Broken Social Scene - Almost Crimes

OCT 15 2002 · 12:00

Broken Social Scene - Almost Crimes (2002) Director: Kevin Drew & George Vale Era: Post-Punk Revival / Indie Rock Breakthrough (2002-2003) - Toronto indie collective's commercial breakthrough era, coinciding with the release of You Forgot It in People on Arts and Crafts Records and a Juno Award win for Alternative Album of the Year. High curatorial value as a primary visual document of Broken Social Scene's breakthrough era and the Toronto indie rock collective scene of the early 2000s. Co-direction by BSS co-founder Kevin Drew gives the video insider authenticity; George Vale's professional camera background grounds its technical execution. The quantitative data, 159 cuts, 1.56s avg shot length, high brightness and warm palette, forensically encodes the band's chaotic, joyful collective energy into a measurable aesthetic fingerprint. Context: Released in 2002 alongside Broken Social Scene's landmark album You Forgot It in People, this video exists at the crossroads of the post-punk revival and the Toronto indie collective explosion. The album became the band's commercial breakthrough and won the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year in 2003, helping to place the Toronto indie scene on an international stage. The video's raw, high-energy production aesthetic reflects the band's ethos as a rotating collective of up to nineteen musicians, resisting the polished MTV mainstream in favor of a communal, DIY sensibility rooted in the Toronto underground. Director notes: Co-directed by Broken Social Scene co-founder Kevin Drew and Canadian music video veteran George Vale. Per IMDB, the video opens with distorted shadows of the band in front of a white background. The video is for 'Almost Crimes (Radio Kills Remix)' from the album You Forgot It in People on Arts and Crafts Records. Stephen Chung served as director of photography. The rapid editing pace (159 scene changes, ~1.56s avg shot length) reflects the collective's DIY ethos and the lo-fi energy of the Toronto indie scene circa 2002.