For Mala
One circle of light. It starts as your spotlight and by the end it is the sun.
Mala, you said the skeleton is the part you are stuck on, so I made a first one for you. I only used what you already gave me: the shadow part of your own video, the heavenly feeling, and the dancers at 1:46.
It is the whole song in seven parts. Read it like a menu and tell me yes or no on each one.
The pictures are quick sketches so we can talk about direction. They are not the final frames.
3 minutes 26. I listened for where it breathes and where it lifts, and gave each part one picture.
0:00 to 0:56
Dark. One round light comes up, and your shadow steps into it. The beat is already going, so she moves from the first bar, cut on the beat this time.
These three are from your own video. This is the part you said you like, so it is where I start.
0:56 to 1:20
Around 1:00 your track drops away for a few seconds. In that quiet the wall disappears, and the same round light is now a real sun on a horizon.
It is the one big change in the film, and it happens on your own break.
1:20 to 1:46
Your voice comes in and the world opens: a gold field, a huge sky, arms wide. She stays a shadow against the light the whole way, so it never becomes about a body, only about the feeling.
From you: the heavenly example you sent is full of gold fields and open sky. I kept that light and left the rest.
1:46 to 2:02
Your chant. The circle of light becomes a circle of people: dancers around the drums at sunset, in silhouette like you, every step on your rhythm.
From you: "I would like to pay tribute to our native African Tribal Dancers." Sixteen seconds, exactly where you put it.
2:03 to 2:40
The verse. She walks on, calm, above the clouds toward the light. The slowest and simplest part of the film, so the words can be heard.
2:40 to 3:04
The loudest stretch of your song. The two worlds meet: she stands in the middle of the dancers' ring, sun behind her, everyone's arms up.
3:05 to 3:26
Back to where we began. One circle of light, your shadow alone in it, and it slowly closes on the last notes.
Your words, and what they mean for the film.
very simple to get the message acrossOne idea, the circle of light. Seven pictures, not seventy. No busy effects on top.
absolutely no sexy innuendoLoose flowing clothes, shadows against light, nothing posed for the body. It stays spiritual from the first frame to the last.
whichever way as long as it's legalNo clips taken from YouTube. The dancers are made new for your song, or come from properly licensed footage.
wasn't able to sync the editsEvery cut sits on your beat, and the big changes sit on your own breaks at 1:00 and 2:30.