THE LIGHT
COMMON
SCROLL
THE PROJECT
"The Light" is the Grammy-nominated second single from the neo soul artist Common's 2000 album Like Water for Chocolate. It samples "Open Your Eyes" as performed by Bobby Caldwell. It is a framed as a love letter, it is a confession of Common's love for a woman – specifically, his girlfriend at the time, Erykah Badu..The music video which directed by Nzingha Stewart features Common and Erykah Badu along with a lot of visuals including a homemade Minnie Ripperton cassette, a pink lava lamp and an assortment of other visual inclusions.
Creating this design I wanted to play on earthy colors like green and shades of brown with some grit. Since The Light is a love letter I wanted to set the typography of the lyrics to the song in script. The Light is sampled from Bobby Caldwell’s “Open Your Eyes”. I wanted to design a cassette tape with the sample title and place the tape in the design frame, along with a microphone and also adding the swinging light just as a play on the title of the song. Common’s Like Water For Chocolate album cover photo is 1956 Alabama by Gordon Parks, which is a photo of a young black woman in Alabama, dressed for church, and drinking from a "Colored Only" drinking fountain. Toward the end of this motion graphic video I wanted to use that black and white photo and then have it transition into color. Open Your Eyes.
CLIENT
PERSONAL PROJECT
TOOLS
PHOTOSHOP
AFTER EFFECTS
PREMIERE PRO
MY ROLE
MOTION GRAPHICS
GRAPHIC DESIGN
