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Did someone say...PArty?
Did someone say...PArty?
Remember all those "classic" yet over-the-top teen drama films from the late '90s & early '00s? You know, movies like American Pie, 10 Things I Hate About You, and, of course, Old School? Well, imagine a music video that captures all that exuberance and goofiness in a mere 4:50. This concept is, at its core, an homage to these films.
We open on The Hearsay walking up on an already raging house party, ready to get down and have a great time. Everyone has their own schtick: TRAVIS is overly-dressed to impress; ASHTON is already bored and texting on her phone; JEFF is, how do you say?, hammered; & RYAN is wearing a crop top shirt. *Note: these are all subject to change, just fyi*
Then, they barge into the party and split up, going their separate ways. The camera pushes in as they disperse and tracks through the crowd, getting little moments of the people all just partying their asses off. This sequence culminates with a big group of people all cheers-ing each other and then starting a chug.
From there, the camera speed ramps through the crowd and lands in a room where TRAVIS is chatting up a girl who seems totally into him. They're flirting and hitting it off like crazy, showing some great chemistry.
When suddenly, this girl's GIRLFRIEND shows up and catches a glimpse of her boo flirting with TRAVIS. She gets pissed! The GIRLFRIEND bucks up to TRAVIS, ready to sock him one. At first TRAVIS laughs it off--obviously he's not gonna hit a girl--but then the GIRLFRIEND motions over 2 of her intimidating guy friends. When he sees this, TRAVIS bolts & we speed ramp through his flight down the stairs.
As TRAVIS rushes past the bathroom door, out of the bathroom saunters ASHTON, still texting on her phone & totally oblivious to the world around her. The camera stops following TRAVIS and we stay focused on her.
She strolls into a room where a bunch of kids are all playing flip cup. Text bubbles appear, playing out the convo she's having on her phone. She's texting some girl with long, meaningful texts, only to have her respond with curt, annoyed responses. She doesn't catch it, though, and is totally into the convo.
Then from among the crowd, a cute girl notices her and approaches. She tries to start up a convo with ASHTON, but gets pretty much ignored. This girl keeps trying and trying, though, determined to get a response. ASHTON continues dismissing her, and eventually she exasperatedly walks away.
But then, she rushes back onscreen, grabs ASHTON's phone, then runs off. ASHTON can't believe what just happens, and she follows her in hot pursuit.
As we follow ASHTON rushing past the group of people playing flip cup, we land on JEFF who's still faded. He sways back-and-forth as he watches the team that's been running the table take another victory. He smirks to himself, finishes whatever he's been drinking out of his solo cup, and throws it down.
JEFF steps up to the table and challenges the entire winning team to a game of flip cup: all of them against just him. They scoff, but accept.
The camera tracks along the table, stopping with JEFF at every cup. Miraculously, he CRUSHES the winning team. It's a great victory, and everyone celebrates his amazing win.
In the midst of this victory, JEFF starts to feel something creeping up his throat. Uh-oh...
He covers his mouth and rushes out of the room.
The camera follows JEFF through a group of people in the hallway, into a crowd of people on the dance floor, and lands right on RYAN, who's standing in the middle of the dance floor sipping a drink and staring unblinkingly while everyone else around him dances their asses off.
We hold on RYAN for a minute, the camera fixated on this monolith of immobility amongst the throng of motion. Then, in a quick speed ramp, RYAN crushes the can in his hand and bursts into dance. He loses himself in the crowd, swept up in the excitement of the dancing.
In the middle of dancing, someone taps RYAN on the shoulder and gestures for him to follow them. They both rush off screen.
In the last act of the video, all 4 members of The Hearsay converge on the basement: TRAVIS narrowly escaping the guys who were chasing him; ASHTON grabbing her phone back from the girl who took it from her, only to be kissed by her in return; JEFF wiping his mouth off with the back of his sleeve; & RYAN being cheered along by a mass of dancers.
They're all pushed forward towards their instruments, pick up their instruments, and look like they're about to start playing.
We cut to black just as they're about to strum their first chord.
General Notes
General Notes
- Interspersed throughout the narrative bits would also footage from the band playing in the basement (a sort of flash-forward, if you will), with the end of the video signifying when they actually started playing the show.
- Though these specific narrative beats work, I'm 100% open to different ideas. The main idea here is that we need something in the narrative that motivates our characters (you guys) to go from the upstairs party to the show downstairs.
- Conceptually, the idea here is that not everything goes as you plan it to, but that doesn't mean you can't make something good out of it in the end.
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