Links with TV/Film

With Film:

Control [Anton Corbijn][2007]:
Plot (from IMDB): A profile of Ian Curtis, the enigmatic singer of Joy Division whose personal, professional, and romantic troubles led him to commit suicide at the age of 23.

This film acted as our most useful source of inspiration. Directly linked to the subject matter, director Anton Corbijn will have had to make the same choices as us for how to best capture the spirit of Joy Division. Sam Riley's near-perfect performance as Ian Curtis helped us as music video makers create Curtis' tortured character, and Riley's performance was a huge help for our own actor.
A few of our shots link to some of those used in the film such as the telephone wire sequence. It also helped further our location scouting, to find suitable places to feature. It didn't have a huge budget, and was filmed in Nottingham, England. These are two important factors we have to deal with too.
Corbijn makes use of black and white as always, and the deep contrast of tones is again something we hope our video will capture. The film is a great portrayal of who Joy Division and Ian Curtis were, and therefore a massive help for us.

Requiem For A Dream [Darren Aronofsky][2000]:
Plot (from IMDB): The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island individuals are shattered when their addictions become stronger.

Requiem deeply explores what it is to be a drug addict. The cast are young and poor, which again shows a link with our protagonist. His protrayal of the emotions behind addiction is fascinating because of it's intensity and the way it grabs it's audience's attention. The film is tragic, but if we can capture the similar emotions behind the piece, our music video should be successful.
It's also shot very artistically. Aronofsky is an auteur, and we have been inspired by him in terms of how we plan to film our music video. Particularly important is his use of a snorricam (featured on a previous post) that will also be used in our own production. The snorricam puts it's audience in a very surreal manner, and is great for capturing your protagonists emotion in a strikingly different way.

Trainspotting [Danny Boyle][1996]:
Plot (from IMDB): Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends. 

Again a film about addiction to drugs, Danny Boyle takes a slightly different spin on it. This film though intense, also makes use of comedy. It's set in Scotland, which in itself is a variation on Requiem. This will be particularly useful for looking at the representation of drugs and addicts in Britain.
The cold turkey scene used in the film inspired our sequence. We plan to make ours slightly more ambigious but at the same time, we still want to use similar type of shots and emotions.


With TV:

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

Shane Meadow's television programme again offers insight into the troubled lives of young, working class people in Britain. Though the subject matter itself is not directly linked, the sheer devastation and power of his work will inspire our own.
  The programme is also set just five years after Ian Curtis' death, making it very comparable with the film Control. The useof council flat estates, is another aspect we are considering for our own production.

Importantly all of the above inspirations have fairly low budgets, and are all artistic in their own right. Most represent working-class British youth, and they all protray tortured individuals. These are all vital factors we must deeply consider when making our own production, especially when taking into account the serious subject matter.