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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Work of Director-Anton Corbijn (2005)

The Work of Director-Anton Corbijn (2005)

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Released 24-Jan-2007

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Documentary Main Menu Audio & Animation
Audio Commentary
TV Spots-MTV Promos
Featurette-Behind The Scenes-U2 - The Making of Electrical Storm
Short Film-Some Yo Yo Stuff
Music Video-Travis - Love Will Come Through
Music Video-Depeche Mode -It's No Good
Music Video-Hockey - Palais Schaumburg
Music Video-Front By Front - Front 242
Interviews-Cast & Crew-NotNa
Booklet
Credits
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2005
Running Time 118:07
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By None Given
Studio
Distributor

Madman Entertainment
Starring Joseph Arthur
Bono
Nick Cave
Adam Clayton
Kurt Cobain
Anton Corbijn
Pete DeFreitas
Depeche Mode
Andy Dunlop
Andrew Fletcher
Peter Gabriel
David Gahan
Martin Gore
Case Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI $29.95 Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio Varies Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
French
German
Spanish
Italian
Dutch
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

The work of director – Anton Corbijn marks the sixth volume of the series from The Directors Label. The Dutch music video director is also a well known photographer who began his career with New Musical Express and has photographed a multitude of artists, musicians and actors. Anton Corbijn’s name is synonymous with the Post Punk movement as he collaborated predominately with Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen and created raw unpretentious images of his subjects through their music videos. Corbijn has also collaborated with such artists as U2 for the music videos One (original version) and Electrical Storm as well as the influential electronic band Depeche Mode for the music videos Behind the Wheel, Enjoy the Silence (first version) and Barrel of a Gun. In the nineties Corbijn directed the award winning music video Heart-Shaped Box for Nirvana.

Corbijn’s style is enduring and unique as the director refrained from technical trickery, and instead opted for simple ideas which focused on the emotion of the songs and the humanity of the artists. There are some notable videos left off this compilation including Personal Jesus for Depeche Mode, Do I Have to Say the Words? and Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman? for Bryan Adams, Delia's Gone for Johnny Cash, Love & Tears for Naomi Campbell and Salvation for Roxette, however the 26 music videos chosen for this compilation give a wonderful insight into how Anton Corbijn visualises music and portrays artists. It is also interesting to view this compilation in light of the Corbijn’s forthcoming feature length film Control: The Ian Curtis film, which is a biopic concerning the life of the late Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division. The film is based on the book Touching From a Distance, written by Curtis' wife, Deborah.

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Track Listing

1. Dr. Mabuse - Propaganda
2. Red Guitar - David Sylvian
3. Seven Seas - Echo & the Bunnymen
4. Quiet Eyes - Golden Earring
5. The Game - Echo & the Bunnymen
6. Behind the Wheel - Depeche Mode
7. Atmosphere - Joy Division
8. My Secret Place - Joni Mitchell
9. Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode
10. One (dir.cut) - U2
11. Straight To You - Nick Cave ...
12. Walking In My Shoes - Depeche Mode
13. Heart-Shaped Box - Nirvana
14. Liar - Henry Rollins
15. Hero of the Day - Metallica
16. Mama Said - Metallica
17. Barrel of a Gun - Depeche Mode
18. It's No Good - Depeche Mode
19. Bleibt Alles..- Herbert Grönemeyer
20. Opus 40 - Mercury Rev
21. Goddess on a Hiway - Mercury Rev
22. In The Sun - Joseph Arthur
23. Mensch - Herbert Grönemeyer
24. Electrical Storm - U2
25. Re-Offender - Travis
26. All These Things... - The Killers

Transfer Quality

Video

All the music videos are unfortunately presented in 1.33:1 Full Frame. No content on this DVD is 16x9 enhanced. The music videos have been encoded at an average bit rate of 6.25 Mbps over a dual-layer, single-sided DVD. Corbijn is known for filming in black and white and using grainy film and due to the high encoding bit rate the images remain sharp and defined. Colour is also true and vibrant, in particular for the videos Straight To You and Heart-Shaped Box. The early black and white videos such as Dr. Mabuse, Seven Seas and My Secret Place have visible film artefacts while the later black and white productions are pristine, such as All These Things That I've Done. Into the Sun unfortunately has evident aliasing artefacts, while Walking In My Shoes and One have visible cross colouration artefacts. There are no subtitle options available for the music videos.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

The single audio Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is clear and well suited to the genre of the music video. There are no encoding errors however surround sound and subwoofer usage is limited. Overall a pleasing and suitable soundtrack considering the type of content on this DVD.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Main Menu Audio & Animation

The main menu is designed with many different ways to access the content. An animated figure driving a car passes buildings with each artist/band name. Select the desired building-artist/band to access a menu which lists the music videos and available commentaries for that particular artist/band. Otherwise select the music video option to play the music videos in chronological order, random order or play all with commentaries. The menu is scored with atmospheric noise and if the user takes too long to select, a car horn is heard.

Audio Commentary

As with the previous DVD releases the audio commentaries are sourced from interviews. The following music videos have optional commentaries which discuss why the artist choose to work with Corbijn and how they feel about the final product. Many of the artists are brutally honest; Nick Cave reveals he doesn’t care for the video Straight to You, while Lars Ulrich reveals the behind the scenes artistic differences. However all the artist’s respect Corbijn and his unique approach to the creation of a music video as he remains faithful to the themes and tone of the song:

Dr. Mabuse by Propaganda

· Commentary by Claudia Brücken

Seven Seas by Echo and the Bunnymen

· Commentary by Ian McCulloch

Behind the Wheel by Depeche Mode

· Commentary by David Gahan

Atmostphere by Joy Division

· Commentary by Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner

Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode

· Commentary by David Gahan

One (director's cut) by U2

· Commentary by Bono

Straight to You by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

· Commentary by Nick Cave

Walking in My Shoes by Depeche Mode

· Commentary by David Gahan

Hero of the Day by Metallica

· Commentary by Lars Ulrich

It's No Good by Depeche Mode

· Commentary by David Gahan

Bleibt Alles Anders by Herbert Grönemeyer

· Commentary by Herbert Grönemeyer

Opus 40 by Mercury Rev

· Commentary by Grasshopper

Goddess on a Highway by Mercury Rev

· Commentary by Grasshopper

In The Sun by Joseph Arthur

· Commentary by Joseph Arthur

Mensch by Herbert Grönemeyer

· Commentary by Herbert Grönemeyer

Electrical Storm by U2

· Commentary by Bono

· Commentary by Samantha Morton

Re-Offender by Travis

· Commentary by Francis Healy

NotNa - A documentary about Anton (40:36)

This is an excellent documentary featuring the expanded interviews which were used for the commentaries, as well as an interview with Corbijn discussing his career in depth. The styles and the stories behind the music videos are all discussed from Bono’s father’s appearance in One to a discussion of Heart-Shaped Box with archival interviews with Kurt Cobain. Interviews with Martin Gore and Michael Stipe are also included as well as rare behind the scenes footage of a photo-shoot featuring Iggy Pop. A number of Corbijn’s photographic stills and artwork are also discussed. Optional subtitles are available for this feature.

U2 - The Making of Electrical Storm (7:23)

This feature includes interviews with Corbijn, U2 and Samantha Morton on location discussing the production. Optional subtitles are available for this feature.

Depeche Mode - It's No Good tour projections (4:43)

This is the alternate music video for the title song, recorded as a screen projection for the Exciter Tour.

Don Van Vliet -Some YoYo Stuff (4:30)

An experimental short film by Don Van Vliet, who is a musician and visual artist who is also known as Captain Beefheart. Optional subtitles available for this feature.

Travis - Love Will Come Through (3:38)

A home made video with Fran Healy.

Palais Schaumburg - Hockey (3:11)

Corbijn’s début music video.

Front 242 - Front By Front (4:40)

Music Video for the Belgian electronic music group.

MTV Promos

Booklet

The 56 page booklet features hand drawn notes by Corbijn with rare photographs and drawings.

Credits (1:22)

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

The NTSC R1 and PAL R4 are identical in terms of features.

Summary

A wonderful insight into how Anton Corbijn visualises music and portrays artists. The DVD content is unfortunately of average quality, however the extra feature content and the presentation of the DVD is very good.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Vanessa Appassamy (Biography)
Monday, March 12, 2007
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-1910, using DVI output
DisplayPanasonic PT-AE 700. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with THX Optimizer.
AmplificationYamaha DSP-A595a - 5.1 DTS
Speakers(Front) DB Dynamics Polaris AC688F loudspeakers,(Centre) DB Dynamics Polaris Mk3 Model CC030,(Rear) Polaris Mk3 Model SSD425,(Subwoofer) Jensen JPS12

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