Title: Joy Division – Disorder (Alternative Music Video)
Date: 7/12/2020
The objective of this project was to produce a music video for a track of our choice. The brief outlined that it was to be produced for a researched and targeted audience. This meant extensive research had to be carried out, surrounding both the artists themselves and their audience. My choice of band, Joy Division, posed an interesting challenge. As the band has existed for over 40 years, the characteristics of the audience would have likely evolved over that time. I assumed this before research began but needed to evidence this with references.
I carried out secondary research in tandem with my prior knowledge, to create foundational ideas. At this stage I knew I wanted to convey themes of mental and physical health, in reflection of the band’s frontman Ian Curtis, who suffered from epilepsy and depression. Due to this I was inclined to produce this video in the narrative genre. I then backed my initial concepts by creating a Google Forms questionnaire to break down the target demographics and what they desire from such a production. As I had suspected, I discovered that the ages of the audience surrounded key time periods. Those 40 and above, naturally grew up in time with the band. Then those in their 20s and below are in a period experiencing a resurgence in 1980s popular culture. Which meant that the age bracket in between presented a significantly lower frequency. Many of the participants, stated that the song conveyed many negative emotions, such as anxiety, confusion, isolation and the like. This in turn suggested to me that I would need a fast pace and handheld style to portray these intense feelings.
Reaching the production stage presented itself to be quite a challenge. Due to lockdown restrictions, I was forced to change my location and storyboards several times. Though I was unable to film in my desired location of Salford, the bands hometown, I found my local area of Redditch could still portray feelings of urban isolationism.
When it came to actually shooting the video, it was a relatively simple process. Using a Canon XHA1, I was able to shoot in the 4:3 aspect ratio which I felt strongly conveyed feelings of both nostalgia and claustrophobia. The greatest challenge came from the tracking shot early in the video. I experimented with various grips such as Steadicams but finally opted for a dolly to obtain this shot. However, as I was working individually, aside from my actor, I was unable to operate both the camera and dolly simultaneously. This meant I required the assistance of one my peers to act as a temporary grip, which led to one of the strongest shots featured.
Post-production was a quick process and an enjoyable platform of experimentation which allowed me to develop my personal editing style. Here I found that colouring the film to black and white would reflect the mood of the track as well as the bands dark coloured aesthetic. Primarily though I found it beautifully contrasted with my traffic light footage which remained in colour. I felt this reinforced the idea of overwhelming emotions racing through the mind of a misanthropic character.
Storyboard Comparison
Overall, the final piece received predominantly positive feedback, and any criticism it did receive was generally constructive. Prominent criticisms were of lighting and narrative. The former I am in full agreement with, it is not massively weak but definitely an area of desired improvement for me. The latter I understand, but my intentions with this video were to create a fairly ambiguous narrative which the viewer could take whatever they related to from it. Most did offer valid interpretations which aligned with what I had largely attempted to represent, but I can also see how it could lose some viewers. Despite all this, I feel it is a project in which I have demonstrated my strongest directing, cinematography and editing to date. Additionally, it has been the most demanding project thus far in terms of challenges but, due to this, also the most rewarding. As an example of some of my proudest creative achievements and appreciation of music I feel this is a solid representation of my work.
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