DUVET BROTHERS
Scratch Video
Scratch Video took existing news footage films and adverts and re edited them to create new meanings
Their most noted Scratch Video was for New Order's ' Blue Monday' where images of Thatcher's Britain were cut with images of buildings being smashed, the NHS and money being burned. They created an agit-prop video that is still shown in art galleries around the world including The Tate Galleries London.
They also created the video for the No1 hit Pump Up The Volume by MARRS.
This video 'I Just Wanna' (Island Records) for the band Blue In Heaven 1986 was highly influential for the MTV generation and established The Duvet Brothers as more than archive manipulators.
After a two spread page in the NME and a centre spread in the Sunday Times Magazine. The Duvet Brothers began getting commercial work. One of the first commissions was to make twenty one, one minute fillers for now defunct Music Box Channel. They were given their programmes to 'scratch' and cut them up with space footage.Below are six of the best.
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SAMCO SUNGLASSES
This was The Duvet Brothersr first corporate commercial. It was intended as an in house video but ended up being used in stores around the UK
It looks pretty ordinary now but in 1984/5 it was regarded as innovative. The Duvet Brothers presented Scratch Video and this commercial at The Edinburgh Television Festival as an example of how this new technique could be used in television.
Janet Street Porter championed the Duvet's and giave them their first television commission editing a fashion item for her 'Bliss' TV show. She came to their edit studio regularalily when they were working with Sigue Sigue Sputnik to discuss ideas for a new show which became Network 7. It was possibly the first programme to use their wobbly camera shooting and fast cut editing style.
OPEN THE BOX
A title sequence for the Channel Four series
The Duvet's also created and performed live multi screen installations in art galleries and clubs and produced the videos walls for Sigue Sigue Sputnik live at The Royal Albert Hall, The Palladium in New York and Los Angeles.
This is a two screen assembly of a track performed live at the Royal Albert Hall mixing from vhs tapes on to 25 screens behind the band
After a sold out show at the Limelight Club,London - where the music, commercials and film industry were invited. The show was attended by Movie Director Marek Kanievska who Invited The Duvet Brothers to Hollywood to produce the video walls for his movie Less Than Zero starring Robert Downey Jnr and James Spader.The brief was to produce multi screen installations for the party scenes in the movie.
The Duvet Brothers re - formed in 2016 when The Dundee Arts School archived all their work for the Rewind project. The British Film Institute also has their archive and they continue to be shown in Galleries around the world.
This is a still from Less Than Zero with The Duvet Bros Multi screen in the background
