The Ramblings of Guise Dugal

NaBloPoMo: Day Six (Delayed to 11/07/09)

I have a habit every time I listen to music to make videos for them in my head, whether comprised of snapshots of scenes or full MTV videos. The first time I ever heard My Chemical Romance’s Black Parade I got almost the full video correct, except a few thematic pieces and the very opening, not that this is that hard to do given the song, but I was rather impressed with the level of detail that I got accurate. Other times I’ll redo videos in my head, sometimes thinking of how to make home movies featuring friends or family, telling little stories or comprising of fun moments. A lot of songs lend themselves to home movies with friends, especially those feel good, fast paced summery songs.

Sometimes my mental images go way off the mark, sometimes they venture in to the realms of “What the hell are you thinking?” Recently a couple of songs have been recreated in my head to take on a slightly more sinister bent. On this I blame factors such as the month of June, desire to cosplay escaped psychiatric patients, the want to act and film, general feelings of despondency and a lot of desperation from various situations. I guess best summed up, the Long Fox decided to come yapping at my door.

You see, a couple of particular songs on my MP3 player have given me darker video ideas in enough detail to actually be able to storyboard, but as you all know I lack a few artistic tools: the ability to draw to my liking; insufficient quantity of models for photography; insufficient quantity of actors for filming. Instead I am left to write out my storyboards in the barest of details.

But, from this I thought we could gain some entertainment and I might even be able to offer some level of reward to people who can see the method to my supposed madness. I am going to give you one of these storyboards, with very little information about the actual song and then I want to see who, if any, will be the first to successfully guess what the song is. This won’t be fun, I assure you, because there isn’t that many hints beyond the first few lines.

What will the prize be? I happen to know, you don’t. This is the way things work. Don’t expect too much, I’d hate to disappoint another person.
How do I enter? Simply leave a comment with the song and the artist/band. First person correct wins. If you want, tell me why you think you are right too.
When should I enter by? Hm, let’s say the 25th of the month. We all know the 25th, right?
Anything else? Yeah, I’m posting this in my DeviantArt journal too, cos it’s a tad artsy I guess.

The characters:

Her (or ‘she’) – Young girl, aged early twenties. Old enough to drink, maybe even legally. Attractive, but modestly so. Her clothes are a short white blouse tied at midriff and plaid skirt, schoolgirl-ish, and a cowboy hat and purse, both discarded to one side.
Him (or ‘he’) – Never really seen fully, only parts ever fully illuminated. His hair is medium to long, scraggly but not totally unkempt.

The locations:

The bar – Dingy and empty, not quite a dive but nowhere near a good night out. Round wooden tables and wooden chairs, all vacant. Only cushions are in the booths. A raised dais forms a stage, illuminated by a few soft red lights, a pole stands centre stage and small steps lead up from the floor on either side of the stage.
The parking lot – Outside the bar. Dark almost smoky night, neon and street lights are a blur.

The storyboard:

(Instrumental opening between 00:00-00:22) Over shoulder, he taps his fingers on the table top, next to a glass with ice and mere trace of alcohol.

Pans up over shoulder, shows young lady on stage, her body infront of metal pole, her hands behind her. The bar seems empty except for these two.
Over his shoulder, her head tilted back, hair falling back and her body pulled taut
He stands, camera still on her as she moves before the pole and back of his jacket sleeve
He passes by the camera, almost blocking her as she snakes on the pole, all hips, shoulders and hair.

Camera follows beside him, rotating around her on stage as she bends her knees, head swaying
He mounts stage, camera to his side now shows her hands tied behind her and the pole
He circles behind her as her knees bend further, his hand on the pole
On the other side of the pole, he bends slightly to her ear as she tilts head forward
Semi-close-up, both faces in profile as his lips come near her ear

His head tilted, lips close to ear
A knife, shining runs by her ear
Follow the knife to her cheek
To profiles, he holds knife away
He moves away, apparently to lower to his knees

Over shoulder as he opens purse and looks at a photo of girl with older women
Pan slightly to drivers license, thumb stroking address
Flips photo to show another with girl amongst other young people
Camera underneath, he looks up at her, she has sunk lower on pole

He turns, rising slightly towards her face, hand approaching
His fingers and thumb push the corners of her mouth up as she cries

Close up lips to stretched lips, space between them
Close up, his lips near her nose
Close up, his lips against her forehead, tears streaming from her eyes

(Instrumental between 02:44-03:21) Blurry darkness

Her face, hair matted to her skin, mascara smeared
Pull back to show her in the trunk of the car, he stands with one hand on trunk lid and another on a cowboy hat
As she lays there, bound, he looks to blurred city lights around him
He throws the hat onto her face

He looks down at her one last time
He strokes her face gently
The trunk lid slams down hard
His hand traces over the trunk lid, up the roof of the car as he passes
He gets in to the car

The car draws off into the neon blur, getting further in to distance as music fades