Let’s Dance to the Joy Division by The Wombats

Before producing my own treatment for a music video, it was necessary to research ‘Joy Division’ in order to understand the song fully as it is a central theme to the song mentioned in both the title and the chorus. I found out that ‘Joy Division’ was in fact an English Rock band formed in 1976 and consisted of Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner Peter Hook and Stephen Morris.Unfortunately leading vocalist, Ian Curtis suffered from depression and other personal difficulties such as a breaking marriage. It is possible that this is the reason for celebrating ‘the irony’ in the song ‘Let’s dance to the joy division’, as ironically, although the band was called Joy Division, the leading vocalist was in fact depressed. The ‘cure for a broken heart’ could also have been inspired by his life and it seems that the line ‘let the love tear us apart’ has been taken directly from Joy Divisions single ‘Love will tear us apart’. This background information helps us make more meaning out of the lyrics and inspired me to base my idea on a character similar to band member Ian Curtis and his life.

The Wombats

The Wombats are an Indie band from Liverpool, therefore I thought maybe the singer is talking about himself when he says ‘I’m back in Liverpool’. The band consists of Mathew Murphy, Dan Haggis and Tord Øverland-Knudsen. The band released their first debut in 2006, and therefore are a very modern band although in this song they compare to and make cultural references to Joy Division, quite an old band.

My Treatment

In my idea, the music video cuts between performance and a simple narrative. The narrative seems to be based on the lead singer of the Wombats Matthew Murphy himself, although in reality it reflects the life of Ian Curtis from Joy Division. The video will begin with the band in a bright red studio full of flashing lights to connote a ‘happy’ atmosphere. The band members will be dressed in skinny jeans and colorful checked T-shirts as this identifies The Wombats as an Indie band.

The lead singer, whilst singing in the studio, talks about his own life experiences. It will then cut to him walking down a street in Liverpool like a flashback. This however will be in black and white to highlight ‘the irony’ of him being quite depressed and sad on the one hand whilst being all happy and bright on the other hand.

The video will continue to cross-cut from the studio shots to the outdoor shots in synchronization with the lyrics. For example, during the chorus ‘Let’s dance to the joy division’; there will be shots of the band. This will consist of quick paced editing and shots from interesting angles with lots of zooming in and out to make it more exciting. There would also be a range of shots including CUs of the guitar strumming, drumming, beauty shots of the lead singer and LSs of the band playing together. On the other hand when the song says ‘So let the love tear us apart’, it will cut to the singer and his girlfriend arguing. She slams the front door on him and he walks away looking sad. This will be shot through CUs of their faces to show the emotions and will provide quite a contrast to the studio shots. By the final chorus however, everything seems to come together as the guy in Liverpool after having ‘worked something out’ seems to have cheered up. He starts dancing ‘to the Joy Division’ on the street and everyone else around him also seem to join in. The quick crosscutting between the colorful and the black and white shots however continues as they are still celebrating the irony that although ‘everything is going wrong’ they are still dancing and happy. There is then a shot of the band finishing off their song, however, the video ends with a shot of the guy dancing on the street to no music in Liverpool all by himself, whilst passersby give him weird looks.

This is to end on a comedic note to entertain the audience and leave them with the light hearted message that even when everything is going wrong, we should dance and be happy =)