. Shots such as those at 3.20 and 0.56 act almost as portraits.
- Whereas the start reflects a classic Western, once the band are inside the brothel you see the much darker side coming through. It still has Corbijn's strange quality as an auteur throughout, and the vibrant green of the car at 0.19 signifies the bizarreness that Depeche Mode and Corbijn bring to the Wild West.
- This signifies the way in which Depeche Mode have used the classic acoustic guitar in a much more modern, dance orientated way, and there desire to break boundaries.
- The video was also parodied in The Killers video for "All These Things That I've Done" which was also directed by Corbijn.

Enjoy The Silence [Violater][1990]

-Was the next single after Personal Jesus, so there are similarities in the music videos style. Was released in 1990 and is now the band's signature song.
- Wikipedia says the band originally rejected the video idea until Corbijn explained how the King represents ""a man with everything in the world, just looking for a quiet place to sit"; a king of no kingdom."
- The video is based on the bizzarre story and themes of the children's book The Little Prince. 
-From 0.00 to 0.17 we have black and white shots of the band posing until one by one they all disappear leaving just singer Gahan. They are all looking into the camera. Like in most of their videos, they all wear black leather jackets. Quickly intercutting this section is an image of a rose (which links to the album artwork for Violater and single cover).
- Lots of long shots which show the protagonist's isolation. Other than the posing band shots, the singer is alone throughout the whole video. A prime example of the is at 1.08 where a large frame, with the singer small at the bottom of the screen.
- Again aspects of lip synching are used such as at 1.00. Corbijn blurs the gap between concept and performance often in his videos.
-Like Personal Jesus, this video makes use of colour. On that topic Austerlitz says in Money For Nothing: "Corbijn favors the texture and grain of black and white stock footage for most of his videos, and when shooting in colour, often depends on an over processed, supersaturated stock that makes individual colors (like the red of Gahan's kingly robes in "Enjoy The Silence" [1990]) pop off the screen."
- More linking the of concept part to the band section is used with the shot of Gahan posing as the king at 2.10. Again this video is all about Gahan, anchoring him as the focal point of the band.
- Use of black, contrast and shadows is again vital to the video with many silhouettes used but also in the posing sequences they give it that photographic appearance.
- Makes use of natural lighting for creative purposes. The sunset for example is used to great effect.
Importantly they shot on location rather than simply in a studio.
- Filmed in the Alps, Portugal and Scotland we can suggest that this video had a fairly large budget. This was around the band's peak of success.
- Again Corbijn and this time Coldplay pay homage to the video in their video for "Viva La Vida".
- An alternate video for the song was shot by French TV with Depeche Mode performing on top of the WTC in 1990.
- Austerlitz continues to say in Money For Nothing how "his Depeche Mode videos often empahasise the archaic (kings, cowboys, shacks, lanterns, even old cars) out of a desire to frame the band's timeless qualities and the cinematic scope of their songs' landscapes."   

Suffer Well [Playing the Angel][2006]

- Depeche Mode's first music video since Useless to be directed by Corbijn again, after a 9 year gap. It turned out to be his last (to date anyway)..
- A concept music video focusing on Dave Gahan's drug problems. Gahan and his wife (who appears in the video) seem to be reflecting on the life he would have had if he had continued using drugs.
- The video is one of the few exceptions to Corbijn's black and white schemes. The video instead uses pale blues until the disco scene which features a vibrant red (link to Enjoy the Silence?). This scene also links to the album art for Playing the Angel. As does the angel at 0.57.
- There a few instances of lip-synching such as at 2.51 when backing singer Martin Gore sings along whilst dressed as a bride. Andrew Fletcher is also in this scene but for the most part this video just focuses on singer, Gahan. This shows how he has now become the focal point of the band, in the same way a singer is in a rock band.
- There are a lots of still, steady camera shots mixed in with panning shots with movement. Very often the still shots are long shots, whilst Corbijn opts for a moving frame in close ups/ mid shots. Similarly the speed of editing varies throughout.
- The video is a continuation of Corbijn's strange concepts. Like many of his works with Depeche Mode, he has the band dressing up and acting out parts.
- We can suggest the video had a fairly large budget as it is clear a set has been built for filming. Depeche Mode at this point are a huge band worldwide.

Below is a short interview with Corbijn discussing his work with Depeche Mode. Press the CC button in the bottom right of the video for subtitles unless you can speak Dutch.


I also found a lengthy interview with Depeche Mode here in which they discuss their music videos and working with Corbijn. They discuss their general disappointment when working other directors in compared their partnership with Corbijn. I have picked out some of the key parts below...

- "Øyvind Holen (interviewer): I’m finished with the B.AC. era now. So why did you start cooperating with Anton Corbijn? 

Martin Gore: We had been trying to work with Anton for quite a while, but he wasn’t interested in working with us, because he felt we were too much of a pop band, and he didn’t really like what we were doing. It was probably the third attempt when we sent him the single “A Question of Time”, and asked him if he was interested in doing a video for it. And finally he actually liked something we were doing. There was also some coincidences going on as well, because Anton’s been really important for the visual output of the band. But we also did change drastically musically around 1986 anyway, and that’s why he decided to change and work with us."

"Øyvind Holen: Do you feel he helped you with making the transition from 80’s to 90’s in a way?

Andrew Flecher: A combination of Anton’s input into the artistic side, combined with the way the music was progressing. Before Anton, we made the decision to start wearing black."

- " Today, if Anton did a video and wanted us to go on spacehoppers we’d do it, because we would know he would make it look cool."

Post Corbijn Videos 

Wrong [Sounds of the Universe][2009]


- Directed by Patrick Daughters in 2008, in the previous interview Depeche Mode discussed how they were happy with the outcome of the video. It was their 46th single.
- Nominee for "Best Short Form Music Video" at the 2009 Grammy's. Time magazine said it was the second best video of the year.
- It's a concept music video focusing on a man trapped in a car going backwards. It links to the themes of the lyrics but not directly.
- The video is shot in colour which could signify the director's attempts to seperate his work from that of Corbijn. The lighting is that typical inner city lighting with vibrant blues and yellows.
- The opening shot is an abstract shot possibly of the top of the car window.  This instantly suggests the polysemy of the video. Music videos are often polysemic as they are intended for multiple viewings.
- The second shot is a long shot of the car probably edited in reverse. A lot of the video will have been filmed in reverse to make it play back normally, if you watch the video you will understand what I mean.
- Because of the dark lighting we believe at first that there is no driver of this car. At 0.50 it becomes apparent he has been tied up and is currently unconscious. The reason for him being trapped is left as narrative enigma.
- No performance aspects are included in the video although the band do make a cameo appearance at 1.38 as people walking down the road.This in itself a big departure from previous especially the earliest ones which we nearly all performance centralised on the band. As they are now older could it be that the music is more important the band? This video in itself is a short film rather than simply a music video.
- Two main shots reoccur. One is a POV shot looking out the windscreen from the "driver"'s perspective. The other is the shot of camera going backwards. This shot has a very surreal feel to it, and in truth reminds me of the effect that a snorricam creates.
- The mask makes our protagonist unknown until the very end of the video where he breaks free (just in time to get hit by another truck!). This scene could signify that video had a large budget behind it. The mask not only distorts our view of the driver, it makes his identity irrelevant, as well as supporting the video's bizarre vibe.
- The artistic styling of the video continues where Corbijn left off. The video is strange both plotwise and visually, which fits with the themes of the actual band these days. Importantly this video is very clever and sophisticated, showing that even though Corbijn doesn't direct their videos any more, his influence is seen through the successful ones that have followed his departure.

JC - Similar Bands: New Order (Case Study)

New Order were an English New Wave/Electronic band who formed in 1980. The originate from Macclesfield and were formed by Peter Hook (Bass, Backing Vocals and Electronic Drums), Bernard Sumner (Vocals, Guitar and Synthesizers) and Stephen Morris (Drums, Electronic Drums and Synthesizers). This three started the band after Ian Curtis' suicide which led to the end of their previous band Joy Division and they moved onto New Order in the same year. They then appointed Gillian Gilbert as their keyboard player.

New order combined New Wave and Electronic Dance for their music, and became one of the most influential bands of the 1980's and one of the most influential bands for electronic music ever. The bands biggest success was the song "Blue Monday" which proved they became pioneers of dance music as it is still the biggest selling 12-inch single of all time, which made them the biggest selling band on factory records.

They first received bad criticism from Joy Division Fans and Critics as the death of Ian Curtis still over-shadowed the band. They also received criticism for their choice of band name. It was claimed there band name came from Hitlers book "Mein Kampf" which quoted "the new order of the Third Reich" and the name Joy Division originated from the prostitution wing in concentration camps mentioned in the novel "The House of the Dolls". Critics believed both names sympathised with Nazi regimes but Sumner later saying "We really, really thought it didn't have any connotations, and we thought that it was a neutral name, it didn't mean much...."

Overall New Order have released 8 studio albums, the first six were released in the hay-day of electronic music and the introduction to the 'rave' scene in the early 90's. The last two albums were released in 2001 and 2005. These two albums did not succeed as much as their predecessors.

New Order - True Faith

•  The single for True Faith was released on the 20th of July 1987 and was directed and choreographed by Philippe Decouflé.
• It is a Concept/Performance video.
• Themes, choreography and other elements of the video re-occurred in the opening ceremonies for the 1992 winter Olympics in Albertville. 
• Choreographed to the beat with the face slapping at the start of the song.
• Dark lighting in the performance shots to signify the "dark processed beats" that New Order produced.
• Shots in reverse from editing techniques signifies the surrealism of the video and abstract style the director had intended.
• Blue lighting had been used during the production of the video to anchor the sense of surrealism and mystery of the video.
• The mise-en scene used (costumes) anchors the futuristic style that electronic music had in this era.
• Camera tilts to a dutch angle in one movement, adds to the abstract style intended.
• Lyrics of the song has been translated into sign language within the videos choreography. Again it anchors the the surrealism intended and could also attract other secondary audiences.
• Large focus on lead singer throughout the video, small range of shots used to focus on him. 
• Shots start to focus on drummer and crowd dancing along to the song. New Order one of the first bands to develop the "Rave" scene.

New Order - Round & Round

• The single for Round & Round was released on the 27th of February 1989 and was directed by Patrick Jean.
• It is a concept video with a lack of shot variation.
• Consists of eight young female models. The shots types were close-ups featuring the heads and shoulders.
• The shots of the eight models were edited to black and white which contrasts the one second inter-cut shots of flowers or marbles featuring lots of vibrant colour.
• The models are speaking but no diagetic sound is heard in this video.

New Order - Blue Monday (Original Video)

• This version of the songs video was released in 1983, one year after it was recorded.
• The videos colour filters show a very retro style, signifying the bands intentions for this song to be a timeless classic in the future.
• Like True Faith choreography of the hand clapping in sync to the music.
• Simple on screen special effects with the line graphics and animations.
• Shots of the Military on screen edited with a negative/false colour filter, signifies the bands interpretations of the military of being false.
• Aged low frame rate contrasts with the art style the director has gone for with the negative colour filters.
• Military footage taken from the Falklands War. The video signifies the negativity towards the idea and Margaret Thatcher, this is anchored by the False/Negative colour filters.
• Documentary footage of bombings during the Falklands War. This time shown without colour filters. Contrasts the false colour filters used in the other shots to signify how real it was.
• Band footage has been presented as small still images that cover the screen in a mosaic fashion, other shots are very low frame rate and quality to mix in with the retro art style of the other colour filters and animation.
• The electronic music and animation used in the video both processed. Animation is a processed art form, electronic music also has a processed feel to it.
• Footage from the video game Zaxxon, again it anchors how false the Falklands war was, and like a game the war could have been stopped before you get to into it.
• Sound FX of gun shots and missiles in the song matching the visuals on screen. 

After Their massive success New Order went on hiatus for five years between the years 1993 and 1998. They came back and released the album "Get Ready" in 2001. Their most influential song from their new era was the song "Crystal" which featured a fictional band mimicking New Order called "The Killers". The band originally called "Blush Responce" changed their name to "The Killers" in RESPONSE (caps intended to exaggerate the Pun) to the New Order video. The video for Crystal also inspired the video for "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers a similar set up and lighting rig. The lead singer of The Killers, Brendon Flowers joined New Order on stage for T in the Park in 2005 for the performance of this song. Without further a due here is the video:


New Order - Crystals:

• This video was released in 2001 for the new album Get Ready. The artwork for the single is in a very similar style to the albums artwork.
• The video was directed by the Swedish director Johan Renck aka Stakka Bo.
• This video is a Performance/Concept video. The concept aspect in the video isn't as clear as others, but its the way the band playing isn't New Order.
• The video features a mocking band performing the video named the killers.
• Strobe lighting during the heavier bass riffs. Anchors the faster more upbeat style of the song. 
• The lighting rig at the back is also used as an edited filter over the top of the performance footage from the back of the band, anchors the more electronic/processed feel to the song.
• Red filter and slowed down footage achieved through editing, this is shown on screen when the song slows down. Gives the video a darker, more un-nerving feel to it. 
• Band members and invading crowd in video are much younger than New Order and their core audience. These people are used to attract a new secondary audience of teens of today.

New Order - Krafty







New Order - Krafty by aquanote
New Order - Krafty by aquanote

• This video was released on the 7th of March 2005 alongside the single release.
• It was directed by Johan Renck, the same director for the video Crystals. The styles are very different but both videos are based around younger people, maybe to draw in a larger secondary audience. 
• The camera is constantly moving in this video, signifies the intense pace of a young adults life and how their emotions are constantly moving and changing.
• This video is a concept video as the video don't match the lyrics. If they did the director would have gone for a more narrative approach to the video.
• The bright shades of colour within the setting (for example the snow and the colours within the kitchen set) signify the innocent intentions of the protagonists.
• Counter-types for the young protagonists, darker haired characters signify a more pure type of nature. The fairer haired characters usually signify the sexually active types, this theory is opposed in this video.
• Mise-en scene of the clothes and condom wrappers on the floor signifies they have just pursued in sexual activity (Ooooh Cheeky)
•  The location of the roof-tops signifies the freedom the protagonists feel in the video. 

Overall the newer style that New Order has presented is much more different to their older one. You can tell that their change in sound is to "fit in" with today's music industry. The change in style will mean they are attracting a new target audience and they know that this audience are the type who will go out and buy CD singles and contribute to the bands success in the charts. But at the same time they have moved away from their older style (they still have features which they have carried on e.g. electronic drums) which as a result has pushed away the original core audience.

Here is a Brief, light hearted interview with New Order with Jools Holland. They discuss why they formed New Order after Joy Division and the reasons why they got back together after their eight year hiatus.

Test: HD vs DV camera

This short video simply shows footage from a HD camera and footage from a DV camera, the footage is the same on both cameras.

From the video we decided that the HD camera is by far the best camera,
We decided this because,

1. The HD camera has a wide angle lense which puts up a lot more then the dv camera did. 
2. The camera can have much better focus
3. More options for filming 

Podcast 4: Test Footage

Location Vodcast

Location Scouting

We discussed and scouted many locations for the music video. One of our primarily goals was to create a music video that was engaging and interesting and as a group we believed that to create a interesting video we can't just stick to a couple locations, especially with the idea we had cooked up.

From our idea we initially thought of filming in a few places that represent isolation, a few places that represent confinement and then the a series of locations showing the actor leaving his house and arriving at a bridge.
Our first brain storm brought up the following places

The Journey

• Joel's House
•  The Street outside Joel's house
• Otley Bridge

Confinement 

• A series of locations within Joel's House such as under his stairs and under the covers on his bed.

Isolation

• Ilkley Moor
• Malham Cove
• Leeds Carpark 
• Bluebell woods 

 We narrowed the locations down only slightly in the end by removing Ilkley Moor.



Joel's Bed - Joel's House - Burley

This location will be used for some of the confiement shots, we intend on having Joel under the bed sheets panicing and then they will be a shot of him bursting up from under the sheets, this shot will be linked with a similar shot at one of the locations.

Joel's Cupboard - Joel's House - Burley

The cupboard will be used for the same purpose as the bed but in a different location.

Street - Burley

The street will be used for the shot of Joel leaving his house as well as walking down the sheet, the camera will follow him and then they will be a upward shot of the telephone lines.



Bridge - Otley

The shots at the Bridge will be the opening and closing scene, its a iconic location for us because it emulates the location used in the Greatest Hits album art. It will feature shots of the cars going past and the distance behind the bridge.

 Bluebell Woods -Ilkley

Bluebell Woods is probably our most puzzling location, it is meant to represent the mix between confinement of the trees and the isolation of being on your own in the middle of nowhere. We intend of using snorri cam shots here as well as some long shots.

Car park - Leeds

The car park in Leeds is very similar to the woods location minus the idea of confinement, its a very isolated open area. We intend of doing the same shots as we did in the woods here as well as get a few shots of the trains in the background.


Malham Cove - Malham

Malham Cove location is meant to be a contrast to the industrial nature of a lot of the other scenes, its a very scenic location with great view which will be the perfect backdrop for some shots.

Costume Vodcast

Casting & Costume

From Day 1, Our group always wanted to stick to a single character, this was simply down to two different reasons.

1. Due to the nature of our idea (refer to brainstorming posts for more on this) the idea suits one character to empathize this idea of loneliness and confinement. 
2. Because from issues that arose in the AS course year we relieased its tricky to relay on multiply actors.

We were lucky because one of the members in the group fancied himself as a actor and in the past had been in acting groups as well as acted on children's daytime TV program My Parents Are Aliens.

The Character we wanted

Even though we didn't want the character to be "Ian Curtis" (the lead singer of Joy Division for those who haven't payed attention throughout the blog) we wanted to base the character of his style and on him.

Ian "Played by Sam Riley"

Ian Curtis

We wanted the actor to fit a few characteristics,

1. Have black hair
2. Be comfortable with smoking
3. Be quite pale though this wouldn't made much difference once a black and white filter was put on.
4. Quite thin and "Scrawny"

Luckily for us Joel fit the part and without hesitation we picked him to play the part (as he was part of the group he did get a opinion on the matter and he picked himself)

Costume

Costume wise we were not planning on anything elaborate.  Like with the casting we simply wanted the character to be based on Ian Curtis slightly. This means a grey overcoat, plain trousers and ideally some smart shoes.

We managed to find a grey overcoat which we borrowed for the duration of the filming, the coat looks similar to the one seen on Ian Curtis on the book cover for Deborah Curtis's "Touching from the distance"


The coat is vital to the characters image so we spent all our time collecting this.
Our actor Joel had a pair of black canvas pumps as well as indigo skinny jeans which he wore to each shoot.
         In one shoot he wore a pair of Nike high tops due to the damp and cold weather in the woods we filmed in and canvas pumps are not good to wear in wet weather so we decided it was no use having a ill actor. Luckily for us the shoes are not as noticeable in the rough cuts.

The casted actor in his costume
(ignore the snorri cam, that isn't part of his costume)

Annototated Lyric Sheet

Music Video: Story Boards & Animatic

 

 Click to enlarge

To begin experimenting with how the shots will flow and the duration of each one, we felt it would be useful for us to adapt this storyboard into the form of an animatic.

  

Idea's Considered + Vodcast

Me and my group considered a lot of other ideas before we settled on our final idea.
As seen on previous posts we considered other songs by other bands for instance we spent a few lessons with the intentions of working on "See Emily Play" by Pink Floyd until we decided to change ideas (and a little later we relieased they was already a video for SEP.




We also considered using other Joy Division songs such as "Shadowplay" & "New Dawn Fades" before we eventually settles on "Disorder", we decided on disorder in the end because the lyrics fit the theme we wanted the video to have.

From day 1 we wanted an idea that revolved around recovering from drugs, and when we decided on disorder we instantly decided to work around the idea of Cold Turkey & Drug addiction.

Our initial idea then contained all our knowledge around these themes so i used my initiative and decided to explain my groups idea on a Joy Division Forum and ask for some feedback on the idea, little did i know that this would be a good step in our project.

Rest of information is on video below and feedback from forum is below that.



Idea

Rebranding

Rebranding

Test Footage + Feedback

As a way of promoting our idea to our class as well as us testing out our idea and seeing how well it would work on film and after editing, we produced a test footage video.
    We filmed the opening then a long sequence showing one of the key ideas we are working with during the video. We used the person we intend on using as the character, and we didn't use any set dress or costumes, and we only used one location we intend on filming at.

We edited the footage after we filmed it to give it a black and white effect (a recurring motif with Corbijn and Joy Division), we also used chroma key for one of the opening shots.

This is the video.





Plus we were lucky enough to get some detailed feedback.

We also collected some feedback from a showing in our class. The feedback we got is below.

Audience Feedback:

• For the bedroom scene we could show have a multilayered camera effect so signify the sence of difficulty and confusion with the protaganist.

• Ian Curtis used to have a very iconic "jigg" on stage, maybe we could replicate that in a few shots, to link/refer to his epilepsy.

• Shots of protagnist confined within a crowd.

• Increased amount of high angles used to signify his addictions power over him.

• If we use fish eye lense in our actual production we could cut between fisheye and normal lense quite rapidly, increase the sense of disorientation.



Podcast 3: Ideas ideas ideas

Anton Corbijn - Research

Anton Corbijn is a dutch photographer, music video director and film director. Most note able for his work as visual director for Depeche Mode and U2.

He has worked with Joy Division on two occasions, firstly he directed 1 out of their 2 songs, He worked on Atmosphere. Atmosphere contained characters wearing black-hooded cloaks and white burial shrouds which walked around at some parts carried objects with stills of band members performing on. What makes this video important is the art style used which Anton is famous for. He used black and white filters on the video to create a style that JD is known for.

Anton also worked with JD (though this was after they finished) on a feature film called Control which is a 2007 black-and-white biographical film about Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.

                                                                   

 Anton's style is seen over alot of other pieces of his work, especially on his photography and work with Depeche Mode. He used black and white filters for large parts of his videos such as DM's Enjoy The Silence.

As well as his photography (below)

We are planning on using Anton's black and white filters as inspiration for our music video as we intend on trying to copy his style for two reasons, to follow Joy Divisions visual style and because personally we love the style.

JD- Disorder- Ideas 2 - Brainstorming

After discussing our preliminary idea with the group and receiving some good responces from a audience with a age which is the same as ours we progressed into coming up with more ideas.

      Alot of the ideas we have come up with progress from earlier ideas as well as have been taken from real music videos and band material which were used for inspirations.

1. As well as having the shots of extreme isolated locations such as Malham Cove (which we mentioned in the previous idea post) We will also cut to locations of extreme confinement, such as a cupboard or a box. The character will be in these locations and the shots will jump around alot, This idea is similar to the isolation idea as during the video the shots will jump to these locations.
2. We are planning on setting the video (when the character is walking down the street) is a area of urban decay, this will fit in with the history of Joy Division. As the band hailed from Manchester and from a area of council flats and old buildings.
3. The video will be shot in colour but during post production we intend on changing the majority of the video to black and white (part which won't be in black and white are TBC) the black and white follows the codes and conventions of alot of the band material of JD and follows the style that Anton Corbijn uses in his video Atmosphere for JD and in other videos he created for bands such as Depeche Mode
4. They is a iconic photo of the band members from JD which was used as the Greatest Hits album art. The photo is of a iron bridge in black and white which has been snowed on, the band are on the far side of the bridge milling around. As well as excellent framing the photo really captures the atmosphere of the band. We plan on using a shot and location like it in our video. The bridge will be a recurring location in the video with the video starting on the bridge and at the end of the video the character will end up on the bridge and will repeat what happened at the start.
5. Another idea is that as well as the scenes of isolation and confinement we will feature scenes of the character is bed suffering from drug withdrawal, he will be withering around and they will be a lot of jumpy shots, possibly some dutch angles and lots of effects such as flashing lights. We used the cold turky scene from Trainspotting (1996) as inspiration and ideas.
6. When it comes to timing we had a few ideas, before the song kicks in we are planning on having the central protagonist light up a ciggarette on the bridge previously mentioned.
7. When the song kicks in he will walk towards the edge and peer over.
8. At 0.06 seconds when the bass kicks in it will jump to the character stumbling out of his doorway.
9. When the character is walking down the street, have shots from behind his feet. similar to the ones from a fan made video for Jesus Christ by Brand New (YTB).
10. Snorri Cam shots. This is a camera that will attach to the actor and will be used to show his discomfort and facial expression. It has been used extensively in the film Requiem For A Dream (2000)

Snorri Cam

1.