The fans are blown away, a sweet lullaby, the newsreel, disintegration, and cutting to the beat.
Shihad “Sleepeater”
The video above is just the plain broadcast version. Shihad took things to the next level with an interactive version of the video that was hosted at sleepeater.co.nz. Sadly, the is website no longer available — the domain now points to an online retailer.
But let me tell you, it was glorious! In a variant of the “torture the band” music video, the “Sleepeater” vid was more “torture the fans”.
One hundred Shihad fans were invited to the video shoot, only to find themselves spun around while being attacked by wind, water and lights. Obviously they all loved it. The footage was then slowed down, and edited into a standalone music video.
Or you could view all the individual films on the website, seeing how fans such as Braydon, Sheldon, Brendan and Yarden each handle the rock assault.
For posterity, here’s a screen shot of the interactive video. It’s from the earliest stages, before the drama starts.
I also found this screenshot, which was taken once the action had started.
Director: Sam Peacocke
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
Tahuna Breaks “Sophie’s Lullaby”
“Sophie’s Lullaby” is a bog standard parental lullaby, whereby a father marvels at the fruit of his loins. The video creates a nocturnal wonderland, full of layers of fantastical scenes mixed with snapshots of ordinary domestic life. Everything looks amazing, and fully and honestly embraces the cheesiness of the song without irony.
Director: Christian Greet
The Black Seeds “Love is a Radiation”
The “Love is a Radiation” video is made from old news footage, taking a journey through the 20th century and to the first decade of the 21st century. As a result, the video mostly features historic men doing historic man things, mostly to do with war and/or peace. The video ends on a more hopeful note, seeing a future with wind turbines instead of nuclear power..
Director: Gareth Moon
The Lookie Loo’s “Don’t Let It Blow Away”
“Don’t Let It Blow Away” has the epic sound of a modern-day sea shanty and the video is even more modern. Starting with studio footage of the band playing their song, the video breaks up the image into tiny blobs – like pixels gone rogue. To the rhythm of the song, the blobs scatter and pulse, giving the impression that it’s all one power chord away from totally falling apart.
Director: Tim van Dammen
The Naked and Famous “All of This”
“All of This” starts off looking like it’s going to be one of those videos full of close-ups of band members, as if the sight of a dude twanging his bass is the most thrilling thing ever. But because it’s The Naked and Famous and because it’s Special Problems, things are different. The video is all about rhythm, strictly cutting to the beat and using repeated shots of ordinary things, like a cucumber dropping on the floor. It builds and underscores the rhythm of the song, added by computer graphics that (deliberately) look like they were designed in MS Paint in 1993.
Director: Special Problems
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision