Wicca or dark magic (witchcraft in popular media)

A Very British Witchcraft. from DJ Devil on Vimeo.

Although stating I wanted my video to mirror Wicca, I have now found, Wicca is more about connecting one self with the nature around them. Wicca ritual take place in woodland areas - all around nature.  Their rituals are to meditate and to reflect on what they have achieved in their lifetime.

Wicca, is not something to do with the popular belief of 'dark/black magic'.

This belief derrives from something else, so I will change my description to witchcraft, which is seen more as 'dark magic. This belief has been aided by the success of media such as 'The Witches', 'Hocus Pocus', 'Buffy' 'The Secret Circle', 'The Vampire Diaries' and the spin off of 'The Vampire Diaries' - 'The Originals'

Symbol Influence - 7

In my video, I have two different rituals, one with a pentagram and another with some blood. For the scene with the blood drawn symbol, I was heavily influenced by this scene from the now cancelled TV show 'The Secret Circle'. The symbol can be seen within the first 33 seconds.

For my video, I adapted the symbol slightly to show the number '7' in the style in 'The Secret Circle'. The reason for the number 7 was because the song is called 'Seven Devils' and it is one of the 'Seven Deadly Sins' chasing the lead. Here is how I did it:

Shot Type Influence - Looking up

For the ending of my music video I wanted to reveal who the 'supernatural being' was. In order to do this I took influence from a shot in another music video, Lolita - The Veronicas. Throughout this blog I have mentioned this song and video many times because parts of it reflect the atmosphere I really want. The shot I drew influence from can be seen at the beginning and at 1:51 in.




I created this shot from being influenced by the above video

If He Hollers Let Him Go - Chester Himes

This song was inspired by a line (I was dead when I woke up thing morning) in this book; below is a summary of the book.

'Written in the 1940s, this novel fictionalizes the experience of being black in America at a specific time in the country's history - the early days of its involvement in World War II. The experience of being at war nationally is mirrored on a smaller scale in the struggle of the book's central character, Robert Jones, as he attempts to wage a personal war against racism. Other themes explored by the narrative include the nature of freedom and, on both a literal and metaphorical level, the tension between darkness and lightness.
In the book's final chapter, Jones is visited in jail by the owner of the shipyard where he works, who tells him that Madge has decided to not press charges. Jones, in narration, reveals his belief that she told the truth of what happened but the company has decided to spin the circumstances in their favor and against his. A judge then tells Jones that to avoid prosecution on a charge of gun possession, he can join the army. Jones feels he has no choice but to agree.'

As the novel begins, Robert Jones recalls a series of dreams that caused him to wake in fear and foreboding, feelings that, as he reveals in narration, he wakes with more often than not these days. His fears, he writes, include fear of the war and of being forced into the army, fear of the racism around him, fear of being unable to realize his ambition of simply being a man. As he gets ready for work, commenting on how powerful he feels in his uniform, he flirts with his house mate Ella Mae, asking her if she ever feels scared. She doesn't answer and sends him off to his job at a shipyard, where he has been newly promoted to a position of responsibility and leadership.

That day at work, the dark skinned Jones has an encounter that changes his life - a woman, Madge, refuses to work for him because he's a "nigger". Realizing that her attitude originates in a combination of racist fear and racially defined lust, Jones loses his temper with her. This, in turn, leads him to confrontations with his supervisor, who expresses disappointment that Jones has betrayed the company's hopes in him (that he would be an example of how to conduct positive race relations) and then demotes him. Frustrated and angry, not to mention nearly murderous after an encounter with a hostile man, Jones leaves work early and struggles to sort out both his feelings and his intentions.

Meanwhile, Jones also struggles to define and secure his relationship with the paler skinned but still black Alice Harrison, whose parents have achieved a measure of social and economic success in the white world and who have convinced themselves that they are, in fact, leaders in the transition into a unified society. Jones struggles to accept both their perspective and the conditional nature of Alice's love; she says she will only stay with him if he apologizes to Madge and to his bosses. At first he refuses, but when she convinces him that happiness is indeed possible living and working within the boundaries of the racist system of segregation, he agrees to do as she says.

Back at work, Jones begins to make amends with Madge and his co-workers, but is manipulated into planning revenge on Madge by a white co-worker, who gives him Madge's address. That night when Jones visits her, he is put off by her eagerness to use him sexually and leaves her frustrated when he refuses to have sex with her. The next day, as he is continuing his efforts to behave the way his supervisors want him to, Jones has a random encounter with Madge, which results in her shouting out that she is being raped. He realizes that there's no way that anyone will believe his version of the story and tries to escape, deciding that if he's going to be put in jail he might as well be guilty of something. He takes his gun to go and kill the hostile white man. A chance encounter with some patrol police officers results in their discovery of the gun. Jones is recognized as wanted on the rape charge and jailed.' - Source: Spark Notes

Seven Deadly Sins

Florence Welch has said herself that when writing this song she was not thinking about the Seven Devils. She was in fact referring to a quote from a Chester Himes book called 'If He Hollers Let Him Go'. The quote is 'I was dead when I woke up this morning' - which can be heard in the chorus of the song.

When thinking about the narrative and theme of my music video, I wanted to base it around the seven devils:
- Lust
- Greed
- Gluttony
- Pride
- Envy
- Anger
- Sloth 

When being chased by her 'own sin' I think it would be good if she was chased by either pride or envy. Pride of the character having a good reputation to then drop that good name or envy in terms of envying and mourning who she once was - before turning into something that was internally killing her.

The Seven Deadly Sins have been used in many different films/plays. In terms of films there is the obvious 'SE7EN' where people who portray characteristics of those sins are brutally murdered. In terms of plays there is the less known 'Ashgirl' - a darker version of 'Cinderella' where she is influenced and spoken to by the different sins and characters represent certain sins.

Make - up inspiration

When originally thinking about Make - Up, black eye-shadow and winged eyeliner came to mind. However, I recently came across this picture of a tutorial by famed tattoo artist Kat Von D. This was created using make - up from her own make-up line. Out the two, I am more drawn to the second the look for my music video. For my lead actress I think I would change the blue to purple. I was originally thinking red but I felt the red brought on a more devilish feeling, where as the purple would bring out more of a mysterious look. Another reason for using the purple above the black is I will be making use of a purple crystal mineral in terms of a special stone which is used in some rituals.

This is another image from Kat Von D; here are other styles of eyeliner I may make use of as some of the styles are not your everyday eye lining styles and may suit the essence of the 'out there' video.

Fan made Music Video - Seven Devils

This is a fan made Music Video of the song I will be using for my music video. This video has been made up of interviews, other music video footage and photo's from promotional photoshoots. With this video, I really like the effect of slowing down the footage and making use of it in black and white. It really adds to the atmosphere of the music and lyrics and also Florence's theatrical voice. Some of the footage has also been reused but used in rewind to give off the effect of a narrative of flashbacks or faded memories.

Video Inspirations

 I analysed this music video in a previous post. I really like how the 'monster' is not seen right up until the end of the video. This is an idea I like for my video, such as not showing the lead actress' entire face until the end or only showing her in certain parts where she is for certain being chased by her own 'sin'



Here are a set of video's, the above is just one in the series. I really like how this video is shot and how it plays with the focus. Starting out with an out of focus shot which then comes into focus to clearly reveal the imagery. I may use this style in my music video for 'Seven Devils.' Perhaps when shooting for instrumental parts of the song such as the 22 second introduction. I may also make use of this style for the parts of the song with vocals too.

Potential Video Ideas, Inspired By Lyrics

SEVEN DEVILS

Intial ideas include sticking with the gothic feel that Florence + The Machine bring out with a dark side of life included in the concept.

One idea would be to have the video showing parallel worlds.The first would show the storyline in a medieval time period and the other would show the same narrative and struggle but within modern day settings.

The narrative would follow the main being followed or hunted by something. Although with the help of voyurism I could possibly add confusion as to if the main lead is being followed or is doing the following. The song generally can be interpreted to resonate alongside the seven deadly sins (pride, lust, wrath, envy, gluttony, greed, sloth). Therefore the main lead could be seen to be chased by one of sins or she could be running from her own sin/shadow! There could also be a twist within the narrative, possibly at the end, showing the 'sin' chasing her to be a good person who may have been trying to protect her from something else.

Location wise, finding the perfect location will be a mission. For the medieval aspects, I will need to find a building which I will be able to use which has a medieval look - these are now hard to find, although as all that exist are listed, I will be able to find one from the British Heritage website. However, if I'm allowed to shoot there will be another story. Another option is to shoot in one location which can account for both eras. This would be Harrow Arts Centre. The building itself was built in 1870 and is listed, however, the inside had been updated. I could possibly use the inside as a modern day shoot. Across the car park at the arts centre, there is a patch of greenland. If behind the trees, this location can very much resemble a forest, with a path leading deeper into the 'forest'. Further along behind the buildings, there are some more spaces for cars. a little further, you come across the Pinn river and Pinn bridge. This river is very small with a small wooden bridge for crossing over to the other side, where there is more greenland (Which as far as I know is greenbelt land). From a certain angle, this bridge and area of grassland can look incredibly creepy.



In terms of costumes, for medieval I could use a long drape/dress. For the modern day version I could dress the lead in a black corset, in keeping the imagery of someone going for a possible satanic ritual.

 Here are two examples of costuming I could use. For the one of the left, there could be a velvet long skirt with a tight purple top and maybe and purple drape on top. The picture to the right shows a still from the TV show 'Two and a Half Men'. The corset pictured here may be something I could make up with other clothing or take inspiration from the costuming.

A satanic ritual is another part for the narrative I had in mind, this could be included in the modern day parallel whilst something/someone being burnt at the stake could represent the medieval ages also.

Below are the lyrics to the song and the song itself...