The images of this video will transform Shawn's physical space into an emotional one. Using both an expressionistic and surreal approach, we will transform her everyday events and surroundings into dark, claustrophobic spaces, representing her state of mind. The look will be dark, utilizing richly underexposed color. The video will convey a mood that is simultaneously disturbing, sexual, phobic and psychotic.

The performance consists of two scenarios which will be intercut. The first is a stage comprised of immense industrial fans which move slowly, hypnotically; Shawn sits on a stool or the floor, singing as herself. In the second aspect she portrays the character in the song. We see this woman moving through her home, but the space is not one of comfortable domesticity; everything she turns to for a sense of ease and familiarity becomes an image from a nightmare. Following are a list of vignettes, prioritized as time and budget permit:

Shawn=s look is beautifully disheveled. Starting in a wedding dress, she will cut and tear away the fabric with huge, oversized shears until she is left in a beautiful satin slip. This may change color in various scenes. It is the middle of the night; Shawn sit behind a projector in a darkened room, wearing sunglasses. She=s watching home movies, however we don=t see the screen, only the light streaming from the projector. She turns the projector on herself as she sings; consequntly both she and the room are bathed in images of fire.

Cut to a close-up of a miniature house built of matches. She ignites the house and it bursts into flames.

As she climbs in bed for the night, she sinks in sheets which have turned to quicksand; in contrast we also see her levitating above the bed.

Sitting on the couch, she is wrapped completely in film, holding the end up to a lamp an she looks through a magnifying glass.

She walks sown a strange, dark hallway. The space is constructed with distorted perspective and sizing; at one point she will be able to touch both walls and the ceiling. Shot with a push/pull affect, the dolly pulling back as the lens zooms forward. We also may shoot from above, watching her twist and turn down the hallway.

She turns to an oscillating fan to cool herself, but is subsequently blown all over the room (using a wind machine off set). Objects fly chaotically through the air, like Halman=s famous photo of Salvador Dali. The room is destroyed as if hit by a tornado.

Cut to a parakeet in an antique, oversized bird cage, squawking. The image flares out and reappears, revealing Shawn inside the cage, singing. Soaking in a tub, singing, she slowly goes under. She disappears, then reappears as the film is reversed.

She puts on make-up at a mirror, transforming from bare, to beautiful, to an extreme caricature of beauty. Attempting to remove it, she smears the make-up over her face.

She lights candle after candle until the room is finally transformed into a shrine.

At the end of the video Shawn returns to a room we've seen repeatedly; however now one of the walls has a doors or window, and is wallpapered with the image of a forest. Shawn exists through the door or falls from the window, engulfed in the bright light beyond.

Throughout the video the rooms and scenes are intermittently filled with smoke, which may change in color from scene to scene. Various film effects give the video emotive qualities as well as the appearance of a home movie; part of the video will flutter, stick, and jerk to a stop, finally bubbling from the heat of a projector lamp until the image ignites. There will be flashes and pops of light, images flaring out.

THE END

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