My music video, to Love and Suicide by The Trusted, narrates the story of two boys who have been in a relationship, broken up, and coincidentally end up in the same place they met after they broke up.
The video commences with a two shot of Saen and Charlie at Chinnerys first meeting.
The titles of the song run through, with a dark aesthetic emerging through use of blue arcade lighting and dark lips eating a love heart sweet, foreshadowing the later events of the video. The lips are a motif throughout, intertextually referencing Rocky Horror, a cult film many indie fans will be aware of within their cultural competency.
4 images flash up, one after the other: one of Saen, one of Charlie, one of them together, and one of Saen on his own, quickly demonstrating the basic narrative of the story.
Shots of Tom lip syncing the song in 4 different locations throughout he video act to adhere to Dyer's Star theory and demonstrate Tom's star persona, giving fans what they want to see while also creating a character of narrator throughout the video. A wine bottle and guitar picks reflects the 'lilac wine' lyric too, adhering to Goodwin. One of the location shots involves Tom through a a frame: demonstrating Goodwin's theory further.
The narrative - with an old film effect put over it - illustrates Saen laying among flower beds writing in his notebook and sketching (typically done when in love and daydreaming) reflecting the lyrics of 'flowerbeds' and 'existence' where he writes in the book ;'what is existence' followed by the answer 'love'.
The chorus narrative demonstrates the boys in the height of their relationship, sitting on a wall - a stereotypical love scene ie in Submarine (another indie film) - and lyrics reflect visuals through things such a a heart made of pebbles, with the beach being a motif throughout the video.
The second verse begins with the boys on a date at a picnic as in insight to their relationship. Dropping money with dark lights reflects the 'money without meaning' lyric. This begins to demonstrate the turning point in the song where the relationship breaks down. Saen can be seen reading a newspaper in the park, demonstrating the lyrics 'of fake news - its just the same as real life' - reflecting Goodwin's theory further.
The lyric of 'patient kiss' is reflected through the overlay of the lips, adhering to Goodwin's theory of lyrics reflecting the visuals.
Saen is given a bunch of flowers, and then a chess board appears reflecting the lyric ' do you want to play'.
An arcade light flickers on the Volta of the song, when Tom flicks his hand and the chess board flips as the relationship breaks down.
The chorus shows a series of stereotypical heartbreak shots of Saen ripping out his pages of his notebook and throwing flowers.
The bridge narrates Saen getting back on his feet after the relationship, illustrating a train journey to a gig, with overlays of Saen erasing the makeup from his face effectively wiping away the relationship and tears. He gets his confidence back in himself with the overlays of the lips in the background.
In the last chorus, gig footage of The Trusted is playing, with Saen and lip overlays bringing all narrative strands together and creating star persona and performance footage, adhering to both Goodwin and Dyer.
Finally, the boys meet again in the same place and share a knowing smile, intertextually referencing La La Land.
