Soul Research

The song that we had originally chosen for our music video within the soul genre was a track by Silk Rhodes called Pains, that we had found on Soundcloud.

Audience Research

Angela- 'I expect to see a couple slow dancing to the song'

Michael- 'I think of the themes of love, passion, pain and sexual aspects. I can image the video being of a male and female passionately dancing.

Terjuan- 'I picture the video going through the day, following the story of a person who is emotionally distressed, and the unravelling of their days events.'

Mark- 'The video seems like it should be of a man with a guitar, walking through the streets on a rainy day.'

Ella- 'A girl playing barbies and a boy playing with his cars, then in the future we see the same two people, only as adults, and we see how they are both thinking about eachother (maybe looking at images of themselves together on one anothers phones).'

Flora- 'The camera is spinning slowly in a circle showing a man and his life, switching from different events throughout.'

Maryam- 'Camera following a man going through the street etc (darkened lighting) and some parts slowed are slowed down, but some parts are sped up of him walking through the street with the camera recording behind him.

Lyric Analysis

Now that it's over I can finally see

(This line can be illustrated by visuals.This can be done through the artist's facial expression when these lyrics play.)

That all things must change and remain
Like I know you do, oh

(We think that these two lines are following the line before which explains the change from what 'is over' as it seems like he is relieved things have changed, the third line can be illustrated by adding another cyharacter to the video preferably a female that he conversates with.)

People come and go

(This line can't be illustrated, but I think it shows regret which again links to the idea that the song is a sad, tragic love song, which is conventional of a music video within the soul genre.)

There is something you should know

(We thought that this line would link back to the scene where the second character and the artist are conversating because this line sounds like something you would say to someone.)

Please don't explain
It's the same refrain

(We thought that these two lines couldn't be illustrated, but they had some kind of a rhythm with them 'Explain and Refrain' demonstrating that songs within the soul genre, generally tend to flow well, both through the smooth instruments, but also through the rhyming that for instance is displayed within this particular song.)

Yes it might be strange
Love can get changed
You make my thoughts come alive

(These lyrics clearly demonstrate a love theme which can be said througout the song where we establish him directly addressing the female character in which he is singing to, this is shown throughout the use of the word 'you'. It's almost as if this song that he is singing is a personal love letter to someone in particular, making it seem a lot more personal. This is conventional of lyrics within the soul genre, as they set a romantic mood, as they are usually based around the love of two people.)

Now im here to stay
Not to play these games
Nothing is for sure

(These three lines show the continuous use of contradiction throughout the song, as he talks of staying, however stating that nothing is for sure, this could connote the constant feeling of helplessness and lack of power when it comes to love, showing that the artist is unable to get his thoughts and emotions under control. This uncontrollable kind of love is a common theme within the soul genre, showing that this song conforms.)

I'd rather let you go
All things must change and remain
Growing Pains

(The last lines also show contradiction, reinforcing the point made before, about love bringing out the singers confusion and doubt of their own feelings, the main words here that show this contradition are 'change' and 'remain'. Again, this powerful sense of love conforms to the soul genre.)

Three Main Ideas For Our Soul Music Video;

IDEA 1

The first idea that we came up with was the idea of getting a small group of people together, every girl to a boy, and the costume that they would be wearing would consist of smart 1950's style outfits, so the boys wearing suits and the girls wearing dresses. The video will take place in a dark hall, where there will be a single spotlight. Whilst the music is playing, a couple of dancers will dance simple, slow steps in the middle of the spotlight, with the male miming the words. To the back of them the other couples will be following the same simple steps in the background.

IDEA 2

The second idea that we have come up with was to have the male singer, firstly sitting at his kitchen table which is covered in mess and he has a bottle of alcohol next to him, and he is ready a text on his phone from a girl that says something along the lines of "lets break up", then we see the same person behind, as if he's almost behind himself, and watching himself live. We would try to do this on FinalCut Pro by cloning him. The version of the singer who is standing up will be miming along to the lyrics, and we'll see him walking down the street, until he gets to his girlfriends house, as he looks in the window and sees her crying at her kitchen table also.

IDEA 3

Another idea that we came up with was the idea that was given to us through out audience research. We was given the notion of the camera paning around continuously, and every time it gets to one point we see the story between a male and female unravel. Firstly we see them as children playing together. It spins back around and we see a different scenario of the male and female grown up and school students (we'll establish this through mise-en-scene, through their of backpacks and folders and uniform.) it'll then spin around again and we'll see them as young adults. We'll witness their relationship as the camera continues to go around, and then eventually we'll see a break up, and the female will fall in love with someone else, and we'll establish the male's emotion, as he awkwardly bumps into them when once the camera pans again, and his feigned happiness, then his expression once they have walked away, this is when the camera stops panning, and the song ends and we see him slowing walking away from the camera.

For out audience research, we asked a bunch of people to listen to our song choice and write down what they imagined would be happening in the songs music video. Here's what they responded;

Audience Feedback

Whilst playing our chosen song to the class, we asked them to write down what they visualise when they are listening to the song. After then pitching our three ideas we then asked them a few questions. Here's what we asked and here's what they responded.

What do you visualise when you hear this song?

Intro=reminds me of a perfume advertisement. There should be a half moon lighting effect. It should be low key lighting with the spotlight on the singer.

- Singer should be dancing with a girl or trying to get her to dance with him.

- Or he could be looking at her whilst he sings at a jazz bar/cafe.

White background, black and white performance video- possible conceptual- definately not narrative. If a narrative video is used, it has the risk of being really cheesy and bad taste - however performance is much more subtle.

Slow, smooth continuous shots. Transitions such as fade opposed to cut. Filmed at small venure such as a jazz bar. Very vintage.

In a club, artist on stage with a jazzy band behind them. Shots of the audience or/and barman. Slow panning shots, fade in shots. Men in suits, waist coats/expensive clothing. People drinking whiskey and wine.

I visualise New York city being filmed in slow motion and black and white, like a Dior advert.

Narrative=A guy walking e.g. in a park and a narrative of that walk plus a man and woman romancing.

Record player- LP going around, close ups of a guy in black and white.

-Extreme close ups- emotion

-Walking across a bridge- snow?

-Singing into an old fashioned mic

-A club- 1950s style jazz bar, drinking whiskey.

-Slow dancing with a woman.

-They seperate at the end?

Which idea is your favourite?

I like idea 1, it's a known concept, you could have the singer spotlighted and looking at the drunk messy man from idea 2. Also you should use the panning from idea3 to focus on the singer.

My favourite idea is the 2nd, however I do not like the narrative aspect (break-up text), I feel you should try to keep it as 'performance' centred as possible.

The second idea is my favourite as I think it conveys the tone of the genre well.

Idea 1 about the couple in the hall.

I like the second idea. I think it's innovative and creative. The whole cloning idea sounds interesting as does the narrative structure. One thing I would try and improve would be the text message. I think it should be less direct.

Idea 3 seems to be more interesting and I like this idea best.

For idea 1 I think that the performance idea is nice but I'm not sure this would be sustainable for the whole video. For idea two, I like the idea of him being behind himself, it could be a nice 'hook'. Idea three sounds like a good idea also I like the metaphor of the cycle, although I think it could be really hard.

What do you think our digipak would look like?

Sepia effect- long shot of the singer, contrast lighting. In the background there are Jazz/Soul instruments.

For the digipak/poster, there should be lots of contrast- possibly black and white- focus should be on the artist.

I would expect there to be a picture of the artist, possibly under a spot light. He should be smartly dressed and anything that is not under the spot light should be very low lit.

Pictures of the band dressed in suits, jazzy setting with musical equipment. Spotlights (i.e. spotlight over a microphone). Primarily photos of the whole band.

A couple romancing on the cover and a heart around them.

Digipak and poster need to have the video concept first? It should be black and white.