[ Final Track - Preliminary Treatment ]

Preliminary Treatment

We begin our video in the decrepit, overgrown grounds of what looks like a late nineteenth century schoolhouse. Razor wire concertinas around the high mesh fences and CCTV cameras litter the exterior perimeter of the building.

The track begins, and we synchronously jump cut through many different ECU shots of various features of the building. Gradually more organic, bodily shots are dispersed in amongst the inorganic industrial ones, and we gain a sense of unease and restlessness. The organic shots will consist of hands, feet and eyes primarily, but will depict struggle and anxiety, even with their extreme close range. The audience is thrown right in at the ‘deep end’, and are shocked from the offset, but still no more informed about the situation at hand.

Interspersed throughout the video will be performance shots of the band playing their instruments, with some simple special effects added, such as making one or all of them disappear and reappear mid-shot.

The first verse comes in, and we see a man, a band member, presumably inside this building, inexorably struggling to break free from his shackles. The room is dingy, with a lone flickering tube-light on the ceiling and the paint is peeling from the walls. Our first character is dressed in predominantly tight black clothing, similar to today’s indie culture. His attire is lined with red and his hair is highly stylised. As the chorus kicks in, he breaks free from his shackles in quite spectacular fashion. He spends the rest of the chorus running through the corridors of this building looking for ways to get out, smashing on walls, etc. The whole video is awash with saturation and harsh lighting, akin to Attack by 30 Seconds to Mars, with shaky, handheld camera to emphasise the energy. The building now is looking much more like an abandoned hospital or mental asylum.

This same sort of situation repeats itself for the next band member, who this time is in a strait-jacket. He is wearing much the same thing as the previous, but is slightly more outrageous. He also breaks free, manages to find the other, and they too try to find a way out of there. Again, sporadic shots of the band playing are spread among this sequence, getting more and more frequent and frantic.

The final band member, chained up and gagged, finally breaks free in the final, most energetic chorus. The three find each other and manage to find a way out into the open. This is where the video ends.