Silverchair's
newest DVD release follows the band through the
making of their fourth album, Diorama, with a 53
minute documentary 'movie'. The DVD promises to
take the viewer behind the scenes of the process
of creating this beautifully intricate album, and
it does so in incredible detail, yet lacks the extra
allure that any viewer may have expected beyond
its promise. The 'movie' which is divided into 6
Parts, follows the creation process of Diorama,
from the rough drafts of songs for the new album,
to Silverchair's performances at the Big Day Out,
but don't expect to witness any unpolished exclusive
live performances by the band.
As
the track 'Tuna in the brine' plays, the film opens
with a brief reflection from Silverchair front man
Daniel Johns. He describes the 'moments of magical
clarity' he had felt whilst writing this album and
coming off the anti-depressants that evened his
emotions out so he felt no real highs or lows.
Then
roll in the credits, the first sign of irony in
this documentary. It seems to seek movie status,
yet it is anything but: with it's non-linear style
of presenting 2 or more video clips simultaneously
running on one screen, its inconstant shifting of
black-and white video to colour and it's mixing
of live audio with the final product. It feels as
if the producers of this documentary, have somehow
attempted to recreate the complexity and originality
of Diorama, yet only succeeded in making the whole
production process unnecessarily abstract and repetitive.
The documentary seeks to cover too many ideas at
once, rather than taking clips of the highlights
of production, instead it seems as if every stage
has been included within very brief, insignificant
clips. This format depersonalises the viewer from
the whole process, making them feel as if they are
being randomly flipped through an unlabelled photo
album whilst tracks from the final album are played.
Again
the viewer may be disappointed by the lack of rawness
of the music that one would expect from a 'behind
the scenes' venture. The technique of mixing rough
and finished clips of songs together is repeated
throughout the documentary. The scene at The Big
Day Out in Sydney seems forced and unrealistic,
as footage of a live performance is shown interspersed
with the album version of 'World upon your shoulders',
only using short clips of live audio.
Despite the non-linear collage style of presentation,
the viewer can't help but appreciate the luminary
musical genius of Daniel Johns, whom appears throughout
all stages of production. We see him in artistic
creative mode, playing the piano with strikingly
red John-Lennon-style glasses on, recording an acoustic
guitar piece as if he was born with the ability
to play, intensely contributing to the album's vocals,
as well as expressing opinion on the feeling of
the mixing. To the viewer, it seems that Daniel's
vision of the album to be 'like stepping into a
fantasy land', is a painstakingly slow process.
Yet Daniel remains refreshingly focussed on achieving
perfection the whole time, disregarding other's
comments that Silverchair fans won't understand
the complexity of the music he is trying to create.
Fans
of Silverchair band members will appreciate the
small snippets of play and humour throughout the
film, but will be left craving for more, as the
documentary primarily focuses on a slow production
process. At times the viewer has the opportunity
to witness Daniel playfully running with his dog
'Sweep'; a great contrast to the Reactive-Arthritis
stricken artist that has been displayed within the
media in recent times. The viewer can also expect
amusing moments involving Daniel in a turban and
an incident with a parking officer.
This
DVD is probably best intended for fans only, who
may be patient enough to sit through the overly
abstract attempts at capturing the creation of the
album, in order to see more of their favourite band.
The extra video clips included in the special features
section are an added bonus and may be enough to
justify paying $30 for this. It's a shame however,
that the producers of this documentary couldn't
have just stuck a little closer to the truth, and
captured the brilliant sincerity of the music-in-the-making,
and the natural interactions of the band, rather
than attempting to create a masterpiece about a
masterpiece.
Special Features:
Discography
The Greatest View video clip
Without You video clip
Luv Your Life video clip
Photo Gallery
Reviewed by Corynne Tait
