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May 8, 2010 - "Between The Lines" Music Video Treatment

Thanks to: www.simsdirector.com
Published by: Simsdirector.com
Last update: May 8, 2010 (123 days ago)

Stone Temple Pilots
"Between The Lines"

Music Video Treatment
By
Director | Christopher Sims

© DNA
04.09.10

The video I intend to create will blend a number of techniques, old and new, to render a music video that feels authentically chaotic and compelling from first frame to last. It's a full throttle concept whilst engaging in an oddly lensed STP performance.

The concept will resemble the POV [Point of View] technique featured in the music video for Prodigy, "Smack My Bitch Up". We will stretch and morph certain characters' faces much like the film Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas did.

Our Catalyst for the video is a "Penny Lane" type character that leads our main POV character through a bizarre voyage. She is the lyrical representation of woman. This concept is intercut with our performance and married to it nearing the end of the track.

The video explodes from the start. We find a POV shot lying under the covers of a bed. The track begins as our Penny Lane character rips off the covers of our POV character and drags him out of bed. She is in underwear and a bra. Possibly nude, and we'll just blur portions. She throws clothes on herself and on our POV character. Penny grabs the hand of POV and rushes out the studio apartment.

To explain a bit about how this concept will play out. Penny guides our POV character through the city streets but she is really dragging him through time and space. For instance, she drags him out of the apartment door only to lead somewhere completely out of context and in completely different wardrobe and demeanor.

STP's performance - it's modest and rock nostalgic. Scott, Dean, Robert and Eric perform in an intimately decorated space - vintage rock n' roll trappings and paraphernalia, fabrics hanging in the windows, etc... Large shafts of light pierce through the space's opium den like atmosphere. It is dark and thick with atmosphere. We cover the performance in odd ways at times; fish eye lenses, blink lenses, spotlights, undercrank playback, etc...

The performance location is revealed early on in the video and is actually our main muse, Penny Lane's, living space. She is our lone audience member. She sits back far off from the performance; almost unamused by STP's presence.

Continuing with our concept - moving from the exit of the bedroom we cleverly cut to the two of them running through an alleyway. Remember, we are always watching this concept through someone else's eyes. It is POV [Point of View] from start to finish. Every time we cut to a different scene, Penny is dressed entirely different. Penny slips behind the wall of the alley to reveal it's the wall of a dark seedy nightclub. She goes in for a kiss into our camera but is interrupted and whisked away by somebody. She drags our POV character with her. We cleverly cut from the club to inside of a bathroom stall where Penny is pulling up her panties. She opens the stall door only to open it onto the city streets of Los Angeles.

Remember, Penny is leading our POV character through doors and windows that act as portholes to past memories and glimpses through time. It's chaotic and doesn't always make sense but it doesn't have to because we're just along for the ride.

Note: I would love to collaborate with Scott and the rest of the band for small little story vignettes that they seem fitting to this concept.

Always intercutting back to STP's main performance. It begins getting more and more chaotic with our choice of lenses and lighting. The method in which we photograph STP really stretches the look into a unique world.

Cutting back to our concept we find Penny dragging our POV character through town; up until now we still have not disclosed just who this POV character actually is. Penny jumps inside of a taxicab and on the exit we realize they are stepping out off of a city bus. They make their way up a flight of stairs and into a loft space. Our POV character walks up to a microphone stand and we realize this space IS the STP performance space and our POV character IS SCOTT WEILAND. Video closes.