Friday, 30 June 2017
Friday, 23 June 2017
Monday, 19 June 2017
How do I decide which song to choose for my music song?
When discussing the ingredients we wanted to combine in a good song, which reflects our ideas for a video and translates these ideas into reality, we wanted a song which complied with our criteria. When sitting and discussing key components of a successful song, we decided to base this on eight key factors. These factors ranged from having appropriate lyrics to a clarity in regard to genre.
These image here shows the factors on which we based our songs and how the songs compete against one another. From this set of criteria, we ranked the songs against our results and duly picked the song which matched these points of reference.
The Circular Criteria Graph
Does the song have appropriate lyrics?
The lyrics of the song was a major attraction. Not only were the lyrics appropriate and didn't contain any explicit content or references to substance abuse or alcohol consumption, but they provided connotations for a range of ideas for a music video. For example, the line which says "Come on little boy, run a little faster..." could be centred around a narrative in a son is being spoken to by their paterfamilias and is centred around the concept of a man who is struggling to grow up. Also, you could take the literal meaning of the lyrics in account and cut between shots of a boy running away from something, with this narrative being around growing or the stages of development. The lyrics, in being appropriate, offered numerous avenues of exploration in terms of music video potential.
Does the song have a clear beat?
Analysing the song, their is a clear structured beat in the heart of the composition, with a an electronically created rhythm adds a clear base to allow for other instruments to dip in and out of the song, this rhythm created by drums, this is epitomised at the climax of the song when the song is overcome by an instrumental of electronically produced music, which while unique and quirky, lacked the authenticity and naturalism we wanted from man playing instruments and that formed a major part of our decision.
On the contrast to the aforementioned part regarding electronically manufactured material, the song has a really pleasant rhythm up to that point. We discussed potentially editing the song to conclude it before the artificial sequence but felt this damaged the integrity and intention the artist wanted to capture, and whilst the beat is consistent, this section made implausible, especially compared to the simplicity of the beat which other options had in their favour.
Is the song catchy?
A key element for a song to be exportable is how catchy it is. If an artist can retain their piece in their consumers head, then ultimately that is as powerful as advertising as it can get. When listening to this piece of music by The Hockers, it's evidently catchy for a number of reasons. The riff which is evident throughout the introduction of the song sets the tone for the audience and the minimalism of one instrument makes it beautifully poignant and engages the audience with a hook as they are being eased into the piece with a repeated sequence of notes which helps with the interaction that the audience wants to have with the piece of music.
What's also crucial is a hook. A unique strand or sequence which will be romantic to the eardrums and Runner most definitely has unique elements and a hook to engage the audience. For example, the second of silence at 1:24 before a reintroduction to the choral element of the song is a hook which engages the audience and almost isolates the chorus and has it as a stand alone and integral piece of the song which makes it more memorable. That's brilliantly savvy and purposeful from the artist to highlight the significance of the message of the chorus.
Does the song have clear sections?
The structure of any song has a significant impact of the overall success of the song. For the opening 1:51 of the song, it goes against the usually formulaic structure of with the expected structure in terms of introduction, verse, pre-chorus, chorus which is repeated. This helps familiarise the audience and almost settle them into the the song. However, The Runner is progressive and doesn't conform to the usual structure.
The introduction lasts from 00:00-00:14 and is a gentle riff which slowly introduces a number of instruments before the song embarks to the first chorus extremely quickly. The chorus acts as the headline of the song and traditionally includes the key message of which the artist is trying to omit from the piece. After the repetition of two choral elements, a middle eight is introduced to provide separation between chorus and add a different dimension to the song and stop the predictability which another chorus would provide. It prevents the song from becoming stale.
What follows this middle eight is a verse on 1:03 which is almost the narrative being told through lyrics which aren't repeated. What follows this is a verse which is a particularly important to a song as the strength of this verse determines how successful the chorus is as it acts as the detail before a main event or headline of a song, In this song, at this moment, the structure introduces a verse to build up to a choral part of the song, this verse is slower in terms of dynamic and in that sense is an altogether different pace in comparison to the chorus.
A pre-chorus commences thereafter and really builds up to the chorus, in many ways, this segment of the piece conforms to the suspected conventions of a piece of successful music and the constant chorus' helps keep the song at the forefront of the audiences thoughts. This structure is repeated for the remainder of the song up to the point at 2:06 when the shift in dynamics change from a slow, catchy song into a quicker paced electronically based song all centred around this sequence which stems for the instrumental.
Overall, the song contains clear sections and offers a lot to work with, that said however, in sections it doesn't conform with the natural structure of a successful song, and this, we felt, made it considerably weaker.
Does the song have variation in it's dynamics?
This was a particular strength of this song. Every time the song enters a choral phase, a crescendo is visible which ensures the chorus stands alone compared to other parts of the song, for example, the transition into a verse is less noticeable and thus less significant whereas this crescendo is important as it introduces what is deemed to be, the most valuable section of the song is presented which a shift in dynamic.
Also, between the stages of 1:27-2:06 the song builds consistently before reaching its electronic climax at the end of this period. This section of dynamics posed an altogether different range of problems in comparison to the smoother and more conventional segments of the song which play out throughout the opening section as it provided a range of problems, firstly with ideas, how could we keep up with a narrative in a way that compliments the pace of the music and also what narrative could we tell? As previously mentioned, we discussed fading the song out at an earlier period simply because of this section and that became a strong part of our thinking when deciding our song. This period of build up makes it immensely difficult to fade out of due to the dynamic which the song takes and we cannot edit it without destroying the integrity of the song.
Do you have ideas about the music video?
As the evidence of the graph suggests, we were walking into this task with a blank canvas, and whilst the ideas weren't flowing or concrete, we still had a number of ideas.
The first of these ideas was to present the narrative in which a boy and his father constantly disagree and the master shot is always a boy running through a secluded, low lit area and every time a chorus is introduced, the boy gets slightly older as he goes through life, this develops to a climatic point of the video when the electronic sequence of the song takes hold. This narrative would explore the feelings of parental rejection and neglect and the impact this has on the person throughout their life as they life with their perceived worthlessness.
The second idea is perhaps more formulaic and contains a more performance based music video, with a montage of the band being assembled and cut between audience etc. As a group, we created the idea of having the process of song making, so from the rehearsal process to the finished article. This also incorporated elements of a conceptual video as it's a narrative containing elements of performance. We could also use the electronic section of the song and make a synthetic club scene which would work extremely well if we did in in a lowly lit room and had flashing, coloured lights (UV potentially), to resemble a nightclub setting. Although, this idea would contradict the lyrics, which whilst Goodwin states that can be a successful element of a music video, we wanted a more naturalistic video which makes the audience feel with their heart and this idea is aesthetically more pleasing and cinematic without containing the punch of a hard hitting message.
Does the song have a clear genre/sub genre?
This song contains a high amount of hybridity and seems torn about where it naturally belongs. Is it a techno piece of music? Personally, I'd argue it isn't, or not a natural piece of techno anyhow, the thing with techno is it doesn't contain any lyrics and is a fast paced piece of music conventionally containing no or few lyrics. This song doesn't conform to those conventions. That said, however, there are elements of techno, particularly in the latter stages of the song (From 2:06-end)
Instead, the song falls more firmly into the electro genre of music, which, according to it's definition is " a style of dance music with a fast beat and synthesised backing track". This song complies with that definition and is probably more worthy of being branded with the electro genre. This genre is certainly a more modern one which is yet to have been tapped into, however, this song experiments with the genre successfully and the 'unknown quantity' of electro music very much attracted us to it.
Does the song have inspiring lyrics?
The lyrics of a song provide depth and meaning to a message which the artist wants to share with their audience, and The Runner provides no exception. The lyrics contain a message of running away from problems, and this could be a message our group taps into in order to create an expressive and touching music video.
Song 2: This Love- Choose Wisely
Does the song have appropriate lyrics?
Much like the previous candidate, This Love contains lyrics which doesn't condone or encourage the consumption or taking of substances or alcohol and the lack of explicit language ensures we can target a range of demographics which would have been limited had the song have been riddled with sensitive content. We are able to explore a younger demographic and a slightly older one. This would broaden the exhibition of our video and thus more people will watch it, so it's vital our video has appropriate lyrics.
Does the song have a clear beat?
Does the song have appropriate lyrics?
Much like the previous candidate, This Love contains lyrics which doesn't condone or encourage the consumption or taking of substances or alcohol and the lack of explicit language ensures we can target a range of demographics which would have been limited had the song have been riddled with sensitive content. We are able to explore a younger demographic and a slightly older one. This would broaden the exhibition of our video and thus more people will watch it, so it's vital our video has appropriate lyrics.
Does the song have a clear beat?
The rhythm of the song begins with a clear piano rhythm which creates a steady and almost simplistic beat to the music. For the audience, this is recognisable and allows the audience to relate and understand the feel for the music before any lyrics are introduced. This rhythm which is created through the piano conforms to the pop genre and it is almost an easy way in which to guide the audience through the opening segment which the compliments of a piano which is attractive to listen to and oozes sophistication and elegance, with coincide with the theme of love explored by the artist.
Throughout the entirety of the piece, the rhythm is consistent throughout, and this leans well to the clarity it creates and this simplicity in the beat is often very successful in music video and the fact it doesn't rely on a techno section makes it more suitable to a music video as it is perhaps more straitlaced and modest in comparison to The Runner, a more quirky and varied piece of music.
Is the song catchy?
The songs main use of hook is indeed the chorus. This chorus provides the engagement the audience wants to interact with. As a group, this song was the one which stood out due to the catchiness of the song and the chorus remained in our heads for days upon days. The upbeat nature of the tune coinciding with the instruments allow for a real catichness which I believe the artist has stroked a fantastic relationship between developing a powerful message within the chorus and ensuring the song is catchy.
The riff of the song is a repeated section of the song which is predominately used in pop. In this song, the riff is used to familiarise the audience with song. not only this, but it behind a soloist as he performs to ensure the changes in pitch or chord changes are done with efficiency. This engagement with the audience is vital for the success of a song.
Does the song have clear sections?
This song is a polar opposite to the initial song, with a clearer and more conventional structure which arguably makes it a more suitable candidate for the music video production due to the simplicity and formality of the structure which makes it less of an edgy choice in comparison to The Runner. This, for us, made this song a more viable option as it provided more of a safety net than the abstract and original opening song.
From 00:00- 00:14, an instrumental introduction begins what is a very conventional structure for a song. This is done to allow the music to breathe and to provide an almost ritualistic style to the music, which is successful as it provides a base to build upon. There has been an argument regarding how streaming has killed the instrumental introduction. A quote I found staggering from the article (Linked here) is this quote:
"Intros that averaged more than 20 seconds in the mid-80s are now only about 5 seconds long, the study found."I think that staggering, do audiences simply not consider themselves as time worthy enough to sit through 20 seconds without lyrics? Or is it just a trend? With this song, the introduction lasts a significant period of time, this gives us the option to create a filmic/cinematic approach in the introduction in an attempt to create a conceptual designed video.
From 00:14-00:23, a conventional verse is introduced outlining a narrative which contains lyrics including 'jealously', this provided a more conceptual approach to production due to the romance and meaning with in the song, we wanted to capture this and highlight it. The transition into introduction and verse is smooth due to the introduction of lyrics and the instrument of the voice which helps bridge over a very noticeable gap if not.
A pre-chorus is introduced next to propel the listener into the chorus, its conventionally a two line repetition is visible in verses before the choral elements of the song, This Love uses verses and pre-chorus' in a very successful way which adds more detail and context the the overall meaning of the song. It also follows the aforementioned structure which traditionally, if followed, results in a success or unsuccessful way but it isn't a necessity for success.
What follows is the chorus, the heartbeat of the song and it's contents. Often an artist attempts to compress their meaning into the choral element, the significance behind the chorus means that it can be what a song is judged upon, the strength of it's chorus, and if the song has a excellent chorus, often the song becomes a major success. The chorus is repeated throughout the song and embedding to reinforce the message behind the song.
This is a structure which is, by or large, repeated. It's conventional to the pop genre and conforms with it, many songs which have been a success and this looks to replicate the structure and emulate the success it has had previously. It was a huge factor when considering our decision, does it have clear sections and would it be considered successful? I think when both these boxes are ticked, you are presented with a very strong candidate.
Does the song have variation in it's dynamics?
Perhaps the only visible weakness of the song, the song lacks variation in terms of dynamics, and its pretty much at one pitch throughout the entirety of the piece. That said, however, there are small moments of crescendo. The initial crescendo moment is at 00:13 which is when the lyrics are initially introduce, arguably, the instrumental introduction acts as an almost build up which climaxes with the introduction of lyrics. This slight change in dynamics offers a different style and is more consistent in comparison to the other songs.
There is a section in the song when the volume decreases, this is between 1:57-2:24, listening to this, the volume of the singing majorly decreases and this is matched with the dynamics of the music and once more, this acts as a build up toward the climax of the song.
Does the song have a clear genre/sub genre?
I've spoken at length around the pop genre which this song is labelled as by Choose Wisely, however, I think their are more sub genres that an argument can be presented for. The songs structure does conform with the structure generally associated with the pop genre due to the introduction, verse, pre chorus and chorus.
However, there are elements that point towards alternative sub genres, for example, there are elements of electro elements to the song along with rock elements. Fundamentally, however, the artist wants to be labelled as an independent artist and genre which I think gives his work more freedom and variety.
Do you have ideas about the music video?
The lyrics and tempo associated with the song lean slightly towards a conceptual music video. This is because, number one, the dynamics of the song doesn't make a performance based video applicable due to the music as it doesn't offer any artistic potential for a performance based video.
With this in mind, we offered a narrative of a story based around love and the strain of a break up. This could result in a happy ending or unhappy ending but this narrative has been successful with videos before and could be once more given the genre. As aforementioned, the instrumental introduction offers the potential for a filmic approach in which we could offer a snippet of spoken text before this is replaced with the lyrics.
Are the lyrics inspiring?
The lyrics are perhaps more meaningful than inspiring, with the exploration of love and one love story in particular. It's going to be relatable for some people and as a production company, we need to deal with that sensitively and appropriately making it as realistic as we can.
Whilst I don't think this piece provides connotations of abuse, it does deal with an emotionally challenging and draining time for any human being and we have to be accurate in our narrative.
Song 3- 1848 by The Wax
Does the song have appropriate lyrics?
This was a major part of our thought process as we hunted down a shortlist of four songs. We wanted a song which didn't use frequent explicit language or condoning alcohol and/or substance abuse, so that's something we were meticulous about in our selection when considering the choices for songs we had, it was about targeting a wide demographic of audiences as oppose to placing all hope onto one market. The more we could broaden the audience the more exposure our video will have, which will benefit the brand identity of the artist but also our production company. This song complies with those criteria.
Does the song have a clear beat?
The song contains a clear beat throughout the entirety of it, with an array of features to support the flow of the song. Overall, the rhythm is dependant on two factors, the first of those being the electronic factors of the piece which are predominant throughout the song, with electronically manufactured music mixing with more traditionalist forms of music, such as instruments such as the drums with support the nucleus of the base music that is evident throughout the piece.
Combining these two factors make for a result which is quite ritualistic and similar to the hymn like music associated with the church, whilst the the electronic music keeps the song present and spins it to ensure it has a unique feel for the listener and that results in a terrific listening experience for that person.
Is the song catchy?
The hook of this song is it's ritualistic and unique elements, the vocals seemingly form part of the song without being isolated in front of the entourage of music, it stands almost as one, stand alone piece of music which is engaging for the audience because its so unique. What's engaging about this song is the quirkiness and difference of it, it combines contemporary elements with traditionalist elements and does so extremely successfully, overall, the listener is left dazzled and with the song oozing through their head. It's almost magical at points due to the combination of instruments and melodies throughout it.
The riff which is repeated through combines a small sequence of notes combined withe the lyric 'Revolution' which repeated throughout the piece, its a repetitive phase which is carried throughout the song, no less at the point 1:02-1:32 this riff is repeated. What makes this so engaging is the layers of vocal work, with a main vocal piece complimented with layers of melodies and backing vocals all done by the same lead singer. It's a catchy and repetitive part of the song.
Does the song have clear sections?
1848 contains clear sections which we recognised if you look at the marking criteria that the shortlist of songs undertook on the graph. This song was ranked second because we recognised the sections as they were conforming with the genre which the artist identifies this piece of music to match.
From 00:00-00:15, an introduction is played out supported with vocals. In contrast to This Love, the vocals are introduced with the beginning of the song and thus if we wanted to produce a filmic approach at the birth of the piece, this would no longer be possible with slowly introducing the song as this scene climaxed, whereas with This Love, the gap and time frame to fade the music in as the small scene concludes is greater and makes it more worthwhile and justifiable having that scene.
What follows from 00:16-1:01 is three verses and a pre-chorus which allows for exploration of the lyrics in order to produce a more conceptual based music video to allow for a narrative to play out over this section, the three verses are similar in length, but the song lacks variety meaning the cuts could be slower and the music video void of any intensity and meaning, so whilst this section is musically very good, it doesn't offer alot of potential for production or energy.
1:02-1:32 the chorus is repeated and prolonged in what, we think, as a group is the most engaging section of the song, mainly due to the powerful imagery and dramatic potential a command word like "Revolution" offers us. The chorus is the headline and the song and the song is musically given licence to breathe, whereas in our other songs, the chorus is very much lyrically based and this provides a stark contrast.
Overall, the structure this song offers gives us a scope to work. It conforms to the conventions of the genre it complies with and in doing so becomes a viable option for production material to be produced.
Does the song have variation in it's dynamics?
In the early exchanges of this piece, the song the song has multiple crescendos as verses are introduced. This allows for each verse to be separated and isolated to compact the meaning but also to build up for the climax of the chorus which is introduced later than the other songs, this builds up to the chorus in a prolonged way in which we could play the production elements of the narrative with in the video and the intensity of the choral elements.
The variation of dynamics in this song is perhaps the widest scale in comparison to the other options, whilst making a little less consistent and more subtle, they are there and are technically superb from a musical standpoint, from a production company standpoint however, the subtleness will be incredibly hard to highlight and that leans us slightly towards other options on our shortlist.
Do you have ideas about the music videos?
The distortion of the song could allow for experiment with shots underwater, which would be aesthetically pleasing but also contain a vast amount of meaning. These elements of the underwater shots would combine nicely with the distortion however it's all around narrative. If we want to create a conceptual music video, these elements need to link with our narrative and it's about justification of their inclusion.
The song has a clear genre/sub genre?
The artist labels the song as a pop song, and the structure of the song lends itself well with this assumption, that said, however, there are most definitely elements of the electro genre as well. The structure conforms with the conventions of the pop genre and thus makes it easily identifiable as pop.
There are distinctive elements of electro, especially with the use of contemporary, manufactured music and the relationship these share. The embedded elements of electro add a modern feel to the song and actually compliments the naturalistic instruments in a pleasant way.
Are the lyrics inspiring?
Talk about revolution and rising up is encouraging the acting of people and so, lyrically, this song offers a plausible option to inspire an audience and the imagery this creates is engaging and inspiring. In comparison to the other songs shortlisted by our group
This was a major part of our thought process as we hunted down a shortlist of four songs. We wanted a song which didn't use frequent explicit language or condoning alcohol and/or substance abuse, so that's something we were meticulous about in our selection when considering the choices for songs we had, it was about targeting a wide demographic of audiences as oppose to placing all hope onto one market. The more we could broaden the audience the more exposure our video will have, which will benefit the brand identity of the artist but also our production company. This song complies with those criteria.
Does the song have a clear beat?
The song contains a clear beat throughout the entirety of it, with an array of features to support the flow of the song. Overall, the rhythm is dependant on two factors, the first of those being the electronic factors of the piece which are predominant throughout the song, with electronically manufactured music mixing with more traditionalist forms of music, such as instruments such as the drums with support the nucleus of the base music that is evident throughout the piece.
Combining these two factors make for a result which is quite ritualistic and similar to the hymn like music associated with the church, whilst the the electronic music keeps the song present and spins it to ensure it has a unique feel for the listener and that results in a terrific listening experience for that person.
Is the song catchy?
The hook of this song is it's ritualistic and unique elements, the vocals seemingly form part of the song without being isolated in front of the entourage of music, it stands almost as one, stand alone piece of music which is engaging for the audience because its so unique. What's engaging about this song is the quirkiness and difference of it, it combines contemporary elements with traditionalist elements and does so extremely successfully, overall, the listener is left dazzled and with the song oozing through their head. It's almost magical at points due to the combination of instruments and melodies throughout it.
The riff which is repeated through combines a small sequence of notes combined withe the lyric 'Revolution' which repeated throughout the piece, its a repetitive phase which is carried throughout the song, no less at the point 1:02-1:32 this riff is repeated. What makes this so engaging is the layers of vocal work, with a main vocal piece complimented with layers of melodies and backing vocals all done by the same lead singer. It's a catchy and repetitive part of the song.
Does the song have clear sections?
1848 contains clear sections which we recognised if you look at the marking criteria that the shortlist of songs undertook on the graph. This song was ranked second because we recognised the sections as they were conforming with the genre which the artist identifies this piece of music to match.
From 00:00-00:15, an introduction is played out supported with vocals. In contrast to This Love, the vocals are introduced with the beginning of the song and thus if we wanted to produce a filmic approach at the birth of the piece, this would no longer be possible with slowly introducing the song as this scene climaxed, whereas with This Love, the gap and time frame to fade the music in as the small scene concludes is greater and makes it more worthwhile and justifiable having that scene.
What follows from 00:16-1:01 is three verses and a pre-chorus which allows for exploration of the lyrics in order to produce a more conceptual based music video to allow for a narrative to play out over this section, the three verses are similar in length, but the song lacks variety meaning the cuts could be slower and the music video void of any intensity and meaning, so whilst this section is musically very good, it doesn't offer alot of potential for production or energy.
1:02-1:32 the chorus is repeated and prolonged in what, we think, as a group is the most engaging section of the song, mainly due to the powerful imagery and dramatic potential a command word like "Revolution" offers us. The chorus is the headline and the song and the song is musically given licence to breathe, whereas in our other songs, the chorus is very much lyrically based and this provides a stark contrast.
Overall, the structure this song offers gives us a scope to work. It conforms to the conventions of the genre it complies with and in doing so becomes a viable option for production material to be produced.
Does the song have variation in it's dynamics?
In the early exchanges of this piece, the song the song has multiple crescendos as verses are introduced. This allows for each verse to be separated and isolated to compact the meaning but also to build up for the climax of the chorus which is introduced later than the other songs, this builds up to the chorus in a prolonged way in which we could play the production elements of the narrative with in the video and the intensity of the choral elements.
The variation of dynamics in this song is perhaps the widest scale in comparison to the other options, whilst making a little less consistent and more subtle, they are there and are technically superb from a musical standpoint, from a production company standpoint however, the subtleness will be incredibly hard to highlight and that leans us slightly towards other options on our shortlist.
Do you have ideas about the music videos?
The distortion of the song could allow for experiment with shots underwater, which would be aesthetically pleasing but also contain a vast amount of meaning. These elements of the underwater shots would combine nicely with the distortion however it's all around narrative. If we want to create a conceptual music video, these elements need to link with our narrative and it's about justification of their inclusion.
The song has a clear genre/sub genre?
The artist labels the song as a pop song, and the structure of the song lends itself well with this assumption, that said, however, there are most definitely elements of the electro genre as well. The structure conforms with the conventions of the pop genre and thus makes it easily identifiable as pop.
There are distinctive elements of electro, especially with the use of contemporary, manufactured music and the relationship these share. The embedded elements of electro add a modern feel to the song and actually compliments the naturalistic instruments in a pleasant way.
Are the lyrics inspiring?
Talk about revolution and rising up is encouraging the acting of people and so, lyrically, this song offers a plausible option to inspire an audience and the imagery this creates is engaging and inspiring. In comparison to the other songs shortlisted by our group
Song 4- The Psychopath Test by Thula Borah
Are the lyrics appropriate?
When we began the process of recruiting potential songs to create a music video from, appropriate lyrics were crucial to this process and thus anything with unsuitable lyrics was palmed away after the initial listening. This song is an extremely alternative option in comparison with our other choices, however, the only thing that worried us about the usage of this song is the derogatory term towards mentally ill patients disclosed in the title. This, for us, was the reason this choice struggled to break at the head of our thoughts.
Does the song have a clear beat?
The rhythm of this song stems from the consistent beat which is provided by the drums and guitar throughout the entirety of the piece and this provides a basis of which the vocals and storytelling elements can come the forefront and be more versatile with the foundation of a steady nucleus and this song can differentiate between vocals and instruments throughout.
The clarity that this beat offers is helpful when appealing to the audience of the genre it represents as it conforms with the stereotypical conventions of alternative rock and this clear beat allows it to be recognised as such.
Is the song catchy?
As a group, we struggled to identify a clear hook which engages the audience and allows the catchiness of the song to prevail, however, after researching about rock, we decided the song in itself was the hook, because the riff is the whole song, technically, the music is repeated throughout the song with the difference in lyrics being the selling points.
This is evident also in rock songs like Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard or Shout to the Devil by The Alarm. Despite not being as catchy as the other songs, this genre appeals to a niche audience who know what they like and this work in our favour, that said, we want to create a video based around a song which, we feel, represents our passion for music and this song was left trailing by the features of the other songs.
Does the song have clear sections?
Another real struggle with this song is the lack of clear section of development of sections which doesn't allow for a conceptual video but leans slightly more towards a performance based video. Not only does this song lack a real chorus, the clarity of the lyrics impacts the song and it becomes claustrophobic and unidentifiable.
The beginning is actually very good. An instrumental introduction allows for the opportunity of the exploration of a filmic approach, what's more, this lasts for 00:30 before he intensity is raised and lyrics introduced. This gives us an opportunity to tell a story before the song develops, that said however, the tempo of the song does suggest a more performance based video is the right way to go due to how one dimensional this song is.
After the first listening, we struggled to identity the difference between verses and chorus as our knowledge of alternative rock lacked somewhat as oppose to the other genre. The reason for this song being on our shortlist was because of how different it was in comparison to the three other choices, but because it is so starkly different these choices were.
Finally, the outro of the song is cut bluntly and this leave little to no room for a natural conclusion to a conceptual narrative to play out. This outro isn't as clear cut as the introduction and for me, epitomises the negative points of this song, its too one dimensional and doesn't naturally conclude itself.
Overall, the song doesn't provide the clarity that matches our criteria, and for this reason, we feel there are better suited choices on the four song shortlist which allow us more room to manoeuvre and thus the one dimensional structure which this song follows isn't great from a production standpoint.
When we began the process of recruiting potential songs to create a music video from, appropriate lyrics were crucial to this process and thus anything with unsuitable lyrics was palmed away after the initial listening. This song is an extremely alternative option in comparison with our other choices, however, the only thing that worried us about the usage of this song is the derogatory term towards mentally ill patients disclosed in the title. This, for us, was the reason this choice struggled to break at the head of our thoughts.
Does the song have a clear beat?
The rhythm of this song stems from the consistent beat which is provided by the drums and guitar throughout the entirety of the piece and this provides a basis of which the vocals and storytelling elements can come the forefront and be more versatile with the foundation of a steady nucleus and this song can differentiate between vocals and instruments throughout.
The clarity that this beat offers is helpful when appealing to the audience of the genre it represents as it conforms with the stereotypical conventions of alternative rock and this clear beat allows it to be recognised as such.
Is the song catchy?
As a group, we struggled to identify a clear hook which engages the audience and allows the catchiness of the song to prevail, however, after researching about rock, we decided the song in itself was the hook, because the riff is the whole song, technically, the music is repeated throughout the song with the difference in lyrics being the selling points.
This is evident also in rock songs like Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard or Shout to the Devil by The Alarm. Despite not being as catchy as the other songs, this genre appeals to a niche audience who know what they like and this work in our favour, that said, we want to create a video based around a song which, we feel, represents our passion for music and this song was left trailing by the features of the other songs.
Does the song have clear sections?
Another real struggle with this song is the lack of clear section of development of sections which doesn't allow for a conceptual video but leans slightly more towards a performance based video. Not only does this song lack a real chorus, the clarity of the lyrics impacts the song and it becomes claustrophobic and unidentifiable.
The beginning is actually very good. An instrumental introduction allows for the opportunity of the exploration of a filmic approach, what's more, this lasts for 00:30 before he intensity is raised and lyrics introduced. This gives us an opportunity to tell a story before the song develops, that said however, the tempo of the song does suggest a more performance based video is the right way to go due to how one dimensional this song is.
After the first listening, we struggled to identity the difference between verses and chorus as our knowledge of alternative rock lacked somewhat as oppose to the other genre. The reason for this song being on our shortlist was because of how different it was in comparison to the three other choices, but because it is so starkly different these choices were.
Finally, the outro of the song is cut bluntly and this leave little to no room for a natural conclusion to a conceptual narrative to play out. This outro isn't as clear cut as the introduction and for me, epitomises the negative points of this song, its too one dimensional and doesn't naturally conclude itself.
Overall, the song doesn't provide the clarity that matches our criteria, and for this reason, we feel there are better suited choices on the four song shortlist which allow us more room to manoeuvre and thus the one dimensional structure which this song follows isn't great from a production standpoint.
Does the song have a variation of dynamics?
As previously discussed, the dynamics of a song can determine how successful it is in regards to our criteria. This song lacks what others have in bundles. For example, the crescendos in this song are non-existent and when combining that with the fact that it's extremely flat and one dimensional.
When analysing this in comparison to the other options, the dynamics are less varied and flat in nature which made it an option which we felt we couldn't explore. When comparing it directly to the other songs and the variations and success use of crescendo and build ups leading into climaxes, this song is simply incompatible with the intentions, we as a group, declared before this process began.
Do you have ideas about the music video?
For this particular song, I personally think their two approaches we can take for creativity and success which reflects the genre of the song, the two approaches are:
A performance based video: This could be based around performances/gigs that the artist performs in whilst cutting between audience and artist in monocrone setting. This probably suits the style of the song more than the conceptual idea due to the lack of intensity or build and climax suits a more performance based video as it can explore a relationship the artist shares with an auidence and an array of camera movements, such as pans, boom etc, can be used to make it as cinematic as possible.
A conceptual based video: This has to compliment the style of the piece which has dark connotations it has. The concept we created as a group was a shot of a man running through the woods whilst flashbacks are introduced showing regretful moments of his life.
Does the song have a clear genre/sub genre?
This song, perhaps more than the others, has a clear genre and target audience. The genre of the song is alternative rock, which appeals to a niche audience who know what they admire about music. It would be our job to grant them with a music video which appeals to their taste. The rock genre is portrayed in a light of edge and controversy which it is particularly proud of, its about maintaining this image.
Are the lyrics inspiring?
The quality of the recording is somewhat lacking and thus the lyrics aren't easily accessible. The lyrics don't inspire us as a group due the disconnect we feel with the song and thus, we feel there are much better choices.
To conclude, the song we've decided to produce a video on is This Love by Choose Wisely. This became the leading candidate as it was a song we enjoyed and generated a range of ideas for. The song matches our criteria and we are looking forward to producing this a video for this wonderfully diverse song.
As previously discussed, the dynamics of a song can determine how successful it is in regards to our criteria. This song lacks what others have in bundles. For example, the crescendos in this song are non-existent and when combining that with the fact that it's extremely flat and one dimensional.
When analysing this in comparison to the other options, the dynamics are less varied and flat in nature which made it an option which we felt we couldn't explore. When comparing it directly to the other songs and the variations and success use of crescendo and build ups leading into climaxes, this song is simply incompatible with the intentions, we as a group, declared before this process began.
Do you have ideas about the music video?
For this particular song, I personally think their two approaches we can take for creativity and success which reflects the genre of the song, the two approaches are:
A performance based video: This could be based around performances/gigs that the artist performs in whilst cutting between audience and artist in monocrone setting. This probably suits the style of the song more than the conceptual idea due to the lack of intensity or build and climax suits a more performance based video as it can explore a relationship the artist shares with an auidence and an array of camera movements, such as pans, boom etc, can be used to make it as cinematic as possible.
A conceptual based video: This has to compliment the style of the piece which has dark connotations it has. The concept we created as a group was a shot of a man running through the woods whilst flashbacks are introduced showing regretful moments of his life.
Does the song have a clear genre/sub genre?
This song, perhaps more than the others, has a clear genre and target audience. The genre of the song is alternative rock, which appeals to a niche audience who know what they admire about music. It would be our job to grant them with a music video which appeals to their taste. The rock genre is portrayed in a light of edge and controversy which it is particularly proud of, its about maintaining this image.
Are the lyrics inspiring?
The quality of the recording is somewhat lacking and thus the lyrics aren't easily accessible. The lyrics don't inspire us as a group due the disconnect we feel with the song and thus, we feel there are much better choices.
To conclude, the song we've decided to produce a video on is This Love by Choose Wisely. This became the leading candidate as it was a song we enjoyed and generated a range of ideas for. The song matches our criteria and we are looking forward to producing this a video for this wonderfully diverse song.
Wednesday, 14 June 2017
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