Research 4, Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart

The 4th video I will be analysing is Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart, the video is a performance based one filmed at Knott Mill in Manchester. The lead singer, Ian Curtis, had recently commited suicide when this video was released so this was a tribute to him

The first show is a tracking shot going up the stairs of the mill, the hazy orange-yellow is there to set up the mood of the song which is about loss and regret

The camera has a close up on a door into the factory room, the one clear etching says "Ian.C" which is done by the late lead singer

The door swings open and we get an establishing shot of the factory room to see where they are, the dark empty space illustrates the nature of the video

The effect changes and the light is more neutral now but also the shadows are more prominent then before giving it an even darker feel

The key board kicks in and then in a straight edit we see one of the members playing it in the same room we see before

Stephen Morris has a close up while playing drums, his instrument is the most heard for the few seconds he is on camera here

Peter Hook then gets a mid-shot, each of these shots are aiming to introduce each member of the band

The band is captured with a wide shot in the room as the establishing shot, Ian Curtis is in the centre to how his importance 

Bernand Sumner receives a close up as well to introduce him

The singing kicks in and the camera arcs round from Sumner to see Ian Curtis gripping the microphone holding his vox teardrop

Curtis is then subject to a mid-shot which shows more of his dreary facial expression and motionless charisma



A mid-shot of Stephen Morris captures him after the first verse, this shows him unique drumming style which has become very influenctial over time

The red glow effect returns and we see the mid-shot of Curtis again, this affect again trys to show the dark nature of the video

The camera zooms out and we see Peter Hook playing with Ian Curtis, the slow pace the camera moves out at says that the song is quite serious

The bass is the most prominent instrument at this point so we get an exteme close up of the Hook's bass to make the listener concentrate on that aspect of the song

The camera rises and we get a close up of Peter Hook while he is playing bass

The emotion of the song is coming through more and more as the song progesses, this close up of Ian Curtis shows his facial expressions more to try and make the listener feel the emotion behind it

The red glow effect is taken away and purer light is used again, the camera  closes up at Ian Curtis's guitar while he plays one of his few parts throughout the song



The keyboard comes back in, although no key board is seen in any shot of the band it comes back in, we don't know who is playing it either giving the video an eiry sense

The camera arcs from right to left showing all of Stephen Morris' drum kit and his style as a drum roll is more important than other instruments in the song

An upwards tilt shot is used as we look up to Peter Hook, this could be to show his importance in the song at this point or even his importance in the band as a whole

 The red glow effect returns and we get a close up of Ian Curtis, the song is getting closer to the ending and Ian Curtis' facial expressions are becoming more and more emotive as displayed in this picture

Bernard Sumner has another close up, the song is in the chorus at this point so eac member is equally important

The chorus ends, we now get Bernard Sumner playing the key board rather than guitar and Ian Curtis has taken his limited guitar role

The camera zooms out and we get a wide shot of the whole band as the song is coming to its climax

Peter Hook gets another close up of his bass, this is like the first show of them but rather than introducing them its the opposite, almost a send off for each member

Stephen Morris receives a mid-shot for the same purpose of Hook's close up, almost an outro for him

Just as Hook and Morris before him Bernard Sumner gets a close-up for the same purpose

Ian Curtis's guitar gets an extreme close of his guitar because its the main instrument at this point

Just like the beginning of the video we see the same door in the same red glow effect, this make the viewer wonder what its all about and why its so frequent

The door opens again and the room is empty as it was at the begining of the video, this could be a metaphor for saying that Joy Division are gone after Ian Curtis had died