Treatment

Treatment One 

You're A Germ / Silk - Music Video

Audience

I believe the target demographic for my music video will be young adults aged 15-28, both male and female. A good way of identifying some music that viewers may also be interested in, and therefore the style, ideologies and concepts, is to check the "similar artists" or "you might like" suggestions on iTunes. Some of the artists that came up were Drenge, JAWS, The Vaccines, Swim Deep and Palma Violets. This information provides a snapshot into the genre and what sort of ideas and concepts my audience may be interested in. See audience analysis.

Outline  :  Silk 

This song is a lot more relaxed the entire way through, and I'm visualising a calmer and more reposed video.
It would follow a couple through one day of their lives together, portraying their relationship as very bleak and falling apart. This will be shown by the slightly desaturated and a grey/green hue. There wouldn't be too much in the way of a storyline however there would be an element of narrative in the form of the fact that it is tracking their relationship falling apart. The intro to the song is actually quite long, and therefore must be thought out very carefully in order to prevent it from becoming boring as a video. I plan on recording the sounds of a vaguely distant street and placing them over the top of the building noise, a key part of this soundtrack will be a police siren which will be the first sound that the viewers hear. As the screen starts black and fades into a birds eye shot of the couple in a bed, there will be a siren, then her eyes will snap open and the track will kick in, alongside the siren and the quiet traffic. The rest of the video will include performance shots of some instruments being played but mainly of the singer, together with general shots of the pair. Some brief shot ideas are of her sitting on the beach looking out to the horizon as the sun sets or rises, this could be nearing the end of the video as the song comes to a close or as a part of the beginning sequence as she gets out of bed alone and wanders down to the sea. 

Outline  :  You're A Germ

Within the video, I have decided on two options. I could take some, but not all, of the lyrics literally. Rather than reading into the meaning behind the lyrics, I may decide to keep it relatively superficial and pick out key words and concepts to fuel the content. I was thinking about taking the line "we hear the fight" to determine a recurring theme throughout the video. And cut to maybe slow motion style scenes during the slower sections of the track, and more fast paced chaos during the chorus, perhaps including a bottle being smashed, or someone being chased. 

Alternatively, I could take each of the sections of lyrics more literally. For example, taking the opening line "George he rides a bike" and using this as a running theme, possibly opening with shots of someone riding a bike, close ups of ankles, handle bars and wheels spinning, but cutting back to this character throughout the video in order to create some sort of a sense of pattern, rather than just random themes coming together.

I haven't yet decided how much of the video would be performance based, and this will probably depend somewhat on the people I cast and how confident I am that they will take it seriously and act properly. However I have quite a few ideas for performance shots, for example, setting up the "band" in front of a parked car in a serene location with the headlights providing atmospheric lighting and possibly some sort of smoke flare which would be shown up in the bright light.

I will probably end up with a blend of the two ideas, taking specific lines from the track to create the basis for shots and content, but not following the story line. Throughout the video I plan on having quick cuts during the chorus and slower cuts of slower shots (slow motion?) during the verses.

One idea follows a moderately strict narrative, however I would focus on editing the clips together so as to remove any linear elements or feelings from the video. The story will jump back and forth a couple of times, which would be accompanied by the various performance shots.

The video would open with a young girl being filmed intrusively by another character. I haven't decided whether the assailant will remain elusive throughout the video. It would open with a mixture of relaxed performance shots and slow motion clips of the girl, who would be dressed in innocent whites, as opposed to the more aggressive blacks of the singer. As the girl is harassed, the audience can see that she is uncomfortable, however she doesn't lash out apart from to block the camera lens. As the chorus kicks in, suddenly the scene cuts to a bloody fight, bottles are smashed, torsos are kicked and the pair fall over stools and tables. The girl is now dressed in black with much heavier makeup. As the music cuts back to a verse, the scene reverts similar to how it was before, only the actions of the assaulter are visibly more aggressive and provoking, and as the verse picks up tempo you see her snap and react to him, starting the fight, which leads back to where the chorus left off beforehand.

For my final shots, I'm visualising the aggressor on the floor, and the girl standing with the camera up close, or possibly she is holding the "camera" that he began the video watching her through, with a subtle touch of blood on her face and a sadistic grin as she pulls up a lighter before the shot cuts to black.

I also have a couple of brief ideas focussing on and surrounding the juxtaposition of young and old, possibly switching between shots of characters and their "younger selves." I feel as though this could be very effective however it would be difficult to find younger actors who would be reliable and would put the required energy into it. (My brother? Someone's sister?)

My third and final concept would be based around the idea of an alter ego, the character switching personas at different points in the video, correlating with the pace and tone of the music. Possible ideas for transitions are tracking her as she looks into a mirror or a photo on the wall and then as the camera pans back out, her identity has switched. 

Visual Elements 

As I briefly mentioned, I have a few ideas for lighting in certain settings, but until I have a relatively comprehensive shot list, planning my lighting is going to be difficult. However, I'm going to have access to three portable, continuous soft box light sources, and various reflectors in order to ensure that my shots are lit correctly.

I want a lot of movement in the shots I take, as parts of the song will be relatively slow and I don't want the video to become tired or dull, so the shots would need to remain steady yet not static.

I need various locations within this project, a good number for the abstract performance shots and a good number for the narrative/ conceptual parts.