Colors | Narrative Music Video
A new take on the song "Colors" by Halsey tells a magnetic story that illustrates the power of humankind.
Years ago, our director Melissa Chilson heard a story from a friend. A woman had fallen in love with a man who was black, and instead of supporting her, the woman’s family stopped speaking to her. It wasn’t until the couple married and had their first child that the woman’s parents began to regret their actions and reached out in order to mend the familial ties they had broken. Shortly after hearing this story, Chilson heard Colors by Halsey come on over the radio, and the idea for this project was born. It wouldn’t be until years later that Chilson would have the opportunity to bring her vision into reality for her SCAD senior thesis.
This isn’t a unique story. It’s a story that has happened too many times to count and still happens to this day. Whether due to color or disability, economic status or simply the ‘wrong’ family name, the pressures of family often oppose a person’s wish to be themself and love who they love. Finding the courage to follow your heart can be difficult, especially when it may cost you your family, your home, and your security. But living a lie will never become more bearable. Living your truth is the only option if you want to be free. Free to love, free to be, free to follow your dreams.
Colors was filmed in Savannah, Georgia. The story follows a young woman whose life is progressing just as her parents want it to, until she meets the “wrong guy.” Colors alternates between her “perfect life” with the man her affluent parents approve of and her secret life with the man she loves. It’s not until her father discovers her secret relationships and shows his true colors, that our protagonist finds the courage to leave her home, her parents, and her life behind. But in leaving behind everything she knows, she finds love and builds a new life that is worth every hardship she has fought to overcome.
