December 2008: Luke Buda, Miriam Clancy, Motocade, Nat Rose, Nathan King, Opshop

The kids take over, good lip colour, retro grids, down at the beach, a church concert, and Dave gets covered.

Luke Buda “Weekend Dad”

The “Weekend Dad” video takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, seemingly where the only people are tent-dwelling children and a wannabe Mad Max figure (played by Luke Buda). They gather up old electronic equipment, with unplugged monitors still broadcasting a garish TV host (also played by Luke Buda). Their mission is simply to take it to a rubbish dump, where the TVs change to screening a warming sunset. It’s like something out of a low-budget TVNZ sci-fi kidult series from the ’80s, only the gang of kids would be on their own, without the Mad Max figure keeping them company.

Director: Sarah Jane Parton

Miriam Clancy “When I Do”

Miriam Clancy’s makeup in this video is amazing. The eyeshadow situation is especially impressive, but her lip colour is just the perfect match. I feel like this is a sign that New Zealand music videos are maturing. Miriam and her makeup can be found mooching around a staircase. The video is partly shot in reverse, which just gives her an unusual lurching to her movement. The video isn’t quite as engaging as it should be. Its contents are dictated to strongly by the song, which does no favours to either the video or the song.

Director: Tim van Dammen
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Motocade “Tightrope Highway”

Maybe it’s just the low-resolution, late ’90s version of this video, but it feels technologically inferior to works from the 1980s, like Peking Man’s “Room That Echoes” video or Max Headroom, which was just a guy in a latex mask with hand-drawn animated backgrounds. In “Tightrope Highway”, it feels like computer graphics were used for their own sake with little thought given to the quality or how it relates to the song.

Director: Tim van Dammen

Nat Rose “Reporua”

Nat Rose (not to be confused with Natalie la Rose?) delivers a cool, jazzy ode to the tiny East Coast settlement of Reporua, just north of Ruatoria. The song has a seductive sound to it, but the video is essentially based around a family fun day at the beach, featuring the local marae and a tino rangatirotanga flag. Nat is seen wearing an unusual yellow toga type garment, but it works as a casual beach wrap. Maybe the best scene is a kid who’s got a fresh paua, pulling away the dark flesh to reveal the colourful blue shell.

Nathan King “The Saddest Thing”

Thanks to the internet, I know that “The Saddest Thing” was filmed at St Matthew-in-the-City in Auckland on 19 November 2008. And tickets were $29.50. The setting looks great, almost making the modest church look like a big rock venue. The song itself has the sort of epic pop-rock sound that Robbie Williams was known for in the late ’90s, but the video doesn’t quite get that epic feeling. It’s let down by the camera work — it seems a bit too casual, like rough rehearsal footage.

Director: Satellite Media

Opshop & Anika Moa “Beside You”

“Beside You” is a Dave Dobbyn song, originally released in 1999 (without a video). To me, it always sounds like an upbeat pop song that’d been slowed down, and here Jason and Anika slow it down even more. It becomes a dusty country ballad, with delicate harmonies between the two singers. The video captures the song being recorded in the studio. It’s very workmanlike, and perhaps avoids the emotion that this version of the song is hoping to capture.

Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

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