A Music Video Story - Test Project

Hey all,

As an author, one of the biggest thoughts that comes to my mind in terms of reading revolutions - especially without the blooming industry of electronic reading devices - is what it might be like to have specific soundtracks timed to play at the rate at which you read.  Doesn't that sound like fun?  To explain, you might have an eerie suspense moment in your writing (with tremolo strings, of course), and the exact moment at which you hit the jump scare in the book, the accompanying music picks up too.  A few more examples might be of a romantic scene with Katy Perry music, a sorrowful scene with sweeping orchestral works, or an action scene without good, old dubstep.

Someone has to make this device, guys.

Anyway, that thought, which has been in my mind since just about forever, plus the fact that I found a really music video that is 100% feels made me think of doing a small project like what I explained above.  I've been working on this for…er…about three months or so, and I'd like to test it out on you guys.  If you wouldn't mind, please follow the 2 steps below and leave the results of this test in the comments section below.  :)

Step 1.) Watch the below music video.  (No worries; it's not inappropriate in any sense, just very, very dramatic.)  I don't care if you understand it, because you won't - it's all in Korean - but I just want you to see what's going on in the music video, okidoke?

Step 2.) Click on this.  (Don't worry; it's only a link to the same music video, only with English subtitles and worse audio quality.  x))  DON'T WATCH IT YET until you've finished reading the rest of the directions here:

Below, I've basically written the story version of the music video.  What I'd like you to do is move the music video to a new window so you can watch it out of the corner of your eye while reading what I've written.  Basically, my goal is to have paced out my music video story so well that you read at exactly the same rate at which the music video is played…at least, this is my hope.  x)  In order for you to keep up, you'll have to be reading just slightly faster than the average reader, and you'll never want to glance at the music video with your full attention because you'll spend time there instead of in this crazy, non-stop reading project.

Also, if you get lost (as in, if what is being portrayed on the music video doesn't match what you're reading), everything that is lined to the right is written by me; there are a few lines that are centered and in quotation marks, and those centered lines are lyrics from the song.  You'll know where to be when you see the center lines of my story music video line up with the music video lyrics, make sense?

All right, that's it.  As soon as you're ready, click on the music video to let it play, and then immediately begin reading.  :)

~ ~ ~

     The early evening was warm, the air muggy, and the sepia sky marked with scuttling gray clouds that heralded a heavy storm.  Standing in the middle of an alleyway, a tall, well-built Asian caught the hand of a slender girl, dead serious in his expression.  Generally, the intelligent, beautiful girl walked a bright, cheerful road, but, ever since she had learned that she had cancer, she had revealed darker streaks in her character.  Though not depressed, her face was emotionless and pale, and she was clutching something in her small, smooth right fist with stiff, pallid knuckles.

     After exchanging a few words with the male, she uncurled her fingers, revealing a silver ring, and passed the priceless piece of jewelry to him.

     Nothing, not even hours of lecturing or months of preparation, could have helped GD swallow the dry, thorny truth that was standing before him now.  The evening was supposed to have been a casual, enjoyable stalk of the city with Daesung and Taeyang, but - coincidence of coincidences - his personal Fates had truly bound him with wild trouble now.

     Like his two friends, GD was paralyzed, uncertain of his choices and disbelieving of what he was seeing.  Blind with rage, GD covered his open mouth with one hand and forced himself to look away as Top slid a glinting, mocking ring onto his finger.  Common sense told him not to interrupt.  If he was wrong and Minyoung was really, truly choosing Top over him, then there was nothing he could do for it.

     If he wasn’t wrong...

     Taeyang clapped a hand on GD’s shoulder, but the latter could hardly feel the expression of comfort in aching shock.  He couldn’t feel anything but a tremor within him that refused to be suppressed by sheer willpower.  GD didn’t care for Top’s rationale; he thirsted for a fight.  Seconds later, Minyoung walked off, entirely oblivious to the fact that GD, her boyfriend, had witnessed the entire scene, and GD swaggered forward, catching Top’s attention.

“My heart is breaking like a wave.”

Top turned his back to GD.

“My mind is wavering like the wind.”

“Like the smoke, my love faded away.”

“Like a tattoo, it won’t come out.”

“I sigh deeply, and the ground shakes.”

Taeyang tried unsuccessfully to push the two apart, but they shoved him away.

“In my heart, dust is piling up.”

GD would have seen the sorrow in Top’s eyes if he had looked.

“SAY GOODBYE!”

     Jaw tight and eyes full of murder, GD continued to cut off Top, and the two males grew more violent in their agendas: Top attempting to escape with GD seeking confrontation.  Daesung and Taeyang watched nervously, though unhappily, to see the two best friends fight so strongly over Minyoung, but confusion layered on top of anxiety.

     GD realized it too: Top had never made any advances on Minyoung before, and Minyoung had been the one who had given Top the ring, not the other way around.  He had no patience to determine which betrayal was worse: from his best friend or from his love.

     Seungri, who had driven Top to the alley, ducked out of his car and grabbed Top before he could slam GD.  Now, Top was aggressive, the strange grief absent from his face.  Sharp scorn and mocking twisted his naturally-vicious features, and GD, who was a year younger and some inches shorter, grew quiet but kept his eyes stabbed through Top’s.

“I’m worried.  I can’t speak to you or even come close to you.”

Top was suddenly beside himself.

“I spend long nights by myself, erasing my thoughts a thousand times.”

He was a wolf, teeth bared, eyes flashing.

     Though Top knew inside his soul that GD could never deduce what was going on, he still felt pride swell at such antagonism.

     GD had crossed a line.

     Yet it was GD who threw the first punch.  He gave a monster’s grin as his solid fist connected with Top’s cheek, took a slug in return, but had already brought his other arm around to Top’s left eye.  With a grunt, Top dropped to the ground, and GD towered over him, screaming curses at his best friend.  Dutiful hands grabbed him and yanked him back.

      Somehow, Seungri alone had Top; Daesung and Taeyang had jerked GD off and had slammed him against the opposite wall in the alley.  Their voices echoed off the corridors.

     Not even halfway satisfied with short fight, Top and GD stalked off away from each other, wiping blood from their wounds.

     At home, GD sunk into a seat, dragging his hands through his shaggy black hair.  He couldn’t believe Minyoung or Top.  Had she been seduced?  Had Top been trying to cover up his madness by escaping so quickly?

     Nothing completed in GD’s mind, and he ran himself to a ghost trying to understand.

     Too impatient to strip completely, GD ducked into a shower, flinching as a sheet of icy water struck his face.  The torrents of freezing water tore at his ash-white skin like bullets, but GD only lifted his face to the numbing shower, delving into the painful electricity pounding through his nerves.  There was a demon in his eyes, struggling to rule through his dark eyes into the gray, grim light...

    ...Minyoung loved his eyes.

     The demon won.  GD threw his fist into the mirror.

“Oh, my girl...

“I cry, cry.

“You're my all.

“Say goodbye...”

     Rumor of the fight reached Minyoung overnight.  When she saw Top sitting miserably alone in his car the next day, she went to apologize to him, though the sight of his cuts disquieted her.

     She moved closer to him.

     Seungri couldn’t believe his bad luck.  Certainly, he had thought, GD would be fine at the mall, yet, they still managed to run into Top and Minyoung.  Certain that GD was dying all over again in the back of the car, he prepared to hold his friends back if they sought a fight.

     However, for a moment, no one moved.

      A long, awkward silence ensued as GD waited to see if all was, as he hoped, mere coincidence, but Top whispered something to Minyoung, and they moved to each other lovingly.

      Moving quicker so that his friends couldn’t detain him this time, GD emerged from the car and moved to Top and Minyoung, immersed in grief and utter, inebriating hatred.  Shoulders low, he leapt onto their car hood, not noticing the smirk painted on Top’s lips or the worry in Minyoung’s eyes.  All he saw was what he hated, and he continued to yell as Taeyang and Seungri pulled him back.

     Top managed to keep from showing his distress when GD faced him, but he didn’t need to work so hard.  GD could only see how much Top was enjoying his revealed deception, how much he took pleasure in his social superiority, how he knew he was controlling Minyoung and wasn’t afraid to flaunt her against GD.  Refusing to fight in front of Minyoung, GD stormed off and promised himself vengeance.

     Walking home alone, GD began to doubt in his own mind what he was or how Minyoung had ever chosen him.  The jostling crowd didn’t even recognize him as he walked in hidden angst; why should she?  Shoulders rammed into GD as he stumbled through the streets, feet leaden, heart slashed, love broken.

“I don’t regret loving you.”

     GD lost all self-respect at home.  He had to extinguish the fire in his veins, or he would be consumed himself.  Throwing anything breakable, ripping books, sadistically drinking in the tinkling of broken glass, GD let himself vent.  He prayed desperately for tears, but livid rage still kept him from that catharsis.  The sitting room fell into complete annihilation at GD’s restless hands, and the chaos satisfied his stormy heart in a strange way as he threw a chair against a mirror.  Then, as broken as his room, GD fell to his knees and a feral scream ripped from his throat.

     Alone in her apartment, Minyoung battled her tears.  She was literally dying; GD was dying for her; Top was dying for GD.  When she ran her thin fingers through her hair, thick strands fell out: the result of her chemotherapy.  She looked at the black locks blankly and philosophically.

     It would be easier for GD this way, she knew.

     By the time Seungri and Daesang had finally caught up to GD, his room was a wreck.  Alarmed at the mayhem, they stopped at the doorway and beckoned him to follow them to the hospital, but GD refused, so the four members of their intimate group: Taeyang, Seungri, Daesung, and Top, visited Minyoung on her deathbed alone.  Peaceful and well-lit, the hospital room was cloaked with death’s presence, though Minyoung seemed satisfied with Top’s idea.

“Those tears will all dry up, yeah.”

Smiling cheerfully, Minyoung seemed perfectly happy that GD hadn’t shown up.

“As day by day passes.”

     Taeyang was immensely bothered, more so than the others, by GD’s reaction.  Being GD’s hyung by only a few months, he had always felt close to him, and now he questioned within himself whether or not to contact GD...whether to follow his own desires or Minyoung and Top’s plan.  For a moment, he put himself in GD’s shoes, but the mental transition was unnecessary.  He knew GD too well to know whose suicide would follow if he didn’t have a last word with Minyoung, so he called GD and went down to the lobby to meet him when he arrived.

     GD was already on the streets when Taeyang told him that Minyoung’s operation was going to occur in less than five minutes.  Every fiber in his body screamed, “NO!” as he ripped off his jacket and hurtled off towards the hospital, his feet pounding the ground, his arms straining forward, cold tears drying on his eyes before they could drop.

     WHY?

     Why hadn’t she told him?

     If she died...if she dies...GD couldn’t stand the thought of leaving their conflict unresolved.  He shook his head, screaming in his throat at the possibility.  He had to make it on time, to tell her, to see her or hear her, even if she was to say she had never truly loved him.

     Minyoung, please.

     PLEASE.

     Not yet!

     NOT YET.

     DON’T TAKE HER.

     Never speaking to her again, never hearing her laugh, never smiling at her jokes, never appreciating her beauty, never telling her he loved her, never, never, never--

     TOO EARLY.

     It was too early.  GD needed more time, more time, more time.  She was all he had; she was all he HAD.  She couldn’t go...she...was all he had...

     He loved her.  He loved her more than anything and would be willing to instantly give himself up in her place.  In his mind, he begged to die for her; he begged for her to be spared.  Certainly, she would survive because...because of his love...

     GD felt his lungs heaving for breath, but his body’s slacking only redoubled his will’s effort to make it to the hospital on time.  Never had he moved so fast before, his muscles numb, his stomach dry, a feverish sweat glazing his temples.

      But...the sight of Top immediately killed the panic rising in GD’s soul; he dropped his head, hoping to pass by quietly, but Top, midway down the hall, grabbed his wrist, startling GD.  The younger male looked back, made certain it was Top with a quick glance, and looked forward again, trying to tug his arm away, but Top didn’t let go.

      Hesitantly shifting his weight, Top pulled something from his jacket pocket and flipped it in his fingers before laying it in GD’s open palm.

“I’m sorry I lied.”

Top’s voice was a low murmur, the murmur of a friend.  GD stared at the ring blankly as truth hit him and began to sink through his skin

“Minyoung...really loves you.”

     Those words were all that were necessary to break GD down.  He closed his fist, arms trembling, and brought his knuckles to his mouth.  Slamming his back against the wall and groping desperately at his chest, GD stared at the ring, putting the entire story together in his head with the intensity of a killer.  Suddenly, everything made sense, and he covered his face before the weeping took him over.

      Minyoung...

      Why do you love me as you do?

      Too much pain, too many memories.

      GD choked on a sob, rushing to the cruelly closed doors of the operation room behind which he could hear electronic beeps and the heartbeat of Minyoung in his own chest.  His steadfast friends who had loved him through the entire trial watched him momentarily as he beat on the metal doors with heartache-weakened fists.  Refusing to react to GD’s pathetic pounding, the doors refused to open, to allow him one last moment with Minyoung.

     The very first day when she had given the ring to Top, she had wanted Top to give GD the ring when she was dead.  In the mall parking lot, Top and Minyoung faked a relationship so that GD wouldn’t grow to attached to her...

     ...since she was dying.

     GD staggered away from the door, body limp and unresponsive as a high groan escaped from his lips.  Taeyang embraced him then, trying to keep him from drowning in his emotional turmoil, but they were all so far away.  GD was in another universe of suffering.

      He had wounded Top; he had loathed Minyoung.

     Too late.  Everything was too late.

     No forgiveness.

      The operation room doors opened, and surgeons wheeled out Minyoung’s motionless body on a stretcher.

      She had tried to save him from aching; she had always loved her; she hadn’t wanted to hurt him.

     Vision blurred with tears, GD knelt over her.

“Oh, my girl...

“I cry, cry.

“You’re my all, say goodbye, bye.

“Oh, my love...

“Don’t lie, lie.

“You’re my heart...

“Say goodbye.”

~ ~ ~

Okaaay~!  So, how did everyone do?  Did I write too much?  Did I write too little?  ARE YOU IN TEARS?!  Did you feel like reading and listening at the same time detracted from the fun of reading or enhanced the thrill of it?  Was the music video enhanced by my writing?

Please, please, please leave your comments below, telling me how this worked out for you~!

Write on!

Clove