Vincent Moon has been producing an exquisite series of videos for three years now called “Take Away Shows” on his site also known as La Blogotheque. These caught my interest late last year and I’ve watched through almost all of them (I believe there are over 100 now). Most of these are indie-esque bands and are shot in locations all over the world. I had forgotten about this series of films until today when I noticed a post on Pitchfork about Phoenix (a magnificent French electronic-indie-rock-etc.-etc. band). I was really excited since I have been really into the band lately and that this filmmaker has finally put together some films featuring them.

These videos rarely cease to give me chills when I watch them. There is something almost ethereal about them. A lot of it is due to the fantastic filmic quality with overly warm tones, a slight glow, and a grainy feel. I really enjoy the shots of the band in between their performances and seeing them interact, I’ve never seen material like that. The films give you the feeling like you’re actually there watching the band live, while in a very small personal setting. You can see the bands having fun and some even get a bit embarrassed of the attention in these awkward live settings. There is a downright sense of immediacy, the bands can’t master their tracks in a sound proofed studio, or add to the audio in any other way than its original form of capture. It’s completely up to them to prove the raw power of their voices.

This is a fantastic example of objective camera (defined as: When the scene is shot from the viewpoint of a spectator watching from outside the scene). It’s shot in the first person, as if someone were to be there, walking along with the band as the perform. To accomplish this successfully with one’s own style is much more difficult than you would assume. The art of handheld camera work has been very controversial over the past decade. Ever since the Blair Witch Project came out, people have been bashing movies and TV shows left and right for “shaky camera”. While this has some basis and I really do believe that it has been overdone in some arenas, I think that some filmmakers are really working past this negative stereotype successfully (such as Vincent Moon). The fact that VM is able to capture these beautiful images in one shot is equally as impressive as the successful handheld camera work. Most people that aren’t involved with film even know how difficult they are. I don’t even want to think about how long these walking shots took to coordinate seeing as he’s walking backwards the majority of the time, he’d better have someone clearing his path!

You should definitely check out the rest of his films. In fact, I suggest you waste the rest of your day getting lost in them. He has some fantastic web designers, so if you lose interest in the videos at least you’ll have something else wonderful to look at. Temporary Areas is his non-profit production company, Les Nuits de Fuimes Vincent Moon’s personal blog.