Locals breathe life into old Brit-pop hits<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Joy Division's now-deceased frontman, Ian Curtis, was surely
\ndelighted from the other side knowing that a song he penned a
\nyear before committing suicide, Love Will Tear Us Apart, has
\ninspired a bunch of young people from Bandung, West Java, to
\nshoot videos based on the hit.<\/p>\n
The song, the band's greatest hit before the advent of MTV and
\nbefore video clips became the primary means of selling a single,
\ncame to life in scores of videos recently screened at a youth
\nparty.<\/p>\n
One of the video clips, directed by Bandung Institute of
\nTechnology (ITB) student Ale Kardinale, perfectly captured the
\nmorose atmosphere, as intended by Curtis for the song.<\/p>\n
Taking its cue from one line in the song lyrics, when routine
\nbites hard and ambitions are low but the emotions won't grow ...
\nThen love will tear us apart, the video highlight the dullness of
\neveryday lives.<\/p>\n
Against the thrashing guitar and crashing drums that drive
\nsynthesizers in Love, the video opens with scenes of the hero's
\nearly morning activities, from turning off an alarm clock to
\nbrushing his teeth, all taken in rounded, close-up shots.<\/p>\n
With its cutting-edge technique the video certainly deserves
\nMTV airplay.<\/p>\n
Joy Division, however was not the only inspiration for the
\nyoung clipmakers.<\/p>\n
Another ITB student, Erik Pauhrizi, shot his video based on
\nLondon Calling, a 1980s song from punk legends the Clash.<\/p>\n
Staying true to the Clash's politically charged lyrics, the
\nvideo touches a theme for which the London-based band had a
\npenchant: antiwar sentiment.<\/p>\n
Building its drama from old and yellowing war footage and a
\ncollage of pictures and articles from local newspaper Pikiran
\nRakyat, the video was suitable as accompaniment for songs from
\nany leftist-leaning punk outfit.<\/p>\n
Eric, however, could not conceal his love for the Clash and he
\nrepeatedly inserted dozens of images of band members into the war
\nimagery.<\/p>\n
Every Clash fan would also have noticed that Eric mistook
\nLondon Calling's lyric a nuclear error but I have no fear for
\n\"nuclear era\".<\/p>\n
The two video clips and multitudes of others, which drew their
\ninspiration from other Brit-pop bands such as Pulp and Disco 2000
\nwere the work of young and talented videomakers selected by the
\nBritish Council to join its workshop on making innovative videos.<\/p>\n
In collaboration with Video Babes, a local studio that
\npromotes the development of homegrown music videos, the British
\nCouncil invited local talent to participate in workshops in
\nJakarta and Bandung at the behest of two renowned directing
\nteams, Cerahati and the Jadugar, before they were screened for
\nthe public.<\/p>\n
The British Council said that the program was aimed at giving
\nguidance to young videomakers on producing quality music videos
\nwith an edge.<\/p>\n
The program was held in the midst of a thriving local indie
\nmusic scene, which has undeniably been influenced by well-known
\nBrit-pop bands such as Joy Division, New Order and Pulp.<\/p>\n
Video Babes cofounder Ariani Darmawan said that the young
\nvideomakers were given only two days of in-class training before
\nbeing let out on the street to shoot their videos for two weeks.<\/p>\n
\"Some of the directors had not produced music videos before
\nbut the quality was no let-down,\" she told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/locals-breathe-life-into-old-brit-pop-hits-1447893297",
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