2. IDEA:“Break Your Plans” is a heart-wrenching plea stemmed from emotional
longing we have all faced. Our video will showcase glimpses of various
relationships spanning the city. Love is won, love is lost, and we catch
all the arguments and highs that happen in between through the eyes
of our distant storyteller, Isaac.
3. We open in an art directed room (or
terrace) high above the city. This room is
a kind of perch or lookout point, able to
observe all the on-goings of the
sprawling city landscape below in a single
glance.
This room set (or terrace) will be built or
art directed atop a large exterior terrace,
roof, parking structure, or scenic
overlook on a building. The key feature
of this setting is that it is littered with
various telescopes that line the sides of
the building. Isaac paces the towering
structure as a voyeur, guardian, or
witness, using his elevated stance to
observe relationships that surround him
through the telescopes.
4. From this vantage point Isaac witnesses “LOVE” of all sorts, mostly
in the form of different break-ups. Some people make out with each
other, get a little frisky, cheat on their partner, are on first dates…
Some experiencing love for the first time! It is important that all of
the interactions feel REAL. These instances take place outside of
bars, in traffic jams, bedrooms, kitchens, restaurants… All locations
are possible since we will rarely (if ever) see Isaac’s position in
relation to the vignette he is witnessing. Since the song is about
breaking up I would like to keep the vignettes mostly centered
around that theme.
5. Each of these vignettes
is showcased from
Isaac’s point of view,
through the narrow
sight of different
telescopes. This narrow
sight is in no way
accidental, as those
viewing relationships
from the outside could
never understand the
deeper ties/issues that
their cropped view
conceals. Nevertheless,
Isaac seems omniscient,
almost like a deity, as
he looks down into
these private moments
on public display.
6. Few occasions will show vignettes that aren’t seen from above, such
as when Isaac is looking through the telescope at a high-rise building
directly across the street where many different people live. Here
we’ll see a few breakup vignettes play out from a far, much like we
are watching through the eyes of James Stewart in Alfred Hithcock’s
classic Rear Window.
7. Throughout the song we catch Isaac walking and moving between
various areas of his towering perch to get views from different
telescopes. The gradual evolution of the track is effortless and I’d like
to emulate this by allowing our camera to embody the same evolution
during Isaac’s performance. Timid at first, our camera follows Isaac in
slow, small movements or stationary pans/tilts. As the song expands its
layers and Isaac’s performance gets larger our camera, too, breaks free
and emulates the same grandeur.
8. At the end of our video we reveal that someone is looking down at Isaac
from their own vantage point as he walks and sings, oblivious to his
onlooker. Perhaps it is a girl looking on. We can reveal the mysterious
person or leave the audience stumbling without an answer. But
regardless the point to the video is that everyone is watching everyone
whether we know it or not.
I’m a huge fan of The Fray and am so excited to write on this track as I
love serendipitous moments like this where an amazing song comes
along and I have an idea that is so perfect for it. I know this is going to
be such an amazing and visually thought-provoking video. Can’t wait to
hear your thoughts. Thanks!
Frank Borin
