Not all of the music video shall be animated, the 40 seconds or so not animated will feature a young girl reading the story.
The Attire: * Hair white or deep blue, in doll like curls * Lolita style hairpiece, white roses, pearls and lace * Frilly shirt and skirt emphasis on innocence * Pale skin, eyes made up, lips deep blue or blood red, nails long and painted
The Props: * Old book missing any title or author name
The Location: Either.... * Sitting in a garden beneath the moonlight * Sitting beneath a tree on an overcast day (lighting will help 'bleach' the footage)
The Actions: * Hand leaves a ghostly trail (talcum powder XD ) on the tree * Sits down noticing the book * Opens the book beginning the story * Closes the book, an animated version of the girl walking into the pages of the book
******Visual ideas, thoughts, influences to take into consideration.....******
Using Picasa and Google i was able to make a collage of ideas to aid the development of the music video.
~lolita style comes in many variations, goth, EGL, pink, etc any variation is eyecatching and rather unique....perhaps an idea for this piece... blue butterflies, like tears they fall and drift away, so light and fragile...animation perhaps
~A broken heart can prove fatal...
~Doll...human or plastic. People become bigger than their stories, and stories can swallow people...
~Once upon a year 3000, Happy never after....
~Venetian masks, decadence, and mystery, 'the dance' life and love.
~Red roses symbolise passion
~War can seperate people physically but not emotionally
Combining a profound admiration and inspiration brought by the Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu, Nanaki's View has forged purely instrumental metal music. Having listened to a range of their songs I have come to pitch for the atmospheric track, "Great Warrior".
Knowing the lack of vocals could prove difficult when creating a music video I decided that a strong visual piece with a story line would suit it. However I shall keep in mind the title of the track and endeavour to incorporate this into the video. Another seminal point is matching the emotion in the music to the visuals this will aid audience submersion alowing them to truly 'feel' the music. The music has a bittersweet sound suggesting revelation, love and loss. Taking this in to consideration I have decided to create a tragic love story.
Unfolding the viewer shall see a girl enter an old bookstore finding an untitled, weathered book she decides to open. Alternatively if I can't gain permission to film in a bookstore i'll place the book under a tree. Upon reading/ opening the book, through a mix of animation, silhouetting and acting the story of two stricken lovers shall unfold. Towards the end of the music the girl shall place the book down, during the ECU focusing on the book the wind shall gain strength and flip the pages showing frezeframes of the story just shown finally settling on the last frame she saw, however the reader herself is seen walking away into the story. This is intended to make the audience question just who the girl was, and even if she existed, was it her spirit, her story, her heart broken? The key image within the end will be sakura, or cherry blossoms, the tree will be a symbol of connection between the living and dead.
Stylistically I hope to create a soft dream like quality to the footage, much like old black and white films, perhaps adding a soft focues to the edges for example. I will use colour symbology to convey certain ideas and moods, perhaps using black and white with certain details in colour. Inspired by the decadent style of bands such as Malice Mizer, a japanese visual-kei band that worked for the most part in the 90's. Music video's such as 'Bel Air' for example, the costumes are bright, intricate and exotic, really capturing the magical quality of the bands music.
As a collective I hope to produce a video for alternative music, more specifically Metal, Industrial or Gothic music. However i'm undecided whether to use a purely instrumental piece or one with both lyrics and music. I understand the music video would need slightly different approaches if it was one or the other, a purely instrumental piece would need a visual story for example, nothing complex, just something befitting the conveyed emotion.
To locate unsigned, alternative bands I turned to social networking sites, Vampire Freaks and Myspace.
www.vampirefreaks.com
www.myspace.com
Stylistic Approaches To Consider...
Malice Mizer- Beast of Blood. Interesting points...Only really 3 shades, black, white and red.
Malice Mizer-Mayonaka Ni Kawashita Yakusoku malice mizer has performed the tale of Dracula, to their own song...
