Your Video Date
Story/video idea by Clark Humphrey
5/19/97
A series of two shot-on-video (perhaps with Filmlook digital processing) productions, one with a female protagonist, the other with a male protagonist. In each, this is the only person shown on screen (except for bit parts like cab drivers and waiters). She/he is Your Video Date.Each is a six-hour EP-mode video, shot in almost-real time. (During the sleeping parts there will be some time-cutting.) The premise is a one-night-stand date with this idealized partner.
The date begins at the door of YVD’s (Your Video Date’s) apartment. You (represented by the camera’s point of view) take in the view of YVD’s sumptuous surroundings while s/he finishes getting prepared. S/he does all the talking, sometimes asking you a rhetorical question. You get to learn all about this fascinating person and her/his amazing life story.
You get into a cab with her/him and listen to more pleasantries, stopping at a cozy little restaurant (modeled after the Capitol Club or Marco’s Supper Club). YVD plays, flirts, and toys with you all the time, while admiring the scrumptuous food and tasty beverages. Slowly, surely, YVD draws you into her/his world.
This continues after another cab ride to a convenience store (for a bottle of wine to go) and from there to a moonlit waterfront stroll. You pass a friend who remarks how sharp you look and how lucky you are to be with YVD tonight.
The stroll ends at a secluded little spot. The two of you sit on YVD’s coat, laid out on the ground. YVD’s chatter becomes quieter, slower. Eventually, YVD quietly announces she/he cannot continue without a kiss. YVD puckers up to the camera.
Two minutes later, YVD pulls back and begins caressing other parts of “your” body. YVD then stands back and performs a playful yet plaintive striptease.
The startling presence of an onlooker (maybe a cop) prompts you and YVD to quickly get up, readjust clothes, and head back to YVD’s pad. The two of you are now arm-in-arm, laughing and cuddling as you walk. YVD’s pad turns out to be within easy walking distance of the secluded little spot.
Once inside, YVD’s first urge is to rip some garments off of you immediately, then to do the same to her/his own attire. Then some bear hugs. Then some of the wine, drank straight from the bottle. Then YVD’s mood turns totally seriously intimate and sensual. She/he disappears into another room of the apartment. As you wait, the lights are turned low; soft ambient music begins to play. YVD emerges in a crimson robe, soon unfurled to reveal sultry underthings. Your hands reach out to remove the garments. YVD offers her/himself totally, in a sequence of emotionally intense softcore poses and movements (no hardcore shots) in the living room and then in the bedroom.
Following this is some pillow horseplay, some Kleenex cleaning up, a trip into the bathroom together, and then some cuddling in bed.
During the night, you awaken several times to gaze upon YVD’s sleeping nude body, changing positions, breathing, with quiet street noises and refrigerator hums as the only soundtrack. There’s as much as a half hour of this footage on the final tape.
The last time you awaken, YVD’s face is bathed in drape-hazy morning sunlight. She/he awakens to greet you. Hugs and caresses are interrupted when YVD notices the time on the digital clock radio and apologizes for having to get to work. You and YVD shower together. YVD either shaves or applies make-up in the bathroom mirror. YVD finishes morning bathroom activity while you go back to the bedroom, dress, and enter the kitchen. You spy on YVD’s unfamiliar kitchen, gazing at her/his fine food choices. You prepare a breakfast of coffee, juice, toast, and melon slices.
YVD emerges into the kitchen, looking radiant with love. For one last time, you dine and listen to her/his storytelling (finishing anecdotes begun and left unfinished at the dinner table the night before). YVD kisses you one more time and announces her/his carpool will be at the door any second now.
As you watch her/him leave, she/he says you can stay in the place as long as you like. You take one last look around the apartment, looking at knick-knacks, books, records, and other possessions that reveal more of YVD’s heart and soul (your hand occasionally enters camera range to caress an old family portrait photo or an article of YVD’s clothing).
The last thing the camera sees is the bedroom ceiling as you return to the bed for a little extra shut-eye, holding her/his robe softly in your arms.
ALTERNATE PLAN (or fundraising short-subject version): Just the sleeping scenes.
