Before everyone goes “What on Earth has happened to Arvind?” “Is this blog taken over by spambots?” “I’m calling 911” – allow me to explain.
My gym has a fairly standard playlist i.e. a mix of catchy pop and dubstep that makes you want to tear your ears out. One song in that list is Kylie Minogue’s “Real Groove”, and it has become stuck in my head since the past few days.
Okay, big deal – that’s not worth making a post about! Hang on just a second – the way it has become stuck in my head is not the same as a regular song. See, I don’t know what to call this, but every time I hear the song, I visualize an action scene in a manga/anime or action movie.
No, really. Allow me to explain.
I’m not good at sketching or drawing, so all I have is my words to show you what I mean. Since this is not a part of a larger story, I will use general tropes and character archetypes – the important part here is syncing the action to the lyrics.
The Characters
The Protagonist: She used to be a great fighter, before abandoning that life for one of peace. She’s the one singing the song.
The Apprentice: Our protagonist is mentoring her, but she’s not quite there yet. She has a lot of heart, though.
The Rival: A long lost rival, fought the protagonist many times over the years. He has returned to exact vengeance – however, our protagonist refuses to fight him.
The Scene
Since the protagonist doesn’t want to fight anymore, the rival decides to blindside her. He blindsides and incapacitates her – the apprentice intervenes on behalf of her teacher. She is wildly outmatched though, and things are not looking good.
The song starts to play. I’m going to describe the scene in two columns – left is the action, right are the lyrics. Here goes:
| Our protagonist stirs on the ground, on the edge of consciousness. | Feel my heartbeat It’s the same old feeling coming over me tonight Me tonight |
| The protagonist opens her eyes, sees the apprentice in danger. She moves to pick up an improvised weapon from the debris around her (let’s say it’s a makeshift staff). | Feel it buzzing Said I’m never gonna call, but tonight, I think I might Think I might |
| The protagonist moves to interrupt what would be a deadly attack on the apprentice. Will she get there in time? | [Pre-Chorus] Gave my heart a ride, bump in the night No one can take me higher Know it’s been a while, baby, a while |
| The protagonist stops the attack in the nick of time. The rival and her lock stares – it’s time. | Do you still feel the fire? |
| The first round of blows is exchanged. The protagonist looks rusty, and the rival has the upper hand. From a visual perspective, this is about showcasing the two combatants as they feel each other out. | [Chorus] I saw you dancing with somebody Looking like me and you She know how to party But nothing like me and you Got that perfect body But she ain’t got the moves We got something better Got that real groove, baby |
| The protagonist stumbles. All the days without fighting mean she’s not as strong as she used to be. | Major mistake No, I never shoulda gone, baby, I was on thΠ΅ run On the run |
| The rival lands a hit! Things are not looking good for the protagonist. | It was heartbreak I can’t stand another day knowing that you are the one You’re the one |
| She forces herself to continue the fight, but the rival senses blood in the water. He moves in to land the finishing blow. | Gave my heart a ride, bump in the night No one can take me higher Know it’s been a while, baby, a while |
| A sudden flash. What’s this – the apprentice saves her teacher! | Do you still feel the fire? |
| Round 2 – the master and student fight in tandem against the rival, covering for each other. The balance begins to tilt in favor of our plucky duo. This is the longest section we’ve had so far, so we have room for a longer sequence of action. | [Chorus] x 2: I saw you dancing with somebody Looking like me and you She know how to party But nothing like me and you Got that perfect body But she ain’t got the moves We got something better Got that real groove, baby |
| The duo land a hit on the rival, knocking the wind from his sails. This is where we fade away from the song and into the dialogue, as the characters take over from the action. | [Bridge] Real groove, real groove We-we-we got that real groove, ah Real groove, real groove We-we-we got that real groove, ah |
And that’s it! I’ve seen a few movies that have done syncing the action to a song (Kingsman/Freebird being a standout in my opinion), so I don’t know if someone has done this exact song before.
But it doesn’t matter – now this song is out of my system, and hopefully you were entertained by this post enough to not mind indulging me in this…mind exercise? thought experiment? I don’t know what to call it.
A good day to you!
