Jim Steinman's Original Music Video Outlines

Jim; "Wendy"; Lost Boys … about 8 dancers

Mood and Visual Style

Feverish, majestic, obsessive, erotic, heroic, all revved up with no place to go images and movements should seem more unleashed than created … a sardonic undertone … desperate …sinuous…explosive…

A combination of the muscular density of rock n'roll and the luxuriant turbulence of opera

The "acoustic" world has been destroyed -- everything is amplified

Every image and movement should seem to be born either directly before, during, or after an ecstatic moment of action -- and the specific action is less important than the release it provides

Tension and release is a continuous motif

Sexually rich -- every movement has sexual echoes and reverberations

A world that is endlessly horny for wonder, magic, and excitement.

A world where violence is carried out with such powerful balletic precision and passion as to become beautiful -- and physical beauty is imbued with such anarchic, child-like disregard for the limits of the ordinary as to become violent.

This world should hyperventilate from beginning to end

"Everything is permitted/ Nothing ever is taboo/ And there is always something shattered/ When there is something breaking through…"

These kids are "restless reckless and lost"

ACTION OUTLINE

A primal, mythic, desolate landscape, highly stylized … prehistoric .. preconscious … bones, fossils, water, fire, an indifferent icy moon .. Two apes move about, exploring, discovering, tentatively touching and testing … they pour water on their faces, lean into and then recoil from the fire … They see the bones, and one in particular, glowing, pulsing, an eerie mesmerizing bloodshot glow … This whole sequence should be done so as to look as much as possible like the sequence in "2001" that it parallels and parodies …

One ape picks up the bone with fear and wonderment … He discovers it can be used as a weapon … A brutal sudden outbreak of violence… The other ape is bashed and falls … The remaining ape, in triumph and exultant terror, hurls the hone into the air … We see it hurtling through space, turning over and over … it leaves camera range, and when it re-enters our vision, it has been transformed into a magnificent electric guitar, also glowing …

A human arm reaches out and grabs the guitar… Cut to shot of Jim pulling the guitar in, holding it, caressing, treating it as one would a talisman, Excalibur, a sacred object … "I remember everything!"-- quick zoom back, a sudden violent long shot of Jim atop a huge towering black monolith with one red "eye" in the center, like a large Marshall amplifier …As "Love and Death and an American Guitar" begins, we move in until we are in extreme close. Most of the speech is delivered like this, directly to the camera …

On the final line of the speech, a quick cut to a stained glass window, the sound of wind end storm … The guitar is smashed into the window and goes flying through like a berserk missile, glass shattering in all directions in slow motion, seen from all directions … over and over again. faster and faster, like a dream going out of control …

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Wendy bolts upright in her bed as the music begins, intercut with the window breaking … Her bed is all white, her clothes, everything is all white satin … the bed of a princess … or a sacrificial virgin … The bed has a white canopy and the canopy extends "endlessly", covering the entire stage an enormous "womb", a tunnel/cave effect, a white satin cage -- she is definitely imprisoned here. During the first verse of the song, we are inside with her … Outside we see looming shadows, the shapes of the Lost Boys and Jim surrounding her, infiltrating, penetrating getting ready to "pounce" ; As the second verse begins, the guitar comes crashing through the satin wall right next to her, tearing a hole in it. A blast of wind, the storm rages outside, tries to enter … The Lost Boys come inside, one by one …

From here until "let it go, let it go, let it go" we stay inside this bed-womb (which is also how Elmer Fudd would pronounce "bed-room"). At that moment, the Lost Boys and Jim tear down and rip and shred the walls of the "cage" -- we are suddenly on the stage in front of the vast projections -- call this the "operatic space" … astral, swirling sensual and vast imagery -- a very deep and wide playing space -- great height -- all contribute to a very Wagnerian , sculptured, apocalyptic, scaring texture …

Wendy is, in fact, abducted, initiated, and "unchained" by the Lost Boys … what is happening here, through dramatic movement and dance, veering from brutal to ecstatic and searing to sensual, but always athletic, virtuousic, and bold -- what is happening here is this -- ignitions are being turned on. Motors are hot-wired into action. Doorways, previously closed and locked, are hurled open and flung aside. New gods are discovered. People are getting excited. The world is getting loud. The drummer tells the heart what to do. The heart follows. The drums are in control. All in all, this is basically a story of leisure time in America.

Right before the reprise of the first verse, we switch to an exterior setting -- magnificent rocky cliffs, stormy skies, the edge of the world --

During this whole song, we can intercut and/or superimpose shots of Jim and the band performing, set atop the "monolith", whose "eye" beams out brilliant light rays of anger, excitement, and beauty …

Jim enters a doorway marked "Peep Show-Arcade" … A seamy Times Square atmosphere -- filmed with the thick humid infernal look of a Martin Scorcese movie …We follow Jim through a shadowy maze of corridors and serpentine hallways … Fellini-esque figures loom, lurch, and wander out of the darkness … Boys glimpsed in pale congealed light, playing run down pinball machines, amusements etc … Jim reaches a locked door, tries to open it … A sign points to it, an arrow : "Incredible live Peep Show. Always in Progress. 24 hours a day!"

Jim smashes a fist against the locked door. Suddenly, from the blackness, a figure emerges, an enormous bloated fat lady. She looks like she was raised on helium. "You're not going anywhere -- One dollar more …" Jim gets out the money. "Go on then You're going to like this one … You won't believe your eyes -- or any other part of your body …" She leers and then laughs uproariously, the laugh building and building like a huge pressurized outpouring of steam -- she's like an hysterical geyser … This huge laugh reaches an absurd peak and then suddenly, instantly stops -- she stares at Jim, tough, defiant, demanding: "Well, what's so funny?!" she barks and then retreats into the primeval ooze from

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The door is mysteriously opened by some unseen force … Jim enters … In the semi-darkness, he makes his may to a cubicle and walks in. A tiny, claustrophobic, fetid space --

He sees a slot for quarters and puts one in -- Immediately in front of him, a little curtain hums and buzzes as it is electronically raised. It is about the size of a window, a fairly small window … Now visible through the glass-less window is a horseshoe shaped antiseptic white room. In the room, astride a chair like Marlene Dietrich is Karla. Surrounding her, along the "horseshoe" are other cubicles, just like Jim's … Suddenly, one by one, humming and buzzing, the "curtains" roll up in each cubicle, and we see a man in each one, lit from behind, staring impassively … Karla gets up and "glides" past every "window", greeting each man with a different expression … Then she comes to Jim and, just as she is about to open her mouth, the buzzing little curtain descends … "DAMN!" … Jim fumbles for quarters, gets one in the slot, waits expectantly, the trembling hum of the curtain as it rises, and then -- without a moment's hesitation, Karla explodes into song … She starts belting out "Dance in My Pants" in full throttle … Big, extravagant, flamboyant gestures -- a really high powered seduction …The men continue to stare impassively …

( In this song, Karla is really the ultimate Diva, a star of such magnitude that every minute or so she is in a new costume, a totally new "look" -- Dietrich, Monroe, Clara Bow, Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, Janis Joplin, Diana Ross, Carmen Miranda, Pat Benatar, Ann-Margret, Mae West, Harlow -- even Kali, the Indian goddess with about eight constantly moving arms; maybe even the Statue of Liberty, which really should resemble Ann Miller … )

When she reaches the lines "Baby let the party begin" , the white "peep show room" disappears and is magically replaced by a spectacular "operatic space" … Karla is like the Queen of the Night as she sings to Jim, maybe starting atop the monolith and coming down a long twisting stairway … or being lowered on an "elevator" … This section is staged in an oversized, stylized, operatic manner -- but when we reach the build to the chorus, all hell breaks loose … There is a blinding golden star-burst projected on the back screens, and as dazzling nebulae continue to explode in the background, the stage fills with dancers … They careen past the camera, already in motion … Tables, chairs, a bar, strange distorting mirrors --all these appear … Giant beautiful chrome-plated video games and pinball machines spring up, and all seem to contain Karla's image … In fact, she might even be glimpsed actually dancing the screen of a couple of the more elaborate "games", … This is the transformation of the "operatic space" into a surreal dance-hall and amusements center of the future … The whole scene should probably end up resembling a mixture of "Saturday Night Fever", the Milk Bar where the Droogs in "A Clockwork Orange" hung out; the "Dance In The Gym" from "West Side Story" and something out of a musical version of "Star Wars" with more than a dash of Mardi Gras … (Break-away tables and chairs are necessary for some of the physical force in the song.)

When Karla gets to the instrumental, right after "I bet you never tried this before" -- she becomes like a human tornado, a whirling dervish possessed And out of control -- she whips around the room in a swirling cloud -- we don't even see her, just the commotion this "tornado" is causing … as in a cartoon, when she whirls by, tables and chairs, bottles and people go flying from the force of the "wind" she is creating … Jim stands huddled with a group over to one side, everybody clutching each other for protection against the

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When Karla finally reaches them, the "tornado" finally comes to an abrupt halt, and she aims a precise and perfectly executed pelvic bump right at them -- they go flying and/or faint dead away …

The frenzied, ecstatic, joyous dancing continues …

As the song fades at the end, when it is no longer very audible, we switch to a shot of Jim in the cubicle P.O.V. from inside the white peep show room … The little curtain descends …

Jim in the cubicle alone, P.O.V. from right alongside him, cut off from everything else … He is sweating, exhausted as we left him at the end of the song, dancing up a storm, dancing with a storm … He fumbles hurriedly and frantically for quarters, drops one in the slot. Nothing. Another quarter. Nothing. Still another. He's got to see more! One quarter after another. Finally the little curtain slowly begins to open. We see his expectant, excited expession -- and then we see -- the white room, ordinary and drab, and right in the centre, instead of Karla, propped up by the chair, the enormous fat lady from outside the entrance -- she begins to laugh, wild, hysterical, a hyena in heat … Terrified, Jim rushes out, smashing into things, bumping people etc …

Behind him the fat lady cackles "I'm a lover not a dancer! … Oh Jeez! … Oh Jeez! … I sure could use some of that practice! … Oh Jeez! …Oh Jeez! … I'm a lover not a dancer! Oh Jeez! … OH JEEZ! …"

Jim sneaks out into the dark blazing neon night … Behind him, the shadows move in the corridors of the "peep show arcade" just like at the beginning of the scene … and coming out of the pitch black into pale light, we make out Karla, counting a huge wad of bills … She looks right at us … a mysterious, sly, Mona Lisa smile -- "I bet you never tried this before", said softly, temptingly, teasingly … Black-out …

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