''Better Living Through Circuitry'' is a 1999 documentary directed by Jon Reiss about the electronic dance music cultural scene of the 1990s. This is considered to be the first full-length documentary film that goes behind the electronic dance scene and uncovers the culture it has spawned. The film presented aspects of rave culture such as: empowerment through advances in musical electronics technology, the DIY (do-it-yourself) ethic, and the flowering of a new spirituality embracing transcendence through sound and rhythm. A cross-section of the techno subculture is represented. In the documentary, ravers, DJs and musicians speak for themselves about their music and ideals. Produced by Cleopatra Pictures and Entertainment Group, presided by

Cleopatra Records Cleopatra Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1992 by Brian Perera. The record label has since grown into a family of labels, including Hypnotic Records, Purple Pyramid Records, ...

founder Brian Perera.

Participants

The documentary features in-depth interviews with

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

Genesis P-Orridge Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950 – 14 March 2020) was a singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmissions art ...

Wolfgang Flür Wolfgang Flür (born 17 July 1947) is a German musician, best known for playing percussion in the electronic group Kraftwerk from 1973 to 1987. Flür claims that he invented the electric drums the group used throughout the 1970s. However, pa ...

, Brian Transeau,

DJ Spooky Paul Dennis Miller (born September 6, 1970), known professionally as DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is an American electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics " illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntabl ...

DJ Keoki George Lopez (born October 23, 1966), known by his stage name DJ Keoki or Keoki Franconi, is a Salvadoran-American electronic musician, among other genres, DJ. Born in El Salvador and raised in Hawaii, Keoki began advertising himself as "supers ...

The Crystal Method The Crystal Method is an American electronic music act formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They were pioneers of the big beat genre and their music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video ga ...

Roni Size Ryan Owen Granville Williams (born 29 October 1969), better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. ...

Electric Skychurch Electric Skychurch is an electronic or acid trance band based in Los Angeles, California. It was formed in 1991 by composer and producer James Lumb, who initially involved vocalist Roxanne Morganstern and percussionist Alex Spurkel in the projec ...

Carl Cox Carl Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, as well as radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Hove, Sussex, England. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has performed at numerous clubs and e ...

Frankie Bones Frankie Bones (real name Frank Mitchell; born 1966) is an American disc jockey and house and techno music producer from Brooklyn, New York City. He is considered to be the "Godfather of American rave culture"

. ''Better Living Through Circuitry'' equally emphasizes graphic designers, promoters, fans and other essential components of the scene, such as Mike Szabo, whose flyers for "N.A.S.A." (Nocturnal Audio + Sensory Awakening) events at Club Shelter, are part of the permanent collection of the

Smithsonian Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

and the Pure Children/Earth Program Collective who worked and lived in a New York City loft space from which they created graphics, promoted raves and managed their own record label.

Production

Filming started in March 1997, with a budget of $100,000, at the Winter Music Conference. In keeping with the theme of "empowerment through technology" ''Better Living Through Circuitry'' utilized some of what was considered, at the time of production, the latest digital film-making equipment. It was all filmed on a tiny

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

VX1000 digital

video camera A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos (as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film). Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of othe ...

, which was usually taken by the director into raves in a backpack.

Post-production

Virtually all post-production including editing, on-line, titles and effects were all performed in a spare bedroom of the producer's apartment using the Media 100 non-linear digital editing system and

Adobe After Effects Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe Inc., and used in the post-production process of film making, video games and television production. Among other things, After ...

software on a

Power Macintosh The Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, is a family of personal computers designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer as the core of the Macintosh brand from March 1994 until August 2006. Described by ''MacWorld'' as "the most important te ...

computer.

Soundtrack

# "Truth in the Eyes of a Spaceship (Edit)" – Spaceship Eyes # "Expander (Remix)" –

The Future Sound of London The Future Sound of London (often abbreviated FSOL) is a British electronic music duo composed of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans. They have been described as a "boundary-pushing" electronic act, covering techno, ambient, house music, trip ...

(as Future Sound of London) # "Now Is the Time (Millennium Remix)" –

(as Crystal Method) # "Endor Fun (Edit)" –

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...

# "Money for E" – Psychic TV # "Peace In Zaire" –

# "Brown Paper Bag" –

# "Parts 1-4" –

Meat Beat Manifesto Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the on ...

# "Cetch Da Monkey" – Atomic Babies # "Freaks" – Überzone (as T. Wiles) # "Caterpillar" – Keoki # "Deus" –

Reception

The film holds an 82% rating on ''Rotten Tomatoes'' based on 17 reviews.

References

External links

* * - {{YouTube, u=jfilm1, Jon Reiss
Seventh Art Releasing (7AR)

The Synergy! The Ecstasy! The Biology! - Movie Review - Better Living Through Circuitry - NYTimes.com

Raves, the Celluloid Rage - Los Angeles Times
1999 films American documentary films Documentary films about electronic music and musicians 1999 documentary films Electronic dance music 1990s English-language films 1990s American films