Music Mania

     Although it is still very early in the creative process, I decided it might be a smart idea to start figuring out how to get permission to use a song in case we decide we want to use one later.  After doing some research I found an article on everything I need to know in order to request permission to use a song.  There was one quote in the article that stuck out to me:

"Expect getting permission to take anywhere from one to three months. Permission should be obtained before you complete your work. It is sometimes more difficult and more expensive to obtain permission after a book, film, or recording is complete".

This encouraged me to start seriously thinking about which songs I might possibly use in the film opening and start sending out emails.

    Since the topic of the film opening is life and death, I decided to use that as a focus in my songs.  With this in my mind, Three choices came to mind:

Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

Don't fear the Reaper - Blue Öyster Cult

Dear God - XTC

The reason I chose these three songs is because they are relatively popular and all pertain to death in some way.  These songs are all very different in tone, which will leave me with options once I start planning the film opening and get a sense of the mood.   I'm going to talk to Vicente about this to see if he agrees with my options or has some of his own to suggest.  Once that is done, I'm going to send an email to the companies that own the song rights and alert you all of my progress.  

Stim, Richard. “The Basics of Getting Permission.” Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center, 10 Apr. 2017, fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/introduction/getting-permission/#determine_if_permission_is_needed.

     Bothersome Brainstorming

     It's the time of the year I have been dreading for months: the start of the biggest project of the year.  Don't get me wrong, I am very excited to have the opportunity to create a film opening with total creative control, but I have never been good at the brainstorming process.  When projects have very little direction for me to go in, I sometimes struggle to come up with a solid idea.  It's almost like in my head there is a million and a half ideas and I cannot concentrate enough on a single one to develop it.

  

     Despite my issues it was time to think of a plot idea.  My partner, Vicente and I agreed that it would be best to split up to create two separate ideas for a film, so I was on my own.  I went through many half baked ideas in my head trying to think of one that would stick.  With the help of a few friends who let me bounce ideas off of them, I decided on a paranormal murder mystery.  In it, a man would wake up in limbo after his death, and in order to proceed to heaven or hell, he must solve his murder.  It would also be called Limbo since the character is between Heaven and Hell.  Content with the idea, I decided to share it with Vicente and he loved it. He also had an idea, in which a star athlete would get hurt and he would have to make a recovery.  We both agreed his idea felt too cliche and overdone, so we decided to go forward with mine.

     Although there is still plenty of planning left to go, I am happy that I at least have a solid idea to work around for the rest of the project.  Although we may later decide to change our idea as we move forward in the creative process, we now have a basis that we can keep as a constant. I will keep you all updated as this project continues to develop.