Game of Thrones theme song ft. Pen Pineapple Apple Pen

Outcome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrmnSmAaqh0

Intention

Going into making this project, my goal was to create something out of the existing wide-spread audio pieces/songs, and hopefully achieve a multiplication of the popularities of these resources. I was going for combining music of very different styles, because usually the contrasts between these audio pieces clashing together would create a stronger impact on the audience. 

Because of the current internet obsession with Piko Taro's Pen Pineapple Apple Pen song, by the time I started gathering resources to use for this project, PPAP was the first song that came to mind. Then I searched for music that's also popular but of a completely different genre, and the Game of Thrones theme song seemed like a fit because it's purely orchestral and has a grand, epic feeling to it, as opposed to PPAP, which is popular largely because of the nonsensical but funny contents of its lyrics. 

By mashing up the two pieces of music, I hope to make the audience feel like they're in the Game of Thrones era, just with Piko Taro dancing in it, which is silly, what seems to be an important factor for something to become viral. 

I intend to spread my project via youtube, because considering the high numbers of hits that Game of Thrones theme song and PPAP have on Youtube, it's likely that internet browsers would likely wander to where my video is. Also, in general, I think people tend to look for remix or different versions of these two songs on youtube because they're popular, and most remixes of popular songs are posted on youtube. 

Context

I think the reasons that the TV series Game of Thrones and the song PPAP are popular are that they aren't ordinary. Both are novel, but in different ways. One is a fantasy serial drama, in which magic and dragons exist, as opposed to a mainstream soap opera. And the other is an illogical and fun music video, as opposed to a seriously composed song. Art, music, and movies are constantly evolving to impress audience with things people have not seen before,  and I want to explore this phenomenon by overlaying music that seek to achieve this goal: the theme song of Game of Thrones is iconic because it creates a surreal, epic feeling that matches the TV series' story line; PPAP is unconventional because it's completely absurd and extremely catchy. 

Process

My big idea is to match up the two songs together, so that the result sounds pleasing enough to the human ears but funny at the same time. I spent a lot of time trying to combine the complete pieces so that everything line of lyrics in PPAP, as well as the whole 5 minutes of the Game of Thrones theme song, is included in the final result. Eventually, I cut out majority of the product because, since the two audio pieces are completely opposite of each other (very serious vs not serious at all), a long duration of the remix of them probably isn't very pleasing to hear, especially when I couldn't get the "I have a pen..." part to fit into any part of the theme song nicely. I also think that since people browse through contents on the internet very fast these days, the chances of my video getting viewed is probably higher if it's shorter. 

As for the process of making this project, I used audacity to create a fade-in effect for the audio to smooth in, and faded in the PPAP after a few seconds of the orchestral theme song so that it doesn't sound like PPAP was being abruptly inserted. One of the trickiest parts of making this project was lining up certain sections of the two songs precisely, and I spent a lot of time making sure of this. Other specific techniques I used are repeats, low-pass and high-pass filters.

Product

The final result is a 1 min audio uploaded onto youtube. The visual content of the video is a static image of an iconic character in Game of Thrones, Jon Snow, and an image of Piko Taro blended together. Only about 1 min of the Game of Thrones theme song is included, and only the "apple pen pineapple pen ugh pen pineapple apple pen" part of PPAP is included. The actual mash up doesn't start until a few seconds into the audio, and two pieces are present until a few seconds before the end, where PPAP stops as the theme song fades out. 

Critique

I think my concept of lining up the two songs is good, although my execution of it still needs improving. There are parts where the overlaying of two songs sounds a little awkward, and I wished I could have explored the features of Audacity more to handle these sections better, had I had more time. This project cuts out majority of the two songs, and it might appear to a viewer that it's not a comprehensive mashup. And the project lacks a visual component to it, which hinders its spreadability.

Reflection

At the end of this project, I really started to appreciate the efforts mashup artists put in to remix very different songs. I think I definitely familiarized myself more with Audacity, especially I'm become more proficient at certain techniques, such as handling the transitions using low-pass or high-pass filters, and lining up sections of audios accurately. 

I would learn about video editing to include snatches of the music video of PPAP and scenes of Game of Thrones to make my project more visually appealing.

Sources

Game of Thrones theme song - Ramin Djawadi:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kROXpb3Gagg

Pen Pineapple Apple Pen - Piko Taro:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9TpRfDdyU0