“R U Ready” is filmed Japan, shot by Mr Dub Asylum himself, Peter McLennan, on Super 8 film. This isn’t the first low budget video shot in Japan that we’ve seen. Indeed, previous NZOA-funded videos shot in the land of the rising sun have been “Milestone” by the Malchicks and “Kuru” by Cinema, but each of these videos does it differently.
“R U Ready” embraces the hustle and bustle of urban Japan. The camera observes the busy Tokyo streets from a distance, but also gets right among it. It’s as if some moments of orientation and reflection are needed before we can dive into the crowd.
From the streets, we go into the metro, through the busy train station and onto a train as it speeds through the urban landscape. The sun sets and it’s time to explore the city, all lit up with giant advertising signs. Even an ad for an appliance retailer feels sexy and exotic when it’s a flashing neon sign, seen at night in a beautiful and mysterious foreign city.
The song, with its deep beats and Bobbylon’s playful vocals, seems nicely matched to the ever changing cityscapes of Japan. By the end of the video, the footage starts to get layered and chopped up and it’s as if the city is taking over, forcing as much of itself into the video as it can manage.
Best bit: the little kid scrambling up the temple steps.
Director: Peter McLennan
Next… the androids return to their cells.
It wasn’t until 2002 when the Datsuns struck rock ‘n’ roll gold, but right from their early days, they were determined to be much more than just some band from Cambridge. “Super Gyration” was their first release, issued only on 7-inch vinyl. The accompanying video was directed by fellow Waikato pal Greg Page, who went with a grunty cars ‘n’ rock dudes theme.
It’s a nice day in the suburbs and a young man prepares to go for a jog. He cues up some tunes on his Sony CD Walkman, straightens up his Dickies hoodie and starts the stopwatch on his Casio G-Shock. That’s three brands in 25 seconds. I don’t think I’ve seen this much product placement in a New Zealand music video before.
So where has this delightful video been all my life? Smoothy were an Auckland three-piece rock band and “Stoners” is a nice guitar-pop tune about, well, stoners. But the video takes things to a whole nother level.
Lucid 3 comes along as a break in the rock-dominated world of early 2000s music videos. A bit of jazz, some trip-hop, some pop and a bit of folk mean they stand out amongst the sneering dude-rock bands of the era.
There are two versions of the “Second Migration” video. I’m not sure if the second video had NZ On Air funding, so I’ll look at both of them.
Fuce were a Christchurch rock band and “Peacekeeper” is a tense, ambient piece with great percussion. The video is simple, with shots of the band and their freaky friends hanging out in a white studio. A guy eats a banana, two girls flip off the camera, a hairy guy rants, a kid writes on glass and a dreadlocked chick holds a sparkler to the relaxing music of Fuce.
This is Dark Tower at their flyest. The video starts with the duo experiencing inner city pressure. While hanging out in front of a large graffiti wall, they find themselves bothered by another couple of rival homies, one played by Jon from “Ice TV”. Homeboy Jon consults his “Hip-Hop Rulebook”, confused at this pair who rap in New Zealand accents and wear a lavalava.
I don’t think this video actually had NZ On Air funding, but it was on the list at one stage. There are no NZOA logos on the video and it looks cheap as, so I’d guess the funding didn’t end up happening. But I’m going to include it because it’s a good example of life outside the world of funded videos.