Initial Idea for Pop Promo : 1

Initial Idea for Pop Promo : 1

SONG: Garland by Dirty Heads

This song has soul and emotion, whilst also combining rap and good lyrics. The band are unique, as their image would not insinuate rap music, but their soft tones actually work well with the rap lyrics. 

My idea for this song is to show a girl and boy who are not completely sane, as well as a performance element. The theme behind this links to the fact that the song is all about reaching some sort of paradise but failing to get there at the last moment. However, these two people cannot convey their desire to enter this paradise in conventional ways, thus the must result to the ways only they understand. 

The young girl on the outside appears ordinary with a normal appearance. However, her eyes are slightly deranged and she cannot seem to stop moving. The set would involve 4 glass screens, that form a box shape. The top would be open and above and around the box would be thousands of multicoloured balloons. The girl would begin scribbling furiously on the glass with a black marker pen as the song begins; these would include numerous drawings of a paradise type destinations and long complicated maths equations. There would also be random names scattered in amongst the drawings and equations. The camera would film various extreme close ups of the drawings and the girls face which will show no emotion except crazy eyes, but the camera would also spin around the glass box and film from above. This would show the girl from numerous angles as well as highlighting the scribblings on the walls. 

The set for the boy would involve a clinical type area, in order to give the idea that he is in some sort of doctors waiting room. There would be matching chairs along one wall, a pile of old faded magazines as well as a box full of children's toys. The lighting would be very harsh and bright white thus intensifying the idea that he is in a hospital. As the song begins, the boy would be shown to move from seat to seat in the waiting area, but never seem to settle down or be comfy. The camera would cut to each different location and position sharply in order to emphasise the idea of jagged movement.  The boy would then see the box of children's toys, and begin by tipping the whole box upside down. It is filled with toy bricks, model trains, cuddle toys and masks. He begins, with fierce determination to form a detailed map on the waiting room floor. The audience is not supposed to know what it is at the beginning, but as the song builds the map become more and more recognisable for what it is. The centre of the map, seems to be a train station which has numerous routes leading off it. At the end of the song, a doctor walks into the waiting room, sees the map on the floor and the boy wearing a mask and drops his clipboard on the floor. The sound would be exaggerated and the camera would focus on the boy who remains completely still.  

The performance element of this piece would take place in a wooded clearing, and the band would be dressed causally in jeans, t-shirts and hats. The camera would focus on each instrument, as well as the band members playing and singing. As the song progresses, the lead singer would get a piece of red tape from his pocket, and begin attaching it to different trees, so that a pathway is created. The camera would follow this red tape as it moves from tree to tree, until it shows that it is a circle and leads back to the same place the band already is. The lighting here would be softer and more natural. 

The idea is that every utopian setting is different from one individual to the next, and that we should not discriminate others because there's is different to ours. Moreover, the idea that it is hard to enter paradise, especially when we are not understood by the world around us; we just end up going in circles.