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K-12 is the debut theatrical full-length film by Melanie Martinez written and directed by herself. It was released along with the album of the same name on September 6, 2019.[4]

Background[]

Around late 2015-early 2016, Melanie teased her second album's concept through an Instagram post.[5]

Melanie began writing the script in the summer of 2017 and finished it in February 2018. The script was then cut down and sent in during mid-2018,[6] with filming taking place in Europe throughout late 2018. The film was edited in early 2019.

Melanie said that Atlantic was wholeheartedly supportive of the idea. "At first, they were like, ‘We can do $2 million.’ But as I was cutting down scenes, I realized there was only so much I could cut before compromising my vision and the story”.

On May 15, 2019, Melanie released a 19-second teaser trailer, revealing the official title of the album and film, K-12.[7] One week later, on May 22, 2019, a second teaser was released. On May 29, 2019, the third teaser was released, revealing the release date. On June 17, 2019, a preview featuring clips of the movie and a snippet of a new song, later revealed to be Nurse's Office, was premiered at the MTV Movie Awards.

The film's official trailer was released alongside the album track list and pre-order on July 23, 2019.

The film portrays the story of Melanie's sophomore album. It contains the music videos for all thirteen songs from K-12 with dialogue in between each one, [8] making it an hour and a half long.[9] The videos themselves were also individually released over time.[10]

Synopsis[]

Cry Baby, a strong yet sensitive girl, is sent off to a sleepaway school that hides its wickedness underneath a grandiose façade. Luckily, she has a sweet and unapologetic best friend, Angelita, who sticks up for her when she gets bullied by the other students (whose brains are under control by the Principal and his wicked staff). With the help of the magical friends they meet along the way, as well as an Angelic Spirit Guide, they are able to gain the strength they need to fight off the school's belligerent patriarchal conditioning.

Plot[]

This section uses content from Wikipedia.

Cry Baby wakes up hesitant for her first day at K-12 Sleepaway School. Realizing that her mother passed out due to excessive drinking, she knows that she will have to walk to the bus stop ("Angels Song"). On the ride to school, she is bullied by the other students for having a gap between her teeth and sits next to her best friend Angelita ("Wheels On the Bus"). They are both revealed to have powers that turn their eyes completely black. The bus driver becomes distracted by the students who are misbehaving and swerves into a lake. Cry Baby and Angelita use their powers to lift the bus out of the water and into the sky, before landing it at the school.

Cry Baby and Angelita arrive late to Ms. Daphne's class and are scolded by her. The students recite the rule about tardiness: "when the bell rings, you must be in your assigned seat." The students are then made to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance; however, a boy named Henry remains seated and points out that America is not really the land of the free. This results in him being dragged away by the guards, leaving his fate unknown. During class, a popular mean girl named Kelly becomes jealous of Cry Baby because she has been flirting with Kelly's boyfriend Brandon. Because of her jealousy, Kelly writes a disturbing letter for Cry Baby saying "You at Recess" accompanied by a dead stick person and a tombstone. At nap time, Cry Baby shows Angelita the letter. Cry Baby expresses her worries that she has no chance at winning since she doesn't know how to fight, to which Angelita suggests that she uses her powers. Cry Baby refuses, stating that it would be cheating. At recess, Kelly begins punching Cry Baby and cuts her arm with a pocket knife, until Cry Baby levitates and attempts to strangle Kelly with her braids. Ms. Daphne soon sees what is happening and stops the fight, sending both of the girls to the Principal's Office, ("Class Fight").

In the Principal's Office, the Principal fires Ms. Harper for being transitioning (another way of saying she is transgender/becoming a girl). Immediately after, Cry Baby finds out from a boy named Thomas that the Principal forces the students to take pills in order to control them and stop them from leaving the school. Angered, she uses her powers to call him on the phone and insults him, calling him out on everything he has done wrong. The Principal begins coughing after having a drink, implying that he was poisoned. In tears, Ms. Daphne orders the Bunny Doctors to cure him, which they do ("The Principal"). Cry Baby becomes a marionette puppet to entertain the students during show and tell until Ms. Penelope drops her, causing her to have a nosebleed and exposing her intestines, which grosses the students out ("Show & Tell"). Outside of the Nurse's Office, Angelita turns Cry Baby back into a human. The nurses attempt to keep them restrained and under control ("Nurse's Office") until an angelic spirit guide named Lilith frees Cry Baby and Angelita. She attacks the nurses and Bunny Doctors.

During drama class, Cry Baby expresses her discomfort in being placed in a "domestic" role in the school play, instead wishing to play a strong role such as a film director or the President of the United States. The drama teacher, Mr. Cornwell, dismisses her concerns and calls in the guards to restrain her when she attempts to leave. Cry Baby is forced to play the role she was assigned, although the events take a turn when she presses a hot clothes iron to another student's face. She then warns the students in the auditorium that they are being brainwashed and uses her powers to defeat the guards and free the students. The students rush to the Principal's Office at Cry Baby's order and begin tearing him apart, killing him ("Drama Club"). Cry Baby and Angelita bury the body, then leave to play tennis with their friend Celeste. Due to a bubble blown by Cry Baby, the tennis ball floats away to a boy named Ben.

Later on, Cry Baby is seen in a locker room preparing herself for swimming class. The film switches between scenes of her dancing with the other girls in her class and wearing a dress with a large skirt made of cake. She has a look of distress on her face as several boys begin to eat the cake ("Strawberry Shortcake"). Cry Baby then has a dream in which she is speaking to Lilith, telling her that she doesn't want to be part of this world.

Cry Baby and Celeste notice that Angelita's skirt is stained with blood after she complains about "the worst stomach pain [she has] ever experienced". The three rush to the bathroom to cover it. During lunchtime in the cafeteria, Cry Baby meets a girl named Magnolia after separating herself from Kelly's clique, who didn't actually want to be her friends; they were only interested in gossiping and spreading rumors ("Lunchbox Friends"). Cry Baby and her friends soon discover that Fleur, a friend of Kelly, has the same abilities as them, and they set up a food fight in an attempt to separate her from the group. After seeing that Fleur is leaving with Kelly, Cry Baby follows her to the bathroom, where she realizes that Fleur is bulimic, likely partially due to pressure from Kelly to maintain a specific figure in order to remain friends with her ("Orange Juice"). Cry Baby tells Fleur that "everyone is deserving of love", and the two become friends. Leo, the Principal's son, stops the food fight and asks who is responsible for the situation. Kelly informs him that Cry Baby was the one who started it, resulting in her being sent to detention. Her powers are mostly suppressed by the drugs given to her by a nurse until she manages to brainwash Leo and make him set her free ("Detention").

Ben slips a note into Cry Baby's locker, which contains an anonymous poem confessing his feelings to her. Leo then checks the security footage to see Cry Baby and her friends discussing a plan to take him down and destroy the school. In biology class, the teacher flirts with Angelita, who is flattered by his advances. The teacher uses his relationship with Angelita to trick her into ingesting a potion that causes her to shrink. Just as he is about to dissect her, Cry Baby enters the room and uses her abilities to throw him into the wall. She then turns Angelita back to her normal size, and then later attacks the teacher with a knife, presumably killing him ("Teacher's Pet"). After a conversation with Angelita about their past lives and marijuana, Cry Baby sings about the requirements one must meet to be with her ("High School Sweethearts").

Ben is preparing to ask Cry Baby to the school dance when Leo bumps into him. He watches from behind a wall as Leo asks Cry Baby to the dance, to which she accepts while thinking "keep your friends close and your enemies closer". He claims to be the one who wrote the note. At the dance, Cry Baby realizes that she had messed up the plan to escape the school by accepting Leo's offer. Her friends express disappointment in her, and she storms off to the bathroom. A ghost appears in the mirror, telling Cry Baby not to beat herself up when she is mad at herself for ruining the plan. Leo makes an announcement to the students that he knew what Cry Baby had been planning, and forces all of the students to dance all night long. Cry Baby, who is disguised as a woman named Lorelai, seduces Leo and manages to lock him in a closet. She then frees everyone from the spell by using the microphone. She warns the students to leave the school, and all except Kelly flee downstairs to the exit ("Recess").

As Ben is trying to escape, he sees Cry Baby and follows her. When they meet, he confesses to her that he was the one who put the note in her locker. Together, they create a plan to use a bubble to make the school float away and disappear. Once this is done, they both jump out of the balcony to escape. After the school disappears, causing anyone still left inside to disappear with it, Cry Baby kisses Ben on the cheek. Lilith appears again with the gate to return home. Magnolia, Fleur, Celeste, and Ben are the first to leave. As Angelita is about to walk through the gate, she stops and asks Cry Baby if she's coming or not. Cry Baby looks back in shock, hinting a sequel.

Cast[]

Dancers[]

  • Alice Gorst
  • Lorna Brown
  • Judit Kalo
  • Natasa Podlovics
  • Dora Paulov
  • Cintia Staudinger
  • Amata Farkas
  • Nikolett Szabo
  • Abel Indrei
  • Niki Krauczy
  • Vivien Varga
  • Jozsef Horvath
  • Keoni Hayles
  • Nara Narantsatral
  • Devon Young
  • Alishia Blake
  • Daniela Monterio
  • Olivia Lewis
  • Dreya Mac
  • Kailum Richardson
  • Levan Peart
  • Sian Langley
  • Rebecca Moffett
  • Nicole Valverde
  • Asha Verma
  • Tamas Fischer
  • Gemma Nicholas
  • Olivia Higham
  • Angel Wharmby
  • Lillia Radoci

Synchronized swimmers[]

  • Lili Baraksó
  • Adél Fodor
  • Réka László
  • Zsófia László
  • Kinga Mészáros
  • Natália Szappanos-Nagy
  • Sára Tringer

Filming dates[]

From the leaked behind-the-scene photos, it is proven that the filming might've began on October 29, 2018 and ended on December 7, 2018. Here is a brief list in order that we know so far:

  1. The earliest known scene that was shot was scenes from "Show & Tell", where students were shown aggresively screaming, and cheering, the doll being played by Ms. Penelope, plus the scene where Cry Baby enters the room and everyone quickly staring at her were all filmed that day. (October 29, 2018)
  2. Scenes from "Teacher's Pet", where Cry Baby is shown holding books coming back to the classroom to check Angelita, and the biology teacher from the same music video was filmed that day. (unknown exact date)
  3. Most scenes from "Wheels On the Bus", starring everybody that was in the bus was filmed that day. (November 2, 2018)
  4. Most scenes from "Class Fight", also known as the scene from "Nap Time", where the room was filled with yellow stars hanging from the ceiling. Following with another scene from "Class Fight", where Ms. Daphne is shown with her nose bleeding to transition to the "Nap Time" room. Next, which is another scene from "Class Fight", where Cry Baby and Angelita shows up to class late, reciting the pledge, and the rest of the class busy with their written works were all filmed that day. (unknown exact date)
  5. Most scenes from "Nurse's Office", including the nurse's choreography were filmed that day. (unknown exact date)
  6. Scenes from "Orange Juice", where Cry Baby climbs up a ladder to close/aid Fleur's cut-opened head, followed later by the choreography were all filmed that day. (November 8, 2018)
  7. Another scene from "Class Fight", during the playground scene where Cry Baby and Kelly fighting, which leads both of them into floating, and Ms. Daphne stopping the fight with the whistle was filmed that day. (unknown exact date)
  8. Scenes from "Detention", where Cry Baby is seen tied to a chair along with other students being syringed was filmed that day. (unknown exact date)
  9. Scenes from where Cry Baby and Angelita took off the bus, and mesmerized by the K-12 building outside, which was followed by the scene where Cry Baby and Angelita is smoking cigarettes on the back of the school was filmed that day. (unknown exact date)
  10. Scenes from where Cry Baby, Angelita, and Celeste going up the stairs revealing that Angelita is on her period, the same day, a scene from "Strawberry Shortcake" was also filmed that day showing the men below Cry Baby eating cake, and Cry Baby on top of the cake were all filmed that day. (November 14, 2018)
  11. Scenes from where Cry Baby, and Angelita was burying the principal's body was filmed, followed by the scenes where Ben can be seen sitting while seeing a floating tennis ball encapsulated by a bubble above, and Cry Baby, Angelita, and Celeste playing tennis on the outdoor court was filmed. Later after the sun went down, the whole ending scene outside K-12 after the events on "Recess" was filmed, followed with the scene where Cry Baby, and Ben were at the balcony were also filmed that day. (November 15, 2018)
  12. Scenes after the events from "Nurse's Office" where Cry Baby, and Angelita enters a ballroom filled with ghosts, as well as, the scene before the music video of "The Principal", where Cry Baby, Kelly, Thomas, and a student eating glue were at the waiting room from the principal's office, followed by Cry Baby and Kelly being dragged by Ms. Daphne with their ears, to the scene where Ms. Harper was fired due to discrimination, to the scene where Ms. Daphne was monitoring on school cameras from "Class Fight", to the scene from "Drama Club" where Cry Baby opens the door to the principal's office to encourage the students to kill him, which he ends up being dismembered, to Leo monitoring through the school cameras which was used as a scene before "Teacher's Pet", to another scene where Leo speaks through microphone and him again with 'Lorelai' kissing on the couch, and lastly, mostly scenes from the music video of "Recess" on the ballroom where everyone was forced to dance (choreography) were all filmed that day. (November 21, 2018)
  13. The choreography scene from "Detention" where Cry Baby was inside a glass box dancing, while the students outside cheer were filmed that day. (November 26, 2018)
  14. Most scenes from "Drama Club" where Cry Baby enters the room, and had a debate with her classmate, Dean, followed by the scene where Cry Baby were put on a makeup to get ready for the play, to Cry Baby and the performers at the stage performing, alongside with the choreography were all filmed that day. (unknown exact date)
  15. Most scenes from "Lunchbox Friends" where Kelly's clique was shown on the table, to Cry Baby and Magnolia doing their handshake, to the food fight, and to when the friend group of Cry Baby was behind the lunch counter being snitched by Kelly were all filmed that day. (unknown exact date)
  16. Scenes from "Strawberry Shortcake", where Cry Baby, Celeste, and Angelita can be seen on the locker room, to the swimming pool area where they can be seen again but Celeste, and Angelita sitting this time, and the synchronized swimmers doing their choreography were filmed that day. (unknown exact date)
  17. Scenes from "Orange Juice", where Cry Baby, and Fleur swaps each other's eye, to Cry Baby sitting at the toilet eavesdropping on Fleur and Kelly, to the scene where an irritated nurse were on the toilet, and the scene where Cry Baby, Angelita, and Celeste tried figuring out where to find a tampon for Angelita inside the bathroom which they end up using a tissue instead, before the events from "Lunchbox Friends", to a scene from "Class Fight" where Angelita and Cry Baby were inside their pillow fortress, to a scene during the events on the ballroom before "Recess" where Cry Baby is at the bathroom contemplating until a ghost girl unexpectedly showed up were all filmed that day. (unknown exact date)
  18. Scenes from behind a blue-screen background, the couple ghosts dancing for the ballroom scene, a scene where Angelita is wearing a nude costume for "Teacher's Pet", and a scene after the events from "Strawberry Shortcake" where Cry Baby is seen laying down a field of flowers while talking to Lilith were all filmed at the same day. (unknown exact date)
  19. The discography scene from "Show & Tell" where Cry Baby's human figure can be seen dancing inside a box while being controlled by a string above were filmed that day. (December 6, 2018)
  20. The last scene known to be filmed was a scene from "High School Sweethearts" where Cry Baby can be seen on a bed while in a dream-like glittery place were filmed that day. (December 7, 2018)

Errors[]

  • As "Wheels On the Bus" begins, the view cuts to the bus driving away. At this point, a cameraman can be seen in a window.
  • When Brandon enters the bus, Maya is sitting with a girl who was originally sitting in front of Angelita and Crybaby instead of Dan. When everyone looks at Brandon, Maya is sitting with Dan, and the girl is in her original seat.
  • When Brandon boards the bus, Cry Baby stands up, singing to him. After Kelly catches them and gets angry, Cry Baby is shown sitting on the seat in front of Angelita. When Brandon hears Kelly scream, he pushes Cry Baby, who is standing in front of him again, out of the way and into the previously mentioned seat.
  • In the Wheels On the Bus dance choreography, Fleur in the row behind Angelita is a few seconds late to move her hands with the dance in the music video.
  • When Angelita and Cry Baby get off the bus, Cry Baby is on the left and Angelita is on the right. However, when the angle changes, they have switched positions.
  • In "Class Fight", before the second verse, Brandon can be seen sitting with Cry Baby and Angelita in the background although he hadn't yet sat with them.
  • At the beginning of "Show & Tell", one of Cry Baby's female classmates raises her head twice: first when the door first opens, then in sync with the rest of the students.
  • The cut on Cry Baby's arm from "Show & Tell" does not reappear in Nurse's Office, despite the scene taking place directly after.
  • In "Nurse's Office", a nurse cuts Cry Baby's hair and throws it away; however, the chunk of hair is not seen on the floor later on.
  • In "Nurse's Office", when Lilith appears and the nurses turn around, one of the nurses on the right has her hands in the front, while the rest have their hands behind their backs. When Lilith makes the nurses pass out, the same nurse quickly puts her hands behind her back.
  • Some of the nurses that were seemingly killed by Lilith in "Nurse's Office" reappear during "Drama Club".
  • During "Lunchbox Friends", Melanie knocks a tray off a table with her foot. However, when the scene cuts back to the table, the tray is not on the floor.
  • In the food fight scene, after Cry Baby hides behind the counter with her friends, a boy with blue hair is seen. When the film cuts to a wider shot, he vanishes, and then later reappears.
  • During "Orange Juice" and "High School Sweethearts", the tattoos on the inside of Melanie's arm are visible.
  • After "Orange Juice" in the cafeteria when Cry Baby goes behind the counter, a boy with blue hair and glasses is seen left of the counter. The camera goes to a wider shot soon after, where he suddenly vanishes and reappears when the camera angle changes again.
  • During "Detention", the girl sitting in the middle of the first row in the class raises her head twice; once when the nurse starts pricking her, and another time when she finishes.
  • During "Teacher's Pet", the Biology Teacher throws the sheet of stickers out after putting a gold star on Angelita's test; however, he is seen holding the sheet again in a later shot.
  • At the end of "Lunchbox Friends", Angelita can be seen sitting at a table in the far back, but when the camera angle switches she is no longer sitting.
  • During "Orange Juice", the stall Fleur is in contains no toilet paper or toilet paper holder, unlike the other stalls.
  • There are two name typos in the dancer section of the credits; Gemma Nicholas' name did not have a space and Abel Indrei was mentioned twice.

Deleted scenes[]

On August 29, 2021, a snippet of the scrapped credit scene was leaked. In it, Zion, the actor who played Fleur, can be seen dancing with fire surrounding her while her name pops up on screen. It is assumed the full scrapped credits have the actors dancing while their name pops up on screen.

Also during the behind-the-scenes look at the K-12 Tour, Melanie was seen wearing a light blue dress in front of a blue screen.

Gallery[]

Trilogy tour houston 7
To view the gallery of K-12 (film), click here.

Q&A[]

On May 29, 2019, Melanie did a Q&A regarding the album and film on her Instagram story. Questions about the film can be found below.

Trivia[]

  • On September 23, 2020, K-12 got nominated for Top Soundtrack by Billboard Music Awards. [11]
  • The trailer is Melanie's first video to trend #1 on YouTube Worldwide.
  • The film is inspired by pop surrealism.
  • The film was #2 on YouTube trending on September 8, 2019, two days after its release.
  • Melanie helped edit the movie.
  • The movie was filmed at the Eszterháza in Fertőd, Hungary.
  • According to Melanie, she had to be on set at 3:00 am. She started the day with hair and makeup.
  • Melanie's tattoos were covered up with an airbrush to "separate her as a human and Cry Baby as a character".
    • A similar tactic was used earlier during the Cry Baby era, specifically in the music video for "Pacify Her", when Melanie played the role of Basic Bitch.
    • In an interview with Billboard, she revealed that it took them 2 hours for it to get removed repetitively everyday.
  • The original script of the film was supposed to create a 3 hour long film, however, the script had to be cut down to fit the budget.
    • The original film had an $11 million budget.
  • The song played during the credits is "Fire Drill".
    • Melanie announced that Fire Drill would be released at some point in 2020. It was originally set to be released in February 2020, however, the song was officially released as a single 4 months later, on June 26, 2020.
  • Melanie confirmed that the film will have 2 sequels.[12]
  • During the filming of the "Class Fight" scene where Angelita has fire in her hand, a pillow caught on fire.
  • According to Natalia Toth, the temperature on set was extremely low, getting to -15°C or 5°F, because it was winter in Budapest.[13]
  • Cry Baby is the only student in the whole school with her nails painted.
    • She is also the only student to wear jewelry, in this case, a necklace and different types of earrings.
  • 1 student wears glasses, you can see him in the seconds before “Lunchbox Friends”.
  • "Class Fight" occurs on May 23, as the blackboard reading "NAP TIME" contains the date.
    • In a regular year, May 23 is the 143 day of the year, leaving 222 days left until the end of the year. This was likely deliberate, as 222 is Melanie's lucky number.
    • The classroom number is also 222.
  • While shooting, the film was registered as "Soup + Salad" so that its content wouldn't leak.
    • All of the behind the scenes and cut scenes of the film have "Soup + Salad" in their filenames.
  • Melanie learned how to write a script by watching YouTube tutorials.
  • During the scene in the film in between "Teacher's Pet" and "High School Sweethearts", Cry Baby and Angelita talk about who they possibly were to each other in a past life. At one point, they mention that they could have been conjoined twins that were sold by their parents to a freak show. This is most likely a reference to the the conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler, two characters played by Sarah Paulson from the fourth season of Melanie's favorite horror TV show, American Horror Story.
    • Melanie's song "Carousel" was featured in the trailer for the show's fourth season, "Freak Show".
  • The "Nurse's Office" version that was used in the official trailer was copyrighted as "Pink Slip" by Melanie Martinez to prevent the song title from spreading prior to an official announcement.
  • On September 26, 2019, Melanie announced on all her social media platforms that fans would have exactly one week to watch the K-12 film for free on her YouTube channel. Fans would have to buy the film to watch it starting October 3, 2019.
    • However, on December 20, 2019, Melanie gave fans access to watch the film again without having to buy it.
    • The same day that Melanie gave fans access to watch the film for free again, she wrote Glued for her fourth EP, After School
  • Melanie directed and was featured in an episode of the YouTube Music series "Artist Spotlight" alongside other cast members from the K-12 film. The video premiered on Melanie's YouTube channel on March 13, 2020.
  • A DVD of the film was sold alongside the CD.
  • Melanie was planning on releasing perfume to promote the film, however, the product never went public.
  • Despite "Drama Club"'s inclusion in the movie, Kinetics & One Love are not credited in the "Music by" section of the credits. They are however, individually credited for this song later in the credits sequence.[14]
  • Melanie was actually cut in the scene where Kelly cuts Cry Baby.
  • Melanie said in an interview that all the characters in the film were based on astrology.
    • She also answered that from a fan's question.
  • "High School Sweethearts" was the last music video that was filmed for K-12.
  • The film was finished recording on December 26, 2018.
  • On April 2017, Emily Soto, and Melanie Martinez collaborated on making a photoshoot for every track of K-12's visual imagery. There are many ideas that eventually did not make it to the final result, such as Cry Baby's decapitated head coming out of the locker, Cry Baby holding a knife waiting for the principal to come out of his office, Cry Baby sitting on a teacher's desk while being played like a marionette by an unknown character (assumedly a teacher), a bunny doctor present from the Cry Baby era (seen on "Mad Hatter", and "Cry Baby" music video), Cry Baby hanging on a rope while holding a knife and being chased by an unknown character, Johnny's reappearance, Cry Baby holding a knife behind the teacher, Cry Baby sitting on a swing, Cry Baby being sucked in to a blackboard, different various hairstyles, and many more.
  • In an interview with Billboard, Melanie shared the attentive process of the film.
    • "I am incredibly proud of my baby K-12. The process of two months of pre-production, directing a 31-day shoot in Budapest, no sleep, 3 AM call times, two-hour airbrush tattoo removal every day, dealing with men on set trying to step on my toes and belittle me, building genuine friendships with the cast, gaining confidence as a director, actor, and dancer etc., and just overall learning so much has me determined to do it again but differently. This next time around I can’t wait to apply everything I’ve learned."

References[]

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