Video Treatments for Jungle & Sweet Child from Nigel Dick

Aussie

I came accross this info recently when I was trawling through some stuff on the net and I thought some people may have a casual interest to read it (I had certainly never come accross it before). Bascially Nigel Dick is the guy that shot the videos for Jungle, Sweet Child, Patience and Paradise City.

He has his own website which is where I got this info from: www.nigeldick.com

This page contains treatments
for videos you might have seen.

A treatment is...
a) a sales pitch to the artist and the label and
b) (if it's accepted) a script for the video you are about to make.

I have purposefully not edited the treatments so that you can see my shameless sales technique at work, some interesting gaffes, and also try and spot the difference between the treatment and the final video!

I will take requests for concepts but will only pick one request a month. Click on the video you want to check out...

GUNS N' ROSES - Welcome To The Jungle
df #171
written 7/10/87

GUNS N' ROSES will perform the number onstage at the Whiskey. We will shoot the band's close-ups during the day and then let in a regular audience that evening and shoot them during their live show. They will play the song perhaps two or three times during the show. There will probably be a need for some exctra lighting for the stage show in addition to what they have at the Whiskey but we are not talking about massive lighting rigs etc.We would like to have access to a small crane.

THE CONCEPT: (To be intercut with performance):

PART ONE
Axel (the lead singer) steps off a Greyhound bus in Hollywood at night. He has just arrived in town complete with case and guitar. (To be shot on lacation day 2).

PART TWO
Axel walks up to a Television store and looks into the window. (Night ext. day 2).

PART THREE
Axel's POV of the television store window. There are a number of TV sets all showing various scenes of violence, civil unrest, contemporary advertising etc. These pieces of footage would need to be obtained from a library. The TV ads could be anything from the last 5 years but does not need to show package shots or product names. All the TV sets should be different. I would suggest we build this window on a set. (To be shot in a studio day 2).

PART FOUR
Axel is in a seedy hotel bedroom with a girl. They are watching a number of TV sets. Once again the screens are filled with violent images. Amongst these images we must include Manson, the Nightstalker and other 'key' figures. I would suggest that this room is built on a set. (To be shot in a studio day 2).

PART FIVE
Axel is now strapped into a large chair in a clinical room. He wears a straight jacket and a head brace. He is forced to watch a bank of modern high tech TV monitors. (These are not the monitors we have seen previously). Once again the images on the screen are of violence. Eventually Axel screams, terrified. I would suggest that this room is built on a set. (To be shot in a studio day 2).

PART SIX
Reprise of Part Three. We see Axel's screaming face on all the Tv screens in the shop window. (NB this is the first time that the TV screens having been showing the same image as each other).

PART SEVEN
Reprise of Part Two. Axel is standing in front of the window of the TV store. He sees himself screaming on the TV's, shrugs his shoulders and walks away.

THE END.

I guess I didn't know how to spell Axl's name properly - I hadn't met the band when I wrote this. The treatment was basically handed to me by Alan Niven over the phone and I put it in order and I typed it out, which is the way Alan and I would work, I guess that's why I typed the phrase 'key' figures the way I did. It's interesting to note Axl's early fascination with Manson even before the release of the first album.

GUNS N' ROSES - Sweet Child O' Mine
dickfilm #185
written 4/7/88

GUNS N' ROSES will be shot in the Ballroom location in Huntington Park. The band's gear will be set up in the centre of the room as if in rehearsal. They are surrounded by their equipment, cabinets, road cases etc. They are lit dramatically with Xenons, but ambient light from this lighting spills into other parts of the room.

The band perform the song and we will shoot them from every conceivable angle using two cameras. We will adopt a semi-documentary approach in that we will make no attempt whatsoever to hide the crew from the camera. Very often one camera will see the other, members of the crew and other hangers-on will be seen in the background. However our focus is very definitely on the band and each set-up will be used to show the band in performance at their very best.
Despite the documentary approach we will still take great care with lighting at all times.

In addition to the two camera set-up we will have two Bolex cameras on call and will have copious amounts of stock available so that we can capture informal and light-hearted moments during the shoot with the band. This Bolex footage will be transformed to tape in Black and White. It will be grainy! It will be fun!

We will add some props to the Ballroom to enhance its current seedy, rundown look. We will place lots of old chairs around and add to the atmosphere that already exists there. We will create a couple of dressing room areas with lights so that we can shoot some of the Bolex footage there too.

The end result will be that we will have loads of footage of GUNS N' ROSES both in performance and relaxing that we can cut together to create an exciting video that will capture the essence and character that is GUNS N' ROSES.

Those were the days - 5 short paragraphs. Wish it were that easy now.

warriorpriestess

that's a really cool read. thanks for posting it!

Will

Just had a chance to read this now smile Very cool! Think I'll edit the Welcome To The Jungle and Sweet Child O Mine threads to include a link back to this thread. That way it wont just slip off the radar once other threads come along

Aussie

Cool idea.

Yeah I was thinking of requesting the ones for Patience as well as Paradise City. I see he is "taking requests" on his site as to which other vidoes he has done that people want to read about.

Re: Video Treatments for Jungle & Sweet Child from Nigel Dick

Re: Video Treatments for Jungle & Sweet Child from Nigel Dick

Re: Video Treatments for Jungle & Sweet Child from Nigel Dick

Re: Video Treatments for Jungle & Sweet Child from Nigel Dick

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