As Jemaine is a busy guy, I thought it a good idea to update in more detail on his projects outside of Flight of The Conchords.

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Claymation shorts - The Pen series by Guy Capper and Jemaine Clement

'Baa baa baa baa bloody baa' 'Baaaaa ba?'

Yes, you may well ask! A sheep with perfect teeth? Such a pearly set of nashers. How is this possible and what on earth does this picture have to do with the Conchords? Does the fact its a project Jemaine has been working on help?

The Pen short film series was developed by Guy Capper and Jemaine Clement using stop-motion claymation techniques. That explains it then eh. Shown at New Zealand film festivals in early 2007 and now some are available to view online thanks to Guy and Jemaine. It follows the adventures of Sheepy and Robert. The series was produced with support from the Screen Innovation Production Fund.

The Pen series provides a 'glimpse of rural life through the eyes of two very blokey, very kiwi sheep. Their conversational meanderings provide a NZ-centric comment on such universal themes as male sexuality, life and death and employment conditions. These four short films - Life After Death, The Pen, Getting Shorn and the World Premiere of How to Baa - are a celebration of the iconic kiwi bloke. It's not fashionable or politically correct, but these films celebrate the good things about owning a Swandri, a slab of beer, and your own set of clippers.' (Taken from here )

Episode list

The Pen (2m 11s) View The Pen here
Sean (1m 57s, NZ) (aka as Getting Shorn) View Sean here
Life After Death (3m 11s) - Sheepy reflects on the possibilities of life after death but Robert is more interested in the peanuts.
How To Baa - (2m 45s) - Sheepy and Robert practice and compare their baaaa techniques.

As this is a collaboration, I'm including a few links on Guy Capper. Don't want to be forgetting him now ;)

Interviews with the Universe - Scoop has the lowdown on Guy's most recent show performed early this year in New Zealand before he headed off overseas.

Love On The Farm - Short film written, directed and acted by Guy Capper. A certain Tim Capper shares the production credits. Time who had a hand in the stop motion segments in Eagle vs Shark.

Guy Capper talking about Interviews with the Universe and other things. (7 MB) Interview from Access Radio NZ.

January 2007 - Eagle vs Shark - A film by Taika Waititi.

Feature film from director Taika Waititi, starring Jemaine Clement and Loren Horsley. Set for a limited US cinema release on June 1 2007.

January 2007 update - Latest Sundance Film Festival news, screening times, film poster and official Eagle vs Shark site news - GO HERE Also includes all past news and articles regarding the making of the film.

Eagle vs Shark film poster

2006 - What We Do In The Shadows: Interviews with some Vampires

Read a review of this film from Becks further down the page

Be afraid... be not very afraid.

Logline: Being undead doesn't mean you don't have to pay your rent. A docu-mocu-mentary-style exposé on a group of vampires who flat together in a suburb of Wellington, What we do in the Shadows is a funny, poignant and heartfelt look at those of us who don't fit into society or popular mainstream culture; outcasts, nerds, foreigners and in our case... undead creatures of the night.

Synopsis: Vulvus, Viago and Deacon are vampires who live here, among us. They are real vampires; undead, immortal creatures who stalk the night and hunt for the blood of humans, preferably virgins.

But in night to night life we see that they are much the same as us, experiencing the same difficulties that life (or eternal life) throws at us, especially when it comes to living together in a flatting situation. While we are witness to many of the horrid and abominable aspects of Vampire life, such as hunting and feeding on humans, vampire rivalry and fighting werewolves, we are also invited for the first time ever, to view the way these immortal beings deal with keeping a clean house, rostering jobs week to week, shopping, going out to a bar, meeting people and trying to fit in. The only thing that separates these characters from the rest of us is that they have fangs, drink human blood and sleep in coffins.

Taika Waititi

Sometimes known to his white friends as Taika Cohen, Taika Waititi is an Oscar nominated film-maker. He has just finished filming his first feature, "Eagle vs. Shark", an awkward love story starring Loren Horsley and fellow "Shadows" collaborator Jemaine Clement.

As a performer and comedian, Taika has been involved in some of the most innovative and successful original productions seen in New Zealand. He has a strong background in comedy writing and performing and with fellow comedian Jemaine Clement, has won New Zealand's top comedy award, the "Billy T", and also the "Spirit of the Fringe Award" in Edinburgh. He regularly does standup gigs in and around the country and has also been critically acclaimed for his dramatic abilities. In 2000 he was nominated for Best Actor at the Nokia Film Awards for his role in the Sarkies Brothers' film "Scarfies".

Jemaine Clement

Jemaine Clement has been working in the field of comedy for the last nine years. He has worked with Taika off and on for most of this time, mainly in the comedy duo, Humourbeasts. His most successful venture, folk-musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, has been nominated for the Perrier comedy award. The Conchords have been signed to write pilot scripts for both NBC and HBO and have recently recorded a half-hour special for American network HBO and a six-part radio series for BBC's Radio 2 in Britain. Jemaine is currently acting in Taika Waititi's 'Eagle vs Shark'.

Taken from Headstrong

Review by Becks - What We Do In The Shadows

I was really excited to see this film. Screened at the City Gallery on Thursday afternoon, it was preceeded by 'Sheep Man', a 'documentary' film about the final days of a sheep enthusiast who lives his last days on a sheep farm in rural New Zealand. Although he is allergic to the sheep he loves so dearly, he believes that they somewhat control the universe and his actions. One scene in which Sheep Man is sneezing uncontrollably, he suddenly stops, believing that it was the power of the sheep that held back that one last sneeze. It was a very entertaining, yet slightly odd film. Also, Flight of the Conchords were credited for doing the music for the movie.

What We Do In The Shadows was next on the schedule. It was another 'documentary' a film which explored the flatting lifestyle of three vampires. Starring Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Jonathan Brugh, the film gives us an insight to the vampires (Vulvis, Viago and Deacon) daily routines, flatting conflicts as well as their late night excursions into Wellington city on Saturday nights. Their 'getting ready' routine for hitting the town was great. Seeing as they don't have reflections, they must rely on eachother to make sure they look good. And although being abused by drunken youths ("homo!" "fag!"), it didn't put the vampires off their task of finding virgins on Courtney Place. Too bad there are no virgins in town to find. It was also really great to see the vampires go into bars and pubs which I usually visit on the weekend. The Big Kumara was my favourite bar visited in the movie.

My favourite part of the film was the flat-meeting. Discussing and completing chores for an eternity must be a bitch. Talk arose of dirty, bloody pots and pans left out, and the shower not being cleaned in about a hundred years. Another aspect of the film I really liked was their young vampire friend (sadly, his name escapes me). The central characters of the film are hundreds of years old, their young friend being way off their wisened age. He also 'floats' outside the flat window waiting to be invited in.

As a film altogether, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The concept was fantastic and the characters well drawn. The characters small comments about their appearances, age, flat concerns and their night in town were all hilarious and made the film what it was. What We Do In The Shadows and Sheep Man combined was a fantastic, entertaining way to spend a Thursday afternoon. Hopefully you'll all be able to see it; I really hope I do again, because once was just not enough.

Jemaine Links

IMDb listing for Eagle v Shark - You guessed it, the IMDb listing for Eagle v Shark

Tongan Ninja - Tongan ninja stylee your thing? A film’s been made with you in mind. Funny that. A work of genius, good, bad or downright crap? Review over at IMDb!

Saint Clements – Jemaine's first fan site can be found here.

Humourbeasts - With Taika Cohen who is the director and writer of Two Cars, One Night and other projects

Futile Attraction - aka as Make Mark's Movie dot com

IMDB.com - Jemaine Clement

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