MUSIC VIDEO TREATMENT Ladycop Idea Maker

Submi ed by Charred Oak Films August 12, 2010

313 Smith Street, 3rd Floor Brooklyn, NY 11231 (347) 725-3034 sco @charredoak lms.com

It's what you say you saw A girl, in a eld Salt and wary love Of a pioneer And you don't know why But I'm taking it back My dear A souvenir Like her If you crawl inside e way you know ere like it all, time bends In one-way reruns Wishing you were Wishing you were Like him I'm taking it back My dear A souvenir I know it Like you knew their names, Tommy I'm taking it back My dear A souvenir

TREATMENT
is video is a tour de force single-take tracking shot of Ladycop performing Idea Maker in a mysterious, confusing, and beautifully moody interior space. e uid, deliberate, yet constantly roving camera will capture a series of subtly bizarre images taking place amongst the band, in nearby rooms, and outside a window. A disjointed story revealed by the camera will mirror the inherent tension and rhythmic momentum of the song. Sudden, surprising changes in the band and its environment will dramatize the clear tonal shi in the songs la er half. roughout these darkly odd events, the band continues to play or try to play, wryly aloof, with a detached, unlikely nonchalance. On balance, we will feature Ladycop performing in a richly cinematic context, create an air of artistic mystery, and compellingly evoke a unique mood to support the songs spirit and the bands image, on the eve of their upcoming tour and album release. As the song begins, the camera tracks slow and steady across a hardwood oor... Were moving away from a series of shadowy, clustered doors. e camera pans and soon we see a few of the bands feet, some pedals, the bo om of the drum kit. As the vocal begins, we boom up to reveal the band. eyre performing in what is clearly an apartment, although its not a typical place. e band is arranged with their instruments, addressing the camera directly, playing and lipsyncing. However, this is not a realistic concert or recording set-up: Cli sits on an ornate, throne-like antique chair; Anne stands next to him, just over his shoulder; Kolby is at the edge of the group behind a small kit, facing the center; Derek is leaning against the wall between the drums and the chair. e set is a mixture of actual music equipment and domestic furniture, and although there might be an amp and a few key accessories, there are no microphones or stands, mixing boards, cables, or the like. In keeping with this real-but-not-real mood, as weird things start happening members of the band may suddenly stop playing or lipsyncing, and pick back up again at will. Something is weird, dream-like, about this place. e furniture is sparse and pushed to the edge of the room, and strange objects that suggest meaning without revealing anything are li ered about: A large pyramid of cloved oranges in a fancy bowl, an ancient oval-shaped portrait, an unidenti able metal contraption on a shelf, a gothic candelabra, an ominous grandfather clock, and the like. A few oldfashioned light bulbs hang at various levels from the ceiling, creating tiny li le ares during the shot.

During this rst, nearly 30-second-long tracking pass we begin to notice other odd details, particularly the fact that Clis right ankle is bound to the leg of his chair, near the oor. It is tightly tied in an ornate, almost ceremonial knot of red rope. Cli does not seem to notice or much care, nor does anyone else. As the camera glides past, its revealed that so , colorless midday light streams through a set of windows on one side of the room, which leaves the opposite side in various grades of murky shadow. As the camera curves around Kolbys back, we begin to pan over to the window to see an unremarkable urban street scene: Sidewalk, green trees, and parked cars, all blown out and ringed in midday sun. But then, just as the camera reverses course and pulls back to move in the opposite direction, the frame is broken by a mass of oating objects moving just past the window...its a pack of black balloons oating up into the sky. Just as weve had a chance to register them, the camera pans back on its reverse journey through the room. As soon as we see the band, its clear that something has happened in the brief moment the camera looked away. ey have all been bound with ceremonial knots and ties. Although their bonds make it dicult or impossible to play, they all continue to try to do so with li le concern. Kolbys wrists are tied together, Derek is tightly blindfolded, and Annes forearm has been tied to the neck of her guitar. Cli still sits, singing, ankle tied to his chair. He now holds a single black balloon. As the camera turns back to the cluster of doorways at the far end of the room, we see a dark gure looming just past the frame of one door. Is it a gure, or just a shadow? It is motionless, and we cant be sure. Never resting, the camera reverses course again to repeat the same track. As the band comes back into view, all but Cli have been released from their bonds. However, Anne now bleeds from the head, just a li le, a wound far up inside her hairline and dripping down her forehead slightly. Kolby is missing entirely. As Anne casually wipes some blood away from her face and returns to playing, Colby suddenly rushes in from o camera and sits back behind the drums, picking up the sync. What has happened here? e camera continues its inexorable path to the window. As we reach the frame this time, we can just spot a gure in distress down the street. Although the gure is distant and not completely in focus, we can just make out that its a person in a full bee suit (white coveralls, white boots, giant ne ed helmet). He is stumbling towards the camera, waving his arms frantically. ere are no bees.

Never pausing for long, the camera reverses course again to pan back around to the band, just as the song becomes a bit more intense and new guitar lines break through. As the room is revealed, were shocked to see it crowded with 15 to 20 new people. Dressed in street clothes, a few of these people sway and pogo in the background, giving a rough sense of a party or concert. However, as we observe more closely it becomes clear that most of these people are actually making a concerted eort to prevent the band from playing: ey put their hands rmly over Clis mouth, they crowd about and press down the strings on the neck of Annes guitar, they place their hands over Kolbys drums. Derek, bizarrely, holds a fresh honeycomb up above his head; as it slowly drips honey, the few people crowded around him jump and reach for it in vain. It is a mass of movement, but not crazed or even particularly aggressive, just purposeful. Tormentors and tormented both calmly play their part, and the band members patiently swat the obstructions away and try to play...to no avail. Amongst all this action, a lone gure comes into view, an adolescent boy dressed in a dark suit. He stands still and looks directly at the camera as it passes; hes the only one doing so. Just before he leaves the frame, he reaches into his pocket and carefully lights a single match...as it ares alight, he holds it out toward the camera. Panning back to the cluster of doorways, we see the same dark gure. is time, its clearly a person because we see it turn and ma er-of-factly walk away into the shadows. e camera reverses course yet again, gliding back over to the main area. Everyone, including the band, has vanished. All of the instruments and furniture have been le behind. Only the boy remains, his burned-out match still held alo . As the shot continues, we see the large bowl of oranges has been overturned and the bright fruit has rolled across the oor in a wide pa ern; the last few pieces are just rolling to a stop in the far corner. Once again we reach the window, and this time we see...the band down the block. Distant, in so focus, but clearly its them. Cli faces us, holding a signaling mirror that catches the sun. He ashes unintelligible signals directly into the lens from afar.

As the song launches into its climactic coda, the camera slowly begins its nal reverse track...more slowly this time. Cli, Anne, Derek, and Kolby are now all back in place, only now they do not play, and do not sing. Cli stands in front of the chair; his ankle knot is gone. e others stand near their instruments. Each band member is wearing a large, striking garland draped across their shoulders. is totem is freighted with meaning that we cant possibly discern; a few exotic owers of deep, rich, oily colors are set in a dark, gleaming, complex weave that appears as if it could be human hair. ey all stand, eyes closed. Slowly, their eyes open and they look un inchingly into the camera, rst one, then another, then everyone. As the song begins to ascend and fade, extreme closeups of each band members eyes very slowly crossfade on, superimposed over the main image. Simultaneously, an incredibly slow fade to gray begins, almost imperceptible at rst. As the camera slowly glides to a stop, the layers of crossfading closeups and fade to gray begin to confuse and obscure the image, as if its receding into a mist. As the last notes ring out, we nally lose clear sight of the band, but sense theyre still peering at us, wearing their wreaths of dark blooms.

TECHNIQUE AND PRODUCTION DETAILS

Although there are challenging limits imposed by the budget for this video, production and wardrobe design are clearly important. Annes apartment is an ideal location for this shoot; although the space is relatively small, the layout, wall colors, textures, pre-existing props, and lighting conditions are ideal. Our team will utilize existing furniture, household knickknacks, and band members clothes with carefully selected additional items to create a production and wardrobe design with muted colors, boldly mixed pa erns and textures, quirky period items, and a few bizarre touches. is will allow key items such as the ties that band, oranges, and similar props to stand out from the scene, and will overall create an aesthetic that is creepy antique and minor-key rock-n-roll baroque. Ladycop is the star of the video. However, two key casting needs are the lone gure with the match and body doubles for the band. For the lone gure, we imagine an 11- or 12-year-old boy, quiet, intense, and striking. To accomplish the band appearing on the street below, we would cast for four people with similar builds and hair color, and get all the way there with framing, wardrobe, and hair. e 15-20 extras can be any interesting group of people, although we would require roughly 20s-30s-40s age range and professionals who can follow precise directions well. Dancers and actors would be ideal, given the demands of the scene. Since the budget will not allow for proper casting, we must depend on the extended circle of both Charred Oak Films and Ladycops friends and acquaintances who might be convinced to spend a day and a half having some fun on-set for food and no pay. Charred Oak Films will shoot this music video on a Canon 5D Mark II with a variety of lenses, a dolly rig or other uid stabilization, and a very small lighting package. e 5D has a characteristic look of dramatic focus depths, crisp detail, and rich color, while also shooting with exceptional sensitivity to natural lighting and low-light conditions. e photography for Idea Maker will utilize deep interior shadow, diused daylight, and so practical sources to create a natural yet rich look, slightly desaturated with a sophisticated greenish-blue tint. On-set audio playback via a laptop will be provided for lipsync and instrument sync; each take will be slated, and playback track sample rate and camera frame rate will be carefully managed to ensure proper sync in post. However, due to the long, song-length takes and the native encoding scheme of the Canon 5D, there could be sync challenges in post. For safety, we will record the playback track directly into the cameras audio input on set, so that performance and playback are locked in the raw les. No live audio will be used, both for the technical reasons stated above and the large amount of verbal on-set direction needed to choreograph the complex action. In order to minimize equipment rental costs, we propose shooting over a weekend. e Saturday would be set dressing, pre-light, and camera rehearsal. Following that, we propose a few hours of walk-through and rehearsal with the band and other talent at the end of the day. Sunday would be the shoot proper, with morning and early a ernoon the ideal lighting conditions. We imagine a 10-hour shoot day (8-hour talent call) with full strike/ load-out to follow. Our intention would be to roll a new takes at least every half hour, with the understanding that we will need to capture as many full takes of the performance as we are able to t in while also spending a signi cant amount of time to re-set and adjust a er each take.

REFERENCE : Color, Textures, Light Quality

REFERENCES : Lighting & Mood

MORE REFERENCES

Band arrangement / mood / muted colors

Performance Mood / Blocking

Overexposed window / underexposed interior; mood

Framing / soft focus for activity outside the window

Were extremely excited for the opportunity to work with you on this project, and to help launch Ladycops upcoming record and tour.

THANK YOU.