Jeff has been a Depeche Mode fan since the mid 80's. He still has the pin from his first DM show - June 18th, 1986 at the Kingswood Music Theatre for the Black Celebration tour. Through the years, he has gently forced Amy to become one, as well...and now their kids can sing more of their songs than anything released lately. The most requested road trip album is always "The Singles 81-85". Had the family car had a tape deck instead of an auxiliary port, it might just be "Speak and Spell" or "A Broken Frame" or "Black Celebration".
It was on one of these family car trips to somewhere while listening to this version when Amy suggested that a music video should be made. Jeff immediately laughed - although it would be epic, there really wouldn't be any time in our busy lives to devote to a properly made music video. Being a former Theatre School student, Jeff understood the complete and total commitment to craft a piece of performance art; besides, he reasoned, they were photographers not videographers! There was no video equipment in the arsenal...
And then a Nikon was purchased with 4K video capabilities.
And the new iPhones they received did pretty good videos.
And COVID-19 hit.
Suddenly, lack of time was an excuse that Jeff could no longer rely on...all the equipment was there. And these two photographer parents were looking for teaching moments for two children who were thrust into a home schooling environment... Why not get the kids to help make a music video? What an awesome project! What kid wouldn't love to do something like this?
It started strong. A video production meeting was scheduled with a industry professional on quarantine (thanks, TAT!) and intelligent questions were asked by the kids. We began a shot list. First shots went great - kids filmed quick snippets of the lights, cleaned (sort of) all the dusty old cameras and learned how to modify window light with a blanket. We then started to take photos of all of our camera gear…and thats when interest was lost. And the shot list was never again referred to. And March turned into April.
Tired of having all the studio equipment lying about, Amy laid down the law. When was this thing going to get done?
The first weekend in May was selected, and it was gorgeous. And hot! Saturday was reserved for the “modern” shots, while Sunday was to be 80’s day. After all, who wants to do hair and make up twice? Jeff had a few shots in mind, but most were off the cuff…making it up as he went along. Thankfully, he had lots of time to come up with them, as Amy had a really hard time keeping a straight face! She made him face the other direction when she was mouthing the words “I Take Pictures". Photographic Pictures. The Right Light. Dark Room.”. Multiple takes were needed as you will see on the Blooper Reel below.
(While we’re here, we do not use a Dark Room anymore...we use Lightroom. But we are still always searching for The Right Light. And do not be fooled when you search the web for these lyrics - it is The Right Light, not Bright Light. Any photographer worth their salt is looking for right over bright!)
Sunday got off to an early start. Make up was applied, Jeff’s beard was shaved and Amy’s hair was crimped…okay, we couldn’t find a crimping iron so Amy’s hair was braided the night before. Same look! Hairspray and a bit of teasing and we were off!
The first studio shots went quickly, as we simply recreated what was done the previous day. Amy held it together for a bit…but was still very giving in the blooper department. Then we collected all our gear and went outside - we are blessed to have a ravine in our backyard, so we could keep physically distant while shooting outdoors. We walked up the street, received some strange looks, then deked into the first part of the trail.
There is no way Jeff could dress in all black anymore like he did in the 80’s. Turtlenecks. Long sleeves. Leather. The sweating was profuse.
The first concept for the outside shots was a photographic chase scene; both Amy and Jeff running around with their cameras, making it look like they’re after each other, ending with a “Hungry Like The Wolf”-type end shot - which, when researched, is TOTALLY different in reality to how Jeff remembered it in his head from “Toronto Rocks!” on City-TV. After the first series of running shots, Amy got perturbed. She sat off to the side, looking around while Jeff set up the camera…and Jeff had a vision.
It was decided while shooting that Jeff would chase and Amy would just…hang around and look fabulous!
We had a blast doing this. We tried to include lots of little details that any photographer would find amusing, as well as create bit of an homage to the band by replicating (very badly) Dave Gahan dance moves and copying some of the iconic visuals from a host of their older videos. And Jeff got to explain to Amy what he meant by a Kraftwerk shot…
On a side note, it is amazing how much longer a "shot" in music videos from the 80's are. There are much fewer cuts, and the action is much less frantic...allowing time for the visuals to develop the story line. Go back and watch them. In the year 2020, the instinct is to make clips much, much shorter and the edit much, much quicker!
It was a long time in coming, from the initial idea to the final completed product, but we hope that you think it’s as funny as we do! We try not to take ourselves too seriously…
Enjoy!
Amy & Jeff