‘Midnight in Melbourne’ is Australia’s first documentary on the local drum & bass scene highlighting a composite history through the eyes of its purveyors. Interviews with DJ’s, promoters and producers reinforce a message suggesting the culture that supports international drum & bass requires firmly established roots in the home-turf so to speak. A striking visual design element and quality soundtrack featuring a diverse range of local and international tracks fortify this fact on film. ‘Midnight in Melbourne’ contains live performances from key representatives on the international scene including Grooverider, SS, Randall, Bailey, Kemistry and Storm, Matrix, Trace, Fierce, Ed Rush, Optical, and Bad Company, plus a list of local talent and influence including Atom1, 1LC, Ruxspin, Lex, Motive, Trooper, Davide Carbone, Roln, Rufnut and more.

Melbourne has always had a strong, tightnit scene since Atom1’s first Panic parties back in 1993 and furthermore through his establishment of Soundboy records, the only record store in Melbourne dedicated solely to drum & bass. By 1998, after the popularity explosion of the music, 1LC launched his ‘Groove Therapy’ events with a vision to bring local attention to the musical form. It was these first parties where ‘Midnight in Melbourne’ Director, Mark Bakaitis, and Producer, Jono Smith, first collaborated to capture the energetic vibe of these events. Jono Smith was a pioneer in co-ordinating visuals and filming of some of Melbourne’s biggest techno events. Mark Bakaitis had a background in music videos, later directing a cyberpunk, cult feature film, ‘Narcosys’. Both became instinctively drawn towards the drum & bass scene. ATM hooked up with Mark to help promote the video outside of Melbourne and in the process received a lowdown on ‘Midnight in Melbourne’s production history…..

“Filming of the events was done in true guerrilla fashion. The crew always used small, handheld cameras with little or no film lighting so as not to disrupt the DJ’s or detract from the vibe of the crowd.”

After enlisting the services of cameraman Remo Camerota who amongst various film projects and animation also had a background in skate/snowboarding videos an interesting visual style began to develop.

“To achieve the best image in often very dark conditions, the camera’s shutter speed was set very low, creating a strobe-like effect. A fisheye lens was often attached to the camera, matching the shape of the dubplates and creating a look used frequently in skate videos.
Some outstanding moments were captured in this fashion; DJ’s faces awash with intense concentration, dubplates spinning up close through the flash of strobe lights, and the crowd appearing as huge thriving mass of movement…. There were also some highly amusing moments, fine women strutting their stuff, DJ’s rolling and smoking spliffs and lots of smiling faces in the crowd.”

By 2001 the crew had recorded over 30 hours worth of footage from multitude of events and decided that an audience should see the outstanding moments. Production Manager, Clare Carmody, co-ordinated interviews with local DJ’s, producers and promoters and pieced together the live footage. The result was an interview-based narrative on the history of the scene. However, an essential ingredient was missing.

“The complex graphic style associated with drum & bass labels and fliers was difficult to represent in a moving, engaging manner. The rich, dark sound scapes and tight audio production also associated with the form was not represented. We approached Graphic Designer, Michael Tan (AKA Reflektiv), and Sound Designer; Erin Mckimm to assist with the completion of the project. Michael was a part of the Elementz Sound Collective, handling fliers, visuals and web design for tours including Stakka and Skynet, Marcus Intalex, Suv, Total Science, Dj Friction and Stamina MC. Erin Mckimm AKA Livewire had been production tracks and working on sound design for film and video for several years.”

Finally after almost a year in post-production, the documentary was complete with a slick visual design reminiscent of the seminal ‘Metalheadz’ video and work by Magnet Studio (RAM records artwork). The soundtrack is textured and deep featuring an outstanding mix of local and international tracks, with some great comments from MC’s. ‘Midnight in Melbourne’ was appropriately launched at the final night of Melbourne’s longest running weekly drum & bass club – Soulaar. The venue was packed to capacity and the premiere screening was well received by the Melbourne Massive (as it was at ATM sessions in Perth). The result of all their hard work has paid off – ‘Midnight in Melbourne’ is currently doing the rounds throughout Australia with vested interested overseas, especially from the UK. Media interest such as this is the key to success for Australian drum & bass to reach out and this thing’s gonna, no doubt.

Article taken from ATM Oceanic issue 02

A big thank you must go the Drum & Bass Arena Crew for displaying ‘Midnight in Melbourne’ to the world via http://www.breakbeat.co.uk

If you would like to buy a copy or would like any information about the video or Melbourne, please email info@elementz.com.au