History and Development
The band's original concept for the film "101" was going to be about how Depeche Mode fit into The 1980s. The band had considered shooting the documentary with an "experienced director," but felt that the (unnamed) choice was going to do something too "glossy," and they wanted something more interesting, so they agreed to use D.A. Pennebaker.
Pennebaker discarded the band's initial concept for the film, feeling that it was "impossible to examine in an entertainingly cinematic fashion." Instead, the movie follows a group of fans who are travelling across America as winners of a "be-in-a-Depeche-Mode-movie-contest," culminating in a live recording of Depeche Mode's show at the Rose Bowl, where in excess of 60,000 people were in attendance. Ultimately, the film focused on what they considered to be their strongest selling point - their live performance - as well as capturing the spirit of their fan base. However the movie does not depict the full Rose Bowl concert, instead only showing incomplete snippets of the band, fans and the concert. A 2003 reissue included more of the concert footage, but as Pennebaker "was shooting a documentary, not a concert film," a complete video record of the concert does not exist.
Pennebaker used his direct cinema approach, which he described as "letting the camera run as unobtrusively as possible, thereby encouraging events to unfold on their own. ... You edit more and the film changes every three days, but were very nice and patient about it."
Pennebaker admitted there was a similarity between Depeche Mode and some of the other artists he'd filmed before (Bob Dylan and David Bowie): "I found the audience very rapt; they were there for that band. Not any band would do. I got the feeling that maybe there was no other band they'd ever go out for again in that assemblage, and it made me take that audience fairly seriously."
Read more about this topic: 101 (album)
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