I like
to watch people dance. Classical
ballet, contemporary dance, ballroom,
even
figure-skating.
I love the dance films of the thirties, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and
what Gene Kelly did in the forties and fifties. I use the word dance film, mind
you and not musical. The dance film is like the western a genre that deals with
space. In the western we see figures in
a landscape acting out their destiny. [I
am referring especially to the westerns Anthony Mann made in the fifties :
Winchester 73, Bend of the river, The man from Laramie.] In a dance film
dancers move through rooms, through walls, through time. They are in control of
space, defying architecture, landscape.
Dancing is probably the ultimate freedom.
The
dance film went in decline is the sixties, but came back with the music video.
In 2015
music video director Dawn Shadforth made the music video Lights for
Hurts, a synthesizer-based duo
featuring vocalist Theo Hutchcraft and keyboardist/guitarist Adam Anderson. Lucy Martin is the blonde club-goer and Theo Hutchcraft plays the guy, who seems to be completely soused. The
choreography was developed with Theo
Hutchcraft and Callum Powell. The clip was shot in two days by the talented director of photography Robbie Ryan. Ryan has worked with Andrea
Arnold on Wuthering Heights (2011) and American Honey (2016). The entire video runs nearly seven minutes
long, and about five minutes in things take a completely unexpected, violent
turn. But don’t worry — there’s a nice bloody, synchronized dance sequence on
the street to give that sees this whole shebang ending on an “up” note.
Lights video
PROMO:
How did the idea take shape? We know that Theo takes the process of making
videos for Hurts's music very seriously. Was it something that you pitched to
the band having been sent Lights, or developed with Theo?
Dawn
Shadforth: Theo contacted me and sent me the track. He wanted dance in this
video, he’d spoken to Paul Roberts (the choreographer) about it – we had all
worked on the Wonderful Life video. Theo, Paul and I met up and discussed tone
and dance styles and exchanged a ton of references. Then they waited for me to come
up with the treatment. Theo didn't have a specific idea for it so it was pretty
open. It took me a while.
I like
that Hurts' lyrics often suggest a backstory, and the music is very cinematic
and emotive. I really loved the lushness of the track and the idea of dance was
perfect for it. But one of the things that hooked me about the song was the
lyrics. I kept trying not to be literal I couldn't steer away from them. The
verses are really unusual, and I liked the switch between melancholy and then
the choruses which are more euphoric and romantic.
My
impulse was to do something that had some honesty and emotionally matched the
lyrics and the narrative came from my interpretation of them. I don't think the
idea was really what Theo was expecting and I wasn't sure he would go for it,
as it was quite a different prospect to anything he had done before. He had to
dance, but on top of that give quite a challenging acting performance. After
I’d written the treatment we developed it collaboratively.
There's
a fantastic element to it, but there is also a real ‘we’ve all been there’
aspect as well. Was this the story was based (in some way) on personal
experience?
Dawn
Shadforth : Ha ha! Well it's been a while, but yes I guess to an extent.
Haven’t we all been there? It wasn’t really based on a specific personal
experience but definitely informed by many experiences. But mainly on a feeling
I got from the song. And just very simply it's a romance. The idea was to make
something that felt down to earth and a bit gritty but also atmospheric.
Actually
when I was trying to come up with a treatment I was also making a short film,
and I re-watched 8 1/2 for that, and was thinking a lot about the idea of
making a film that is fantastical but at the same time very exposing and
honest, and ultimately transcendent. So I also wanted to carry on in that vein.
Did you
nail down the story and then work on the elements you considered most important
to make it work – namely, choreography, costumes and casting? And how long did
it take to rehearse the dance moves?
Dawn
Shadforth : Yes, that was the way it went - story first. After writing the
treatment the process was completely collaborative. For instance Theo came up
with the matador/bull theme which worked perfectly and added another layer to
the concept. And it meant we could play on that idea in the choreography, the casting
and the rest of the styling too.
After we
had decided on that direction we brought in Alex Noble who I felt was the
perfect costume designer to take on this idea because he custom makes very
special pieces. There are various hunter/hunted, predator/prey, victor/victim
ideas woven through the rest of the costume, all of which was created by Alex.
The choreography was developed with Theo and Callum Powell, who has previously
worked a lot with Paul Roberts. We obviously played with the idea of the
matador/bull along with various other references.
A lot of
the supporting cast came from the NYT through my friend Rosie Kellet who is a
young playwright and actor. She plays the female matador/antagonist. She also
scripted the dialogue for me. The male bull/antagonist was played by our
choreographer Callum Powell. So it was one of those kind of family affairs
where everyone was mucking in.
It looks
amazing, of course – when did you get Robbie Ryan on board for the shoot?
Dawn
Shadforth : Of course I love working with Robbie. He’s always my first choice -
I asked him as soon as I knew the job was going ahead. I know he likes a bit of
crazy dancing so I was hopeful if he was free he would do this one. He is the
only DP who could understand how to channel both Sid Vicious and Fred Astaire
operating camera. Having him operate camera is like having another dancer on
set.
On Hurts
"Hailing
from Manchester, Hurts are a synthesizer-based duo featuring vocalist Theo
Hutchcraft and keyboardist/guitarist Adam Anderson. Known for their arty and
striking self-produced videos, Hurts make epic, dramatic pop music that takes
inspiration from a finely curated mix of influences including '70s Krautrock,
'80s new wave, and '90s R&B. "
Hurts
Lyrics
Do you know what it feels like to dance alone?
Do you know what it feels like?
Do you know what it looks like from the outside?
Do you know what it looks like?
Won't you get up?
Shaking the darkness
Won't you get up?
And we could just start this now
'Cause when you get up I couldn't ignite it
You're the one I want beside tonight
Turn up the lights
I just wanna see you dancing
I just wanna see you
Turn up the lights
I just wanna see you dancing
I just wanna see you dancing
Do you know what it feels like to be the one?
Out here on the dance floor just watching up
Do you know what it hurts like to be left alone?
Do you know what it hurts like?
'Cause when you get up I couldn't ignite it
You're the one I want beside tonight
Turn up the lights
I just wanna see you dancing
I just wanna see you
Turn up the lights
I just wanna see you dancing
I just wanna see you dancing
When the lights are turn to low for me
In the dark I feel you close to me
You're the one that I want to see
You're the one that I want to see
When the lights are turn to low for me
In the dark I feel you close to me
You're the one that I want to see
You're the one that I want to see
When the lights are turn to low for me
In the dark I feel you close to me
You're the one that I want to see
You're the one that I want to see
Turn up the lights
I just wanna see you dancing
I just wanna see you
Turn up the lights
I just wanna see you dancing
I just wanna see you dancing
I just wanna see you dancing
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you
I wanna see you
I wanna see you
I wanna see you
Songwriters: J. Van
Tongeren / P. Henderson
On
Anthony Mann
‘Figures
in the frame are hemmed in by their surroundings, if they are confined within
interiors, or are diminished as if they were figures on the theatrical stage,
hieratically set against landscape and sky on Western locations. If his
narratives are often impelled by allusions to Classical literature, Mann’s
visuals, by contrast, call attention to themselves in ways that might be called
Baroque’
On Fred
Astaire
‘Astaire,
arguably the greatest dancer in film history and an import from Broadway, was
the creative and revolutionary force behind the choreography and
cinematography. He didn't fit the profile of a studly, good-looking actor, but
he changed forever the way in which the camera moved in musicals. Musical
numbers would now be filmed in long takes with minimal camera movements and
cuts, and Astaire also insisted that his full-figure had to be captured in the
camera frame. The fact that long dance sequences would be filmed in only one or
two takes meant that the dance routines had to be performed flawlessly - or
repeated. Film technicians designed a so-called "Astaire dolly" that
could move on wheels and capture his whole body from a low-angle.’
On Gene
Kelly
‘Paradoxically, it was by assuming and exploiting the ostensibly limited measure of creative freedom afforded by genre movies that Hollywood directors, writers and performers produced their most durable work - more often and more durably, it could be argued, than when scaling the heights of "self- expression" to which a few would eventually graduate. Although scandalously neglected by the Academy Awards, the musical was one of the American cinema's most glorious indigenous genres, and one which was to offer those who worked within it licence of a kind that was denied them in their "straight" movies: licence in the stylisation of decor and costume, of course, but also in the elaboration of camera movement and the exploration of filmic space.
Most
notably in his collaborations with Stanley Donen, Kelly opened up,
"aerated", the performing space of the Hollywood musical of the early
Fifties, whose fundamentally theatrical origins still tended to show through,
and created for the cinema what might be termed an "impossible
stage", whose spatial parameters would be ceaselessly redefined before our
dazzled and discombobulated eyes. With Donen he co-directed a trio of musicals
of paramount importance and almost infinite charm, one of which, Singin' in the
Rain (1952), is widely regarded as the finest of all.’
