The Wombats – ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’
Jasmine Blackborow
This video will be a vibrant and fantastical coming-of-age story, filled with juxtapositional imagery, retro visuals and colourful
celebrations, all underpinned by an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ style surrealism.
I want to make a narrative driven video, however a party/performance sequence would dominate the last 2/3 of the film. The
narrative follows a young boy who has outgrown childhood. At the start he seems bored, stifled and unsettled, however, after
following some simple advice (‘let’s dance to Joy Division!’) he is left at the close of the video filled with the hope, the
confusions and the celebrations that his teenage years will bring.
“I’m back in Liverpool and everything seems the same, but I worked something out last night
that changed this little boy’s brain, a small piece of advice that took 22 years”
A Joy Division cassette is put into a tape player. It rests on a pillow, propped up next to a young boy in bed. Shot in black and white, the
location is a child’s room, the mise-en-scene is early 80’s retro. By the 1st chorus the boy has had a realisation. There is an ECU of his
eyes opening wide, followed by a rushed and choppy sequence as the boy dances to Joy Division. He completely rocks out and trashes
his room.
“…take a taxi to the darker side of town, that’s where we’ll
be, and we will wait for you and lead you through the dance
floor”
The boy is now standing in a duskily lit street, with his two friends/band mates on
either side. A long arc shot semi-circles around them as they stand totally still. A
bright yellow rope appears which the boys follow, the rope serves to lead the boys
As the boys open the door they are hit with
“We’ll an overwhelming
ask likesense
for Joy Division a yellow-brick
of and road;
discovery. It’sa like
celebrate bright lightirony,
stepping
the inout
theofdreary black and
the wardrobe andwhite
into surroundings.
Narnia. The
video on the other side of the door is now saturated in colour. They Therun down
side dark
street is alleyways, up winding
filled with people, and concrete
everyonestairwells,
is dancing,trying to catch
rocking out, up with
The video and
celebrating endshappy.
with the
Theboy finally
crowd everything
are making this the
older than isboys,
going
metaphorical wrong
and transition
chase
between 16the but
from
andrope. we’re
25,hisThe
and shots
are so
childhood happy”
allwilltobe
teenage
dressed close years.
up
in wild and The boy
pacey
costumes to follows
withgive the
a sense
funny hats,of urgency,
yellow rope
glasses, once more,camera
facepaints…The this timeat into
this the crowd.
point is veryHeintrusive,
divesand
into the
to crowd,
suggest
weaving dancing
they
in between are thearound,
looking
crowd, climbing
for onto
something.
tilting up their zooming
bodies, shouldersintoandfaces.
crowdI
surfing. the
envisage Thecrowd
rope leads“Let
the boy
members the to a
shouting loveandtear
huge singing us
bucket/box apart I the
found
of confetti,
directly into which a cure
he
camera, then
pulling for
throws
funny aallfaces,
broken heart”
over dancing,
the crowd (by banging,
head sitting onposing,
someones’s
clapping,
shoulders)
laughing... and they continue to dance together amongst the colourful chaos.
