Research and planning into style, location, costume, inspirations, conventions.

Conformation to use "Your Light"-Mega, chosen song

Track details:
Song Name: Your Light
Artist: Megae
Artist contact network: https://soundcloud.com/justmemega
Artist website: http://www.justmemega.com/
Release date: May 2016

Evaluation of potential song- Your light

I also found Your Light by MEGA on sound cloud, MEGA describes herself as an R&B and soul artist however this song is focused mainly around the soul genre. I was originally drawn to this song because of the quality of the recording, her voice sounds strong and loud as it was seemingly reordered in a large space. This means that the lyrics she is singing come across as strong and meaningful. The lyrics that are sung are based around falling in love, at first listen I interpreted the song is have religious connotations due to the repetitive mention of “light”. However, the lyrics are not one dimensional and lend themselves to multiple ideas. For example, I could base the narrative around falling in love win a conventional way or around finding god and a new life.

Another advantage of the song is the beginning, starting with an interesting, diverse, and complex beat which sets the potential of the beginning of the music video on a good start. The beat is slow and therefore I would also be inclined to use the narrative of someone walking. In comparison to Cherry Tree by JACKIE, the narrative of someone walking could be further developed and potentially more successful. For example, if the lyrics are interpreted as finding god and a new life, the walking narrative could represent this discovery. However, if the lyrics are interpreted as falling in love then I could also use the walking narrative as a representation of discovery but for a lover instead of God.

As the song only has one main vocal artist, I would only need one main actor. This would be easier for me as I am working on my own and need to find reliable actors for my production. If I only have one main vocalist, I would be able to only use one actor more suitably.

A disadvantage of this song is that it is fairly slow, this means that it is vulnerable to having an unexciting video due to the slow beat. However, I believe that with the potential narratives

Evaluation of potential song- Cherry tree

I came across Cherry Tree by JACKIE on sound cloud. This song has an electronica genre as well as hip-hop, this interested me as it is complex and means I could draw on multiple sources such as hip-hop music videos and electronica music videos for inspiration. This genre is also attractive to me as it gives the song its self a lot of different elements. At 0:19 to 0:24 seconds there is a simple beat occurring every few seconds which then develops into a more complex beat at 0:24 seconds. This is an example of how the song progresses and has an interesting beat.

One of the strongest elements of this song is the addition of a female artist’s voice at 0:40. This makes the song more diverse and brings it into a new stage, whereas the producer of a music video, I could have a stronger narrative. One of the ideas that came to me for the music video was footage of someone walking, this would suit well to the downbeat and slow beat at points in the song, especially at the beginning. My original plan was to have a male walking when the male voice was present, with the addition of the female voice, I could liven up the video and keep audience interest at a high by adding in a female walking when the female voice comes in. This would allow the video to flow as well as being applicable to Andrew Goodwin’s music video conventions (music link to visuals). 

The lyrics at the beginning of the song are based around reflecting on the artists past as a young boy growing up, this concept imminently creates the opportunity for a strong narrative. For example, street names are mentioned which would make the idea of a man walking down streets more relevant. The female sings lyrics that link to reflecting on the past, such as "sailing down memory lane". Because of this, the song makes sense and the two opposite sounding voices are brought together, this inspires me to bring them together further through the visuals of the female joining the male in his walk. 

The song is 3:39 minutes long, this is an achievable time for a music video to be made for the whole song, I believe that I would therefore be able to have enough footage to not have to cut the song short or take parts out of it. When searching for songs to use, a lot of them were longer and not suitable for a music video that would keep the audience interested without cutting it short. 

One disadvantage of this song is that it is quite repetitive, this is especially prevalent in the lyrics that the female voice sings. The problem with this is that the footage may need to be applied in different ways to the lyrics and therefore I would have to come up with different interpretations of the lyrics so that the visuals are not also repetitive. However, I plan to use this is my advantage by using different shots of the same scene (which is applicable to a particular lyric), this would mean that the video will link together at different points and make it more coherent.  

Rough mood boards for possible songs

When listening to these two potential songs for the first few times I came up with these mood boards of images that came into my head. These images are largely based around the lyrics in the songs. "Cherry tree" by JACKIE has lyrics which reflect memories of growing up, this is where the images of photos on the wall came from as well as the image of four different pairs of shoes in different sizes. If I was to use this song, these images would represent reoccurring symbols that would feature in the music video as a symbol of growing up. There are also images of different locations on this mind map, such as a dark bedroom, a bedroom where someone is making music (as well as a set up in a room for making music) and an urban yet suburban street. These are possible locations that I would use if I was to use this song for my music video. The location of the bedroom where music is made directly links to the lyrics which describe the artist starting off making music in his bedroom. The suburban street is a location I would also use in a music video for this song as it is conventional of the songs hip-hop genre. As the lyrics describe growing up, there is an element of time passing hinted at, the image of the sun at different stages in the day over the water represents this. I would use a shot of different parts of the day, demonstrated by the sun, to symbolise time passing. There are also various other images in this mood board which directly link to the song lyrics, such as the image of the cherry tree and the man riding the boat across the sea. The second mood board is for the song "Your Light", most of the images used are symbolic of the lyrics, rather than things I would directly involve in my music video. For example, the image of the two young children holding hands represents the mention of young love in the lyrics, however I would not feature two young children as the main characters of my music video. This is because I would rather use someone who represents the artist as this is conventional of the soul genre. There are also images of different locations in this mood board, for example, a plain room and scenic nature locations. These are places I would use to film my music video if I was to use this song. I would use the plain room in order to keep the audiences focus on the character playing the artist, instead of the various objects that could distract the audiences attention in a cluttered room. I would aim to keep as much focus on this character as possible as it would promote them, which is conventional of the contemporary soul genre. As can be seen in modern soul artists music videos such as Amy Winehouses music video for back to black and tears dry on their own, where she is the main focus of the audiences attention. I would film in scenic nature environments as the lyrics describe elements of nature, such as flowers and rivers. The lyrics also describe a journey, suggested by the notion of the artist once being in the dark yet now being in the light. This journey is represented on the mood board through the images of flowers budding. These images also link with the first line of the song "I opened up like a flower in the sun". Also in this mood board are images with religious connotations, although I may not include this element in my music video as it risks taking away the contemporary, urban element, I have included them in my mood board as the lyrics can easily be interpreted as religious, as a light is described as well a new way of life. Other images on this mood board include direct links to the reference of light in the song as well as the possibility of making the music video based around a relationship.

Goodwins music video theory- Akala/ Find no enemy

Goodwins music video conventions- J.Cole No Role Modelz