Guys, let me tell you a story. When I was at primary school, every year there was Calf Day, which was like a mini A&P show for kids. As well as kids bringing their pet calves and lambs to school (did I mention it was a country school?), there were also prizes for things like baking and floral arrangements.
One of the floral categories involved getting an old coffee jar, sticking a wad of Blu-Tack in the bottom, then inserting an arrangement of flowers into it. The jar was filled with water, the lid screwed on and you’d end up with a floral arrangement in a jar filled with water.
Anyway, one year a whole lot of kids started adding food colouring to the water. A light tint might look good, but there ended up being all these jars of darkly dyed water. I didn’t put any food colouring in my jar, and my arrangement ended up winning. The lesson learned: sometimes less is more.
Which brings us back to the “Long White Cross” video. A lot of Pluto’s previous videos have had way too much going on. They’re packed with dense visuals and/or wacky high jinks that end up fighting for domination with the song. Too much food colouring.
But finally “Long White Cross” has found the right mix. It’s a simple performance video, but it’s shot really stylishly. There are no crazy costumes, no gimmicks. It’s just Pluto performing the song (and it’s a good song). Not surprisingly, it was nominated for Best Music Video at the 2006 New Zealand Music Awards. Nice one.
Best bit: the inconspicuous fairy lights.
Director: Adam Jones
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
Next… splash.