S Club 7-S Club Party Live (2001) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Music |
Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Spotlight On 7 Web Links Gallery-Photo Booklet Poster |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2001 | ||
Running Time | 85:32 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (55:54) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | Hamish Hamilton |
Studio
Distributor |
Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring | S Club 7 |
Case | Flexbox | ||
RPI | $36.95 | Music | S Club 7 |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes, a montage of clips from the concert |
S Club 7 -- S Club Party Live is a concert DVD featuring the group S Club 7 performing 'live' at the Manchester Evening News Arena.
S Club 7 are singers, dancers and actors/models. As a group of pop singers, they achieved platinum sales worldwide with their debut album S Club. You may recall their debut single Bring It All Back which was an international hit. As a group of actors, their television series S Club 7 in Miami and S Club 7 in L.A. have been syndicated globally.
S Club 7 were created by former Spice Girls manager and talented pop guru Simon Fuller. The group (Tina Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O'Meara, Hannah Spearritt and Rachel Stevens) were selected during an exhaustive series of auditions involving more than 10,000 young performers throughout Europe.
The concert features the group performing 17 of their songs, including their hits Don't Stop Movin', Bring It All Back and S Club Party. The photography and lighting are sublime, and the concert boasts great art direction and set design. The synchronised singing and dancing is very polished, and the crowd of fans are very enthusiastic.
This is a quality production, and a great DVD for fans.
1. Don't Stop Movin' 2. You're My Number One 3. Friday Night 4. Our Time Has Come 5. Stand By You 6. Two In A Million 7. I Really Miss You 8. She;s Out Of My Life 9. You | 10. Natural 11. Bring It All Back 12. Viva La Fiesta 13. Never Had A Dream Come True 14. Bring The House Down 15. Love Train 16. Reach 17. S Club Party |
The transfer is faultless. This is the first time I have ever been able to use that term in a review.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.
The image is razor sharp and contains an amazing amount of detail. The black level and shadow detail are perfect.
The DVD features bright primary colours in both the lighting and costumes. The flesh tones are accurate.
There are no MPEG artefacts, film-to-video artefacts, or film artefacts.
There are no subtitles on this DVD. I imagine this would be disappointing to some young fans who may wish to follow the song lyrics, and sing along.
This is a RSDL disc, with the layer change placed between Chapters 13 and 14, at 55:54. It is noticeable as it occurs during the introduction to a song..
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Overall |
There are two audio tracks on this DVD, a default English Dolby Digital 2.0 track and an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. I think the DVD could really have benefited from a PCM track. While the audio tracks have great fidelity, they lack some of the dynamic range that I have heard on other music DVDs.
The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent on both audio tracks.
The music is obviously S Club 7's mainstream pop music, which is aimed at young teenage girls. It features positive lyrics and uplifting themes of friendship and love. Apart from their recognisable hits such as Don't Stop Movin', Bring It All Back and S Club Party, there is also the hip-hop inspired Friday Night, the funky You, and the Cuban rhythms of Viva La Fiesta. I would hate to accuse them of miming this concert, but I did find it odd that despite their very energetic dancing, often involving flips and break-dancing, they sang note-perfect throughout, and sounded exactly like their CD.
In regards to the English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track, there is some surround presence and activity. The surround sound mix is quite front-heavy, but the rear speakers are used effectively to provide ambience, such as the crowd at 16:05 and 21:01. This maintains a nice soundfield while keeping the viewer firmly focussed on the screen.
The subwoofer is not called on a great deal, but there is some deep bass during some of the songs, such as during Our Time Has Come.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
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Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The extras are slim, but squarely aimed at their target market.
An animated menu, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.
Spotlight On 7
This allows the viewer to select their favourite S Club 7 member and watch a montage of clips of that person set to S Club 7 music. This extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with a choice of either Dolby Digital 2.0 or Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.
A link to S Club 7's fan site on the Internet (www.sclub.com).
A series of stills from the concert presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.
Two small colour glossy posters are folded inside the case.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Surprisingly, I cannot find any reference to this DVD overseas, even among outlets that sell a vast array of S Club 7 videos and other merchandise.
This DVD is a must-have for any fans of S Club 7. While I cannot really claim to being a fan of the group, I do like a few of their songs, and I also admired their very polished performance.
The video quality is excellent.
The audio quality is very good.
The extras are for the young fans.
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Extras | |
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Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using S-Video output |
Display | Grundig Elegance 82-2101 (82cm, 16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Sony STR DE-545 |
Speakers | Sony SS-V315 x5; Sony SA-WMS315 subwoofer |