videos

let down
director: andrew devine

*Opening music*
The retro sounding guitar intro here, is a prelude to what we are about to see. Flashing out of darkness, we notice in the beginning, a very fantastic, wondrous, sci-fi looking city. A whitish blue sky lights the city, and sort of bounces of the glass that we see in the many windows.. The point of view very calmly, almost serenely, flows into the scene where the action takes place. Revealing more, as we get closer to the ground, we are able to see people and vehicles moving around this little futuristic villa. Metallic gray trains and trams, and similarly gleaming cars float around the roads and streets, as if on air. The buildings are large, like skyscrapers, and the people are wearing futuristic attire (sparkly, gray parachute pants etc.). The citizens walk around, just going on with their everyday lives. They appear to be quite amiable and jovial with one another, exchanging pleasantries and other niceties.

Just as the drum enters the picture, a sub-title tells us that this is 'Any Major City, Earth, 2079'. This appears on the screen, just with the introduction of the drum. That explains the futuristic nature, then!

*Transport, motor ways and tramlines...*
The point of view, flows, as if flying (it probably is), to take a closer look at the wonderful modes of transport the city possesses. The train is a metallic yellow and we can see that a ticket attendant is checking off the people's tickets. He is smiling a little too much while he's doing this. The train though, glides past where we can see, and continues on its unbelievable journey, as the camera turns with it. The lyrics appear on the screen also, in a brilliant white. They act like a story board for the events to come.

*taking off and landing*
We 'fly' across to a little airport, where we can see a black jet take off from the runway. Well-wishers farewell the people that are on the plane. They too, are constantly smiling.

The camera zooms in to see one of the people at the airport, already crying because they miss the person that was on the plane. She clenches her stomach like a vice, and she's experiencing *the emptiest of feelings...* It's a vast difference to the other people, still laughing and reminiscing about the good times they had with the people on the jet..

*...disappointing, let down and hanging around*
We glide back to the town and see that everything is how we left it. It's as if time stood still. The citizens continue their business and work. Men carry briefcases and the women look very professional also.

*crushed like a bug in the ground...* *
The point of view zooms in and drops down to see that a little ant is crawling through a tunnel made by the gaps in the concrete. The ant is very beautiful and looks exactly like a 'real' ant. The camera then turns up from the ant's perspective and we can see a large shadow move down, until nothing but darkness. The ant has died, presumingly by a large foot...

*Small musical interlude*
We now walk into an adjacent building (the POV - point of view - has taken human form, and it seems to be bouncing, suggesting walking). Walking up a large flight of glass stairs, we see that the interior walls are 'painted' a transparent jade. We can see out of the windows, outside, as if the glass wasn't even there. (In fact, it doesn't look like glass at all, perhaps it's some kind of force field). We walk up to a large laboratory, and see there are potions and vials sitting on the many benches that line the room. There is a man, in his thirties and wearing a pristine lab coat, standing, and greeting us, as we enter the lab.

He mouths the following lyrics, but the sub-titles appear, nonetheless.
*shell smashed, juices flowing, wings twitch, legs are going...*
He is talking about something on one of the benches, and he points to a large metallic cage. In it, is an animal we have never seen before. It's like a cross between a cicada, and some sort of crustacean, in that it has a shell and wings. Anyway, this experiment has gone terribly wrong, and the man in the white coat, gets angry, or rather, upset at the mistake that has occurred. Its' shell has been smashed, and the wings are see through, and twitching uncontrollably.

*don't get sentimental, it always ends up drivel*
We now change POV, so we're in the lab guy's body. We see the previous host (the young man) mouth these words, describing his thoughts on the 'project'. It's obvious he's not as keen as he used to be on the little experiment. (the sentimental line...). We walk across to take a closer, in-depth look at the bizarre creature inside the metal cage. By zooming closer, we get the feeling that we are actually leaning over and bending down to see the animal.

*one day, i am going to grow wings*
As we hear this, we realize we are now the strange cross bred cicada-crustacean. The view flickers and goes into a static like state, as though he's having trouble just staying alive. He (I presume it's a he, perhaps he's androgynous...) is positive though and is looking toward the future, he WILL grow his wings back.

We see that our previous host, the lab technician, feels a bit of sympathy for his blunder about the creature and in haste, releases the door into the cage. We fly free and again, the vision is all staticy and phases in and out. Moving across through a doorway, we enter another part of the lab. This part has even more vials than the last room, and another chemist type guy, is experimenting with different solutions. We sort of hover around, then occasionally move really fast, just like flies and the like do.

His *...chemical reaction* explodes, when we see a kingfisher blue liquid combine with a maroon solution. It creates a beautiful cloud of smoke and sits there for a while before dispersing.

The chemist, in his 20s, is going nuts, wondering if something bad will happen to him with the smoke and the ominous cloud that surrounds him. He is *hysterical and useless...*, flailing his arms wildly, and running in circles.

*Another Musical Interlude*
As the music becomes very serene and quiet again, the cicada exits through the window to the right of the chemical explosion. We immediately fly down to the city square again, and see that all the citizens are focused on one thing up in the whitish blue sky. They are completely entranced by it. Every person is looking at it, and what it is we do not know. The cicada-crustacean thing flies really close to a young lady and once again, we change point of view.

Just as the drum and the cool, retro sounding guitar enter the equation, she turns to her left, to look and the cicada, then turns and looks up, very slowly to what the entire population is also focused on.

It's hard to make out from here, but it's definitely something very spectacular; something beautiful.

Suddenly, a violent earthquake shakes the ground. The people don't know what to do. (This occurs just as we hear the elongated *let down...*.

The men and women are all shaking, as is the concrete, and have no idea what is going on. Looking back up to the magnificent sky, we can see 'crystalline confetti' fall just as we hear the wonderful electronic, chaotic harmony. It's quite beautiful. It looks a lot like snow, but it's too beautiful, too transparent.

The entire population, is now waving their arms in the air, and everyone is revelling in the joy of the moment. The camera pans back to see the entire city. Everyone is just having the best time, they are loving it. It looks cool, too. I wouldn't mind being immersed in this stuff, it's pure bliss. This lasts for quite a while, as we move around viewing each person do something fun....

*...let down and hanging around...*
Moving back even more, we can see that the entire town is actually quite small and miniaturized. Breaking through some kind of plastic barrier, we soon realize that the whole scene was inside a 'snow globe'. The camera pans to show a young boy, huge compared to the people we saw previously, laughing and having a great time with his mother....