Music video remix of "Rendez-vous"

A london based agency has remixed the legendary 1976 Claude LeLouch film short "Pour un Rendez-vous" into a music video for the band Snow Patrol.

Band: Snow Patrol, "Open Your Eyes"
Dir: Robert Hales/Claude LeLouch

SnowPatrol-open.mov (approx 8.5min)

From the wikipedia article:

"The band Low vs Diamond chose to use the film as the video for their song 'Life After Love' which first appeared mid 2006. Six months later, the band Snow Patrol also used the film as the video for their single "Open Your Eyes" from their fourth album Eyes Open."

While I like the music video I much prefer the original soundtrack which was just the ambient noise of a revving engine, tire squealing and shifting. Oddly though the soundtrack was recreated with a Ferrari even though the film was supposedly shot using LeLouche's Mercedes. (see picture above right). Rocketboom also did their own remix of the film in June 2005 with the original soundtrack.

It is a rare thing when the story behind the videos is as impressive as the video itself. Here are some of the details I've gathered about the original.

length: approx 8.5 minutes
director & driver: Claude LeLouche
shot: 1976, 5am, Paris
genre: cinéma vérité
equipment: gyro-stabilised camera
car: Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 (owned by LeLouch)
speed: 80+mph
landmarks: Arc de Triomphe, Opéra Garnier, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysées
later inspired: Getaway in Stockholm, Ghost Rider, Nissan's 350Z commercial "The Run"

Other interesting tidbits:

• Lelouch was arrested after the film's first showing, but later released with no charges. His arrest caused the film to only be shown and shared underground for over 20 years.


• The film was rumored (by LeLouche himself, probably to protect himself) to to be driven by a Formula One race car driver, but in 2006 it was revealed by LeLouche that he himself was the driver.


• The car was rumored to be a Ferrari 275 GTB which indeed LeLouche did own, but it was actually shot with a giro mounted camera on his four speed automatic Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 (see picture top right) and the soundtrack came from the five speed manual Ferrari.


• The camera only had a 10 minute film clip, so the race wasn't just for the girl, it was to finish filming before the camera ran out of film.


• A few years ago an enthusiast Richard Symons acquired the film, remastered it and released the DVD which you can now buy at rendezvousdvd.com

The original film is a must see, but good luck finding it online. It keeps popping up and disappearing, most recently on Google video. I suggest just buying the original from the website, (where there is a short teaser trailer). Besides I'm sure the DVD will look absolutely brilliant on a high def TV.

My previous post: mmeiser blog: The quick tour of Paris - An early morning 8 minute long race through the streets of Paris

Original post on February 21, 2007 from del.icio.us/popular/system:media:video: (RSS feed)

(Via Mefeedia)