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| The
reproduction of “Voyage to the Moon”
(1902)
Smashing Pumpkins’ music video “Tonight
Tonight” (1996), shows a reproduction
of George Méliès short film,
“Voyage to the moon” (a story
about: “A group of men travel to the
moon by being shot in a capsule from a giant
cannon. They are captured by moon-men, escape,
and return to the earth”[1]). The
music video was a tribute to George Méliès,
directed by Jonathan Dayton
and Valerie Faris of BOB industries. This
married director team even titled the steamboat
in the final scenes of the video, “S.S.
Méliès.” The location shoot was in
Los Angeles, California, in March 1996.
“The video was meant to look like
a silent movie shot with a hand-cranked
camera. It took them 3 days to shoot, however
it also involved one month of pre-production
for the set, which is entirely 2-dimensional
images painted onto flat pieces of wood.”[2]
+ View film stills from George
Méliès' “Voyage to the
Moon” and Smashing Pumpkins' “Tonight,
Tonight” video.
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+
zoom image
The CD cover of Smashing
Pumpkins' "Mellon Collie
and the Infinite Sadness"
(1995). The CD artwork shows
big influences of the George
Mèliès films.
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+
zoom image
Billy Corgan sings and acts
in the "Tonight Tonight"
video. Corgan goes on a
space adventure to discover
about the man-face on the
moon. The video is definitely
a recreation of the film,"Voyage
to the Moon" (1902).
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| A
film still from “Voyage
to the Moon,” aka
“A Trip to the Moon”
(Le Voyage dans la lune;
1902). 35mm film, black
and white, silent, 13 minutes
(approx.). Directed by George
Melies. Starring: Victor
André, Bleuette Bernon,
Brunnet, Jeanne d'Alcy,
Henri Delannoy, Depierre,
Farjaut, Kelm, Georges Méliès... |
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| The
Origins: The Inventors
George Méliès,
the illusionist (1861-1938) was very excited
by the Lumières' shows. He turned
his theater into a cinema, and made films
similar to the Lumière brothers.
On one occasion, his camera stopped working
for a short while, and during that moment,
it filmed a hearse suddenly being replaced
by a cart in the previous frame (a switch
effect, which became one of the earliest
cinematic initiations of “special
effects” on camera). The magician
Melies realized the potential of this “stop,
action” photography effect, in addition
to discovering another effect called “double
exposure” — which he went on
to explore in his film, “Voyage to
the Moon" (Le Voyage dans la lune;
1902). This sci-fi film contains 30 tableaux
and lasts approx. 13 minutes. Méliès
found inspiration for the film’s storyline
from two of two Jules Verne books: “From
the Earth to the Moon” (1865)
and “Around the Moon.”
Jules Verne was born in 1828 in
Nates, France. He would spend many hours
in Parisian libraries learning geology,
engineering, and astronomy. Verne’s
first novel was published in 1863, “Five
Weeks in a Balloon,” and he went on
to writing other books such as “A
Journey to the Center of the Earth”
(1864), “From the Earth to the Moon”
(1865), and “20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea” (1870). In his lifetime he
wrote over 50 books, and his extraordinary
storytelling of scientific subjects and
imaginative worlds have been a great influence
in cinema and theater.
From the Earth to the Moon
by Jules Verne
“Written almost a century before the
daring flights of the astronauts, Jules
Verne’s prophetic novel of man’s
race to the stars is a story of rip-roaring
action, humor, and wild imagination. With
broad satire as well as scientific acumen,
From the Earth to the Moon spins a tale
set in 1865 about a group of men who decide
to build a gun big enough to launch a rocket
to the moon.” —An excerpt
from the book annotation of "From the
Earth to the Moon."
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(Left)
Photo of George Melies,
(Right) Photo of Jules Verne. |
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| About
the Smashing Pumpkins
The “Tonight Tonight”
video directed by Jonathan
Dayton and Valerie Faris
The Smashing Pumpkins’ video
“Tonight Tonight” is a
similar frame to frame sequence as
of the film “Voyage to the Moon”
(1902). The directors Dayton and Faris
used theater style props, old-style
image coloring, clothing of the era,
and a smiling moon that made the film
grow in popularity. Plus special effect
explosions, that remind us of the
good old days of cinema.
About the Band
“In 1988, Chicago’s
clubs were still pumping with the
dance innovation that had exploded
in the city two years earlier —
house music. Meanwhile, at a Polish
bar near the centre of town, the germ
of another sonic revolt was taking
shape. In front of a tiny crowd, a
lanky, moon-faced guitarist and his
ice-cool, American Japanese sidekick
were whipping up a maelstrom of freeform
jazz-punk noise.
18 months later, this embryonic two-man
show had evolved into the Smashing
Pumpkins, a proto-grunge quartet with
two incendiary 7"s to their name,
including one on the legendary Sub
Pop label. Signing to Virgin (Hut
in the UK), they quickly transformed
from a dizzying provincial attraction
into one of the world’s biggest
alternative rock bands, mixing a barrage
of metallic guitar with touches of
psychedelia and jazz dynamics. Mellon
Collie And The Infinite Sadness has
become the biggest selling double-CD,
while their total record sales have
now topped the 10 million mark.”
— An excerpt from amazon.com
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(Left)
Billy Corgan singing
in the video “Tonight,
Tonight”, (Right)
the cover album of
“Mellon Collie
and the Infinite Sadness
(1995). |
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Extra Notes
The biggest single: “1979”
(1996; contained in the album Mellon
Collie And The Infinite Sadness).
The biggest LP: Mellon Collie And
The Infinite Sadness (1995) CD sold
in the US: 8x Platinum.
The Band’s Birthdays
Billy Corgan - March 17, 1967
James Iha - March 26, 1968
D'arcy Wretzky-Brown - May 1, 1968
Jimmy Chamberlain - June 10, 1967
The Lyrics to “Tonight Tonight”
by Billy Corgan
Time is never time at all
you can never ever leave
without leaving a piece of youth
and our lives are forever changed
we will never be the same
the more you change the less you feel
believe, believe in me, believe that
life can change, that you're not stuck
in vain
we're not the same,
we're different tonight
tonight, so bright
tonight
and you know you're never sure
but you're sure you could be right
if you held yourself up to the light
and the embers never fade in your
city by the lake
the place where you were born
believe, believe in me, believe
in the resolute urgency of now and
if you believe there's not a chance
tonight
tonight, so bright
tonight
we'll crucify the insincere tonight
we'll make things right, we'll feel
it all tonight we'll find a way to
offer up the night tonight
the indescribable moments of your
life tonight the impossible is possible
tonight
believe in me as i believe in you,
tonight.
+ View film stills from George
Méliès' “Voyage
to the Moon” and Smashing Pumpkins'
“Tonight, Tonight” video.
Top
image "Voyage to the Moon,"
directed by Georges Méliès. Film
Still © The Museum of Modern
Art, New York
Smashing Pumpkin "Mellon
Collie And The Infinite Sadness"
photos © Virgin Records
All cinema and music photos are
displayed for the context of the
analysis, for information purposes
only.
[1] A summary plot by John
Oswalt, imdb.com
[2] Tonight, Tonight video, bullet.cxddesign.com
+ analysis
by Adriana
de Barros, about
the author |
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