Why Stop Making Sense is so Great
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- Опубликовано: 18 янв 2024
- In this video essay I analyze the key component that makes Stop Making Sense the greatest concert film of all time.
References:
Demme, Jonathan (1984) Stop Making Sense, USA. Cinecom International Films.
Film at Lincoln Center (2014) David Byrne Q&A | stop making sense (full), RUclips.Available at: • David Byrne Q&A | Stop... (Accessed: 15 May 2023).
Murray, N. (2014) Stop making sense: An appreciation, Red Bull Music Academy Daily. Available at: daily.redbullmusicacademy.com... (Accessed: 17 May 2023).
Nelson, E. (2019) David Byrne, Jonathan Demme, and 35 years of ‘stop making sense’, The Ringer. Available at: www.theringer.com/music/2019/... (Accessed: 08 June 2023).
Reelblack One (2017) Jonathan Demme - on Stop making sense (2007) #unseen, RUclips. Available at: • Jonathan Demme - On St... (Accessed: 07 June 2023).
Scorsese, Martin (1978) The Last Waltz, USA. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Take Me To Your Cinema (2018) Stop making sense: Think of it as a musical, not a concert film | film analysis, RUclips. Available at: • Stop Making Sense: Thi... (Accessed: 15 May 2023). 
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When the 4K restoration was announced and was going to be screened in theaters, I went out and saw it 5 times. 4/5 times, people were dancing and singing along. Someone even had the "big suit" on. Legendary film. I wish more bands took the time and care into staging concert movies like this instead of just recording their x show at x city, but obviously a lot of that comes down to money.
I’ll never forget seeing it for the first time when it first came out.. full concert sound system. People danced. When it was re-released i went to see it in IMAX in NYC and it was just as great, after all that time. Again, dancing in the aisles. Amazing.
Nice analysis. When this came out, I'd never danced to a whole movie before, the whole theater danced. I was also lucky enough to see them at Red Rocks in '82.
I LIKE THIS COMMENT BECAUSE THIS GUY STARTED MAKING SENSE 👆🏼💯
Stop Talking Sense is one of my favourite films of all time, I'dve loved to have seen it in a theater, but saddly I don't think it was ever shown in my country :(
Good video. It really makes a strong case for the performance taking shape around the film, rather than the film taking shape around the performance.
If I could respectfully point out one crucial omission though, it would be Pablo Ferro's absolutely beautiful hand drawn title sequence. The film doesn't actually open with Byrne walking to the mic. It opens with Ferro's beautiful letters set against the image of Byrne's shadow, which then springs into motion as the titles fade and he walks across the stage. Ferro's work was so emblematic of cinema titles at that point that it practically serves as a thesis statement for SMS being a film first and a concert second.
Again, I really enjoyed this video. Thanks for making it.
Thank you for pointing that out. I completely spaced it. He also made the opening sequence for Napoleon Dynamite, which is my favorite opening title sequence of all time.
Agree! Thanks for this excellent analysis. I worked in a theatre when the film was released. I must have danced to this film at least 50 times, and never once did it get boring. And I still dance and love this film. So glad Talking Heads were able to get the rights to the film and release it again in the best tech available today.
What really makes SMS for me is the two backup singers. Their charisma and choreography is simply magical.
Music's good, too.
Say the full title 'Stop Making Sense'. It's too cool to be abbreviated.
I would also add that the choreography on stage were intimately connected to the songs, encouraging the viewer to pay attention and discern the meaning. If you follow along and keep asking questions ("why is that chair on its side?" "why is that lamp there in that song?" why the big suit?), you can get possible answers that encourage you to keep looking.
What is that beautiful house? Where does that highway go to? It’s a once in a lifetime kind of movie.
The staging and choreography showed that this was a band full of designers. Great imagination.
this is the video that made me appreciate live music recordings. it's still my favorite concert film.
The most creative and advanced music combo of the 8oies - conserved in an adequate film story... THANK YOU ALL
Heh! Came up in my RUclips feed -- glad it did.
Pedantry corner: "tilt up/down". ("Pan" is side to side.)
Great analysis. :)
Congratulations. You just spent nine minutes talking about Stop Making Sense without mentioning the Big Suit even once. That’s got to be a record :)
Or the cocaine
Thank you for explaining this in a way that the unschooled can understand. For me, learning about some of the techniques takes away the magic of the art but deepens the appreciation.
Thank you, I agree it does deepen the appreciation
Love it! Thank you so much. Even though I've watched this many, many multiples of times over the last 40 years, your work added another layer of appreciation with some details I've not seen before. Appreciate it!
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it
This and The Last Waltz are incredible
It's interesting that you say the opening is something that only works on camera and wouldn't work as well for the audience. The lighting design for the same moment in the live stage show earlier in the tour was different, and it was also great, but might not have worked as well on film.
_Stop Making Sense_ was made from the Los Angeles dates at the end of the tour supporting _Speaking in Tongues_. I saw an earlier show on that tour in Portland, Maine. What's kind of interesting to me here is that I often cite the opening of the show as an example of something that worked much better live in the real show at Cumberland County Civic Center (now called Cross Insurance Arena) than in the movie.
In the show in Portland, the entire stage is dark, and with the house lights down, I can barely make out, even with a 14-year-old's enviable eyesight, indications that there are instruments and whatnot on the stage (tho' I'd seen them before the house lights went down). It's about as dark as it can get in a venue of that size. David Byrne walks out alone with an acoustic guitar and a "boom box." A spotlight follows him across the stage until he gets to the microphone, bends over to put down the boom box, and then, without straightening up, turns his head and acts as if he is just noticing the audience is there. He then says "hi there," and then after the crowd goes nuts, he says "I've got a song I'd like to play for you." He then hits play on the boom box and straightens up to perform "Psycho Killer."
The effect of a dark arena with just Byrne lit brightly was fantastic, and at least as cool as showing just his feet in a more well-lit environment in the opening of the show in the movie. And for me, the dramatic "hi there" followed by "I've got a song I'd like to play for you" from Portland was cooler than the kinda-mailing-it-in (and likely intentionally so) "Hi. I've got a tape I want to play" from one of the Los Angeles shows.
Still, the main point here is that "Psycho Killer" is an example of where Byrne, Demme, and Cronenweth changed the lighting design completely from what it was in the stage show I saw months earlier, exactly because they decided the way they ended up shooting it for the movie would look better on film than the at-least-equally awesome beginning of the opening of the live stage show did for those of us in the arena.
When I saw this tour in London, it seemed very similar to the film. I felt both were excellent. It is my favourite concert film, easily. Thanks for this, enjoyed it.
Bernie worrel is the secret weapon
Amazing video about my favorite concert film, good one!
Thank you, it's mine as well. I've listened to this album countless times
Nicely done. I enjoyed your presentation!
Thank you!
Excellent review
This was great, thank you.
Thanks for giving the extra-musical features the attention they deserve. I feel like so many people just view SMS as a straightforward record of a concert and really undersell it's qualities as cinema and quasi performance art, and that sometimes makes it easier for people to just assume it's overrated and not all that special.
I haven't seen that many concert films, so I'm far from an expert. But my two all-time favorites are this one and the Secret World Tour by Peter Gabriel.
They're very different, but both are incredibly entertaining visually, as well as being filled with fantastic music.
I agree, Secret World is amazing
Seeing this tour, in Seattle, without any prior knowledge was mind blowing. Okay, maybe that’s too much, but it was a great experience and one of my favorite concerts in the 80’s. The staging was so different and fun, never knowing exactly where they were headed. Truly special. 👍🤪🏳️🌈
Great video.
Prince SOT concert film is incredible and underrated
I haven't seen that yet, I definitely need to check it out
I love the part in the film when David Byrne strolls of the stage after all the buildup and Chris Frantz announces (something like) "ladies and gentlemen, the Tom Tom Club".
I think Jonathan Demme's direct, performance-focused, minimalist (but always intentional), observational direction should get more mention. Take a look at his music video for New Order's "Perfect Kiss" (also considered one of the greatest MVs ever) and you can see how invisible his style is, but also so distinct and capable at capturing raw energy. There's something so precise and charged about how he assembles choreo, light and shadow, set, performance, camera, etc. Demme can change cinematographers but this quality is always consistent. Even his fictional films have these qualities.
I caught the tour in SF. It was one of the finest shows I have ever attended. Start with a great show to make a great film from it.
I saw talking heads in athens in summer 1983
Never made any sense? Depends!
Great stuff….thanks. I saw this tour a few months earlier at an amphitheater. What a fantastic experience. When I saw the empty stage I told my girlfriend that this was a disaster because it would take hours to set everything up.
“Stop Making Sense” is not one of the greatest concert films, it is THE greatest concert film of all time.
Yes, the lighting design and cinematography are brilliant. The film is also brilliant for what is not in it. There are no interviews, no backstage scenes or shots, no views of the players before the concert starts or after it ends, no shots of people arriving at the concert hall, and no shots of anything outside the hall. And, as noted, almost no views of the audience. Johnathan Demme dispensed with all the cluchés of concert movies, to focus on the music and the movements onstage.
I’ve seen a number of Demme’s other movies, and liked them all, but when I think of him, I think mostly of “Stop Making Sense.”
Watching Stop Making Sense it was weird the way she tied to interact with David Byrne, as all musicians do in performances, yet he wouldn't even look at her, basically ignoring her.
I suspect he didn't respect her as a musician - as she was totally inexperienced when band started and he taught her to play.
That being said, I think her bass lines are the driving force of much of their music.
Agreed, Tina has some of the most iconic baselines in New Wave
Keep in mind that David is… well to avoid loaded words… David doesn’t interact with people in a typical fashion.
@@billcook4768 Neither does Sheldon Cooper.
Thing is he spent the entire concert interacting with the 2 black backup singers.
I thought you'd say cocaine
So the movie is great because it was made well. Shocking!
You should kick rocks with open toed shoes
Rename this “Man spends 9 minutes pointing out the obvious”
Aweeee, someone didn't have the attention span to think critically and in depth about the film direction of Stop Making Sense. I'll see if i can find a yt short with subway surfers underneath it so that you can watch it and better understand
You should try eating pavement