''Beautiful Noise'' is a 2014 American music

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, written and directed by Eric Green. The film documents three

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

bands—

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock music, rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981. In 19 ...

The Jesus and Mary Chain The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid, who are the two founders and only consistent members of the ...

, and My Bloody Valentine—and their influence on

shoegazing Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volum ...

and other

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

genres. ''Beautiful Noise'' features extracts from over 50 interviews with bands and artists, as well as archival footage and music videos. Green commenced production on ''Beautiful Noise'' in early 2005 with producer and editor Sarah Ogletree; production was largely completed by 2008 although the project stagnated due to various financial and legal issues. In response, Green began a successful

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

campaign on

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

in hopes of securing final financial investment for the film's release. The campaign was supported by several of the bands featured in ''Beautiful Noise'' through

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. ''Beautiful Noise'' was announced for release in May 2014 and premiered at the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

on May 31, 2014.

Overview

''Beautiful Noise'' documents the underground music movement in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s and early 1990s, focusing in particular on the Scottish

ethereal Ethereal may refer to: * Ethereal (horse), a horse that won Australia's Caulfield Cup as well as Melbourne Cup in 2001 * Ethereal (musician), American rapper and record producer * Ethereal wave, or simply ethereal, a subgenre of dark wave music * W ...

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such ...

band

, Scottish

noise pop Noise pop is a subgenre of alternative and indie rock that developed in the mid-1980s in the United Kingdom and United States. It is defined by its mixture of dissonant noise or feedback with the songcraft more often found in pop music. Shoegaz ...

band

and the Irish

band My Bloody Valentine. The film explores "how their groundbreaking music inspired generations of bands", including

artists

Ride Ride may refer to: People * MC Ride, a member of Death Grips * Sally Ride (1951–2012), American astronaut * William Ride (19262011), Australian zoologist Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Ride'' (1998 film), a comedy film by Millicen ...

Slowdive Slowdive (stylized in lowercase) are an English people, English rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Neil Halstead (vocals, guitars), Rachel Goswell (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Christian Savill (guitars) ...

, Chapterhouse, and

Lush Lush may refer to: People Music * Lush (band), a British rock band * ''Lush'' (Mitski album), a 2012 album by Mitski * ''Lush'' (Snail Mail album), a 2018 album by Snail Mail * "Lush", a single by Skepta featuring Jay Sean * '' Lush 3'', a s ...

. ''Beautiful Noise'' features extracts from over 50 interviews with members of various bands, as well as "special appearances" from

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...

vocalist–guitarist

Wayne Coyne Wayne Michael Coyne (born January 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the founder, lead vocalist, main songwriter, and only constant member of the psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips. Early life Coyne was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ...

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

frontman

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He came to prominence as the founder, lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. T ...

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, primary songwriter, singer, and only constant member of alter ...

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The ...

and Robert Smith of

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

. In addition to interviews, ''Beautiful Noise'' includes never-before-seen footage, television appearances, music videos and tour projections of the film's featured bands. The film also "highlights new bands influenced by hoegazing, such as

A Place to Bury Strangers A Place to Bury Strangers are an American rock band formed in 2002, in New York City. The trio is currently composed of Oliver Ackermann (guitar/vocals, bass), John Fedowitz (bass guitar) and Sandra Fedowitz (drums). Commonly known by the initi ...

Wild Nothing Wild Nothing is the indie rock project of American multi-instrumentalist Jack Tatum, formed in 2009 in Blacksburg, Virginia. In the recording studio, Tatum writes, records and performs the project's music. As a touring act, Wild Nothing perform ...

and M83.

Production

''Beautiful Noise'' was written and directed by Eric Green, produced and edited by Sarah Ogletree and presented by their studio company HypFilms. Green conceived the idea for the project in late 2004 after concluding that there were "a million documentaries about

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

" but no similar documentaries about bands he was a "longtime fan" of.

Pre-production Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, video game, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the co ...

of ''Beautiful Noise'' began in early 2005 and by March, Green and Ogletree had commenced production on the film. Green's interviews with the film's featured cast "spanned over several years". In 2007, an email was leaked to a journalist about ''Beautiful Noise''. Several prominent publications, including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'',

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...

reported on the film and "inspired a wider of level of interest" from the public. As a result, Green and Ogletree began a

campaign on

to raise finances to cover licensing of the music featured in the film, as well as clearances and distribution. Green hoped to raise $75,000 on Kickstarter and the campaign was supported by various artists raising awareness via

. The project was successfully funded on December 16, 2012 and a further $9,740 was pledged after a total of 1,511 users contributed. During early stages of production, from 2005 to 2007, Ogletree edited various versions of ''Beautiful Noise'' from rough scripts provided by Green. Multiple edits of the film featured archival footage with "personally custom designed art" which was the result of collaborations with artist Angus Cameron.

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

founder

Brad Laner Brad Laner (born November 6, 1966, in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician and record producer best known for his work with the shoegaze band Medicine (band), Medicine, which he founded and led. Prior to Medicine, he was involved i ...

also contributed a musical score to the film. Following public awareness of the film after the 2007 email leak, John Nugent and Timothy O'Donnell contributed further artwork to the film, presented alongside Cameron's additions. A final edit of ''Beautiful Noise'' was completed by Ogletree after Green's successful campaign on Kickstarter.

Release

''Beautiful Noise'' was originally set for release in 2008. Green and Ogletree attempted to find a distributor, however, several factors—including the expense of music clearance and licensing, the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

and the general decline in

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

sales—prompted "an ever-elusive" release date. Upon starting the campaign on Kickstarter, Green mentioned an estimated release date in 2013, although delays in

licensing A license (American English) or licence ( Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another par ...

affected the appraisal. ''Beautiful Noise'' was subsequently announced for release in May 2014; the film premiered at the

on May 31 and the international premiere was held at the

Sheffield DocFest Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest; abbr.Sheffield International Documentary Festival or SIDF) is an international documentary festival and industry marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The festival revolves aro ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, England on June 8.

References

Bibliography

External links

* * * at

* {{The Jesus and Mary Chain 2014 documentary films 2014 films Alternative rock mass media American documentary films American independent films American rock music films Cocteau Twins Rockumentaries Kickstarter-funded documentaries My Bloody Valentine (band) Shoegaze The Jesus and Mary Chain 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films English-language musical films 2014 musical films