The song we have chosen is 'Avalanche' by Bad Sounds. As the band is a young, modern band we chose to message them on Facebook as it was clear they responded quickly on this site. The responded saying they were happy for us to use their song as long as we made it clear it was an unofficial, 'fan' video.
To start our search we decided what genre of music our song would be. We wanted something slightly quirky and alternative as we felt this gave us a wide range of options for the music video however the structure and conventions Pop and Rock music videos have is useful in actually creating ideas. Therefore we decided the genre of our song should be slightly alternative Pop or Rock. After much research we found 4 possible songs:
'Avalanche' by Bad Sounds
'Dead by Summer' by 20 Cent Dreams
'Foule' by Waste
'SOIA' by Strange Bones
Having shortlisted these songs we created a web diagram that clearly highlighted each songs strengths and weaknesses in relation to aspects of a successful music video song. These included: different chapters in the song, good quality recording, interesting lyrics, broad genre and dynamic music. By doing this it was easy to visualise each songs strengths and furthermore help us decide on the best song.
Pink- 'Avalanche'
Blue- 'SOIA'
Orange- 'Dead by Summer'
Green- 'Foule'
Avalanche
Strengths
Very distinct beat
Very high quality recording
It's an interesting, quirky genre
Interesting, narrative lyrics
weaknesses
Not the most dynamic song- virtually all one volume and intensity
There are different chapters but they're not as clear cut as other music videos
SOIA
Strengths
Very distinct beat, excellent to cut to
high quality recording
There are different chapters to the song
Fairly broad and hybrid genre
Weaknesses
There aren't many highly distinctive or iconic lyrics
The song isn't as dynamic as others
Dead By Summer
Strengths
Clear and distinct chapters
Dynamic changes throughout
Clear beat
Good quality recording
Weaknesses
Lack of iconic and distinctive lyrics
fairly narrow genre
Foule
Strengths
Distinct beat
Clear sections and chapters to the song
Distinct lyrics
Weaknesses
Mediocre recording quality
Quite narrow genre
In conclusion we decided to go with 'Avalanche' by Bad Sounds. The distinct beat, alternative,broad genre and iconic narrative lyrics meant that we had a lot of inspiration and ability to experiment with our music video. Whilst it wasn't the most dynamic of songs there were clear chapters and the distinctiveness of the lyrics helped define these chapters. A narrative can clearly be seen in the lyrics and this is very useful when brainstorming ideas for the music video.