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Transforming Concert Tours into Film, Encountering Jonathan Demme
Leaving Brian Eno, the band self-produced “Speaking In Tongues,” a danceable album with a new wave disco vibe. The film “Stop Making Sense” chronicles the tour that accompanied the album’s release.
The film was directed by Jonathan Demme, who would later become known for Silence of the Lambs. The idea for the film came about after Jonathan Demme saw a concert at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Despite the difficulties in raising funds for the film (the band itself raised most of the $1.2 million production cost), they managed to make it a reality, documenting three days of live performances at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood in December 1983 with seven cameras.
Demi’s appeal lies in her use of long shots and her sense of bringing out the raw charm of her subjects. These characteristics, which can be seen in the music videos for “Silence of the Lambs” and New Order’s “The Perfect Kiss,” are also on full display in this film.
Most live-performance films tell the story of a band, with the band performing, the audience going wild, and the band interviewing in the insert. But what about this film? The interviews are eliminated, and the camera is kept strictly in the “audience’s point of view. What this creates is a raw sensation as if you were there. The audience of the film “experiences” the 90-minute frenzy in the same way as the audience at the venue.
