MUSIC VIDEO TREATMENT
Frightened Rabbit
‘State Hospital’
Producer: E Blakeman
Director: E Blakeman
Frightened Rabbit:
(Overview
of your (imagined) artist- description of their style, background, where
they’re at in their career etc, and what purpose this video will serve for them
(e.g. new sound or image))
State hospital:
The song tells the story of a girl born without hope
of a good life, and tracks her seemingly inevitable path to self-destruction as
she is “born into a grave”.
She is born into a world that doesn’t want her;
probably an accidental conception, she is raised in a home of anger, violence
and probably drugs. She is neglected and never made to believe she can achieve
anything in life; she believes even the teachers in school have given up on
her.
The song lyrics follow her into adolescence and young
adulthood, as she begins to lead a lifestyle crying out for affection and
validation, but finds it in negative behaviours – excessive drinking and sexual
promiscuity.
The song ends with ambiguity in the lyric “all is not
lost”- is it always inevitable that she’ll lead this life?
Music video basic concept:
Throughout the video, the images we see appear to tell
the story of the girl’s life as featured in the song’s lyrics.
We’re walked through her life as a child, an
adolescent and a young adult. We never see her face, but we experience things
through her point of view throughout.
Possible twist?? (Hollywood ending?!):
However, at the end, it will become apparent that the
images we’ve been seeing are actually of her mother. The mother’s story was one
of inevitable struggle, but the “born into a grave” lyrics turn out not to
apply to the daughter featured as a baby at the start.
In a quick montage at the end, the images of her
mother’s life are replaced by a new narrative- that of the daughter succeeding
against the odds (“all is not lost”). Full circle- back to mother and baby
scenes from the start, but with adult daughter now present somehow…
Style:
Muted colours, almost bleached, watching the mother’s
life to convey the melancholy and hopelessness of her life. A lot of the
lighting will be low-key and will make effective use of shadows, especially in
the mother’s home. For the final montage at the end, we see more light and
colour.
In order for the audience to make meaning from the
narrative, there will be certain recurring motifs to help them follow the
video.
The cinematography
Scene-by-scene
Rough lyrics analysis:
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