5000 Ways to Love You – Page 34 – Exploring the world of NZ On Air music video funding

Shapeshifter featuring Ladi6 “When I Return”

“When I Return” is a very loving and very cool song, but Shapeshifter seem to have really missed the opportunity to make a great video. Instead we see Ladi6 blobbing out in her tracky dacks, looking through a scrapbook filled with mementos of life on the road with Shapeshifter.

Along with the ticket for the gig at Phat Club in Nelson, various photos in the scrapbook turn into video, revealing clips of Shapeshifter on tour. And it’s all very generic. Loads of bands have fun when they’re on tour and do crazy things for the camera, but there’s nothing about it that stands out as particularly remarkable. Oh, there’s one of the band trying to stand up in the back of a moving van. That’s nice.

But maybe Shapeshifter can get away with making a really lacklustre video because they are – and this song especially is – so beloved. YouTube commenter Davidbigsexy says “good to see the clips from the early days were the boys are in the back of the van on the floor just having epic times”. So maybe the video is just a treat for Shapeshifter fans – they don’t need to be sold on the song (they already love it) so instead here’s the band mucking around on tour.

Best bit: Ladi6’s henna hand tattoo.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a dirty old spring clean.

Salmonella Dub “Longtime”

If you fly from Auckland to Wellington, at point point the plane passes over part of the King Country that is covered in bush. And every time I always look down and think if the plane were to crash, it would probably get swallowed by the bush and be invisible from the air. Well, now you can have that thought from the safety of your own home, thanks to the “Longtime” video.

Most of the video is aerial shots of scenic Aotearoa. As well of swooping shots of dense bush, we’re also treated to rocky shorelines, green hills and a coastal town. But the most time is given to a convoy of cars making their way along a winding road, through tunnels and around many curves and bends. It could almost be mistaken for scenes from a car ad, only one of the drivers isn’t very good and seems to genuinely be having trouble staying in his lane.

This aerial exploration of scenic New Zealand takes up about two-thirds of the video. And what happens next? Well, it’s a Salmonella Dub video so they have a barbecue, obviously. (They were previously seen enjoying a barbecue in “For the Love of It” from 1999). The “Longtime” video is mostly set in the New Zealand that is virtually untouched by humans, so the barbecue isn’t in some suburban backyard, it’s on a farm.

The video finally makes a concession to the Dub’s day job – we see them playing a concert. It’s like the “Slide” video where it feels like some live footage has been whacked on the end just in case anyone forgets that Salmonella Dub are a band and not a branch of Tourism New Zealand.

Best bit: the grilling of crayfish, actually looking pretty good.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… logically it would end with a coffee table covered with candle wax.

Rhian Sheehan featuring Jess Chambers “Sunshine”

It’s a golden sunny day at Castlepoint, so what better time and place to shoot a music video? Only this video isn’t being shot in a video format. Instead director Peter Tonks has shot a large number of still photos and edited them together to create the sense of moving image.

Sometimes it has a sped-up timelapse feel, sometimes it’s like a cheap security video that only shoots one frame per second, and other times it’s literally like a series of photos. But all shots are beautifully composed and work well with the rhythm and dynamics of the chilled-out song.

The star of the video is vocalist Jess Chambers though due to the restrictions of the medium, there’s not many shots of her actually singing. But a few times it’s managed, with the series of frames of Jess singing skilfully coming together to match the song.

Castlepoint is a notoriously windy location, and perhaps the photo collage technique helps disguise this more than straight video footage would. Instead the video has a dreamy feel, like looking back at some photos of that really amazing day we went to Castlepoint when everything felt golden and perfect.

Best bit: Rhian Sheehan mystically appearing in the bush, like a wood sprite who has been summoned.

Director: Peter Tonks
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… aerial shots.

Minuit “Except You”

Minuit return with “Except You”, a bittersweet and supercool reflection upon a broken relationship. But the video, directed by Alyx Duncan, takes its inspiration from outside the home.

Across a lonely costal landscape comes Ruth from Minuit, two suitcases in hand. Those suitcases contain a lot of old memories and she’s there to dramatically dispose of their contents. She begins hurling away accoutrements of her past, which seems a bit more fun than dropping off a banana box of stuff to the Red Cross store.

But what’s behind this dramatic disposal? We flash back to the circus. There’s Ruth and her bandmates along with a number of circus performers, all elaborately costumed and with very expressive eyebrows. They lipsync along with the song, and it feels all very sinister. In the midst of it, Ruth slips a teaspoon down her cleavage, suggesting that her suitcases are all full of stolen goodies.

After emptying the two suitcases – but keeping the cute little dog she found in one – Ruth sets off down to the beach. But there she finds the circus people. Uh oh. They close in on her, grab her and perform the classic “sawing a lady in half” trick. Only it’s no trick. Ruth has been bisected, with her annoyed top half in one suitcase and her wiggling legs in the other. Well, when it’s no longer ethical to have animals in circuses, you’ve got to entertain the punters somehow.

I really like what’s happening in this video. It’s really stylish and dramatic with a really strong storyline, it works perfectly with the lyrics and tone of the song, and there are lots of lush details to be discovered with repeat viewings.

Best bit: the naughty fingertip lick.

Director: Alyx Duncan
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… round the rugged rocks.

Lazrus “Scribble”

Lazrus was an Auckland MC who had the sweet song “Scribble”. Like a lot of rap songs, it’s a song about writing a rap song, but the production nudges it into being a cool summer jam.

The video casts Lazrus as a lonely cleaner, mopping up at Alleluya Cafe. But a sticky floor is the least of his worries. Over in the toilet, a succession of visitors (all played by Lazrus) graffiti the toilet wall. They each express themselves through the medium of marker pen, spray paint or lipstick, with little concern for the watching security camera.

The graffiti is all pretty rubbish and doesn’t even come close to the quality scribblings I’ve seen in the ladies loos at the King’s Arms or Mighty Mighty. The toilet antics aside, the strongest scenes are Lazrus along at Alleluya with the Auckland night time skyline in the picture window behind him.

The website Thread has an interview with Lazrus from 2004, where he talks about the video. He reveals that the video had to be changed at the last minute after their original location fell through, adding ” I never intended on dressing up in drag or anything.” Maybe there’s an unrealised video that would have been better than this one, but the “Scribble” video doesn’t feel like a last-minute job.

In the interview Lazrus also says, “no disrespect to NZ On Air, but the $5000 you get is never enough to pay for everything, so favours have to be pulled left, right and centre.” But the $5000 was never ever intended to pay for everything. In 1991 NZ On Air budgeted an average music video production as costing $10,000, halved that for the funding, with the expectation that the artist (or their record company) would match that. If $5000 isn’t enough, then, yeah, you call in favours or chip in some cash yourself. Or wait another decade until music video production becomes really cheap.

Best bit: the Sky Tower, looking gloriously framed by St Kevin’s arcade.

Director: Stephen Baker
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… the old sawing-the-lady-in-half trick.

Goodshirt “Fiji Baby”

“Fiji Baby” is a sweet song looking at relationship troubles. The title is explained in the first verse – a trip to Hamilton is made sweeter by pretending they’re heading to Fiji, baby.

The video is set in the claustrophobic world of an old-fashioned hotel room – one without the luxury of an en suite bathroom, but with the most exquisite Rococo decor. Rodney checks in, turns on the jug, stares at the wallpaper, plays his portable keyboard, goes out for a wee, makes a cup of tea and takes a nap. He evidently has a very short attention span.

While he’s asleep, he dreams of the rest of Goodshirt. They’re sitting around a table enjoying a meal while wearing animal masks. Two of them are wearing horse masks, predating the horse mask meme by several years.

Rodney wakes up and very quickly leaves the room. What did the animal head dream/nightmare reveal to him? As he power-walks down the hallway, his phone rings. The video thoughtfully subtitles his quiet conversation. “Hello…? Yeah, nah, yeah.”

The video has a slightly uneasy feeling, a little bit Twin Peaks in style, which seems to symbolise the relationship stress rather than literally depict a holiday in Hammo.

And by avoiding the literal meaning of the lyrics, the song touches more people. I was interested to find a couple of heartbreaking comments on YouTube:

This is such a sad, sad, video – it makes me remember being young and poor, and the family only being able to afford to go to Hamilton 🙁

I grew up in Wairoa, Napier was a trip to the big city. Auckland seemed like a foreign land you only saw on telly.

Well, the video might sing of Hamilton, but you wouldn’t get that sort of room in the Fountain City Motor Lodge.

Best bit: the suitcase essentials – clothes, a Rubik’s cube, a knitted rabbit, and a photo of his sweetie.

Director: Wade Shotter
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a big clean-up.

Ermehn feat Cydel “Silver & Gold”

Directed by Oscar Kightley, “Silver & Gold” presents a South Auckland morality tale. The video features a young man who spends much of the time wandering the colourful neighbourhood streets, looking concerned. But what’s troubling him?

It turns out he’s troubled by a bank robbery that was previously detailed in the non-NZOA funded music video for Ermehn’s bleak song “Bank Job”. That video featured a Tarantinoesque robbery, where everyone is a sweary gun-toting cool dude until one of the bank staff is accidentally shot. It ends with one of the crew hiding from the police, and indeed we catch up with him in “Silver & Gold”, which looks at the aftermath.

It turns out the criminal has a troubled conscience. He wanders the streets of South Auckland and sees kids happily playing, probably reminding him of when life was better. The video flashes back to the robbery using clips from “Bank Job”. The revved up cinematic tone of the robbery jars with the more ordinary footage of South Auckland, suggesting that the cooldude bravado of the robbery is a fantasy, with the reality being too awful to consider.

The criminal heads towards his house, where a police officer is at the front door, talking to his family. There’s no showdown, no struggle. The guy willingly gets in the cop car, leaving his family looking utterly deflated.

The video ends on the family sitting around their table, praying for their son. The camera pans around and we see a photo of the guy as a boy, back before things went wrong.

It’s a sad story, so it’s just as well that Ermehn is here to kick some butt. He features along with Cydel, hanging out in South Auckland pedestrian mall that looks as vibrant as Cuba Mall on a good day. The cool music, uplifting lyrics and Ermehn’s kick-arse performance is enough to lift the darker storyline to at least give it a hopeful feeling. “Silver & Gold” doesn’t give the dark world of “Bank Job” a happy ending, but there is at least a feeling that history won’t be repeating itself.

Best bit: the vibrant scenes in the pedestrian mall.

Director: Oscar Kightley
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a romantic escape.

Elemeno P “Claim To Fame”

“Claim to Fame” was the sixth and final video for a track off Elemeno P’s debut album “Love and Disrespect”. And the video sees the band in the midst of touring, a sign that they were perhaps too busy on the road to shoot a video.

The video opens with Dave getting the audience to put their hands in the hair while guitarist Justin takes a photo “for his kids when he’s an old man”. And as the song starts, we see a montage of many photos of Elemeno P fans posing for Justin with their hands in the air. These days, an artist taking photos and sharing them is pretty unremarkable, but 2005 predated social media so it still felt kind of special.

The sea of arms turns into photos from a big outdoor concert, then finally back to footage at the smaller venue from the beginning. The rest of the video is a mix of live footage and still shots, capturing the band at their peak. But this is where it loses its momentum.

But here’s the thing – the video is way more interesting than the song. The song is a sedate rant against name-droppers and slaves to fashion, and it doesn’t come across as something that would be awesome to experience live. It’s a toilet break song.

For live videos, whether it’s a big rock moment or an intimate performance, it has to be with a song that makes the viewer feel like they’re witnessing something special. The “Claim to Fame” video just demonstrates a band who are performing a random album track to a group of fans. A spirited song like “Verona” would have worked much better as the subject of a live video.

Best bit: the waving of hands in the hair, like everyone just doesn’t care.

Next… a guilty conscience.

Deja Voodoo “Today, Tomorrow, Timaru”

Up until this point, Deja Voodoo had been the jokily rubbish house band of the chaotic televisual experience that was Back of the Y. But the lads got a bit more serious and hit the road with something resembling a proper band. Members Chris Stapp and Matt Heath had previously directed music videos for other artists (for example, Tim Finn), but Deja Voodoo was their first time in front of the camera. Their first two videos were glorious self-funded efforts – “We are Deja Voodoo” and “Beers” – before moving to a slightly higher budget for “Today, Tomorrow, Timaru”.

The song was a tribute to the music of Jordan Luck and the Exponents, a tale of thwarted love and rooted solidly in Timaru. And there’s something to be said for that. Most New Zealand songs ignore the geography, with everything happening in a no man’s land of emotion. Previously we’ve seen the Mutton Birds’ “Dominion Road” and the Peter Stuyvesant Hitlist’s “Ode to K Road”, but this is the first time that South Canterbury has been name checked. (Unless you count Jan Hellriegel’s “Geraldine”.)

The video is shot in and around Timaru, carefully illustrating all the places mentioned in the song. They’re even rocking out in front of the bird aviary, which – the internet tells me – has since been moved 200 metres from that site. There was also a planking controversy there in 2011.

The climax of the song is the shouted roll call of various small towns between Timaru and Christchurch. It manages to make places like Washdyke, Rolleston and Rakaia (“Rakaaaaaaia!”) seem really mythical, even when accompanies by a very ordinary clip of some local shops.

Much of the humour of the video comes from the site of a cool dude band dressed in black, striking many quality rock poses around Timaru. But despite all the lolz, Timaru comes across very well in the video. It’s shot on a cloudless day, with the band bathed in golden light from the setting sun. Awwww. It makes me wish more bands would get out of Auckland and Wellington when shooting their music videos.

Best bit: Deja Voodoo’s obnoxious van.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… tour pics.

Confucius featuring Sarah Brown “Take It From Me”

Confucius was the project of Christchurch musician Nava Thomas. The first funded video was “Roll Call” in 2000, with “Take It From Me” being the second and final funded song four years later.

The video is partially animated, that is, there’s filmed footage with animation over the top. We meet a young woman who has a handful of glitter stars which float up into the night sky, looking not unlike the stars on the New Zealand flag.

The stars turn into sunflowers and there’s a lot of gaiety. Then it all gets complicated, with the woman put on a grotesque muddy mask on her face, and pulling waves of painted background around her. With the recurring motif of the flag stars, maybe it’s all a metaphor for the debate around a new national flag. Hey, if the silver fern motif doesn’t work out, maybe we could have sunflowers.

This is one of the few videos where I had to mute the song to be able to follow the visuals. The song itself is a pleasant enough chilled out track, but somehow the visuals fight with it. Often animated videos end up feeling like there isn’t enough happening in them, but this time it seems like the opposite. The video is a rich, detailed world while the song is far more relaxed.

Best bit: when the lady slumps down a wall and leaves giant scratch marks.

Director: Mark Antony Smith
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… it’s all good in South Canterbury.