The proposed music video "Milk" will tell the story of a young woman going through a heartbreak who turns to cocaine. It will be primarily narrative-based, with some lip syncing to the song. The editing and camera shots will reflect the tempo of the song. There will be a variety of shots including close-ups, wide shots, and point-of-view shots. The lighting will change throughout the day from sunrise to sunset. Mise-en-scene will be important, with the main character having a grungy aesthetic and props like a fake bag of cocaine being used. The settings will include outdoor public areas, houses, beaches, and walkways to incorporate scenic shots.

1. “Milk”
Treatment Sheet
By Katy Marwood and Rebecca Hay for
Empire Records.
Katy Marwood & Rebecca Hay
Hartlepool 6th Form College
Brinkburn, Blakelock Road
Hartlepool, TS25 5PF
14150472@hpoolsfc.ac.uk

2. Concept:
The concept of ‘milk’ is based on what the song is about and will therefore be
highly illustrative. ‘Milk’ will focus on a young woman who is going through
heartbreak and because of this, turns to the cocaine. The protagonist will receive
a small bag of the substance at the very start of the video and then will proceed
to her home and using the drug will show this concept in a clear way to the
audience.
Narrative and Performance:
‘Milk’ will be primarily narrative based with some elements of performance, as
the female protagonist will lip sync very small parts of the song. As indie rock
music videos don’t necessarily have any set conventions, we will not challenge
the genre by the video having both elements of narrative and performance. The
1975’s music videos differ, for example, their video ‘Sex’ shows the band
performing the song in a bedroom whereas, ‘Robbers’ includes no elements of
performance and the video is an intertextual reference to the movie ‘True
Romance’. However, the female protagonist in the video does lip sync at the point
of the song where the words ‘‘you look so cool’’ are repeated as these are words
the female from the movie, Alabama Whitman, says to her lover and therefore
‘Milk’ will be an allude to this video as the female protagonist will lip sync words
she formerly said to her past boyfriend, ‘’so cool’’ and ‘‘it’s no fun if you’ve only a
bottle of wine’’.

3. Camera and Editing:
The song differs in tempo and the editing and filming of the video will reflect the
speed of the song. Longer parts of the song will have longer shots to show the
narrative in it’s entirety so the audience have a better understanding and faster
parts of the song, the instrumental, will have a quick paced edit showing scenic
shots which have no relevance to the narrative. However, the beginning and end
of the video will display the start of the day and the end of the day. This will be a
time-lapse of the sunrise and the sunset.
“Milk” will feature a variety of camera shots. These shots will include close-ups to
display the emotions the female protagonist is feeling and will show the
audience just how vulnerable and unhappy she really is, extreme wide
shots/establishing shots will show off the setting, wide shots will also show the
actress in full frame, medium close ups will show the actress in slightly more
detail, point of view shots will also be used to show what the actress is seeing
with her own eyes and what she is experiencing when she’s under the influence.
‘Milk’ will also feature over the shoulder shots to show the protagonists mobile
phone and over the shoulder shots will also show the actress receiving the
substance she will later use. A final over the shoulder shot will feature at the end
of the video for shock factor.
Lighting:
The lighting of the music video will vary, as different shots will take place during
chronological time periods of the day. The beginning will feature a time-lapse of
a sunrise, then the video will proceed to the afternoon where the majority of the

4. video will take place with a final time-lapse of a sunset before the final shot
which will take place in the afternoon many years later.
Mise En Scéne:
Mise en scéne will be one of the most important factors of the production of
‘milk’. The female protagonist will have an aesthetic that is very similar to the
character of Effy Stonem, Skins. She will have messy hair, a smokey make-up look
and a grungy costume. The videos ‘dealer’ will wear stereotypical dark clothing
with a hood covering the majority of their face, which expresses to the audience
what their role is and sets them apart from other members of society. Finally, the
elderly woman will wear stereotypical clothing for that age range (60-80) and
although we will not see her face, the audience will be able to identify her, as she
will be holding a particular prop, which will feature in the middle of the video.
Therefore, ‘milk’ will include a lot of props. These props will be a fake white
substance in a small bag, which will represent the drug cocaine, a mobile phone
to display the protagonist’s text messages, a photo frame and a silver locket
necklace, which will be the videos key prop.
As the video uses a song from the indie rock genre, the video will not feature
special effects as these videos are usually very low budget.
The settings of ‘milk’ will also vary and different settings will be shown
throughout the video. These settings will include an outside public area, a house,
Crimdon Dene beach and walkway and finally, Seaton Carew beach. As scenic
shots will be a key feature for the video we cannot just have the video take place
in one location.