Demotron: "Whip and the Chair" (PART 3)
Ryno makes 2 Video Demos in a quest to finish his song.
“The Whip & the Chair” PART 3
If you missed Part 1, click here.
If you missed Part 2, click here.
“Whip and the Chair” - DEMO ATTEMPT #1 (2 x Camera)
Thoughts on Demo Attempt #1:
I made this clunky thing right before band practice. I love the new positive chorus, but it still feels like a foreign object attached to the song. I wonder if it should even be there? I’ll keep it for now and move onto some working lyrics (below).
The Lyrics
I’m particularly proud of the opening line. The couplet sets up the idea that Lions = Depression.
This first line also shows a maturity in my lyric writing. In my early days, I’d never have allowed myself to rhyme words like, ‘predicament’ and ‘with’. I might have used a line like “We see your predicament”, instead of dropping the “We” and making it an alliteration–which is so much more musical.
VERSE 1 Perceive you predicament Here is a whip and a chair to fight off your lions with...
Demo Attempt #1 - Lyrics
The Lions are Depressed
It’s a powerful notion. To me it’s an exciting concept worthy of a song. The idea that the ‘King of the Jungle’ (the Lion) may suffer from depression seems obvious, even if you think they are impervious. Watching them rotting in the heat beneath a tree, with flies all over their eyes, it’s hard NOT to imagine them completely consumed by existential thoughts. Oh to be the king and feel like total shit 80% of the time. There are cracks in the pride.
How I find a Song’s Subject Matter
It’s usually like this. When I find the center of a song’s feeling or purpose, words come rushing in. Before I know it, I’ve got more words than I need. The begins to take on a ‘finished’ quality, which shouldn’t be mistaken for ‘completed’ - though I made that mistake. Please read on…
“Whip and the Chair”- DEMO ATTEMPT #2 - (5 x Camera) - 10 days later
I wanted to see and hear this song on an acoustic piano. I also wanted to try making a ‘puzzle piece’ collage video with 5 cameras.
Thoughts on Demo Attempt #2:
Lyrics: Here I am writing a super depressing song, so how can I make it more exciting? Building upon the “chew your head” line, I modified the lyrics with more gruesome blood-dripping gore (below).
Depression can feel super violent and dangerous and lions live in the realm of blood and death. So why not go full out with the metaphor? Perhaps this will make a dark song more compelling?
POST VERSE 1 We see you making love to your darkened mess And just like drinking blood there's no benefit POST VERSE 3 All the lions hold you down to eat your face And just like you they eat all their sadness away
Demo Attempt #2 - Lyrics
Songwriting tools used in this song:
The chord structure before and after the key change is the same (the center line). Verse 3 begins with the words, “The key turns the lock…". Verse 3 has a differentiating vocal rhythm–a design I’ve learned how to employ only recently. I have been doing it instinctually for years, but only identified it as a practical song-tool after reading Ralph Murphy’s book this year.
Tempo: I decided to ramp up the speed of this 2nd attempt demo, to see just how much it could take. Sometimes increasing tempo makes things exciting. It can also beckon a different singing style. Breathing break points have to move location.
Notes on this 5 Camera film shoot
This shoot was an entire day’s work
Dragging all this equipment to the rehearsal space is a bear of a job. 5 cameras 3 microphones, cables, tripods/mounts, and 3 LED tube lights. It all fits into 1 large luggage case, believe it or not. I’ve become very astute with this setup, refining it over and over for our band rehearsals.
The location is tiny rehearsal space I rent by the hour for our band practices.
The size of the room chooses your style
I still get excited by setting up a bunch of lights, cameras, and mics. I’ve learned a lot in 20 years of film production. For instance, the room chooses your style.
Room sizes affect camera placement, lens choices, and framing. I want shots to edit together well, but it’s near impossible to get the angles I want without something in the frame I DON’T want. Here are my 5 angles below. You can see I used a mirror to get a better angle on corner piano, but the back of my head had to take up 50% of the frame (images below).
Lensbaby “Sweet” Focus Lenses
Recently purchased a Lensbaby 22mm swing-and-shift-tilt focus lens that I have been really excited about. These lenses allow me to select a focus ‘sweet’ spot inside the frame. It hides distracting details, mutating them into beautiful abstract blobs of light. In addition to the “sweet” focus effects, these lenses also have extendable “bokeh” flaps that further warp the image. It makes a static shot more pleasing to look at–removing the ‘security camera’ vibe.
Conclusion
I learned something huge about songwriting when I got organized in 2020. I’m obsessive. Obsession doesn’t help me finish songs. When I find myself hampster-wheelin’ on a song, obsessively working on it without break, I’ve learned to put it aside for a while.
This song needs a nap. A few days will usher in a fresh perspective.
Part 1 RECAP
In a failed attempt to fix an older song, Ryno discovered a brand new song.
Part 2 RECAP
Ryno lives in Seoul. Having learned only the basics of Korean language, he’s been relying on non-verbal communication to get by. Considering the silent film era, Ryno returns to watching Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus (1928). The lion cage scene sparks and idea for this song’s ultimate metaphor/purpose (lyrically and musically): The Lions are Depressed.
Part 3 RECAP
Ryno makes a couple elaborate video demos before he’s finished writing the song. He learns a lot about his new lenses, but there’s something not quite right with the song.
NEXT WEEK…
The conclusion of the “Whip and the Chair” Demotron (Part 4). Ryno finishes the song, radically changing the 2nd half of the song into something unexpected.
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About the author
Ryan OToole (aka, RYNO) is a skateboarder from Arizona with too many film degrees, who writes songs for Pretty City Lights—a new music project based in Seoul, South Korea. His songs have been described as, "alternative rock for people dying of middle age". Formerly associated with the band, Amateur Blonde, his songs have been featured in television and film - notably, The Walking Dead (S10 Ep21). RYNO is the author of Behind The Lights a freemium substack publication, documenting the Pretty City Lights song & album creation process with the slogan, “watch me make music”.