MUSIC VIDEO TREATMENTS

[int. - HOUSE - NIGHT] A male figure creeps softly into the living room. It’s late. Inside, only a kitchen light glows. A cake rests on the dining table. “Happy Birthday, Michael!” is splashed across the center in bright orange icing. A pack of white candles sits unopened. Michael drudges past the table and cake into a bedroom, closing the door behind himself. He joins a woman in bed (YEBBA) without touching or acknowledging her; perhaps thinking she’s asleep, but most likely not caring. His back is to her. On the other side of the bed, YEBBA’s eyes peel open. She sits up, only half looking over her shoulder where her distant lover lay. She gets up from the bed and begins to walk the main hall of their home... YEBBA looks around the living room and various rooms throughout the house. She visualizes scenes of the past. Faded, ghostly versions of she and Michael sit on the couch and watch TV, paint bedrooms and cook together. These scenes begin lighthearted and end with Michael tarnishing the moments with his obvious infidelity/neglect. YEBBA continues walking through the house, crying, and dizzy from the hallucinations. She ends her tour of the house at the garage, where she retrieves something large and heavy. We can’t see exactly what it is, but she begins to lug it back down the hallway whence she came. From within the rooms off the hallway, we get different views of what YEBBA is dragging down the hall... From one room, nothing at all. She pulls with all her might at something we can’t see. From a second room, we see her pass with a suitcase. Small articles of clothing fall from the bag, leaving a trail giving away her departure. As YEBBA passes a third and final room, we see her dragging a grimy, red gas container which is leaking profusely. She lugs the container into the hallway and drags it through the house, purposely spilling it along the way. She stops in the doorway of the bedroom. From the space she left in the bed, we see Michael is still sleeping. Still in the threshold, YEBBA stands with the big nothing beside her. From behind, we see her approach him, the packed bag dirty in the shot. She lowers herself to kiss him on the cheek. Accepting that their love has run its course, she rises again and wades slowly out of the house. [The screen splits into two sides. The following sequences play out simultaneously.] On the left, we see YEBBA strike a match. She faces the house one last time before dropping the stick onto the trail of gasoline she’s left. The house is quickly engulfed in flames. The last shot is of YEBBA in a solitary holding unit, dressed in an orange jumpsuit. She wipes tears from her eyes as she lies on the floor. On the right side, we see YEBBA standing in front of the house, suitcase upright at her side. She takes a final, tearful look at the house before throwing the bag into a pickup truck and driving away for good.