WATCH IT BURN A treatment by Boris Thompson-Roylance & Joseph Guy 1
CONCEPT Using an unforgettable, epic track, and impressive location and cast, we aim to create a truly unique, cinematic, narrative based music video that is based on letting go of the past and enjoying the present.
INTRO | It is dusk. A jeep containing our lead, the vocalist from Koven, three young women and two men are driving through a thick forest. Confident and attractive, they are all solemn and serious, occasionally looking at each other and smiling caringly. They park outside the outskirts of an abandoned Ex-Military bunker (see link), curious and hearts pumping, they jump out of the vehicle, swing their backpacks over their shoulders, and climb over the fence, helping each other as they go along. They enter the location with a sense of awe, exploring the dark, derelict spaces and unusual objects that have been left behind. As the introduction builds, the group begins to unpack their backpacks and take out flares and start to ignite them. One of the men takes out a skateboard and begins to slowly skate around the empty location.
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DROP/ CHORUS | Euphoric and completely free, they all let loose in the acres of wasteland. Multiple coloured flares explode, creating a kaleidoscope of light and shadow. They run ecstatically; screaming, laughing, jumping and leaping over walls and windows, trying to cover the dark, empty space with as much colour and smoke of the flares as possible. They kick over bottles, break windows with planks of wood and leap into each other’s arms. Meanwhile, the skateboarder meanders through the gang, joyfully, weaving and winding through the madness. Our lead, pays particular attention to one of the men, attractive and wild. They run together, laughing carelessly as if they are the only two people in the world. Throughout the track, the audience watch as our lead and the attractive male become more and more fascinated in each other. In both chorus’s, we constantly intercut to Koven performing in the middle of the large space, passionately singing the words ‘watch it burn’ as they are illuminated by the action behind them.
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BREAKDOWN | It is now nighttime. Sitting by a large fire, with the disused objects of the wasteland used as firewood, the group huddle together. They are exhausted but content from their actions, arms around each other, staring at the flames. Our lead is in the middle; she has cut her hand and the attractive man helps bandage it together lovingly. We suddenly jump cut to her hand bleeding but in another location, she is crying, hysterical. As the track builds, we cut from her face by the fire to her face in a completely different location. It could be the past, or simply our leads imagination. She is walking in slow motion towards a red room, a naked couple are kissing and making love in a large bed. It is her boyfriend. As we intercut from her sitting by the fire, we keep on coming back to the juxtaposition of the red interior, clean and slick. The couple, shocked, turn to look at her. She looks at them. Her blood boils.
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2nd DROP/ CHORUS | The carnage continues. Fire works now explode in the sky and everything is extenuated, more violent and intense. We jump cut to our lead destroying the red room. She is screaming hysterically, crying, hands in her hair, scorned and utterly distraught. Her naked boyfriend tries to calm her down, but as she becomes more violent, so does he and his lover. In the wasteland, she pulls the attractive male to the side of a derelict bunker and begins to kiss him. They embrace warmly and romantically accompanied by the chaos. Amid the flares and the fire of the exterior scene, we cut to the three people in the red room become frantic and brutal, arms flaying, fighting, suppressing, objects thrown across the room, juxtaposed with the soft kissing in the wasteland. In the red room, our lead accidently cuts herself and looks down at her bloody hand. We intercut with her cut hand by the fire. Calm and indifferent, she has let go of the past and watches with her friends as the kindling, hot embers and smoke of the fire disappears into the night sky.
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VIGNETTES Intercut with the narrative will be a mix of jaw dropping, psychedelic shapes and patterns of burning flames in normal speed and super slow motion. This will intensify the theme of fire, keeping a dynamic, immersive pace to the video. This will be created by our many personal fire contacts we collaborate with, ranging from the fire cyr wheel, fire whips and fire artists Kundalini Fire (see link)
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STYLE A raw and industrial ambience is conveyed through the urban landscape; this is exaggerated through a use of close-up, textural shots that capture the environment. The action is constantly flowing as we follow the subject’s move through the space. The continual camera movement expresses cinematic moments and emotions of the characters. There is a surreal tone created from contrasting colours of natural, evening light against the harsh sodium street lamps and firelight. This forms rich tones of deep reds, oranges and purples. The characters are often backlight in silhouette against the darkly lit sky and the ambient firelight; this occasionally creates lens flare, which scatters beams of light across the screen to break up the action.
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FINAL WORD: Engaging in the cinematic, and inspired by the surreal music videos of Jon Hopkins and Arcade Fire, we aim to create a compelling, thrilling story that contains the correct balance of emotion and entertainment for the audience. It would be a pleasure to work to such a rich and dynamic track and we are looking forward to hearing from you.
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