Music Marketing Blog [1]

Brainstorming and Planning

The genre of the song that we received for this project was rock. The song is "Five Seconds" by Twin Shadow. We started this project by researching rock production companies Rock Ridge Music and Chapel of Rock. Both companies distribute hard copies and digital versions of their music along with merchandise for the artists. I believe this is quite standard for music production companies to try to expand the reach of their music, so providing both physical and digital versions of the songs would be a given. From this research, we decided that our artist will do the same to provide both physical and digital versions, though the digital version would be more accessible with more applications provided to stream or listen to music digitally (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, etc.).

We started planning for our checklist and a schedule we would do our best to follow. It was a checklist with a chart as a reminder and guide to how much work we must have done by each day to prevent any last-minute work. It was color-coded as well to aid us visually.

Although we ended up having to skew some days for filming and work due to other complications, we were able to finish up what was needed with the extra editing day we gave ourselves. We also split up the work after filming, as two would edit and the other two would put together the presentation with the ideas we produced as a group. We would then switch, and the other two would refine the edits and make any necessary commentary, and two would revise and review the presentation.

As we began to plan the music video itself to promote our song, we started off by listening to the song. We followed along with the lyrics and analyzed them a few times as we reread them. It seemed to be a song where the main subject sings of having a severed relationship where neither ended up accepting the other or so we thought. 

We created a general idea of what the lyrics wanted to convey and then created the general story. We decided the story would just be something of Subject 1 and Subject 2's awkward relationship where neither was able to reach the other through the heart. They reject the idea of leaving each other, but neither would be able to really love the other again. They would start off fine but eventually would grow apart. We paused from the story to brainstorm smaller details we could add or any symbolism before continuing on with the story writing. For example, we decided that they could use paper bags to mask themselves from each other after they started growing apart, and that Subject 1 would express their own way of love through acts of kindness and such, while Subject 2 would prefer to show it more verbally. However, they both expect the same of the other and would start to grow apart. After planning out the plot, we wrote down the story and shots to match the lyrics, keeping in mind any instrumentals between the lyrics. We drew up a physical copy of the storyboard itself to guide us when filming.