A song composed by a Norwegian in honour of his love for a food he consumed beyond belief in Indonesia becomes an Internet sensation, catapulting the person in question to superstardom, albeit briefly, in the new hilariously uplifting short HELP! I’VE GONE VIRAL.
Film And TV Now interviewed the director and male subject of the film, Audun Amundsen and Audun Kvitland Rostad, about the journey and the origins of the song that went beyond viral.
FILM AND TV NOW: This is a very uplifting and often hilariously realised short. Given your own affectionate love for the food Nasi Padang and – given the broad availability of other international dishes worldwide – has the dish since become more freely available in Norway and elsewhere because of the popularity of the song?
AUDUN AMUNDSEN / AUDUN KVITLAND ROSTAD: Unfortunately it is still not to be found in any restaurants here in Norway.
Some restaurants have been serving single dishes from a typical Nasi Padang table, but never the full package. Maybe it’s related to the Covid situation though, as the restaurant activity has been pretty low the last year in Norway/
FTVN: How long did it take you to write the lyrics for the song?
AKR: The lyrics were written during two different evenings, with about a week in between. Totally probably a couple of hours, plus some hours of mandatory subconscious work.
FTVN: I looked up the song on your YouTube official channel and find that at present it has 2.6M views. How many cover versions of the song have there been and are there any funny variants that stand out?
AKR: I am not exactly sure, but I guess it has been about 20 cover songs that are more than just a Smule-karaoke version. I have made a compilation of my favorite parodies and covers:
FTVN: How long have you been playing guitar and are there other instruments you can play?
AKR: I started playing guitar when I was 18 years old. I do use bass guitar and piano/keyboard when I compose music, but I would say they are more a tool for my studio productions and not instruments that I master fully.
FTVN: How has the song helped your local development in your other line of work?
AKR: It’s a bit difficult to say for sure, but it has certainly been a great ice breaker in both formal and informal settings. It has given me some work as a public speaker about the power of social media. I guess the massive response also opened some doors in terms of getting in touch with potential collaborators for new music.
FTVN: It’s always fascinating when something that is deceptively simple to execute becomes a more complex reality that has a multiple effect on who it touches. We see it a lot in songs over the years. What effect has the song had on your own development as an artist?
AKR: Although my love for the food Nasi Padang was sincere, the song was made with a touch of humor as well. Usually I have been writing film scores and more indie/rock music, and as a musician it can be difficult to create a simple song, because you always want to evolve musically. It feels wrong to make it too simple.
I guess the humoristic part of the song made it easier for me to make it more simple this time. When I later learned that the song has touched people’s hearts and I could feel the enthusiasm that it created, it kind of made me remember that music is about more than just technical perfection.
Art is meant to create feelings, and it’s clearly so many ways to achieve that.
FTVN: What have been your best memories during the making of this short?
AKR: The best moments have been the interaction I have gotten with random people. The dream of any musician is to hear that a song meant something for anyone else. To watch a grown up man burst into tears, or to hear the story of the women who got reunited with her family because of a song is definitely something that I will never forget.
AA: For me as a director, and having spent years in Indonesia previously in relation to my other film Newtopia, it must have been to see Indonesia from a different angle and intensity.
FTVN: The after effect of the song’s popularity is an attempt by the Governor of Indonesia to strength ties between Norway and Indonesia. Given the stormy political climate sometime, do you think food can have that positive effect over more conflicting things like sanctions and wars?
AKR: That’s a great question. I am not sure it can completely heal a political conflict. However, I think food is becoming more recognized as a public diplomacy tool. It’s a great and efficient way to build stronger relations, and as we all know the chances for a dramatic conflict is lower with someone you have a good relation to.
FTVN: Who are your musical influences?
AKR: My main musical influences are bands and artists like Radiohead, Tom Waits, Death Cab for Cutie, Jack Johnson, Neil Young, Half Moon Run, Passenger, Johnny Cash, Billie Eilish, Nirvana, Tom McRae, Gorillaz, Foo Fighters, Blur, and many others. I also have a guilty pleasure for listening to more humoristic Music like Lonely Island, Monty Python, Weird Al, and John Lajoie.
FTVN: How long did it take to shoot the film?
AA: We shot the film over a period of three years, with the most intensive period in late2016 and early 2017.
FTVN: How did you raise finance for the short?
AA: It all started with a grant from Mid Norway Film Center, and then winning a pitch called Mid Nordic Film Pitch where we won enough money to develop the film.
Then we managed to do the first filming period, which was urgent because of the viral nature of the film. Going into the production phase, we got a production grant from Mid Norway Film Center, and pre-sold the rights for the Indonesian territory to GoPlay, which was enough to complete the film with a significant amount of own investment.
Luckily I was able to combine trips to Indonesia with private matters because I have a lot of connections there after living several years in the country.
FTVN: Tell us about some of the locations used in the film.
AA: The main locations of the film are Padang City in Indonesia, and Trondheim City in Norway. Interestingly, Padang City is the closest city to where I lived several years, and filmed my previous film, Newtopia.
This is the city where Nasi Padang, the food dish originated. It’s a less touristy place, and has maintained a great cultural heritage. The city is located under the equator and has a tropical climate which stands in strong contrast to Trondheim City in Norway that is next to the border of the polar circle.
The snowy scenes in the film gives the viewer an extra feeling of distance between both the culture and geographic distance.
FTVN: Tell us about your production team.
AA: Help, I’ve Gone Viral! ended up being a co-production withTwo Islands Digital in Indonesia. Our Jakarta based editor Nick Kalpackdjian became a great asset for the film and we really enjoyed co producing with this Indonesian company.
The script was developed with help from the Norwegian director Fredrik Horn Akselsen, Petter Heggen and Audun Kvitland Rostad. As with my previous film, the Norwegian audio post production facility delivered fantastic sound design and music composition.
A lot of people helped us on the way, with their insights and feedback. I would say our production team can be considered relatively small, but with a close way of collaborating.
FTVN: Is the song going to get a reissue because of the exposure it is getting in this short film?
AKR: In Indonesia the song itself got a huge amount of attention, while outside of Indonesia it seems like the story about what happened with the song is creating more attention than the song itself. The song definitely gets some extra attention because of the film, but so far it seems like it will not change too much.
FTVN: What has been the overall reaction in Norway because of the song’s popularity?
AKR: The Norwegian audience seems to love the story. The documentary film has been watched around 400.000 times, which is quite good in a country of only 5.000.000 people. Most people find it amusing to watch what has happened, and it has also been on a tour in different Norwegian schools to draw attention to the strong impact of social media in our society.
FTVN: What issues and themes are you keen to explore in future work?
AA: I am currently working on the outreach of my other film Newtopia, which is a about a shaman who lives deep in the jungle of Indonesia. (www.newtopiafilm.com)
I have followed him for 15 years, so that is a huge project, and despite the film being finished, I am always keeping in touch with people in Indonesia and plan to do more projects there. Indonesia feels like my second home.
But, apart from Help, I’ve Gone Viral! and Newtopia, I am now developing another film Click The Link Below which is about self-acclaimed experts and coaches on the internet.
FTVN: Finally, what are you most proud of about this short film?
AA/AKR: For us, the most important part was that the film should manage to make the viewer feel at least a tiny part of the emotional but entertaining roller coaster that Kvitland felt when it all happened. We’re also very happy to observe that the film has had some kind of positive impact on the relationship between two countries/cultures.
