- Left of Reckoning
Infobox Film
name = Left of Reckoning
caption =
director = James Herbert
producer = James Herbert
writer =
starring =Bill Berry Peter Buck Mike Mills Michael Stipe
Ruben Miller
music =R.E.M.
cinematography =
editing = James Herbert
distributor =
released =
runtime = 20 mins
country =United States "Left of Reckoning" is a short film by James Herbert, set to the first half of the
R.E.M. album "Reckoning" (hence the title). This comprises the songs "Harborcoat", "7 Chinese Bros.", "So. Central Rain", "Pretty Persuasion", "Time After Time (AnnElise)", and "Second Guessing".James Herbert had been
Michael Stipe 's art tutor at theUniversity of Georgia . The footage was shot by Herbert in May 1984 (when the band had some time to spare before embarking on a tour ofEurope ) at artist Ruben A. Miller's Whirligig Farm in Rabbittown, nearGainesville, Georgia , and features the members of R.E.M. variously occupying themselves amongst the hundreds of whirligigs. According to band guitaristPeter Buck ,Buck also said of Herbert, "He's a filmmaker, not a director, he didn't direct us, he just shot us while we did things and gave suggestions occasionally." [p.99, Jovanovic 2001]
In editing, Herbert manipulated the footage to produce effects such as slow- and fast-motion, stills, bleeding colour and
black and white . Many of the techniques used on "Left of Reckoning" would also later be apparent in Herbert's videos for "Life and How to Live It" and "Feeling Gravitys Pull" (both co-directed with Jackie Slayton) from R.E.M.'s third album, "Fables of the Reconstruction ".Although initially intended as a promotional video for "Reckoning", "Left of Reckoning" was not likely to receive much airplay on television in its entirety, due to its length if not its unusual style; instead, the "Pretty Persuasion" segment was excerpted from the film as a standalone promo for play on MTV and music programmes. [p.100, Jovanovic 2001] Additionally, the "Time After Time (AnnElise)" segment was shown on the I.R.S.-funded programme "The Cutting Edge".
"Left of Reckoning" is included on the R.E.M. video compilations "
Succumbs " (VHS, 1987) and "" (DVD, 2006).References
*cite book | last = Gray | first = Marcus | title = It Crawled From The South: An R.E.M. Companion | edition = 2nd edition | publisher = Fourth Estate | date = 1996 | id = ISBN 1-85702-354-4
*cite book | last = Jovanovic | first = Rob | authorlink = Rob Jovanovic | title = Adventures in Hi-Fi: The Complete R.E.M. | publisher = Orion | date = 2001 | id = ISBN 0-7528-4618-3
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