Title: Gong
Artist: Sigur Rós
Director: Daniel Rosenthal
TRT: 5:33

Logline: “We all know art is hard when we don’t know who we are.”

Synopsis: This music video shows a young, struggling artist who has lost his creative impulse. We follow him through his everyday life and his painstaking quest for artistic inspiration and motivation, with occasional run-ins of self-doubt and frustration.


Treatment: The song starts out with a stringed introduction, and the entire first scene of the video will go along with this section of the song. We will meet a young artist in his studio, painting on a small canvas. He’s completely unsatisfied with his work, and we can clearly notice his feelings of immense anger and frustration. Unable to take these feelings anymore, he kicks his easel, throws his painting on the floor. The painting will be hitting the floor at the precise moment that the first snare hit of the song is heard.

At this point, we’ll find the artist standing outside, in the middle of a bustling rush hour in Philadelphia. He’s observing everything going on around him, and we notice a look of satisfaction upon his face as he takes it all in.

We’ll see that the artist has then ventured over to a sculpture, and he is sitting on a bench while keenly observing the fine details. He then begins to draw in his sketchbook, as if he has come up with a new idead. In due time, he gets frustrated and rips up his sketch, then puts his hand onto his face and takes a deep breath.

Next, we’ll be looking at the pier along the Delaware River, behind the Hyatt Hotel on the waterfront. The artist will come into the frame, riding his bicycle, and park it along the small wall. He’ll sit up on the ledge, feet dangling over the water and all, when we again notice a look of serenity upon his face.

We’ll then venture to the artist’s apartment, and find him lying down on his bed. There will be a montage in which the camera will focus in on him picking up various existential books, putting on headphones, flipping through magazines and tearing out pages, looking out of his window, and then finally of him passed out with all of these items surrounding him.

It’s a new day, and we’re at the City Municipal Building, looking at the super-sized game pieces when the artist suddenly appears, and sits on top of one. We’ll get a quick glimpse of him.

Later, in Rittenhouse Square, the artist is sitting on a ledge, people watching. He focuses in on some of their faces, and looks deep in though. He again starts to draw in his sketchpad, but before long, smashes it on the ground in front of him, and leans backward in a nonchalant manner

On the Walnut Street Bridge, over the Schuykill River, the artist again looks at the water and all of the traffic on the surrounding highways. He takes out his camera, and snaps a picture of what he sees.

The following day, the artist wakes up and looks at the architectural details of a church and other buildings, then proceeds to go to LOVE Park and sits in various places inside of the area. He takes out his sketchbook for a third time, and again hates what he’s got going on.

Later on at the Schuykill Waterworks, behind the art museum, the artist parks his bike at the gazebo and paces around the area. He stops a few times to look at the rushing water underneath him. When the buildup of the song reaches its climax, the artist finally stops and has a look on his face like he’s struck gold. He then dashes over to his bike and speeds off.

As he’s speeding along the city streets back toward his studio, there will be a short montage of the artist in deep concentration and having a look of excitement upon his face.

The final scene of the video is that of the artist finally composing a work that he, himself, admires and adores. In his studio, he works on it, and we can finally tell that he found the source of inspiration and motivation that he’d been looking for, all along. He holds his completed work up in the air as the music fades out