| Part zero, the shot before the song begins,
would be a shot of placid water, still, peaceful and grey,
possibly stretching out to the horizon.
The subject of the first 3/4 section is the earth forming.
As the dramatic opening chords of the song begin, we cut to
shots of volcanic explosions and flowing lava in time with
the cadence. The footage will be treated to be highly saturated,
with psychedelic hues, possibly even further distorted to
enhance its weirdness. One reference for this could be the
Toccata and Fugue segment of Fantasia, where colored silhouettes
suggested the orchestra, conductor, and columns of falling
water. Another reference could be the shots of the orcs in
the original Lord of the Rings animated film, where they animated
live footage to create an eerie other-worldliness. Along with
this, flashing images of the band will appear in the lit areas
of the explosion, performing. The performance will have to
be shot on blue screen.
The subject of the first verse is life growing. The verse
kicks in after the fifth bar, time signature changes from
3/4 to 4/4, scene changes from volcanic explosions to growing
foliage. We're thinking that time-lapse footage of plants
growing very quickly, but layered in transparency one atop
the other up to twenty layers - to create the illusion of
a dense primordial forest growing vines, seed pods splitting
open, fern leaves curling open. Use Henri Rousseau's artwork
as a reference for dense, jungle-like foliage. Again, this
would be treated so as to look partially animated (this look
ought to probably look somewhat uniform throughout the video).
Upon this would be superimposed quick, strobe-like, almost
subliminal flashes of the band playing, treated in such away
as to be distorted, psychedelic, perhaps corrupted, as well
as images representational of creation myths of different
civilizations - Ygdrassil, the Nordic ash tree of life, celestial
maps of the universe, and the Mayan calendar. These quick
flashes will continue throughout the entire video, just as
the quick shots of San Chapel and Carpeax's Dance were interspersed
throughout Another Morning Stoner. Though seemingly random,
they ought to actually follow the theme of man's mysterious
origin, mystery being the key word here things such as the
Nazca lines, the Piri Reis map, the pyramids. An excellent
reference source for compiling these would be Graham Hancock's
book Fingerprints of the Gods (Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1995).
The second three-four section will flash with images of great
catastrophe, possibly as represented in Biblical passages
earthquakes, floods, storms of immense proportions. These
could be super-imposed with shots of waves crashing against
rocks, all in time with the cadence, along with further quick
flashes of the band playing and references to mythology.
The subject of the second verse is agriculture, as man tames
(or attempts to tame) his environment. Shots of farms, cultivated
hills, men and oxen pulling ploughs, windmills, rows of corn,
amber waves of grain, etc.
(continue adding flashes of band and myth).
The subject of the third 3/4 section is the turn of the century
industrial revolution shots of molten iron being poured into
molds, sparks flying as a hammer slams onto an anvil, red
hot coals being struck with clamps, factory chimneys belching
black smoke into smoggy skies, in time with the music.
This brings us to the first chorus. As the chorus begins
the mood changes drastically to shots of falling leaves, layer
after layer, evoking a peaceful feeling reflective of this
part in the song, as if walking through an ugly city you are
suddenly transported to a peaceful autumnal park. The mood
soothes you visually, as the lyrics reassure you "It's
o.k." The colors are oranges, reds, browns, like autumn,
the same mood and colors shown on the album cover. The camera
pans slowly to the right as strange and extremely random objects
pass through this orange blizzard of leaves - a man in a bowler
hat riding a tall Victorian bicycle (the type with the large
front wheel), gears, grand-father clocks, pendulums, etc things
with wheel themes, numbers and arithmetic equations, technical
drawings, old nautical maps, compasses. The reference for
this ought to be the sequence in Fritz the Cat when they play
a Billy Holiday song (Golden Days?), and shots of indiscernible
still life passes slowly from right to left, made obscure
by being doubled. As the chorus builds near the end to go
into the next verse, the camera would suddenly pan back with
the same effect of looking at a man sitting on a park bench
then zooming out until you're staring at the Earth from outer
space, except that you're zooming out past the orange blizzard
until you are staring at the cover of the record (without
the logo). At first it appears to be a still shot, but before
the shot cuts, the girl moves slightly bats her eye, turns
her chin.
This next part is reliant upon budget and logistics.
The third verse cuts then to a shot of the band playing set
up in front of the sacrificial alter in the Temple of the
Warriors at Chichen Itza, Mexico (or some such similar Pre-Columbian
ruin). This would require shooting live on location. Contrast
will be high, colors will be saturated (or perhaps subdued).
Include a couple close ups of members playing, singing, etc.
It might be good to shoot us wearing bright colors blues,
greens, reds.
www.planetware.com/photos/MEX/MXVAL16.HTM
www.planetware.com/photos/MEX/MXVAL17.HTM
The fourth 3/4 section could be a bit more playful of us
playing around the ruins, etc. Possibly just throw in whatever
interesting or amusing shot we happen to capture while hanging
around the Yucatan on a three-day vacation.
The fourth verse will return to us playing live (either the
same location, or at different ones), only this time the shots
will be tighter focusing on individual members. Hand held
cameras would probably have to walk in and out of us performing
the song, possibly more than once.
The fifth 3/4 section would feature close up portraits of
each band member, four portraits corresponding to the four
bars of this section, each one appearing on the beat. Reference
for this could be the part of Strawberry Fields Forever, where
they feature each of the Beatles faces one by one, each one
individualized by color and expression. Superimposed on each
of our faces will be a different representation of one of
the four alchemic elements earth, water, fire and air. These
could be taken from previous shots in the video the lava for
fire, the foliage for the earth, the waves breaking for water,
and a storm for the air.
For the second and final chorus we want to give the impression
of a great wheel. This wheel would represent all of man's
aspirations: the wheel of Life. This could be compiled from
a large number of sources - a Buddhist mandala sand painting,
the Mayan calendar wheel, a snake chasing its tail, a celestial
map of the heavens and its constellations, the inner mechanisms
of a clock, Copernicus' model of the solar system, a nautical
compass, etc. The wheel will be turning, slowly at first.
Some elements of the wheel could spin in one direction as
other elements spin in the opposite one; some could turn steadily,
and others could turn in sections, like a clock ticking, but
in time with the music. A reference for this could be the
basic-looking computer animation of gears and sundials used
by PBS and KLRU in their little channel announcements. Another
reference could be the representation of the sun god Frith
in the animated movie Watership Down. In the center of the
wheel is a circular area of negative space. In this negative
space will flash more images of the band playing, singing,
and further references to various origin mysteries.
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