CINEMATIC Depeche Mode etc French New Wave German Expressionism

IN THIS POST:

Examples of music videos with clear cinematic influence: their media language is at least partly taken from cinema.

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A filmic or cinematic approach is one means by which you can make your video stand out from the crowd, and there are plenty of examples of that. Who could possibly forget the following, most unlikely, death metal video which takes its cues from 1910s silent movies?!

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We discussed the idea of taking such a direct filmic influence (albeit one that can be applied loosely and still be recognisable/readable) as the French New Wave [tag] and applying to music video, looking at some possible examples, and inspiration seemed to flow...
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POLICY OF TRUTH



STRANGELOVE
using the bands' record label as a recurrent motif (leitmotif) is an interesting idea...


PERSONAL JESUS
A little bit like iconic UK Indie filmmaker Alex Cox's Straight to hell, here we have a spaghetti western setup with mixed signifiers of past and present and multiple film stocks used.


NEVER LET ME DOWN AGAIN (remastered video)
French New Wave influences to the fore ... Road movie, also featuring singer Gahan in a two-shot with an archetypal peasant. The shot where the wind going through the wheat field is timed with the music is a great example of not just cutting to the beat but matching the rhythm of footage to the track. We get not just any car but a mightily unusual car (and one that signifies a 60s setting too).

CLEAN
a decidedly odd video for a major act: we see a band member, Martin Gore, watching a movie with his gal of a couple in bed ... and thats it


A QUESTION OF TIME
A motorbike with sidecar. A baby. More babies (with a series of jump cuts). Sort of a road movie. A baby crawling around a clock face. Using the old-fashioned cop shades. Brilliant.


YOUTUBE SEARCH FOR 'FRENCH NEW WAVE'
Brings up a lot of useful videos.

FINAL CUT PRO X CAMERA EMULATOR PLUGIN
As raised when looking at these, you can emulate super-8 and 16mm (etc) cameras by purchasing FCPX plugins (this one is $50 - you may need to buy it yourself and carry edited clips from your own Mac to a school one).

TRIPTYKON - Aurorae

This + another Triptykon vid + a Celtic Frost (A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh) vid are all excellent examples of more abstract narratives that would have Vernallis spitting with rage at the very use of the term...

BTW...note that there's a REMASTERED DM vid above (Never Let Me Down Again) demonstrating the 'long tail' concept; the value of back catalogue - conversely the Celtic Frost is only 360p - their record label don't think there's enough money to be made from it to bother updating the quality of their upload.

In Aurorae we see a very specific, intertextualised (with Nosferatu - which you can watch on YT as well) simulacra of German expressionism here (338).

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