"Stripped"
Liz Gerrow/’99

[black screen. Song begins and the view moves to show a creek’s moonlit rippling water]

[full shot: a man- Till- is shown, wearing all black, looking straight ahead with a serious "thinking" look on his face. He’s holding a stick in his right hand with the other end in the water, moving it back-and-forth. He’s mouthing the words to the song as if speaking to himself] "Come with me into the trees. We lay on the grass and let hours pass. Take my hand. Come back to the land. Let’s get away just for one day. Let me see you stripped"

[full shot: the scene changes to a candle-lit room with a bed covered with white sheets. The shot is focused on the girl in the center of the bed, wearing a long, spread-out white dress— off-the-shoulder & Medieval-ish. Her hair’s black and worn out long (looks very mystical). . . There are six men surrounding her with their eyes closed; shirtless. It’s Rammstein taking a peaceful moment. Ollie & Flake are slightly behind her, kneeling on either side, looking off to the side. Till and Richard and sitting beside her, looking down to her lap. Paul’s lying with his head on her leg and Christoph is kneeling on the floor, one knee down and one hand on the floor to steady himself, looking down to the floor]

[keyboard sets in: the girl slowly looks up to the camera, sort of regally, and stares at it] "Let me see you stripped" [A man appears in the back, between Flake and Ollie and is wearing a hood, but you can see most of his face. He’s gruff, black hair, sort of ‘evil’ looking. He’s looking down]

[At the same time that actual song begins, a few things happen at the exact same time: the girl closes her eyes and bows her head; the man in the back looks up right to the camera; and the band opens their eyes and glares at the camera. Then an explosion of fire cuts the shot out]

[the fire explosion turns out to be part of one of the band’s "live performances" and you see Paul head banging and playing guitar and the rest of the band playing in the background— Till’s walking around, singing. The shot pans out and shows the band at different angles and the audience included. There’s a sudden "snap photo" on one particular spot in the audience, where you see the girl from earlier in a short blue dress, looking straight to the camera with a slight smile. The camera goes back to the band. Then, there’s a second "snap photo" on the man from earlier, who’s looking to the camera with a grin, wearing dark, dark red. He’s standing near the girl, but not too close. The camera returns to the band and the audience. The camera moves to the left and you see a group of people standing to the side with security, just below the part of the stage where Paul is playing. They have video cameras and regular cameras and are taping the performance. They look somewhat unamused, but very sly. . . The camera goes back to the band on stage for a last time then cuts once more to a "snap photo" of the man and girl, who have just noticed the group of people at the side. They’re standing in the crowd, looking to the group at the side with alerted expressions. You can tell they don’t trust whoever’s there. The screen begins to fade out]

[fade in: it’s a nice, sunny day and the band is outside in a classy outside "restaurant", which is on a old (stone) ‘balcony’ sort of thing with a stone ‘railing’ surrounded by a beautiful garden. There’s other people around them, sitting at the other tables, eating and talking. Till, Flake, Paul, and Ollie are sitting at the table with food in front of them, wearing normal clothing. Paul’s looking through a magazine and talking to Till about it, while Ollie and Flake are talking about something. They’re all in good spirits. Richard is standing at the edge on the balcony, leaning forward on the balcony, looking around at the garden not paying any attention to the other band members. He’s lost in thought. In the distance, you can see two blurry figures walking through the garden-- one’s a tall man and wearing a black suit from the time period of "Jane Eyre" or "Pride and Prejudice", complete with hat. The other-- a woman on his arm-- is carrying what looks like flowers in her arms and is wearing a cream coloured dress, also from the JE era, wearing a big hat. . . they seem to be arguing about something, but it’s not definite. Richard takes no notice of the couple. Neither does anyone else.] "Metropolis has nothing on this. You breathing in fumes I taste when we kiss." [Christoph comes into the scene suddenly, calling out Till’s name loudly. He’s clenching three newspapers tightly. He doesn’t look very happy. Everyone in the restaurant looks up to him and watches him go to the table where the band is. He throws the papers down to the table and goes to the edge of the balcony, telling them pages to flip to. He stands there and runs his hands through his hair, looking very angry and very worried]. "Take my hand. Come back to the land-"[Flake, Till, Richard, Ollie, and Paul are reading through the magazines and you barely see bold headlines which depict something evil about the band. Something that could destroy their lives completely. They read the news articles. Till stands up and walks around reading.] "-Where everything’s ours-" [All of the guys look to each other, grab their stuff, and leave the restaurant] "-For a few hours" [The camera focuses in the couple in the garden- it’s the girl and guy again. The Girl is sitting on the edge of the fountain, her hand touching the top of the water and she is holding a bouquet of snap dragons and lilies. Her head raises quickly as the band is leaving the restaurant. The two look to each other VERY worried and alert, then they disappear into thin air]

"Let me see you stripped" [The scene changes to a room in the hotel where the band is staying. The guys are not too thrilled and it shows. Paul and Ollie are watching the news on television. Flake is on the phone. Christoph is standing on the balcony trying to discuss with Till about what’s going to go on. The doors are closed and no one can really hear them. They’re pretty much the ones most upset about the whole incident. . . In the corner of the screen, the Man appears from out of nowhere. The camera focuses on him briefly, the goes back to the band] "Let me see you stripped" [The news begins to show some of the story about the band. Paul yells to the band without looking away from the screen. Till and Christoph open the door and watch. Flake stands watching. . . The scene then leaves the one room and drifts into a shot of a different room, a study-like place where Richard’s sitting at the desk writing a letter to someone feverishly. The Man is standing against the wall wearing black pants an da black shirt, only a few feet from the desk and watching Richard with an evil look on his face. He is speaking the words of the song, as if to quote what Richard is writing.] "Let me hear you-" [The Girl appears suddenly, saying the words as well,, leaning over Richard’s shoulders. One hand is on his shoulder. She’s reading what he’s writing. Richard doesn’t even notice that the Girl and the Man are there.] "-Make decisions without your television" [The Girl finds something she isn’t too impressed with in the letter and looks up to the Man with an unamused look. He just shrugs and eats an apple. She shakes her head and looks down to the letter again. She continues reciting the words] "Let me hear you speaking just for me" [The Girl looks off to the side and out the window with a sad look on her face. The screen goes black]

[The scene changes to a dark forest. The Girl and Guy are there walking through the forest, looking around. She’s hugging herself in order to keep warm. They seem to be looking for something. Suddenly, the Girl stops, cries out in pain and holds her head, stumbling back a few steps. The man stops too and watches her, concerned. She looks up to the camera and you see that she’s very upset. . . That fades slightly and a new scene is appearing underneath the one with the Girl, which then fades out completely very slowly. She is ‘seeing’ something...]

[The band is in a big room, which is candle lit. They’re standing in a circle, feet apart, their backs facing each other. People show up from the shadows- it’s the same group of people who had been at the concert. They wear evil expressions and glare at the group. The band realizes that it’s THEM who’ve been trying to create a life of hell for them. The people on the outside carry ropes & chains. They slowly close in the circle of the band, trapping the band in order to "see to them and keep them out of the way". The camera goes to an overhead shot- all six band members look up to the camera, expressionless hwioe they’re being tied up . . . Suddenly, there’s a gigantic burst of flame]

[The camera does an all out shot and you see the band back-to-back in a circle, surrounded by a ring of fire; the Man standing to one side of the band, close, in all black, angry and glaring at the group of people, his back facing the band; the Girl dressed in the white dress standing on the other side, with the same expression. The people who HAD been terrorizing the band earlier are now standing in one spot looking around in complete horror- they’re personally encircled by flames and can’t go anywhere. They stare at the Girl and the Man and scream. The two are reciting the words] "Let me see you stripped." [The Girl sends a fireball towards a few people. . . The band finally snaps out of a daze and takes notice of the two and wonder who they are, where did they come from, why they haven’t seen them before, and what’s going on? There’s a focus on the Girl which makes her look very determined and very angry while she throws fire at a particular person] "Let me see you stripped." [The Man is untying the band, laughing. He’s enjoying the situation. He turns to Till and Christoph who are quite questioning. He laughs and begins to lead them through the flames, an idea not welcomed by Flake, Ollie, Christoph, and Paul, but after seeing Richard and Till go through with that man, they decide to follow and are amazed at the fact that they didn’t feel a thing. They don’t understand what’s going on or how it’s happening. They stop at the side of the room and watch. The camera focuses on each of their faces for a few seconds] "Let me hear you make decisions without your television. Let me hear you speaking just for me." [The Girl sets the whole place up in flames]

"Let me see you stripped." [The band and the Man are outside, standing away from the building watching the flames kill of the place. They wonder where the Girl is] "Let me see you stripped" [The Girl appears, walking out from the burning building, holding something in her hand.] "Let me see you stripped" [The Girl approaches the group, smiles, and turns to Paul, handing him a gold chain. The one which he usually wears around his neck but had fallen off.] "Let me see you stripped." [The group turns and walks away.]

[The background goes black, then back to the candle lit room from the beginning. This time, the camera focuses on each person in a close up are they raise their head/eyes to the camera. The Man in the hood looks to the camera first with a neutral look; the shot then goes to Ollie; then to Paul; then to Christoph; to Flake; to Richard; then to Till. All of them look very serious-- but wise. Finally, the Girl raises her head and looks to the camera, with a slight smile. She looks away from the camera as the shot fades. The song ends.]