Initial Ideas.
Music is a euphonious, pleasant form of expression, and over the years, it has been paired with music videos to magnify the charm. Here is my list of songs I have brainstormed over the past three days, that I could potentially use for my Advanced Portfolio.
1. No Surprises by Radiohead.
This is a song that can go very well with a strong narrative and storyline, with a relatively less emphasis on the visually aesthetic appeal and editing. The song lyrics could be paired with a music video which follows the life of a low-income worker, showing the impact of capitalism on the working class. The character could be shown working hard, day and night, in harsh and unsafe working conditions. They could be shown returning to a mainly unfurnished, crammed room/apartment. They could be shown commuting in undesirable conditions. The following lyrics (copied from azlyrics.com) show how the lyrics are a voice for the narrative that I derived: A heart that's full up like a landfill / A job that slowly kills you / Bruises that won't heal / You look so tired, unhappy / Bring down the government / They don't, they don't speak for us / I'll take a quiet life / A handshake of carbon monoxide
Moreover, the worker could be shown longing and aching for a comfortable life. Such a pretty house / And such a pretty garden / No alarms and no surprises (Get me out of here)
The music video's idea is similar to the film "I, Daniel Blake."
2. Zombie by The Cranberries.
This is also a song that has a strong, rare theme. The song questions and follows the unfortunate events and consequences of war. I had an idea that we could show a happy, safe kid growing up in a luxury apartment. And we can show an adult, visiting an empty, shattered building full of rubble. The adult would be the child returning to his war-torn country that his family inevitably had to flee during the intensity of the war. The mise-en-scene required for this idea would require a lot of effort, but is manageable.
3. Snap Out Of It by Arctic Monkeys.
The idea for this song's music video follows a person watching a loved one develop an addiction for drugs and intoxicants. We could display the main character's desperation and dire need to help their loved one, as well as the deterioration in the state of the secondary character. we can show the addressed (secondary) character's state of mind reflecting through lighting (reds and dark blues and purples) as well as through distorted visuals and editing.
In case this idea is not approvable due to mention of recreational drugs, the drug plotline could be replaced with kleptomania. Kleptomania is a mental condition in which a person has an uncontrollable, recurrent urge to steal, regardless of need or profit.
4. no body, no crime by Taylor Swift.
This song is about vendetta or vengeance, and the narrator seeks to kill, and eventually kills the husband and murderer of her close friend, Este, and Este's sister alibis her. My idea was pretty straightforward for this song, with a female protagonist first trying to figure out where her friend disappeared. Then she suspects her friend's partner, and connects the dots to figure out that he was responsible for the disappearance and murder (investigation board for mise-en-scene). Then she is plotting and scheming to murder him, and eventually does it.
5. i saw you in a dream by The Japanese House.
For this song, the music video could be shot outdoors, in natural lighting, on a cold day. It could be recorded in the woods, and through editing, we could ensure that there is a light, hazy, dreamy filter and two people, long-lost friends (one of them in deceased) meet each other, and are clearly glad to. They could be shown trying to make up for lost time, as well as trying to warm up to each other again slowly, believing they'd be inseparable for the rest of their lives. The video could be slow paced, but the cinematography should be very aesthetically pleasant, with blue skies, clouds, and scenic nature.
Then by the end, during the lyrics: "I saw you in a dream / Then it came to an end / I wonder if you'll come visit me again / You're taking your time to reappear". The main character wakes up from the dream. She picks up and dials a number, on the lyrics: "I'm starting to believe that when I call your name / You just don't hear me anymore". The character tosses the phone and hopelessly hangs their head at the lyrics "And I know that I shouldn't even try / It's a waste of time." The outro could show a video overlay of a montage of clips of their friendship over her crying in bed.
The visuals could be similar to this Advanced Level Project:
6. Out of Sight by Chelou.
In this one, most of the emphasis could be on visuals and editing. It could be fast paced and complex. Visuals could be unrelated to each other and uncoordinated. For example: close ups of an eye, clouds, water moving back and forth harshly, people in crowds at a concert, smoke, the character playing an instrument, a child cycling, the person in the gym, a kitchen range hood, tossing pennies in a pond, the character eating, working at a desk, football, cars, coffee or tea brewing on a stove, painting, dancing, gaming, kites in the sky.
The character then takes off his hoodie on an empty street late at night, and at the "Run run run run run run run run run run run run running away", breaks into a run.
Then at the second "Run run run run run run run run run run run run running away" part, we could show a montage of 12 clips, with different lighting in each, for each "run".
The third and forth time, it cuts back to the character running, and laughing, a little manically, and continues to for the rest of the song.
This basically shows the restlessness, sense of unfulfillment, agony and dissatisfaction the character feels. This character has accomplished and excelled at a lot of things, and now is at loss of what to do or how to feel. The character tries everything, goes everywhere, but lacks enthusiasm. In the end, he feels the urge to just run. And he "just runs". That makes him happy after long days of feeling void.
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