#as usual this is primarily vibes/metaphorical :3

[abyssalmermaiden]

… Dark chambers of my mind Locked around the neck of my love None of you understand And it doesn't matter To a broken marionette like me!

bonus Amon solo shots:

[sdcuevas16]

Crafting a Storyboard for the Analog Horror Becoming Filipino

Creating a great story necessitates thorough planning, especially when dealing with complex topics. In the case of "Becoming Filipino," an analogue horror web video series, creating a storyboard was a critical step in bringing the creepy and thought-provoking story that dives into the fears linked with Filipino identity to life.

This blog post will walk you through my process of producing the storyboard for this one-of-a-kind series.

"Becoming Filipino" storyboarding was a complex but engaging process that required me a precise approach to capture the core of the storyline. Here's a thorough summary of how I approached this task:

Understanding the Theme To begin this creative journey, I wanted to completely understand the overarching concept of "Becoming Filipino," which explored the fears linked with Filipino identity. This required me to thoroughly dive into the complexities of Filipino culture and society, covering a wide range of themes ranging from socio-political challenges to deeply rooted social norms.

Research: To understand the multifaceted nature of Filipino identity and the issues that the community encounters, I began by conducting comprehensive research.

Story Conceptualization: I worked closely with the series' writers, particularly Collie Arellano for PSA 1 and 3 and Nico Booc for PSA 2, to incorporate these research findings into a coherent narrative concept based on their written plot, ensuring that the overall story was consistent with the intended theme. 2. Creating Symbolism The message of analogue horror is primarily reliant on symbolism. The next phase was to come up with creative ways to illustrate the country's problems using supernatural elements. This necessitated careful study of how each scene, character, and visual aspect would contribute to the symbolism of the narrative.

Metaphor Exploration: When creating the "Becoming Filipino" storyboard, I used metaphors and symbols to depict the complicated difficulties that Filipinos experience such old film footage, glitches, and deformities of elements. Metaphors were picked with care to complement the main theme, making the story dense and informative while maintaining the unpleasant vibe of analogue horror.

Visual Design: Working with other artists in the group, I helped create visual pieces that reflected these metaphors and guaranteed their seamless integration into the storyboard. 3. Balancing Horror and Social Commentary One of the most challenging part was balancing the scary components with the underlying societal critique. The storyboard had to guarantee that the terror was kept to a minimum, allowing the significant societal lessons to come through.

Tone Setting: I collaborated extensively with the writers and other members of the group, and consult them on a regular basis, to ensure that the horror element would not overshadow the narrative's societal commentary in the storyboard.

Narrative Flow: I painstakingly structured the scene sequence to preserve a harmonious flow, just to make sure that the narrative shifted smoothly from moments of anxiety to periods of reflection. 4. Eliciting Emotional Responses To explain the horror part of the series, the storyboard had to focus on creating sequences that elicited powerful emotional responses without falling to the usual horror tropes.

Emotional Arcs: I created emotional arcs for each character and scene to ensure that the audience felt an array of emotions, from discomfort to empathy.

Visual and Auditory Cues: I worked with our team's sound designers, Airam and Paler, to generate visual and auditory cues that would elicit the required emotional responses in the viewer, all while keeping the disturbing atmosphere of analogue horror.

The storyboard for "Becoming Filipino" was a difficult but enjoyable task for me. It definitely required me to digest the selected genre, underlying ideas, and target audience. As I worked on the storyboard, it became clear that "Becoming Filipino" is more than just a web-video series; it's a deep dive into Filipino identity and the horrors that go along with it.

My Storyboard Outputs

PSA 1

PSA 2

PSA 3

[lystelle]

why cassandra is the traitor- not adira

now before y’all hit me with the “but adira!!” hear me out. as we know, adira has been set up as a morally ambiguous, wandering individual who doesn’t seem to have much to lose since we met her. the very first time we meet her, she attacks raps and cassandra for kicks. just about everyone in the gang gets off untrustworthy, even ‘villainous’ vibes from adira. even later on, after multiple encounters with adira (including ones where she helped the group get out of trouble!) not much has changed, not made better by hector’s warning about her.

now you would think that, for being set up this long as someone who is untrustworthy, adira is the traitor. but that’s too easy. it’s too predictable, if it happened, we wouldn’t be surprised- and we know that the tangled crew too well to expect something so obvious. 

adira is the red herring.

what we know about tangled antagonists:

quickly looking back at varian in early season 1, we had a lot of material to warn us of his antagonist/villain potential. this is important. first, pre-existing weakness/personality traits. his alchemy was shown to be unstable, and so was he- unwilling to back down or accept his mistakes. he wanted to be successful. second, imagery and foreshadowing, primarily being the first appearance with his mask and coat in ‘what the hair’. third, and most importantly, the means/reasoning to turn into an antagonist. varian’s poor relationship with his disappointed father (who he lost shortly right before everything went downhill) which would later be exploited and lead to his breakdown.

cassandra’s resentment:

cassandra, throughout her entire life, has been pushed down, overshadowed, patronized, and in general, not seen as capable of the things she clearly is skilled at. the most obvious of these things being her swordfighting ability (throughout the show), strong leadership/independence (finally put to the test in ‘secret of the sundrop’) and skill in disarming enemies (as seen in ‘under raps’). cassandra has the capability to be a captain of the guard possibly even greater than her father. in the first season we are shown her being forced instead to work as a lady in waiting, put down during ‘challenge of the brave’ as simply ‘rapunzel’s handmaiden’, and at the slightest mistake, rejected from chances to ascend as a guard. 

“to you this was just a fun way to blow off a saturday but to me, this was my chance to show everyone that i am more than just your lady-in-waiting. and just when i thought i might even get the slightest bit of respect... never mind.”

not until the finale does corona truly see her shine as a leader and soldier, and even then, she is overshadowed by rapunzel. 

in both the first and second season, cass bickers and fights with rapunzel quite a bit, she is smug when she’s right, and bitter when she’s wrong. rapunzel showed up out of nowhere after 18 years and has already garnered more acclaim than cass has ever had, simply because she’s back home, whereas cass had to work her whole life to get a small sliver of respect. during S2’s midseason, ‘rapunzel and the great tree’, cassandra gets her hand severely burned by touching rapunzel during the reverse incantation, when she was a second away from stopping the vines herself with the spear. that burn, though not directly rapunzel’s intention, was still her fault for not trusting cass to save the day on her own. not only did she steal cassandra’s spotlight again, but she literally physically injured her. i think this is a kind of metaphor for the severe damage rapunzel causes, without directly intending it, to cassandra.

they try to talk once later about it, but to no awry; when rapunzel tries to help her injured hand, cassandra pulls away and says she’s fine when she clearly isn’t. later in ‘rapunzel: day one’, they talk about it again, arguing, cass clearly not accepting rapunzel’s reasoning for the tree incident, and at the end, they don’t say sorry and full get over it. cass admits that she’s “still mad” at her, and that she’s going to be for a while, though not forever. her tone shows that she doesn’t know if she can forgive rapunzel so easily, especially after all the past wrongs they’ve never even addressed. the writers are very obviously sending strong messages of resentment and bitterness building in cassandra, more than ever before, indicating to me that a tipping point is very near, especially with the finale coming up.

let’s review my three points for building up an antagonist from earlier, this time with cassandra.

#1: pre-existing weakness/personality traits

though she shows warmth occasionally and sometimes even apologizes for her actions, cass in general gives off a morally ambiguous vibe throughout the entire series. she lies to varian and others without batting an eye, disobeys orders from the king, and can be quite violent and threatening to members of her own court. (it also doesn’t help that her design and color palette are quite dark and shadowy, but i digress.) when given the opportunity to win and proceed in her path to recognition, she takes it, rarely regarding the impact on others.

#2: imagery and foreshadowing

she literally has an entire ‘i want’ song about how bad she wishes people would see her and respect her (‘waiting in the wings’), and give her the chance to shine, but she is never given the chance. past trends of ‘i want’ songs in disney usually lead later to some sort of chaotic ‘answer’ to the need, as pointed out by many already. 

cassandra also appeared in a ‘nightmare’ vision to rapunzel during ‘rapunzeltopia’, surrounded by green flame and especially villainous if compared to the other nightmares presented to her at the time. she is angry and bitter. “you did this to me rapunzel. it’s all because i FOLLOWED YOU.” the emphasis on ‘followed you’ is especially interesting to me. is she tired of following rapunzel’s lead? maybe even corona’s lead?

#3: the means/reasoning to turn into an antagonist

i thought this over after the aforementioned ‘rapunzeltopia’ especially. cass made it clear she hasn’t gotten over her anger. she’s covered in armor now, metaphorically and physically. when she wandered into that door in the shell house, we don’t know what happened to her, but what we do know is that whatever was inside was able to convince her to abandon her friends (who were trying to save rapunzel’s life!!) and that, as far as i can tell, is a major red flag. when she emerged from that door, clearly winded, the very first thing she did was scowl at rapunzel in a very menacing, bitter way.

whatever or whoever she saw in that place, it obviously changed something. i do think it’s the real cass who came out of that door, but she has been tampered with. whether it was a vision of her future, a person who told her her skills were more valued by zhan-teri, or someone who wanted her working in the dark kingdom, a lot of things could have happened to sway her allegiance. i don’t specifically think she’d hurt her friends, but she doesn’t feel so inclined to help them at the moment either. maybe she saw something that told her to stop rapunzel from reaching the opal, and she believed that she needed to protect the group from it. she has, of course, always taken the secondary option to save the group (think back to the spear in the great tree).

to close:

all this to say that cass has the buildup, unsolved resentment, and skills to pose a threat to the group. we know that ONE member of the party will turn against them. the finale is drawing very close. and only ONE member fits the formula of a twist antagonist that tangled used last season. that’s cassandra.

will this be for forever? of course not. i see this being a major plot thread in the finale and being resolved later in season 3, it would make an excellent storyline for rapunzel to deal with and add a lot of angst (which we all love). 

however, for the time being, cassandra made it clear she’s constantly ‘left waiting in the wings’, and the next opportunity that comes for her to prove herself might not have been from corona.

[brandbaskets]

New Post has been published on https://brandbaskets.in/fifa-world-cup-2018-the-best-kits-of-the-tournament-where-does-australia-rank-among-your-favourites-fifa-world-cup-russia-2018/

FIFA World Cup 2018: The best kits of the tournament - where does Australia rank among your favourites? - FIFA World Cup - Russia 2018

Posted June 07, 2018 05:46:54

Photo: Where does Australia’s kit rank for you among the 32 nations at the FIFA World Cup? (Nike)

The FIFA World Cup is finally here, and you know what that means: Prima donna footballers swanning around in the finest on-field fashion world sport has to offer.

Australia will be decked out in an all-gold number this year — will it be enough to swing the fashion judges’ glances our way in the World Cup attire final?

Which kit is your favourite?

If patriotism and favourite players were put to one side, which of this year’s 32 World Cup kits gets your fashionista motor running?

External Link:

Which five kits are your World Cup favourites?

Without further ado, here are our kit ratings, in order of their World Cup groups.

Russia: 5/10

Our World Cup hosts kick things off with a bright red set-up, with white trim in a proudly Russian arrangement of colour.

Photo: The World Cup hosts will primarily be playing in a bold red number with white trimmings. (Adidas)

Admittedly it’s pretty simple — anyone who’s ordered custom kits for their Wednesday-night futsal team knows a generic template when they see one — as Russia looks to go safety-first for their showpiece event.

Saudi Arabia: 3/10

Not off to the strongest start just yet. Saudi Arabia’s home kit has gone for the plain white, with green edgings and a brand new crest.

Photo: Saudi Arabia’s kit is plain white with its national colour green as the trim. Simple. (Nike)

Not much for wowing the crowd, though they get a bonus point for the shirt numbers on the lapel.

Egypt: 6/10

The colour red seems to suit simple kits, but there’s a little more than meets the eye with Egypt’s striking top, with a checkerboard pattern making the most subtle of impressions.

Photo: Egypt firms as one of the dark horses in Russia. ‘Red for danger’ serves as a suitable symbol, then. (Adidas)

Striking black finishes on sleeves and collar give Egypt something of a race-car vibe, which will suit the likes of the speedy Mo Salah just fine.

Uruguay: 7/10

The likely winner of Group A, Uruguay already tops the group’s fashion metric with a quintessentially sharp number from the South American nation.

Photo: Uruguay always looks sharp at football’s showpiece, and it hasn’t disappointed in 2018. (Puma)

Uruguay has a rich history of dapper footballers stealing hearts (Diego Forlan, oh my), and the sky-blue, tight-fitting Puma top will no doubt see them maintain their fine tradition of fashionable competence.

Portugal: 6/10

Photo: Portugal has served up an understated offering in Russia. (Nike)

The big question with any Portuguese kit: Will the walking, talking mannequin that is Cristiano Ronaldo pull it off?

Kind of like how the colour black goes with anything, Portugal has gone low key in 2018.

There are those that argue Ronaldo could pull off wearing a hessian bag, and while the manufacturers haven’t gone that low, they’re perhaps banking on the models to sell the clothes, rather than the other way round.

Traditional dark red, bottle green and golden flourishes for the kit manufacturer means it’s a safe-as-houses effort from the European champions.

Spain: 8/10

At last, a stand-out to finally get the ball rolling. Spain’s kit is a throw-back to the regalia it wore during the 1994 World Cup in the United States, with a similar zappy braid pattern down the right shoulder along the torso.

It’s bright, it’s inherently Spanish, with the right dash of Iberian flamboyance to completely overshadow their peninsula rivals Portugal.

Photo: Spain’s 2018 World Cup kit harkens back to the garments it wore at USA ’94. (Adidas)

Now the question remains: Can our fashionable matadors tame the metaphorical bulls on the football pitch in such eye-catching gear?

Morocco: 4/10

Let’s start with the positives: Morocco’s kit sports a particularly nice shade of red.

Photo: We’re not really sure why Russian player Vladimir Granat is modelling Morocco’s kit. (Adidas)

But that’s as far as the niceties go on one of a vast collection of red World Cup jumpers.

This is not the beginning of a beautiful friendship. No one will be asking Sam to play this one again.

Iran: 3/10

It’s white. It’s got some Adidas red trims. And that’s about it really.

Photo: Iran’s shirt (L) is … white. It has a bit of red, to be fair. And that’s about it, really. (AP)

Iran’s view on shirts seems to revolve purely around function, more than form. Basically something for footballers to wear so they don’t catch their death of exposure.

France: 7/10

Les Bleus’ kits have been getting darker and more navy as the years progress. So the 2018 version at least makes a token nod towards the more royal blue colours France used to sport, particularly when they won football’s biggest prize in 1998.

Photo: France usually look extremely dapper at football tournaments. This new kit may take some getting used to. (Nike)

Up against the brighter colours of Australia, Peru and Denmark in Group C, France’s dark assassins prime as favourites to top the group, and realistically should be aiming to reach the World Cup final.

This year in the fashion stakes, however, probably sees them bow out in the quarter-final stage.

Australia: 8/10

Traditionalists may prefer green and gold, but the all-gold approach for the Socceroos in 2018 is a winner in our books.

Photo: Looking schmick, Trent. Very schmick. (Nike)

The wave-pattern on the sleeves is a flourish we’ll indulge for now, but there’s something really proud and uplifting about the bright hues from top to toe that Australia has picked for its trip to Russia.

Arguments about Australian gold and canary yellow may ensue, but Australia will at least be visually noticed by the discerning nay-sayers of Europe and South America, this time.

Peru: 4/10

Look! It’s that club you created from scratch in Pro Evolution Soccer!

Photo: Peru believe they’re the prettiest contestants at the FIFA World Cup beauty pageant. Look at that sash. (Umbro)

Peru makes a long-awaited return to the World Cup wearing its signature beauty-pageant sash, diagonally slashed across a white front — but it’s not going to take out the Miss Congeniality prize this year.

Peru will be hoping it’s counter-attacking style reaps rewards on the pitch, because they’re sticking to basics in the wardrobe.

Denmark: 8/10

Simple doesn’t always mean bad, nor does it imply a lack of effort. Unlike striker Nicklas Bendtner, Denmark finds an unerring finish with this red-and-white arrangement.

Photo: The Viking blood runs strong in Denmark’s bold red, sported here by Lord Nicklas Bendtner and his travelling raiders. (Hummel)

It’s bold. It’s proud. And it might just be worn by the runners-up (at least) of Group C. Onward, raiders!

Argentina: 6/10

Exactly what you’d expect from an Argentina kit. Nothing more, nothing less.

Photo: Harking back to the glory days, Argentina’s kit is simple and to the point. (Adidas)

You know the drill: White and pale-blue stripes, the Adidas shoulders, and Lionel Messi looking surly. As you were.

Iceland: 6/10

Iceland is incredibly making its World Cup debut in Russia. Rather than a boring, run-of-the-mill promotion photo, we’ve opted for Football Iceland’s epic, country-spanning video spot.

External Link:

footballiceland tweets The new kit is here

Ah, Iceland. What a mythical place. Their footballers will be aiming to achieve mythical status themselves in a simple but effective bright blue number, laced with Icelandic pride and spirit. “Hu”, indeed!

Croatia: 8/10

Red and white checks. Some things just work, and Croatia’s checkerboard pattern (known as šahovnica, to the educated) is a safe bet for footballing fashionistas.

Photo: Like death and taxes, a red-and-white chequered Croatian World Cup kit is one of life’s foregone conclusions. (Nike)

It’s elegance and national pride in perfect harmony. And they’re a decent football team too, as an added bonus.

(aybollads=window.aybollads||[]).push(id:"91015553-3");

Nigeria: 10/10

If the World Cup were won by how much kits were a visual feast for the eyes, Nigeria would right now be lauded for bringing home a first-ever title for the African continent.

Photo: Just LOOK at this bad boy. Top of the class. (Nike)

An electric, almost soothing shade of green, paired with white and laced with zappy chevrons that screams energy, the Super Eagles will be a sight to behold if their pacey forwards get cracking in these numbers.

As if it needs bonus points for an incredible sales pitch, Nike goes for it anyway by saying the kit is inspired by “Naija” spirit, meaning “youthful exuberance, pride and fresh perspective on patriotism”.

Brazil: 7/10

Brazil’s kits will always be iconic and impressive. This year it’s more of the same, though the darker shade of yellow seems to undersell it just a smidge.

Photo: Brazil is sporting an ever-so-slightly darker shade of yellow in Russia this time round. (Nike)

There are two take-home messages from this, though: The Socceroos’ bright kit will look just a bit more impressive in comparison, and Neymar (assuming he heals up in time) will always look good as long as the silky skills are on show.

Switzerland: 7/10

Honestly, we’re not sure if this pattern even works, but damn it, the idea is at least novel.

Photo: Can you see the Matterhorn? (Puma)

It’s what you’d expect from Switzerland’s red kit, except this time they’ve interlaced it with a topographical map of the Swiss countryside. The Matterhorn is situated just above the wearer’s heart.

An idea as refreshing as the air in the Swiss Alps.

Costa Rica: 6/10

It’s basic, but Costa Rica will always enjoy an advantage in these stakes with the ever-handsome colour combination of royal red and royal blue.

Photo: Costa Rica’s kit isn’t exactly something to shout about, but they’ll always win out with the red-blue combination. (New Balance)

This time, a little subtle complication is thrown into the mix with a neat gradient pattern on one side of the shirt. Slow and steady wins the race.

Serbia: 3/10

All the good stuff went into producing Serbia’s obscene sporting talent, and nothing was left for the design brains trust.

Photo: Serbia’s kit: Nothing to see here. (Puma)

A boring, generic shirt, where even the numbers look a little moth-eaten.

Germany: 9/10

Goodness gracious. If anyone can do retro design, it’s the Germans.

Photo: Germany’s kit: Retro. Stylish. A winner. (Adidas)

If you thought black and white was a pretty vanilla colour combo, think again. Striking Adidas shoulders, a clean monochrome throughout, and as for that swoosh!

It makes us want to do our geometry lessons in high school maths class all over again.

Mexico: 7/10

Deep dark green, white edges, and a strobe finish on the flanks. Mexico’s got itself a kit that demands to be taken seriously.

Photo: From the mean streets of Mexico to a World Cup pitch near you. (Adidas)

It’s all business from El Tri, who will be looking for second spot at least in Group F.

Sweden: 5/10

Can do better, Sweden!

Photo: Pretty much what you’d expect from the Swedes. (Adidas)

From the home of sound, economical design, Sweden had the tools to do something truly brilliant in Russia. The ingredients were there — the subtle diagonal bars hint at so much promise, but generally it’s a bit of a let down from the Scandinavians.

South Korea: 2/10

It’s red.

Photo: South Korea’s kit is red. And that’s all we have to say about that. (Nike)

Anyone who struggled to come up with ideas for dress-up parties knows the feeling the Korean designers appear to have gone through, here. Grab an old shirt you haven’t worn in ages and hope for the best.

Those hopes appear dashed.

Belgium: 9/10

Nicely done! Belgium has had some fun with this one, with a cool geometric splash across the chest of its red kit.

Photo: Belgium’s home kit is sharp, but would it be fair to say they have won of the best away numbers in 2018? (Adidas)

We’re only marking home kits here, because we’re trying our best not to be influenced by that fabulous golden number they’re sporting as their change strip.

Panama: 5/10

The World Cup debutants could be the tournament’s whipping boys, but they at least won’t finish last in the fashion grades.

Photo: Panama will be making it’s World Cup debut in this simple, striking number. (New Balance)

A handsome red with fading, bevelled blocks across the Panamanian pecs should see the underdogs go out swinging in more ways than one.

Tunisia: 1/10

Nope. Not good enough from the fabled “Eagles of Carthage”.

Photo: Other than the lapel crest, there is nothing about Tunisia’s kit that screams ‘Eagles of Carthage’. (Uhlsport)

If you have the tournament’s greatest nickname, you would surely come up with a kit to match? A plain white top, with afterthought red as the finishes. It really could have been so much more.

England: 8/10

Say what you want about our colonial friends, England really does know how to make a simple design go a long way.

Photo: England’s kit is typically stately with a touch of class. (Nike)

The 1966 Cup winners have imbued their mostly white kit with understated elegance, making for a fine sight when they go out on penalties in the round of 16.

Poland: 7/10

Sharp and to the point, Poland isn’t messing about with their attire offering.

Photo: Robert Lewandowski looks dangerous in anything, but he’s particularly shop in Poland’s World Cup offering. (Nike)

A team that could prove to be a bit of a smoky in Russia, they’ve got a kit to match: Looks simple at first, but peer a little closer and there are quite a few nice finishes.

So kind of like Robert Lewandowski, in kit form.

Senegal: 5/10

Senegal have gone for the faded emblem print in the “background”, and it doesn’t quite come off convincingly.

Photo: A nifty design in the background, but hardly a world beater from Senegal. (Puma)

Judge the Lions of Teranga by their footballers, I guess — they’ve got a host of good ones this year — because the kit, while not terrible, isn’t a world beater, neither.

Colombia: 8/10

Retro! Retro! Retro! Colombia’s kit is unapologetically a throwback to the days of afro-sporting footballers and silky stepovers.

Photo: James Rodriguez sports Colombia’s home kit, another selection which has gone for the retro look. (Adidas)

The early ’90s-style zaps on the chest make it look a bit like that lightning bolt from the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers emblem, too.

Japan: 9/10

Ending the list strongly, Japan’s dark blue kit is less of a throwback and more of a nod towards the country’s Samurai heritage.

Photo: Oh my, yes. Very, very, very slick from Japan, here. (Adidas)

And hats off, Samurai Blue have played an absolute blinder here. It’s so very Japanese: beautiful, sharp, sophisticated, meticulous and meant to be taken very, very seriously.

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[joshuapollak]

Track 3 - Practical Work

Intro

Kick & Bass

Starting at the very beginning of the track was challenging - when writing this part I usually have a main idea already which helps with creative direction by already knowing the ultimate goal you are working towards. I decided to try and forget about that to begin with and just focus on it independently for what it was and ensure it fulfilled its purpose. That being a DJ friendly, ‘mixable’ section, in systematic 16 bar phrases that defined the energy level more than anything else. This would be key to capturing the bad temperament (Future Music, 2008).

Through analysis of reference tracks from that period I identified that early hardstyle often began with the kick and bass straight away, filtered down so as to still retain a point of difference in impact to the eventual drop, but effectively introducing the energy and vibe straight from the off. This also gave me an insight into the style of kick and bass that would be appropriate. 

The track above is the one that I took most inspiration from. The kick is fairly heavy and the bass is snappy on the off beat. I loosely replicated this style but decided to choose slightly ‘cleaner’ sounds - the reference track has a fairly clean kick but it sounds like there is quite a lot of distortion on the bass. This was a decision based on personal preference more than anything else, but I tried to retain a similar energy and weight.

Intro Sounds

The above reference track also offers a typical representation of the type of sounds typically found in early hardstyle. Whilst not particularly emotive or melodic, the vibe is dictated by the presence of rhythmic, stabby, staccato sounds that fuel the energy level and have a distinct aggression about them (Meyer, 1956). Ferocious and prominent is perhaps a better way of describing them, there’s rarely and subtlety or depth, everything is right in your face. 

Distinctive characteristics are short, sharp envelope shapes (particularly attacks) and a heavy use of delays and reverbs to fill out the space in what otherwise is a fairly minimal arrangement. Going back to the principles of sonic narrative, a particular focus on morphology appears relevant (Thompson, 1968). 

A keen consideration of these principles was key in the creation and arrangement of sounds across the intro section leading up to the first break. This was combined with a consistent application of the theoretical concepts of expectation, morphology as mentioned, and causality in respect of sonic narrative as outlined in earlier entries (Roads, 2015, Huron, 2008 and Thompson,1968).      

In addition to this, I introduced short snippets of a section of the vocal. Not too much considering this section was primarily functioning for the DJ to mix (it couldn’t be over-cluttered) (Future Music, 2008), but it gave a subtle introduction to the broader narrative that would be more heavily introduced in later sections. 

Further reading around narrative also highlighted a new aspect to consider by metaphorically thinking of sounds as characters having stage presence. We become aware of them as they enter, they do something, and then leave. Stasis is the term relating to a sound remaining the same, whereas mutation involves them changing in some way (Roads, 2015).

On the previous tracks I had largely used sounds in stasis, relying on the addition or substitution of sounds to provide the variation and progression. In this instance I trialled the mutative approach on some of the elements instead, which proved effective in rising the tension leading up to a drop or transition.  

Future Music, (2008). Creating a club track: 10 mix and arrangement tips. [online] MusicRadar. Available at: http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/creating-a-club-track-10-mix-and-arrangement-tips-175793 [Accessed 28 Mar. 2017].

Huron, D. (2008). Sweet Anticipation. 1st ed. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Meyer, L.B. (1956) Emotion and meaning in music. 9th edn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Roads, C. (2015) Composing electronic music: A new aesthetic. United States: Oxford University Press..

Thompson, D. (1968). On growth and form. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.