Choosing a Song

Once we had been given the brief of creating a promotional package for the release of an album for an unsigned British band, it was my task to find a band I wanted to make a music video for. On the search for copyright free music, I came across jamendo.com. This website offered a wide range of unsigned artists with a variety of genres to choose from. In my head I wanted to create a video for a band that would suit my age group, which mainly meant I should focus on indie rock bands. I also have a knowledge in the area as it is a genre I like myself, therefore securing this as my choice of band or artist to choose. I listened to numerous tracks on the website, compiling a playlist of possibilities that would suit my genre, attract my idea of a target audience, and that I could imagine a music video working with. Here were some of the possibilities:

I finally decided upon using Stay Awake, by The House of the Old Boat. They are a London based indie folk band, produced and written on behalf of Jo Loin who frequently collaborate with multi-instrumentalist Catherine Masonas. They released this song as part of their debut self titled album, The House of the Old Boat.

I loved this song in particular due to the composition of the track, starting with the trumpet and simply building up in instruments with the guitar and drums. The song develops in a full circle of sound, hitting the climax towards the middle of the song that then levels out again towards the end of the track. The lyrics really came across strongly as to the emotion within writing the track, which is something I wanted to bring out through the imagery of the video. It is apparent they talk about a breakup in the song, which instantly gave me ideas whilst watching it.