THE PERFECT KISS 1985
I was introduced to Jonathan Demme. We met in New York at the Café des Artiste's which has a wonderful little bar hidden in the back. We had quail eggs and talked about music. By chance he pulled out the first single “Subway/Sudan” by Thick Pigeon not knowing that the girl behind it, Stanton Miranda, was my girlfriend.
Jonathan was up for the video and asked for a $20,000 fee. This was quite large, but we said OK. And we entered in to making a short film, very much in the process of making a feature.
The song was nine-minutes long and New Order would not make an edit. The same thing had been true for Blue Monday. Radio was begging for a Blue Monday edit when that song was released.
This was the great quality of the band. Not only was their music good, but they held on to certain values, refusing to “play the game” of the industry. They refused to mime to songs – if they were performing, they would do so live.
So it was determined that the band would perform the song live in their rehearsal room. I had to put the crew together.
I wanted to work with another great cameraperson. I first contacted Jack Cardiff. He was busy writing his autobiography. Then I mentioned Henri Alekan. He hat shot the beautiful film “La Belle et La Bête” (Beauty and the Beast) by Jean Cocteau.
People said he wouldn't be interested in doing a pop video, would not travel to Manchester, and anyway would be too expensive. They were wrong on all counts. As a producer I always go after what I want. If it is right, it will happen.
Alekan was at least 70 then, and he brought his gaffer (electrician) Louis Cochet. He was about 5 years older. When they arrived at Manchester airport I grabbed Cochet's bag to help, and he slapped my wrist and took the bag for himself. And throughout the shoot he moved as agile as a monkey, up and down the ladder under the direction of Alkean.
The “focus puller” assisting the camera operator was Agnes Godard. She has become one of the great camera people of our time. Godard has worked in partnership with Claire Denis on most of her films.
The first thing Alekan did was to replace the skylights with large lights to illuminate the space. For individual shots of the band members he had Cochet hang a gauze-like material behind them to soften the background. The band was performing live so there was a multi-track truck outside recording each take.
Since we had a master cinematographer at the helm, I had them shoot in 35mm film. I had a dream that this could be a short film. I recorded the shoot in Super-8 film and that footage can be seen in the video “Shell Shock”. I believe Tony Wilson had and editor put that video together. I like it, but every time I see the video I am sad because all the original footage has been lost.
After the shoot we went out to the Hacienda club. Not only did Alekan and Couchet join us, but they were seen chasing young women!
The edit of the film took place in London. A friend of Demme's, Hercules Bellville, introduced us to feature film editor Tony Lawson. Lawson had worked with Sam Pekinpah among others and he proceeded to edit the film on a flatbed. There was no transfer to video to edit on video.
When the edit was complete the music had to be mixed. Lawson has used a basic guide track to cut to, but now the music had to be assembled by taking the tracks that corresponded to each close-up on an instrument so that it would be in sync. Having an electronic guide track made that possible. This was put together and mixed at Amazon studios in Liverpool.
When we made a first print of the edit, Demme arranged to screen it in Paris for Alekan so they could discuss the “timing” of the print. That determines the final color they would be after. Our schedules only allowed this to be done on a Sunday. That would normally be difficult, but Alekan was so revered that we found a projectionist happy to make his facility on the Champs Elysée available.
After this Demme returned to Los Angeles while I got all the film and sound materials together. Then I joined Demme in L.A. where we did a film mix in a studio normally used for feature films. This meant we were preparing the sound to make 35mm prints. A graphic designer had been employed to create the title and end credits. So in the end we did have a short film.
We also had a way to present it in the cinema.
In New York “The Perfect Kiss” played as a short before Demme's Talking Heads' film “Stop Making Sense”. In London it played with Nicolas Roeg's film “Insignificance”. It also played in international film festivals.
To compliment the “film” I engaged artist Barbara Kruger to make a poster.
This video was regarded as very expensive. It was. If you take in to consideration all of the elements of having to mix and create a new unique track, along with working entirely in film to create film prints, it must have cost more than £200,000. Many years later this would become a more normal expense, but for Factory Records it was extravagant.
Jonathan Demme made a beautiful film. He shows how the song is made, and the people behind it in an intimate and revealing way.
When the film was projected I realized that the sound was slow. This was because the film was shot at 25 frames per second (fps) to transfer cleanly to video. In the UK, and Europe, the standard TV format is PAL which runs at 25 fps as opposed to America's NTSC which runs at 30 fps. But film is projected at 24 fps.
If you follow closely you will also see that the end of Hooky's playing does not coincide with the music. He stops and there are a couple more hits on the bass. A mistake, yes, but known and purposeful. I cannot remember the exact reason for this, but something I have learned over the years is that one tries to fix everything, but often it is necessary to leave a problem in the finished product. It gives it a life. It makes it more art and less a commercial product.
