"Homage to Méliès" by the Smashing Pumpkins

Open Cinema & Rock

Homage to Georges Méliès

"Createur du Spectacle Cinematographique"

The Smashing Pumpkins 'Tonight, tonight'

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"Tonight, Tonight" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, written by the band's frontman, Billy Corgan. It was the fourth single and second track from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and was released in April 1996. "Tonight, Tonight" .

The concept of music video, inspired by Georges Méliès's silent film A Trip to the Moon, came from directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who got the idea for the video because the album cover for Mellon Collie reminded them of early silent films. Hence, the video was filmed in the style of a turn-of-the-century silent film using theater-style backdrops and primitive special effects. Most of the video's backdrops and puppetwork were created by artist Wayne White. In the end they are rescued by a ship called "S.S. Méliès", in reference to the movie director.

Georges Méliès (/mɛ.li.ˈəz/; French: [meljɛs]; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938), full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a Frenchillusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema.

Méliès, a prolific innovator in the use of special effects, accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, and was one of the first filmmakers to usemultiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his work. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician".

Two of his best-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896). He was also featured in the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret as well as its film adaptation Hugo, where he was portrayed by Ben Kingsley.

In popular culture

The work of Georges Méliès has been referenced a number of times in film, television and fiction, including:

File:Méliès, Le voyage a travers l'impossible1904 colorizée 20.jpg

Le Grand Méliès (1952) - The life of Georges Méliès is told in this biodrama, directed by Georges Franju. André Méliès plays the part of his own father.
The 1956 film version of Around the World in Eighty Days features Le Voyage Dans La Lune at the Introduction.
In Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 film, La Chinoise, Guillaume (Jean-Pierre Léaud) prefaces a lecture on current events with a discussion of who, in French cinema, was the true originator of the filming of current events, the Lumière brothers or Méliès. Guillaume makes the argument that Méliès, rather than the Lumières, was the true originator of current event films in French cinema.^[16]
Queen's 1995 music video "Heaven for Everyone" features clips from Méliès' Le Voyage dans la Lune and The Impossible Voyage.
The music video for "Tonight, Tonight" by The Smashing Pumpkins is a tribute to Méliès and A Trip to the Moon.^[18] It has been called one of the greatest music videos of all time.^[19]
In the last episode of the HBO miniseries From The Earth to the Moon, Méliès was played by Tchéky Karyo.
In 2003 The New York Guitar Festival commissioned the jazz composer/guitarist Bill Frisell to compose scores for five early films by Georges Méliès, including A Trip to the Moon(1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Bill Frisell's Trio presented the world premiere of the scores in January 2004 at two concerts taking place at the New York Guitar Festival. The performances were later broadcast on WNYC New York Public Radio.^{[citation needed]}
The contribution of Méliès to cinema history is the subject of the 2007 illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, and Martin Scorsese's 2011 film adaptation of it as Hugo with Ben Kingsley playing Méliès.
The production of Katy Perry's performance of her song Wide Awake at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards was based upon Méliès' A Trip To The Moon.
On August 10, 2013, as part of the on going Return of Moon Maid saga, the Dick Tracy strip introduced Méliès whose head looks like the Man in the Moon seen in A Trip to the Moon.