Ramble, rant or reminisce, this is an artist’s opportunity to pen their own Clash article.
This issue, music writer and scene face Princess Julia says, ‘Do It Yourself’.
“In today’s musical climate visual communication is key for bands, singers and clubs alike. In the early-’80s, as we all know, MTV proved a pivotal moment for the pop video to evolve, custom-made with a view to airplay – poptastic film and live coverage endlessly played out on our TV screens.
All this meant big budgets and lavish production that the bigger labels could afford. In the affluent ’80s, our pop stars became superheroes exploring their own their own drama, three-minute epics, or, in the case of Michael Jackson, epilogues filmed in glamourous locations and film studios propped up to the nines with fantastical storylines and extras.
The so-called ‘underground’ scene relied on snatches of Super 8 film, lo-fi endeavors pieced together that have since become rather novel in their niavete, verging on arthouse sensibilities in order to get a message across. At the time film maker and artist John Maybury used the pop video format to breach and explore new and instant technologies. Working with Neneh Cherry, Marc Almond and Sinead O’Connor, he stepped up and embraced the pop video as a bridge between his original art films and full-length features. As for me, I became fascinated early on, being part of Visage’s ‘Fade To Grey’ and working with Godley and Creme – who created this seminal video – intrigued me. At the time the digital age seemed like something out of Star Trek – the original series! But here we were filming straight-to-screen in a set-up that resembled something not far away from Dr. Who’s Tardis.
Technology really has moved on! Today’s version of Super 8 could be on your phone. Computers have made available not only the recording of instant music but instant film, and yes, I am stating the obvious perhaps, but come on, let’s all make a pop video! Face facts: we’re all film makers now… as well as DJs, photographers and musicians.
The world of the App is empowering us to record snatches of memory and thus create something that appears everlasting, which seems to be a thing that us humans are addicted to – overwhelming evidence suggests that mankind likes nothing more than to record his own activities and tell everyone about it – me included! So much for futurism – nostalgia also has its place.
Film maker and photographer Emmaalouise Smith creates something which resembles early film noir when working with her boyfriend Brandon Jacobs’ band Good Night And I Wish*. Seeking out dead film stock, she puts things together in a very traditional way – processing film and waiting for the result can be a lengthy process, but she says: “I love the way the film is so unpredictable, but there’s a quality which gives it a classicism all of its own.”
On the club scene self-expression is ripe, and the current explosion of moving images records the club event itself and the stars of clubland in full glory, soundtracked with suitable pulsating beats. Gabriel Gettman, who has worked in the realm of fashion producing experimental film shorts, recently concocted a film for Circus. For his version he sliced together a clever collage of stylish club goers in full colour attack. Photographer Dorota Mulczynska likewise is producing film shorts directed by the artists and performers from London’s The Ace Of Clubs. At Shabba Dabba Da they regularly update and record their hedonistic nights, and over at Neo Romantic night The Face it’s all go with the posing!
Film makers Tree and Adam Carr cut a dash when they projected a vision of their night Switchblade on YouTube last year. They cleverly injected and spliced apt cult film classics into the equasion. Artistic license always hits the spot: think Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground; think Wolfgang Tillmans or Derek Jarman and the Pet Shop Boys. And perhaps that’s where today’s technology sits so well – the tools that enable us to explore the elements of creative expression and imagery combined with the notion of immediacy… Start a band, do some gigs, flip on your Flip, get editing and secure a deal!”
