CEREMONY

Meanwhile, I had engaged the Chinese film cameraman and director Yu Likwai to make a video for “Ceremony”. He had come to my attention because of the films he has shot or directed that used titles from Joy Division songs or albums, and one film featured a character dancing to a JD song.

Tony Rayns, whose expertise is Asian cinema, on which he regularly writes, programs for festivals and subtitles films, put me in touch with Likwai.

Likwai did not listen much to New Order but loved JD. I proposed Ceremony because it was written by JD and recorded by NO as their first single.

So Likwai sent me two ideas for a video. I was moved by one of them, so he had a direction that we briefly discussed by email. Then he just went and did it!

When he delivered the final video I was elated. He had no idea what the video I was making was about, so I was surprised to see how our two videos related: each focused on one character, had plants turning to/increasing in color, and ended on the face of the character. Yet the two videos were also so different.

The videos were sent to the record company and the band.

They loved them.