Jarre feature on 'How Do they Do that ?', 1996

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Holmes: His concerts have been shown to a taggering 5 million people.
Jenny: This man's imagination knows no bounds, and there's no stage in the world big enough to contain his amazing talent. Here's how Jean Michel Jarre makes all the world a musical stage.

[Opening part of CPLT, before the concert starts, but playing CPLT version of Magnetic Fields]

Holmes: They're the biggest live events in the history of music. Taking audiences to dizzy heights [as planes in CPLT go overhead] that they've never experienced before. And they're all the product of the amazing talent of France's most successful musicial export - Jean Michel Jarre. His live performances attract audiences of well over a million. They're light and sound extranvaganzas, that dazzle the sense and stretch the art of technology and communication to the limit. So how does one man manage to create such musical magic ?

[Pic of Maurice Jarre waving an Oscar]

Jenny: Son of composer Maurice Jarre, who wrote such classic scores as Laurence of Arabia, Jean Michel burst onto the music scene in 1976 with Oxygene [Oxygene video 1976] , a wordless mixture of electronic sounds. [yeah I know, disgraceful] It was a smash hit wordwide. From the very beginning, Jean Michel was an innovator.

Jarre: {In what looks like an Internet Cafe; two monitors hung on the wall behind him, and what looks like an empty beer glass on the table at his side.} When I was 14, 15 I used to play in, uh, rock bands, and while I was studying also classical music, I discovered the first synthesiser, and it gave me the idea of construing music in [waves hands about wildly] total different ways.

[MF 2 video, with Jarre running around around a circuit board. It features a Fairlight ! Wow!]

Jenny: Technology gave him the new sounds. And his imagination supplied the anmazing visual elements in his early videos. But how did this musical chef start cooking up musical feasts for both the ear and the eye ?

Jarre: I used to paint a lot, and also to make music a lot. For me it was almost the same thing, to create a sound or to create, uh, a graphic. [left hand pointing at camera, sort of with th the tips of fingers pressed together, emphasising words]. And then, naturally, it came to.. to me that I will, uh, I would like to, uh, combine both, in an art form.

[Jarre at RendezVous Houston, playing Equinoxe 5]

Eamonn: By the late 70's , Jarre was creating instruments that not only sounded stunning but looked stunning as well. His light organ (!!!), and his laser harp* [Houston, RV3]. Here a keyboard is attached to lasers that trigger notes when the light beam was broken by his glove. But he was always seeking more spectacular ways of reaching his audience, and in 1986, after a string of successful albums, Jean Michel decided to stage the worlds biggest ever concert in Houston, Texas.[Ethnicolor 1, CPLT; showing shots of skyscrapers in Houston during daytime] It took over 12 months to organise, but he planned to create a show that would go well beyond the bounds of any other rock concert... [shots of Jarre and a load of technicians at Houston, telling them what to do ] by taking over the city itself.

[Video of American TV show] Well, it's being called everything from the show of shows to the biggest concert in history, and officially it is known as RendezVous Houston, a laser and light show, which is going to use downtown buildings as the stage.

Shots of RV Houston as it happens...

Jenny: [RV 2] It was visible up to 20 miles away, and used over 60 skyscrapers. Houston launched an amazing stage in Jarre's career,

Jarre: I like using [something unintelligible] in my performances because I like the idea of hijacking the city or building,** To give the building or city a soul, or uh, eh, a kind of conciousness, and to also challenge the way we consider our invironment and I think it's what music and performances should provide to the audience. CPLT - Souvenir of China.

Eamonn: In 1995 the hijack continued in Paris at the Eiffel tower, with Jarre's concert for tolerance, his most spectacular display ever, (CPLT: Chrono3, lazer harp)

But his effort to extend both his stage and his audience never stops finding new channels. and now Jarre's fans across the world can even participate in his concerts on the Internet. [Eh ?]

Jarre: My performances are not trying to compete with movies or with TV but, just uh, my idea is to be giving, uh, to give to the audiences, some visual elements that you can build [points both hands at screen] and arrange for your own movie . Jenny:

Jarre: [CPLT: Mag Fields 1, but showing CPLT Chrono 4 !!!!] : What I hope I'm trying to achieve, uhhhh, to try to, uh, make people share the same emotions at the same time, with the idea that it will not be repeated again. The are living together a unique moment specially created for them.

Jenny: And these unique moments will continue, created by the staggering imagination of the man whose music really does light up the world - Jean Michel Jarre.

NOTES
* The Laser harp was in fact invented by Bernard Szajner, and not Jarre.
** Each piece of music is in fact played only briefly, while the commentator speaks over the video.

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