The Spinoff presents the video premiere of Paul Williams’ ‘Surf Music’, featuring Rose Matafeo, Brynley Stent, Maddy Budd and Chris Parker.
Paul Williams says:
The night we shot this video was genuinely one of my favourite nights in recent memory. As I was hanging up those balloons I remember thinking to myself, “This is going to be a total disaster”. Lance would be arriving soon with all his camera gear and Chris, Rose and Bryn were held up shooting a Funny Girls sketch. Chris had yet to see any of the dance routine, which I hadn’t even fully figured out yet. I had choreographed nothing for Rose and Bryn and I wasn’t even really sure what Maddy was going to do. I originally told her to wear a wetsuit because we’d both thought that would be really funny. I still think it would’ve been really funny but I think it might’ve distracted.
When everyone arrived I was feeling kind of hopeless. What I didn’t realise is that all my friends were straight up geniuses. Chris Parker legitimately learnt that dance in 10 minutes, Rose and Brynley hastily choreographed their own dance routine and straight up killed it, Lance somehow made an empty hall with no lights look amazing and Maddy improvised maybe my favourite part of the video.
Making this video took me back to when I was 16 and me and my friends would grab my Panasonic Camcorder and just shoot something on a Saturday morning. Often it was just us lip-syncing to a song from High School Musical 2 but it was always so much fun. I kind of hadn’t felt that for a while. Afterwards, I sat alone in the hall thinking how blessed I was to have such great friends.
I’m really happy with how the video turned out and I think we proved that you don’t need funding to make a video, you just need a good attitude and a pure heart. With that said if anyone from Creative NZ reads this, some funding would be much appreciated.
I’d like to send my biggest thanks to the camera god Lance Wordsworth, camera demigod Doug Baker (I don’t really know him but he seemed great), the lord of the dance Chris Parker and the absolute dream girls Brynley Stent, Rose Matafeo and Maddy Budd.
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