R+P Post 8: Possible tracks for the single

One of our group's first activities was to compile a list of possible tracks for our single. We did this by creating a list of songs we believe would be good for the music video, keeping in mind that they would have to be three minutes or under to fit the requirements of the brief.

We then shared and listened to our choices in a meeting and created a long list for songs we believed could work:

Our longlist

From that, we had a few favourites:

MGMT - 'TIME TO PRETEND'

Pros:

• lyrics that resonate with a specific, young adult audience.

• clear 'message' about the joys and problems of youth - a clear focus as to what signifiers in our music video will successfully convey this message.

• potential narrative - perhaps the story of a popular boy in a high school setting, treated like royalty, messes around etc.

Cons:

• already has a very identifiable track and music video - risk of plagiarising the original video.

• over three minutes long

ARCADE FIRE - 'THE SUBURBS'

Pros:

• lyrics resonate with specific, young adult audience
• loose narrative that could translate on to a music video well; e.g."'I learned how to drive"

Cons:

• over three minutes long

BLACK CAT ZOOT - 'SWEET DREAM'

Pros:

• possibilities to create intertextual references in our music video; for example, the line 'dancing in the rain' created ideas to reference the film 'Singing in the Rain'.
  
  
• out of the songs on the long list, this track stimulated our group with the most ideas and discussion, about set-ups, potential narratives and ways we could fit in some of aesthetics we wanted to replicate from other music videos; for example we liked the concept of a character 'hopping' from world to world (possibly referencing pop culture), with the sets appearing handmade (i.e cardboard).
  
  
• 'synth' keyboard and fun lyrics stands it out as having an indie pop sound, a genre our group have a good understanding of, meaning we felt that we could successfully replicate the conventions. 
  
  

Cons:

• ambiguous message to the track, therefore difficult for a semiotic approach and also to create a narrative around