Media Meditation #1: Almost Famous, The Double Whammy

Over the weekend my room mates and I had a movie night. I got the chance to revisit the story of Penny Lane and amateur journalist Will Miller accompanying the fictional rock band Still Water. A rather clever film which depicts the relationship between an up and coming Rock band and their untrustworthy journalist, Almost Famous incorporates both medium of music and print (magazine) which effectively are shown to correspond with one another throughout the film.

The above photo shows the crew of groupies (respectively known as the Band-aids) and youngster journalist Will Miller with the aspiring rock quadruplet Still Water on tour. (hollywoodteenmovie.com)

Throughout the film, Still Water is hesitant of trusting their new roadie Will Miller, the journalist whom is going to give them their first exposure to popular media in Rolling Stone Magazine. There is a cultural shift in the climax of the film where the band goes from being a mediocrely known band to being thrown into the spotlight by the end of the film.

What the band was most worried about was that Will would turn on them as a friend, and use the technique of card stacking and writing the article to make the band look worse off than they are, initially hurting their chances of making it into the spotlight.

While the correlation of Will and the band still stood in the air, they continued with a good relationship on tour. "Aw, man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong." (Lester Bangs, mentor of Will Miller) Still Water had convinced Will with the technique plain folks, that Will was just one of the guys on the road, partying and hanging out. He grew to be one of them.

Still Water at their best, official music video for their hit song Fever Dog. (youtube.com)

My favorite scene of the film is while the whole crew is on the tour bus after a long night. Tiny Dancer is playing on the radio, and the mood the song sets is amazing. The productional techniques that are used in this scene portray the sense of family that has grown within the band and how connected Will finally feels with everyone. The camera angels and slow motions help initiate the moment on the bus and everyones shift of emotion once singing along.

The now family, on the bus singing Tiny Dancer. Truly a bonding experience for them all. (youtube.com)