Treatment 

By Kayla Lockington

We are filming a music video so we didn't think our characters required a specific name. We have tried our best to create a certain ambiance for both characters in the video. We have chosen both boy and girl characters, because of the fact that the female singing sounds like a white voice we have chosen to go with a typical caucasian blonde woman. This adheres to the sound of the song as it wouldn't match the sound and vibe of the song if we had used a colored or ethnic female. Our female character is representing how people go through changes in life, for example, going to church as a little girl reading her bible with her mum by her side living a

picture-perfect life, but as the film progresses we then go on to see that things may not be what they seem. The male character is seen as not only representing the male voice but acting as a companion-like figure. He is introduced
and we see how before, Phoebe was alone, but now she has someone else going through the darkness with her literally and figuratively. 

The overall ideology is attacking real-life situations that help to relate to our target audience of i-gens or
Gen Z. It develops the verisimilitude of our music video helping to keep people engaged, the more realistic it is, in my opinion, the more views it will get. We have tried to get diversity when it comes to the characters because Demi Lovato is singing she is a white female meaning that if we had got an ethnic actor with a darker complexion it may not have matched with the voice or the way the song is sung. We have tried to bring in a colored male just to bring in the cultural differences as pop is usually stereotypically seen for 'white people' in contrast to the hip hop genre that is target towards youth in struggle and pain usually coming from an ethnic or diverse background. We have

tried to challenge this alleged accusation in how black people can often be seen as aggressive or dangerous, but in our video we see this stereotyped male be gentle and loving, a friend guiding our girl character out of the dark. Not only have we used a woman because of the song but because girls/woman are often seen as weak or more emotional than men making it easier to believe that she is going through all this visible hurt where men are usually shown to hide their emotions or often conveyed in films, they are supposed to express their feelings in anger or physical violence. 

For our camera shots, we want to try to get a lot of long and mid shots during the beginning to try and conform to the ideas of how with a long- shot it is hard to see what the character is feeling. With long shots, the audience is only able to see the surroundings or where the character is and where the scene is being set. 

Long shot example on road:

This is useful at the beginning because it helps to give a better sense of what is going on and doesn't make the video so cryptic to try and follow. We will most likely use long shots for when Phoebe is on the stage and when she is walking along a dark and lonely road (literally and figuratively). Mid shots will be used

when we are seeing shots of the little girl with her mum at the beginning reading the bible or at the beach, not only are we able to see facial expressions and the surroundings but it helps to confirm and establish the relationship between the mum and the daughter making it give more of a hard-hitting impact when we see Phoebe at her grave as if losing her best friend, losing a part of her.

A lot of close-ups will be used towards the end of the video and possibly at the start. This is to see the feelings and emotions of the different characters. Since we have already established the surroundings

through the long and mid shots close-ups will be used to display the faces through our montage, it adds a deeper sense of emotion and almost passes it onto the audience because of how intimate and personal the shot is. To display Phoebe's sadness we will use a lot of these shots, showing the intricate details for example the smudged mascara under eyes possibly being an extreme close-up.

For our lighting, we are wanting to keep dark hues and shadows throughout a lot of the scenes where Phoebe is a grown woman/young adult. In our establishing shot, we will see a picture-perfect image where the little girl is sitting reading a bible, this will be illuminated with natural sunlight or a yellow giving the feeling of warmth and sanctity. This then contrasts to when she loses her mum and everything becomes dark and drab with bland colors and a world without sun like her mum was the light in her life. We will

film her walking along a road at night as if representing her life and how she feels like she is on a long dark pathway with no light at either end, almost like a visual metaphor and/or symbol. When our characters are on stage we want to try and get purple and blue lighting like a spotlight on our two characters adding a dramatic presence, emphasizing the actions of the people on stage. A lot of slow movements will be used especially when we are filming our scene at the cemetery, like time itself is moving in slow motion. It helps to grasp everything that is and has happened.

This video explains some good lighting techniques and how we can stage a dark scene without it looking amateur and grainy. Since we are wanting to have a lot of shadows and dark feels in our video, lighting direction and the amount of light will be crucial to make it look as realistic and professional as possible. 

The overall themes of our music video are lament and nostalgia. To bring this across in the film, we will have to show a lot of emotion and create a raw and vulnerable situation. The scene in the cemetery will be a key part of our narrative as it is kind of the plot twist but also the revealing point for why this has happened and why our characters are the way they are. We will display these themes when Phoebe is holding her head in her hands in despair.
The main plot or storyline of our video is when a young girl is innocent and care-free living a normal stereotyped life but then something happens and we see everything go from sunshine and rainbows to a dark and eerie tone. Something has taken a turn for the worse and what was in now no longer. A lot of our scenes will then turn to Phoebe walking down streets in the dark by herself and driving her car with mascara smudged under her eyes symbolizing that she has been

crying. We then get introduced to our male 'singer' and he is shown first singing (lip-syncing) on stage with her then slowly becoming part of her life as if he is going through the same things and we start seeing him walking down this dark road with her and driving in the car but instead being a passenger along for the ride. Halfway/towards the end of the video, we will see a shot of Phoebe kneeling in front of her mum's grave. This is the turning point in the video as now the audience knows exactly what is happening and why. Depending on how the music video looks, we will put our montage either over the chorus or right at the end where the

the song starts to slow down again. This is just showing how everyone goes through different emotions and that people go from being a stereotypical child where they will be seen in a close-up shot smiling and happy to a young adult looking miserable/have almost lost the spark of creativity and freedom.  It will also represent how she is not alone in what she is feeling and that millions of people all over the world may be struggling with the same situation or something different. 

This is a short video of an easy way to configure a montage with multiple clips. It shows the timing of clips and how they would all go together.