The video finds our band suited and booted standing in an empty swimming pool. Cool right? Probably. SUM 41 did it so actually, maybe not. The band are styled, suave but stiff, slightly retro, a touch of Weezer - Buddy Holly or Nirvana - In Bloom. They’re not quite full 1950s but closer to an awkward wedding band that do 1950’s covers. The colour palette is all cool greys, blues and white. It looks nice all there in that empty pool. This is probably going to be a nicely shot performance video. But then…

Imagine David Attenborough riding a polar bear. Thats a nice thought isn’t it? Well, soon it won’t be possible because both will be extinct. That’s right global warming is real and water levels are rising. Our swimming pool begins to fill. At first it’s just the odd trickle. The band play it straight as they try not to let it impede their performance. The camera work is very “performance video”  but broken by more narrative moments where we see glimpses of the story progressing as the band try to keep their shit together and muddle through the song.

STAGE 1: ANKLES 

Our singer looks down to see a trickle of water // Water around the bassist’s ankles is making him slightly nervous but he carries on // The drummer is getting thrown by water splashing under the kick pedal.

STAGE 2: HIPS

The high water is becoming a problem for the guitarist, his strumming hand keeps hitting the water // The drums aren’t weighed down. They begin bobbing and shifting as the water raises under them, the drummer struggles to keep them in place // If you build it they will come #1 - for some reason there’s now an RC model boat in the pool that circles around their waists.

STAGE 3: NECKS

The Drummer is now swimming around trying to corral his drums // A drum floats past behind the guitarist as he continues to try and play guitar over his head //  If you build it they will come #2 now there’s also a shark fin in the pool circling the band around their necks // The shark fin circles the bassist and submerges into the water, so does he, then he violently pops back up before being thrashed around, the band looks over in panic, red clouds of blood fill the water // As the water reaches the singers mic there is a blast of sparks and the flash of a skeleton // The RC boat is now on fire & sinks…the song is over // Credits play over an empty shot of the filled pool, the singers body floats past.

The camera language descends into chaos as the video progresses. At first mixing more composed elements, with more story moments and eventually taking on a more “real” documentary style as the water begins to effect the camera man too. A pool takes around 8 hours to fill so we’re thinking to put the hose on and then get to it, shooting these moments around the performance as the water level rises. It will be important to capture a lot of behind the scenes footage of the shoot and include some moments from this material more and more towards the end of the video. We really want to have fun with this one and make sure the band do too. This is a really important element in making sure the video captures the genuinely endearing fun of the band. There’s no more effective way of doing this then by telling them to be serious and then getting them to crack up with laughter so we’ll make sure the shoot day itself is a big laugh and (just for authenticity) a bit of a disaster.