I was going to describe this video as looking a bit studenty, but it seems that Mink emerged out of Otago University so there’s no reason why it shouldn’t look studenty. In fact, the “Ride” video reminds me of the sort of studenty work you’d see in the 48HOURS film competition, genre – road trip.
The video starts with a key in the ignition and a big red classic car starts its journey. The car is driven by a glamorous woman wearing a black feather boa. Feather boa are low-budget video shorthand for ‘glamorous lady’. The car soon fills up with a random assortment of hitch-hikers, with vocalist Dermania Lloyd in the passenger seat. There’s something going on with her and the driver.
The car full of freaky friends isn’t quite played for laughs, but there is a knowing absurdity to the situation. The glamorous driver looks deeply annoying at her crazy passengers (but really, what was she expecting when she picked them up?)
Suddenly it’s night and the disembodied head of Dermania floats in front of the car, reminiscent of Marion Crane’s guilt-laden road trip in “Psycho”.
The day comes and the car reaches it’s destination: a car wash. We then catch a glimpse of a book which shows moving images of a studenty party, complete with people wearing feather boas. (Actually, never do this in real life – those $2 shop feather boas will shed all over the place and a month later you’ll still find pink feathers in your cornflakes.)
“Ride” is a sweet electronica song. Part of me wants the video to be better, but for a low-budget studenty video, it’s not bad.
Best bit: the purposeful dashboard button pushing.
Next… how to make an entrance.
Mink was a collaborative Dunedin group including vocallist Dermania Lloyd, who now performs as Cloudboy. The “Mr Creepy” video, directed by Robert Sarkies, is another fine example of Dunedin gothic.