Originally I hadn't narrowed down to a specific genre, instead I wanted to see what visuals and colours came to mind when listening to a variety of music. Naturally from day to day I listen to a range of music so this led me to coming up with concepts for artists such as A$AP Rocky, Alt-J, Arctic Monkeys, Jamie XX, Radiohead, Shaun Colwill etc. When coming up with the concepts I wanted to not limit myself therefore I naturally came up with some pretty complex and interesting ideas however once I had developed some of these ideas I naturally had to consider the constraints that I have to work with.
For example, with the Arctic Monkeys I wanted to use the track "Crying Lightning". As a piece of music its a beautiful melancholic sounding song with some very clear visual elements to be taken from the lyrics. One of my ideas for that track was that I could construct lightning by using a camera flash outside of a window and and filming the flashing light on the window frame from inside. I would of also sprayed a hose up into the sky so that the water rained down and ran down the window. The performance aspect of the video would of been styled like the backlit photos I attached to my lighting research.
For the Alt-J track "Bloodflood" I had a concept which had really strong imagery embedded within a very narrative driven idea however to pull it off I would of had to of had a lot of good convincing actors and access to a lot of locations. Unfortunately I do not know many actors and actresses so therefore I discarded this concept.
Whilst I listened to Jamie xx's latest album "In Colour" there were some really strong visuals that came to mind. Some of them could of worked however a lot of the tracks were double the minimum time limit and I want an engaging video, therefore with limited cast, minimal crew and no budget it would of been a struggle to realistically develop those ideas any further. Because most of the music is instrumental I would of focused on abstract, performance and some minor narrative shots to fill the video. Because Jamie xx is from London and to me a lot of the music evokes images of London from when I lived there I would of had to shoot a lot of it there which would of cost me a lot of money in travel expenses and some of the areas I would of wanted to film would of been dangerous areas to take camera equipment.
I play as the session drummer for Shaun Colwill so I approached him to see if I could use one of his tracks. Unfortunately I couldn't due to legal agreements. After talking through my brief with the band we decided we would record a track. When we get together to record we always improvise and jam which sometimes spawns interesting ideas. One of the key benefits of us recording a track for the video is that it will look like its our music in the video. Music is so directly connected with the clothes the musicians wear, the hairstyles, the instruments and mannerisms that for me to get the band to act as the Arctic Monkeys or Radiohead, well established artists, it would naturally look contrived and would probably give away that this video is being made by an eighteen year old media student. Instead because we will be playing us it should look more natural, and also because the band members aren't actors they wont have to try and adopt other peoples images, instead being themselves which will create a far more comfortable vibe on set and hopefully in the finished product.
Another benefit of us recording the track is that it will allow me to slightly tailor the sound to the concept of the video and the video to the sound. Throughout the first week or so of the project, and prior commencing it, I've had a mental look book of themes, colours, scenes, shot types, movements, colour grading, lighting, etc, etc that I want to include. Therefore being able to slightly shape the track to that is ideal for me as it will hopefully allow me to create a video that supports the track.
