August 2007: Charlie Ash, Collapsing Cities, Cornerstone Roots, Deja Voodoo, Grand Prix, Hollie Smith

3D thrills, slow explosions, an old television set, a portrait of the artist, and the world artistic roller skating champs.

Charlie Ash “Ah-Ha”

Back in April 2008, Charlie Ash proudly launched “Ah-Ha” as New Zealand’s first 3D music video. I actually had the opportunity to later see it in 3D, at the Film Archive’s Ready To Roll? celebration of New Zealand music video. This is what happened: I spent most of the video mucking around with the red/green glasses, trying to get the 3D effect to happen and wondering if there was something wrong with my eyes. The video is a very busy CGI wonderland and even manages to throw in a reference to Peking Man’s iconic “Room That Echoes” video. Watching the non-3D version, it’s obvious that there are some parts that are intended to be very 3D (the roller coaster, for instance) but it’s still enjoyable enough without the funny glasses. Got the specs? Watch the 3D version here.

Director: Ed Davis
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Collapsing Cities “Or So I Said Last Weekend”

Lots of things are blown up in this video. A rack of clothes, a fridge full of food, a book case full of books, and a TV set. It’s all done in slow motion, with the exploded items gradually flying out from their previous peaceful positions. The song is about coming to the realisation that a situation isn’t working, so ok, I’ll take the slow-mo explosions as a metaphor for that.

Director: Tim van Dammen
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Cornerstone Roots “Home”

It looks like this video might not have ended up with NZOA funding, but I’m going to include it anyway because it was filmed just down the road. “Home” is an ode to Cornerstone Roots’ home, Raglan. The lyrics even namecheck Karioi, the local maunga. The video involves an old TV set in various places around Raglan’s beaches, with the band superimposed on the TV screen. But a lot of the time it looks like someone has dumped an old TV in the sea, and, you know, they’d really have been better off taking it to Xtreme Waste to get recycled.

Deja Voodoo “Tracy” – missing

“Tracy” was a track from Deja Voodoo’s album Back In Brown and also featured on the soundtrack of the lads’ feature film The Devil Dared Me To. The film featured Shortland Street actor Bonnie Soper as Tracy and she also appeared in the music video. Listen to the track here.

Director: Chris Stapp, Matt Heath
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Grand Prix “Always Beginning”

“Always Beginning” follows New Zealand skater Melissa at the World Artistic Roller Skating Championships in Surfers Paradise – imagine ice figure skating but with four wheels and a gym floor. Grand Prix wrote lots of songs about racing, so it’s refreshing that the video didn’t go for a traditional grunty bloke petrol culture. Instead this is a very female-focused kind of racing – the girls and young women on skates, their middle-aged coaches and the elderly supporters in the bleachers. Artistic roller skating might not be as cool as roller derby, but “Always Beginning” captures the sport and tells an interesting story.

Director: Jess Feast

Hollie Smith “Philosophy”

NZ On Screen describes this as “one of NZ’s most luxurious music videos” and they’re not wrong. The video is based around Hollie parodying women in iconic paintings. There’s the Mona Lisa, a Virgin Mary, Nickolas Muray’s portrait of Frida Kahlo and Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. The video starts and finishes with Holly posing for her own portrait, the modern artist at work.

Director: James Solomon
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

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