Evanescence: ‘Imaginary’ song lyrics
Paper flowers (x 2)
I linger in the doorway
An alarm clock screaming,
Monsters calling my name.
Let me stay
Where the wind will whisper to me,
Where the raindrops
As they're falling tell a story.
(Chorus)
In my field of paper flowers,
And candy clouds of lullaby.
I lie inside myself for hours,
And watch my purple sky fly over me.
Don't say I'm out of touch
With this rampant chaos - your reality.
I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge.
The nightmare
I built my own world to escape.
(Chorus)
In my field of paper flowers,
And candy clouds of lullaby
I lie inside myself for hours,
And watch my purple sky fly over me.
Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming.
Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights.
Oh! How I long for the deep-sleep dreaming
The Goddess of imaginary light.
(Chorus)
In my field of paper flowers,
And candy clouds of lullaby
I lie inside myself for hours,
And watch my purple sky fly over me.
Intentions of linking video to lyrics
To produce a conventional music video that is appropriate to this genre of Gothic Rock/Metal, it makes sense to make the connection from the lyrics of the song to the visuals. The lyrics are one of the main aspects to the traditional Gothic style, using words to support the conventional themes of horror and romance. Throughout the song there is evidence of this through lyrics such as ‘screaming’, ‘monsters calling’ or ‘nightmare’. I intend to link the lyrics in some parts directly to the images, however the main focus of the video is to stick to the styles and conventions of the genre.
Specific Links with Lyrics and Visuals
Verse One:
‘I linger in the doorway’ - In the video, the doorway will be symbolic representing the devision between two worlds, the real world and the dream world. This idea will recur throughout the piece; first at the beginning when she enters the world, and once again at the end when she leaves, or wakes up.
‘An alarm clock screaming’ - At this point the video will cut back to the real world, and to the alarm clock going off. This is one of the more literal parts of the music video.
‘Monsters calling my name’ - In the video, the ‘monsters’ refer to the torments of the real world, and the problems in the heroins life. The other character in the video is a skeleton masked, male figure, linking with the gothic genre and themes of horror also acting as a literal shot on the word ‘monsters’. This character is also symbolic, resembling the real world, as throughout the video he is there waiting to take her back to reality.
‘Let me stay’ - Almost speech, asking to stay in her dream. The heroin slams her hand on the alarm clock previously mentioned and she ‘stays’ in her sleep, returning to her dream
Chorus One:
‘I lie inside myself for hours, And watch my purple sky fly over me’ - At this point in the first chorus, we will see the heroin lying down, immersed in the beauty of the landscape. Above her there will be purple skies above.
These lines are the only strong, literal links between the lyrics and the visuals. Other links will be expressed through concepts, and less literal visual images. Originally my plan was to make a solely conceptual video, however because of the style of genre, it seemed very appropriate to include some of these specific visuals and concepts.
Tuesday 15 February 2011
Basic Storyline Plan for Music Video
A girl falls asleep and awakes in a dream. Frighten'd and confused at first finding herself in a surreal, almost nightmarish landscape, full of Gothic imagery: Dark houses, woods, hill sides, monuments.
She wanders exploring the dream, she is followed and watched suspicious by a demonic masked character. Gradually she realises her love for the world, she begins dancing through the landscape entranced in the beauty if the dream.
During her search of her surroundings, she scenes of herself and her partner from their past, arguing. Themes of anger, fear and tension are presented.
She tries desperately to escape these memories and run back to her dream world. She runs away and carries on dancing in her dream.
While she dances, the masked figure beacons to her. The horrifying figure represents the real world and the horrors of if. He is there to take her back to the real world, to wake up.
The figure forcibly drags her back to the door, a symbolic representation of the real world.
She struggles wildly to break free to stay in her imagination forever, but she cannot. He drags her through the dream and through the door of reality, she wakes up.
She wanders exploring the dream, she is followed and watched suspicious by a demonic masked character. Gradually she realises her love for the world, she begins dancing through the landscape entranced in the beauty if the dream.
During her search of her surroundings, she scenes of herself and her partner from their past, arguing. Themes of anger, fear and tension are presented.
She tries desperately to escape these memories and run back to her dream world. She runs away and carries on dancing in her dream.
While she dances, the masked figure beacons to her. The horrifying figure represents the real world and the horrors of if. He is there to take her back to the real world, to wake up.
The figure forcibly drags her back to the door, a symbolic representation of the real world.
She struggles wildly to break free to stay in her imagination forever, but she cannot. He drags her through the dream and through the door of reality, she wakes up.
Final Song Choice 'Imaginary"
Choice of Song
The Gothic Metal band Evanescence is a classic example of the combination of genres. With female vocals of Aimee Lee, the band juxtaposes heavy metal music with very melodic singing. I chose this band because it displayed all the conventional aspects of the Gothic/ Metal genre of music, through the bands physical appearance and through the music and lyrics.
I chose the song 'Imaginary', from the album 'Fallen' as it provides a lot of opportunities to show off the conventions and styles of the Gothic genre. The lyrics in the song are very Gothic, which helps enormously when putting them to visuals. Another reason this particular song stood out was because of its themes. The themes of dreams and nightmares allow me as the creator to uses my imaginationto the fullest, 'anything can happen in a dream'. In preparation to creating a suitable storyline to link with these themes I looked up dreams and nightmares on the internet to get a feel for the surrealistic images I could present.
From research into the two themes I found a general contrast of beauty and horror. The themes of dreams links in perfectly with the Gothic genre and the horror aspects commonly found in this type of genre can be applied to nightmares. There is also a strong relationship with nature in dream, which I might include to back up the story and location. I believe it is very important to contain this contrast in my music video, my intentions are to create a world which we may find frightening but also strangely beautiful as well.
Also in preparation to the creation of my story, I also took inspiration from film. I watched films which followed the style of the Gothic genre such as Tim Burton's 'Sleepy Hollow', 'The Corpse Bride' and other films dealing with the theme of dreams such as 'Inception'. From these films I could see the obvious Gothic horror style in action, and I also saw the surrealistic visuals which bent the imagination. This helped me greatly to create my storyline for the song and for my music video.
The Gothic Metal band Evanescence is a classic example of the combination of genres. With female vocals of Aimee Lee, the band juxtaposes heavy metal music with very melodic singing. I chose this band because it displayed all the conventional aspects of the Gothic/ Metal genre of music, through the bands physical appearance and through the music and lyrics.
I chose the song 'Imaginary', from the album 'Fallen' as it provides a lot of opportunities to show off the conventions and styles of the Gothic genre. The lyrics in the song are very Gothic, which helps enormously when putting them to visuals. Another reason this particular song stood out was because of its themes. The themes of dreams and nightmares allow me as the creator to uses my imaginationto the fullest, 'anything can happen in a dream'. In preparation to creating a suitable storyline to link with these themes I looked up dreams and nightmares on the internet to get a feel for the surrealistic images I could present.
From research into the two themes I found a general contrast of beauty and horror. The themes of dreams links in perfectly with the Gothic genre and the horror aspects commonly found in this type of genre can be applied to nightmares. There is also a strong relationship with nature in dream, which I might include to back up the story and location. I believe it is very important to contain this contrast in my music video, my intentions are to create a world which we may find frightening but also strangely beautiful as well.
Also in preparation to the creation of my story, I also took inspiration from film. I watched films which followed the style of the Gothic genre such as Tim Burton's 'Sleepy Hollow', 'The Corpse Bride' and other films dealing with the theme of dreams such as 'Inception'. From these films I could see the obvious Gothic horror style in action, and I also saw the surrealistic visuals which bent the imagination. This helped me greatly to create my storyline for the song and for my music video.
Sunday 13 February 2011
Locations and Artwork
The majority of the music video is set in an 'imaginary' landscape, a dream which needs to feature very surrealistic images. To convey the sense of a dream in the video, the location is a vital aspect and is also important in portraying the conventions of the typical Gothic genre. Even though I am presenting 'a dream' to my audience, I will actually be giving it a nightmarish look as this links more appropriately to the Gothic genre.
I chose to research Gothic artwork, to gather inspiration from the locations and moods within the images.
Images of Gothic artwork from research:
This picture clearly depicts the Gothic genre through its dark, nightmarish setting. The stone ruins and the style of building are very conventional, not only visually beautiful but also expressing themes important to the genre such as nature over industry. Often within Gothic images there are religious references, in this picture it is suggesting the fall of religion through the centred, 'ruined' monastery. I also see the trees as very important references to nature, without leaves the trees look very dead, skeletal and lethal, giving it the Gothic look.
The look of this picture is exactly how I want my video. The almost black and white look with very little but bold colour, stands out as a perfect gothic setting. It is almost as if the story of this picture is of a girl trapped in a dream or nightmare, exploring but not afraid. Again the trees are very dead and dark, almost from the Sleepy Hollow, the trees take on character in themselves through visual personification, reaching and beaconing. I intend to capture this in my music video, which means filming must occur in the winter period for the best effect. The white dress worn by the female character stands out very well in the darkness of the picture, however I still want to apply the conventions of Gothic fashion to my character.
Appropriately named 'Throne of Death', this picture most effectively conveys the link between Fantasy and the Gothic genre. Still, colour-wise the image is very traditional to other Gothic art and the sharp images of the rock and the icicles are also very familiar to the genre. The skulls located all over the giant knight, show the link to horror and death, two very strong themes in the Gothic genre. I want to have a horrific character in my video, possibly with a skull mask to emphasise the horror side of the genre.
Location Scouting at Shugborough Hall
I wanted a set of locations to represent a dream and to create that dreamlike feeling. To create this I needed to widen the gap between reality and the surrealism of the dream. This gap is created by putting Gothic surroundings, buildings in the dream, while reality is full of houses roads and cities. I walked around taking pictures of places I intend to film. With this knowledge and understanding of the locations it allows me to better understand the shots and where I will shoot them.
I chose to research Gothic artwork, to gather inspiration from the locations and moods within the images.
Images of Gothic artwork from research:
This picture clearly depicts the Gothic genre through its dark, nightmarish setting. The stone ruins and the style of building are very conventional, not only visually beautiful but also expressing themes important to the genre such as nature over industry. Often within Gothic images there are religious references, in this picture it is suggesting the fall of religion through the centred, 'ruined' monastery. I also see the trees as very important references to nature, without leaves the trees look very dead, skeletal and lethal, giving it the Gothic look.
The look of this picture is exactly how I want my video. The almost black and white look with very little but bold colour, stands out as a perfect gothic setting. It is almost as if the story of this picture is of a girl trapped in a dream or nightmare, exploring but not afraid. Again the trees are very dead and dark, almost from the Sleepy Hollow, the trees take on character in themselves through visual personification, reaching and beaconing. I intend to capture this in my music video, which means filming must occur in the winter period for the best effect. The white dress worn by the female character stands out very well in the darkness of the picture, however I still want to apply the conventions of Gothic fashion to my character.
Appropriately named 'Throne of Death', this picture most effectively conveys the link between Fantasy and the Gothic genre. Still, colour-wise the image is very traditional to other Gothic art and the sharp images of the rock and the icicles are also very familiar to the genre. The skulls located all over the giant knight, show the link to horror and death, two very strong themes in the Gothic genre. I want to have a horrific character in my video, possibly with a skull mask to emphasise the horror side of the genre.
Location Scouting at Shugborough Hall
I wanted a set of locations to represent a dream and to create that dreamlike feeling. To create this I needed to widen the gap between reality and the surrealism of the dream. This gap is created by putting Gothic surroundings, buildings in the dream, while reality is full of houses roads and cities. I walked around taking pictures of places I intend to film. With this knowledge and understanding of the locations it allows me to better understand the shots and where I will shoot them.
Sunday 6 February 2011
Gothic Style and Fashion
Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes dyed black hair, black lips and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are often borrowed from the Punks, Victorians and Elizabethans. Goth fashion can be recognised by its stark black clothing (or hair or makeup), The style initially emerged alongside the early 1980s Gothic rock scene.
In my music video I will aim to stay true to conventional Gothic themes and styles. I have taken inspiration from traditional styles of the Gothic genre, and I will apply them to my characters in the music video. It will contain conventional dress and costumes that conform to the traditional and expected traditions of the gothic genre.Some of this information was found during research on wikipedia.
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