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Featured Video:

Dan Deacon

Paddling Ghost

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"The idea for 'Paddling Ghost' came about for a few reasons. 1. The song was called 'Paddling Ghost' and I particularly like making videos with a literal element. 2. Dan had mentioned to me that his album 'Bromst' was about a ghost who is rejected from heaven and sent back to earth to look for redemption - well that's how I had remembered it anyway. 3. I live in Australia and neither, Dan or myself, had enough time to make a video while he was here last tour so an alternative to having Dan himself in the clip was needed.

"In many ways it is a literal interpretation. On the lines 'digging down beneath the shore' the ghost falls through the ground... and so on. I like my videos to have a more ingrained meaning that may not be evident in the first viewing and if you know the artist, or what the song is about then you get a little more out of it. I also thought it was important to match the video to Dan's absurd/genius/ highly involved/DIY feel. So making the ocean out of recycled shopping bags seemed like the natural thing to do.

"The story itself is a tale of redemption. I've always seen the 3 main characters as essentially the one person. The ghost, rejected from heaven ends up digging up his skeleton - the Pirate. This unwittingly releases the gold that the Pirate was protecting, the gold being the burden from the Ghosts' past that needed redemption. The two of them then set off into unknown territory and are saved by Dan from the Shark (which represents the burden that can eat away at you). The Ghost is finally relieved of his past and so ejects the Pirate and Dan and flies off on his own into space - which to me is a more interesting idea of departing the physical world than fluffy white clouds, pearly gates and a dude called God with a beard telling you if you are getting in or not.

"Wonderfully, Dan gave me complete freedom to do as I liked, which just opened the flood gates creatively for me. Don Brooker stopped by for a week to make the 3 main characters and is the one responsible for designing how the ghost paddles, which blew my mind when I first saw it! (He's spent years working at Weta Workshop) Add to the mix Heath McIvor, easily one of the best puppeteers in the country and perfectly, the ghost came to life. We only had Heath for 1 day of what turned out to be a 3 day shoot, so we started at the beginning making sure we got the most out his impeccable ghost skills. I ended up operating the Dan Puppet and that was possibly the most fun I've ever had. Which is also what it's about." - Natalie van den Dungen (Director)

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