YOU ARE HERE
"You Are Here" is a debut visual album produced by Alan Reyes under the moniker MAX STUN.
Using music-driven narrative storytelling, the video series aims to inspire positive change in the minds of its viewing and listening community. The audience will experience themes and ideas of social equality, capitalist liberation, self-awareness and self-realization in a way that is more engaging, entertaining, and palatable than your run-of-the-mill documentary series.
During the 12-month residency, I'll write, direct, and produce 5 episodes in the music video series and distribute it on YouTube, while sharing behind-the-scenes content and updates with the community on Instagram and maxstun.com.
Each episode will be executed and delivered on an 8-week timeline, with the first 2 months dedicated to series development, scriptwriting, and overall preproduction.
SYNOPSES, MOOD and TONE
Below are brief synopses with reference imagery. Overall, the look of the series will be futuristic realism. Cinematography and color grade will reflect that, as will prop and animated technology design.
EPISODE 1: EVERYTHING IS NOT COOL
Los Angeles 2025. The city looks similar to present day, with some technological advances. On the surface, the world seems to have changed for the better; crime is down and people are safer, but freedoms have been sacrificed for security.
EPISODE 2: DANCE, DANCE REVOLUTION
In the distant future, the human population has ballooned and food has become so scarce that dancing is no longer a cultural practice, but a negligent expenditure of energy.
In an impoverished community, where survival is a challenge and comfort is a luxury, teenagers are the hunters and gatherers, foraging in the trash for any form of sustenance to bring home to their families.
When a young girl finds a portable listening device that plays a MAX STUN track, she is driven into a frenzy of movement that catches on to her friends.
EPISODE 3: IN THE END (WE ALL LOOK THE SAME)
Far in the future, humanity is a singular ethnicity and everyone is multiracial. Now that the construct of race no longer exists, can humanity finally put its differences aside and live peacefully?
EPISODE 4: INEVITABLE
A mass extinction has arrived. The population has plummeted to the tens of thousands, forcing humans back to a hunter-gatherer species.
A man struggles to survive in a wild countryside, demoted from the top of the food chain.
EPISODE 5: EPILOGUE
A lone human colonist hurls through space with only her memories of Earth to keep her going.
Aboard a small space vessel, a woman is suspended in a cryosleep pod. As the camera tracks over the glass pod, and its futuristic interface...
we intercut between shots of the vessel traveling through space...
and the woman's memories, which tell us the story of her final days on Earth as it approaches the mass extinction (prior to Episode 4).
MORE MUSIC SAMPLES
Here are the latest MAX STUN demos. These are works in progress. Since I'll have creative control of the music and the imagery in "You Are Here," I'll have the freedom to adapt the music as the video is being produced.
VIDEO REFERENCES
The videos below are story structure examples of how the narrative may unfold in "You Are Here." The music will be the driving force, but there may be scenes with dialogue in the beginning, middle, end, or throughout each episode.
Furthermore, "Elektrobank" is a great example of how to present sociopolitical statements in an entertaining way.
SOCIAL IMPACT
"You Are Here" encompasses all my craft and artistry in a refined and ambitious project that I hope to execute with carte blanche.
By sharing the creative process and execution of "You Are Here," I hope to inspire the community to create fearlessly: take risks, and break barriers and rules. With tools like Adobe Creative Cloud, it's never been easier to create high-quality design or video work without formal training. On one hand, it's liberating; on the other hand, it can be detrimental to design culture. I see derivative and thoughtless design and art all around us. Endless designers and creators phoning it in, designing without theory or intention, or mistaking imitation for homage.
We live in a culture where design is saturated, and when something catches on, it's mimicked, rehashed, and recycled without hesitation, saturating the content stream even further. I feel artists, designers and creators should challenge trends, not follow them; and express their ideas, especially when they're contrary to those in the room, even their boss's. The world is full of complacent yes-people; we don't need more. When old ideas cease to serve us, as designers or people, our community needs innovation and originality.