Man. Woman. Motorcycle. Beach. Road. This short film makes clear that Rodney Charters had a certain way with images, long before he got busy shooting television (24, Roswell) in the USA. Charters directed Film Exercise while he was an arts student in Auckland in the 1960s. It helped him win a place at London's Royal College of Art. Favouring music and unusual angles over dialogue, the film celebrates the joys of being young and on the move, while capturing scenes of Auckland nightlife including a Mt Eden party. The La De Da's supply the custom-built soundtrack.
Film Exercise is not only [Rodney] Charters' first film, it's probably the first film ever made at Elam. It’s remarkably accomplished and precocious, especially considering there was barely a film industry in New Zealand at the time.– Robert Leonard in the programme for 2015 exhibition Unseen City: Gary Baigent, Rodney Charters and Robert Ells in Sixties Auckland
Musical arrangements by The La De Da's
Includes The La De Da's song 'Don't You Stand in My Way'
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