Lyrical Links to the Visuals

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Gothic Metal Genre & Market Research

Gothic metal or goth metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music. The genre originated during the early 1990s in Europe originally as an outgrowth of doom/death, a fusion of death metal and doom metal. Lyrics are generally melodramatic and mournful with inspiration from gothic fiction as well as personal experiences.

Norwegian band Theatre of Tragedy developed the "beauty and the beast" aesthetic of combining aggressive male vocals with clean female vocals, a contrast that has since been adopted by many gothic metal groups. During the mid-1990s, Moonspell, Theatres des Vampires and Cradle of Filth brought the gothic approach to black metal. By the end of the decade, a symphonic metal variant of gothic metal had been developed by Tristania and Within Temptation.

In the 21st century, gothic metal has moved towards the mainstream in Europe, particularly in Finland where groups such as The 69 Eyes, Entwine, Lullacry, Poisonblack and Sentenced have released hit singles or chart-topping albums. In the US, however, only a few bands such as HIM, Lacuna Coil, Evanescence and Cradle of Filth have found commercial success.
Music

The music of gothic metal is generally characterised by its dark atmospheres. The adjective "dark" is commonly used to describe gothic music in general while other terms that are less frequently used include deep, depressing, romantic, passionate and intense. Gothic metal has also been described as "a combination of the darkness and melancholy of goth rock with heavy metal". Allmusic defines the genre as a fusion of "the bleak, icy atmospherics of goth rock with the loud guitars and aggression of heavy metal" and further notes that "true goth metal is always directly influenced by goth rock - ethereal synths and spooky textures are just as important as guitar riffs, if not moreso".
There is also a diverse range of vocal styles in gothic metal. Male singers in the genre range from the guttural growls and black metal shrieks of Dani Filth and Morten Veland to the clean counter-tenor vocals of Østen Bergøy and the bass range of Peter Steele. For the female singers, the different vocal styles includes the screams and growls of Cadaveria, the "poppy" vocals of Tanja Lainio from Lullacry and the operatic soprano style of Vibeke Stene from Tristania. There are more female singers in gothic metal than there are in any other heavy metal subgenres but female vocals are neither necessary nor synonymous with the genre. Liv Kristine of Theatre of Tragedy and Leaves' Eyes notes that the gothic tag is often misinterpreted and points out that "not every band with female vocals is a gothic band". The genre is also known to attract more female fans relative to other subgenres of heavy metal music.

The lyrics of gothic metal are known to be "epic and melodramatic". Gothic fiction, a literary genre that blends horror and romance, has been a source of inspiration for the lyrics of many gothic metal band. Lyrics based on personal experiences is another common feature of many gothic metal bands

Information was gathered from research on Wikipedia and other sights with focuses on Gothic Metal/Rock.



Market Research

I questioned 20 people from each of the age ranges below, and asked the question: Which of the following genres of music do you prefer?

The Options were:
- Rock
- Gothic/Metal
- Classical
- Independent

These are my results:



From this graph it is clear that the highest number of people who said Gothic/Metal was in the 16-20 age range. However the results also show that among the other ranges the Gothic/Metal genre still appeals to a select few, meaning the target audience is wider than expected. Predominantly teenagers however the adult more complex themes may appeal to an older audience.


The Focus Group

The Focus group was a chance to find out what an audience would expect and want to see in a music video of this genre. After finding out the majority aged, target audience (teenagers), I aimed to question members of this age group so I got three teenage girls to be my focus group. I sat them down in an empty class room and asked them to fill in a question sheet, while listening to a track of gothic music, to discover their views.



After they had listened to the song, we talked about their views, what they thought of the music, what images they would expect to see in a music video and what audience they thought the music was aimed for.



I noted down the sort of derelict images described, as well as the dark, morbid ideas which I intend to incorporate into my own music video. The audience was confirmed by the girls that teenagers would be the predominant target audience.

Gothic Music Video Analysis

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Evanescence is a classic example of Gothic Metal. In this music video of 'Going Under', from the album 'Fallen', the classic conventions and styles of the gothic genre are clearly displayed. From the very start of the video we see how the gothic look is very important to the genre. This usually focuses of dark colours, black hair, clothes and make-up. Piercings are also very common in the goth look.

As the video progresses we can see how the band displays one of the main conventions of the gothic genre, horror. Horror is important to this style of music, ass the music itself is dark, morbid and creepy. In the music video, this is the main theme of the piece as we see the inner, demon-like creatures seen by the band of backstage crew, members of the press and the fans. The style of music is also obviously conveyed through the intensity of the lyrics, using very gothic, morbid words like 'screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you', which also suggests the importance of the horror style in this genre of music.

The music video does stick to most points of Goodwin's Theory, first of all the strong links between the lyrics and the visuals. The main title of the song and lyrics in the chorus, link to the ongoing visual images of the lead singer 'Amy Lee', singing under water in a long white dress, which contrasts colours with her black hair. She sings, 'Im going under, Im drowning in you', again keeping the dark language. The visuals stay true to the gothic rock genre, images of death, demonic apparitions and characters are very common ideas linked to this kind of music.



This video is from the band Xandria. Again with female vocals the bands Gothic/metal genre is contrasted with the soft melody of singer Kerstin Bischof. In this music video the contrast is made very clear through the visuals. We see the female lead in the centre of a nightmarish setting, a graveyard surrounded by dead trees, setting up the morbid and conventionally Gothic scene. Her appearance makes the contrast clear, through the pure and angelic white dress, and the jet black hair colour conforming to traditional Gothic style and fashion. We also see the other band members standing around her all in Black clothing which again presents to us the Gothic horror genre.

Although the very poetic and theatrical nature of the music and lyrics, the video itself is essentially a performance music video. Showing lots of images of the band and female lead, appealing to its set audience. With the exception of the unrelated visuals showing a female body/corpse being slowly covered by some sort of magical undergrowth. This links very strongly with the importance of nature and the beauty of the natural world in the Gothic genre.



A video for the extremely Gothic metal band 'Cradle of Filth', this video expresses the darker and more horrific side to the Gothic genre of music. The very stereotypical Gothic image of the band is made very clear in this video, we can see how the band wishes to appear to its audience and the effect and emotion they want to provoke. The conventional, dark makeup of the lead singer creates a frightening image which links to the horror sub-genre, as well as the black, leather clothing and metal piercing giving a very grotesque but traditional image of 'the Goth'.

Through the music and lyrics very different styles are being presented, from the male vocalist's hardcore, metal 'growling', to a very orchestral and anthemic female singing at the beginning of the chorus. The video itself focuses on the difference between the singers and styles, through the shots showing two very different settings; one being the conventionally Gothic, dark, nightmarish wood, and then the bright, colourful, naturalistic landscape. All though this is an obvious contrast between styles and genres, the interest in nature remains strong link to the Gothic genre.