Visual Eyes

Ep 09 - Composing Emotions: How Music Elevates Video Storytelling with Jackie Sol

• Visuals by Momo

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Picture the incredible power of music—it has the ability to whisk you away to another world, intensifying every feeling and scene it touches. That's the magic we're diving into as we chat with Jackie Sol, a master of film scoring and DJing. Our conversation is packed with her insights and stories, taking us on a journey through her life—from her early years of dance and music that shaped her into the composer she is today, to the crafty skill of creating personalized soundscapes that take video marketing to new heights.

Listening to Jackie's journey, we uncover the delicate balance of matching audio with visual content to hit just the right emotional note with viewers. We learn why understanding the feelings of the people you're trying to reach is crucial when making music.

As our talk goes on, we step into the lively world of DJs, where music and visuals come together to create unforgettable moments. We explore the psychological effects of music on our minds, from the technical side of music theory to the way different musical keys can stir up emotions.

Sharing our favorite movie scenes, we celebrate how music and visuals blend seamlessly, and we give tips to video creators on using music thoughtfully in their projects.

Every pause, every note, adds to the beautiful story we're telling—so come join us for this episode, which isn't just a chat, but a symphony of ideas to spark your creativity in visual projects.


GUEST INFORMATION:

Jackie Sol
DJ JACKIE SOL
https://jackiesol.com/
Instagram Link
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Special Thanks to Jackie Sol for crea...

Chris Baker:

Welcome back to Visualize the podcast, powered by Visuals, by Momo.

Momo Abdellatif:

Join us as we unlock video marketing secrets. Provide insights, tips and behind the scenes, wisdom.

Chris Baker:

Tune in, subscribe and elevate your business with the power of video. Welcome back to Visualize, the podcast powered by Visuals by Momo, your source for navigating the world of video marketing with clarity and creativity. I'm your host, chris Baker, and I am Momo Abdul Latif, and today's episode we're going to focus on the relationship between music and the visuals in video marketing.

Momo Abdellatif:

Wow, I love that.

Chris Baker:

Yes, so today our guest is Jackie Soul, and she is a music composer. She has an experience with film, tv advertising and DJing, and her website is jackiesoulcom. J-a-c-k-i-e-s-o-lcom. And welcome, jackie. So glad to have you here today.

Jackie Sol:

So glad to be here. Thank you for having me.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, so tell us a little bit more specifically about what you do as a music composer.

Jackie Sol:

Absolutely so in order to understand where I am today, I think we need to look back Right. So tell us the full story.

Momo Abdellatif:

The full story. All right, strap it, here we go.

Jackie Sol:

I started in music when I was five and my parents bought me a keyboard that linked to the computer.

Jackie Sol:

And now we're talking MFS, MS DOS, right Like old school computer and every time I hit a wrong key the computer knew it. So it was pretty intense. Training from a young age Overlapped that with dance starting at age nine. So music and dance have always been a part of my life in some way. So for 25 years I've been in the industry. I'm definitely passionate about it, Definitely love it. Huge dedication to it, From being state champion in as an instrumentalist as a young child all the way up to a professional dancer. It all makes sense where I am today, being a music composer, I create music, I play music. And to sort of talk about the recent history, six years ago I flew to Ibiza, Spain, and I said I want to learn the best of the best and really hone in on music and studied with a globally known school called Point Blank Music School and then went to Los Angeles and got into Icon Music School and thanks to COVID, I'm here with you here in Miami.

Jackie Sol:

So that's how we land here, and super excited to work together with you.

Chris Baker:

So we've had the opportunity to work on one project thus far together on our personal, on our podcast here for Visual Eyes. So the music that was created for our intro, our trailer and the outro on all of our episodes was actually created by Jackie Sol. So we're super excited that she gets to be on the show and talk a little bit more about that integration into music and how it can help with either podcasting or video, specifically that video component.

Momo Abdellatif:

Yeah, I remember we started first talking about videos and the music on videos and that we how we edit the videos on the music and how we can compose music on the video, and so we cannot we don't have to cut the video to music. And we had the big journey, long journey, until we get to the point that let's do this and work on the podcast and it was nice. It started very creative and artistic. I love that.

Jackie Sol:

Yeah, yeah, it's pretty. It's pretty awesome to work collectively with other professionals that know your art so well. Right, you can capture that visual and then I'm exuding, super excited to do more and more with you to bring the audio to match the quality of what you're producing.

Momo Abdellatif:

The both work together, hand to hand. I always say like it doesn't make sense to hear something like sad words with hyper music. Sometimes it just doesn't work for my brain. I want both to help each other give that emotion or transfer that emotion. So I feel they should work hand to hand with each other.

Chris Baker:

Well, we're right Because, honestly, you know there's so many music options out there for stock music choices, however, but if you're trying to make a video against just that music and there's no ability to change it, you're kind of stuck. And if you're trying to have this massively intense emotion at this one piece, how do you make you know?

Momo Abdellatif:

you can do that. Music is the emotion it gives, the emotion Right it gives that emotion.

Chris Baker:

So I think that's where the customization of working with Jackie, who can compose something specific to that scene, that makes a huge difference. It can really explode what you're trying to convey.

Jackie Sol:

I love what you said about the emotion because for me, it starts there, right? People go to the theater because they want to feel something, they want to go on a journey, they want to experience it. They'll go to a club because they want to feel, they want to be in that moment. And so for me, as I'm making music, it starts with the emotion. What's the emotional quotient we want to pull from out of this content? And then from there it's tying it to the audience. Who do we want to watch? Who do we want to bring into the content? And it's matching the two. So, momo, I love what you said where it has to match up in your brain, right, the visual has to match the audio to put those two together. So it's first touching on the emotion, then knowing and understanding your brand and knowing and understanding your target audience, and then you can work backwards into what's the appropriate music to evoke that emotion.

Chris Baker:

Right, Like if you think about a video that you're trying to get somebody to go and eat at a restaurant and you have this beautiful sound music undertone but then you see the person cutting the food and you add that extra component of that knife cut. Now you're adding in other emotions, You're adding other senses into what you're thinking about, Like you can almost smell when it's getting cut open.

Momo Abdellatif:

Yes, you don't smell it, but you feel like you smell it, but it's all of those different senses you really want to invoke, and that's how video and music has that effect on everybody. It makes you live that situation. You're living there, you can smell it, you can taste it, but you're not there, right?

Jackie Sol:

As the saying goes, people won't remember what you said. They might not even remember what you did, but they'll remember how you made them feel.

Momo Abdellatif:

Correct. I love that, yes, yeah.

Chris Baker:

It's so important, you know, to have that component of really making somebody feel special and I think that's one of the things that we get to do when we're creating our videos is we get to make them be the star and they get to stand out, and having the right audio music and everything underneath it can really enhance it, and so this is an amazing language.

Momo Abdellatif:

It's a language. It is Music is a language. It says a lot.

Jackie Sol:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And people again, they want to feel that, they want to be brought into a language, they want to be brought into a different experience. One of the things that I think is really unique is that I've traveled to over 40 different countries and thanks to music, a good majority of that as a performing DJ. In the recent past, I've gone to 11 different. I've done 11 different international tours and played in over 26 different US cities. So I have all this amazing experience of knowing and understanding other cultures and can bring that into the experience of the music. So it's really exciting for me to see a visual right that you capture and you create, and then put myself in those shoes and think, okay, how can I have that person be in that same spot, even if we were never there, but how can I have them transport to that location, that destination, that brand, whatever it happens to be?

Chris Baker:

Where do you think music videos? Because I really think, like music videos is almost a different story and you start with the music first and then you add in the video elements kind of after the fact, to build that story of what you're trying to pervade or, yeah, to make everybody feel or believe or hear. What is your experience with music videos and how video has really kind of exploded?

Jackie Sol:

an artist oh, absolutely so. When I think of this, I'm putting myself in the shoes of a dancer for a second, or a choreographer, and once you've studied something for long enough, it becomes second nature, as I'm sure you experience with visuals. For me, when I think of music and I think of dance, my body just naturally moves when I hear a beat or a rhythm. They say we sing to the melody and we dance to the rhythm.

Momo Abdellatif:

So whatever the music is, if you I don't know if it's a thundering thing here in Florida, it's music, it's making Correct music, nature, nature, music.

Jackie Sol:

Let me run with where we are for a second here. Music is sampling of different noise at its core. So absolutely I could be. I mean we are capturing this. I could turn this into a song. I can bend and twist the tones of it to match. I mean that could become your new kick drum that you hear at Space here in downtown Miami, if you want to.

Momo Abdellatif:

That's branding, that's branding.

Jackie Sol:

So to come back to the point of okay, so let's say we're making a music video, right, so we make the music first and then we make the video second, as an alternate route to this. And I start with okay, if I have the music, and I closed my eyes and I imagined what's happening, where does that take me? Does that take me somewhere? Does that make, does that make me feel something, and how would I want to move? And then from there it's it's easy to either choreograph a dance or choreograph a short film to to go with the song. So either way it works for me.

Momo Abdellatif:

So she imagined the moves in her head when she's, when you're creating, to create the moves for dancing, right.

Jackie Sol:

Yeah.

Chris Baker:

So when I hit the dance floor, I hit the dance floor.

Momo Abdellatif:

Yeah, he's a dancer.

Chris Baker:

I am a dancer, so when I so if I were to go to a club and I'm going to, you know hit that dance floor, I wanted to be the right beat. I want it to be the right type of song for me to go. Oh, I want to move to this, because there's a lot of different songs where you just like, oh, this is a chill, relaxing song and I don't want to necessarily get up, I want to tap my foot or I just want to stay in my seat and just relax. So it is about that emotion. What is it provoking inside you? And so, for me, I love to dance. You give me the right song, I'm on that dance floor and I will bust a move. I love to dance. It is one of one of my passions. Honestly, I would have to say I love to dance.

Momo Abdellatif:

Yeah, everywhere events, we go, oh my.

Chris Baker:

God, if there's a song playing, I'm like, yep, this is my time to move and shimmy and shake and do whatever I want. But when you're DJing and you're trying to create that space now sometimes they have video playing in the, you know, on different screens around the room, the, depending on where you're at it, could be a club, it could be wherever. How is, by choosing the right video to go with the music that you're playing, can can you tap in a little bit on that? Because, like in my head, I think it's extremely important, because I think if they're linked and their message is the same, it'll make a huge difference.

Chris Baker:

But, if they're just playing anything random, like I've seen at bars, where they'll just have something in the background playing. And then there's music. I'm like, I'm torn, what is happening? Like my I'm seeing this video, but the music has nothing to do with it and it's just all over the place.

Jackie Sol:

Yeah. So what I think we're starting to tap into here is is harmonic convergence or divergence, right? And we're starting to tap into what they call the circle of fifths. So it's a, it's a tool that we use as musicians and it can be used in several different ways. As a composer, you're going to use the circle of fifths to talk about major keys and minor keys, just generally speaking.

Jackie Sol:

If we're in a major key, we're hitting a lot of the white notes on the keyboard and we're generally happy. It's, it's light, it's free, it's airy. If we move into a minor key, we start to hit a lot more the black notes on the keyboard and that's where we can start to feel what I'll call like a deeper, like a sadness or like a more rooted or grounded feeling, and you can create that feeling in many different ways. So if I'm composing, I can create it to bring out the emotion. If I'm DJing, I can walk into a room and pretty easily know whether it's by the colors in the room, whether it's by the artwork, whether it's by what people are wearing or just how their face, whether it's smiling or not, and I can tell what emotion we're working with.

Jackie Sol:

And so it's really neat to know that psychology behind music and then incorporate it in whatever the medium happens to be composing or performing. And it's also very dangerous, right? Once I learned it and learned how to incorporate it, I learned that it's my job and my role to, as much as possible, leave people in an elevated state, because you could, in a very dangerous way, leave people in a more sad state, which is, I think, not what we want to do in this world, right? We want to make a difference, and so there's so much to music, and I'm excited about being able to bring more of that goodness and being able to bring more of it out and move into this world in new ways. I might have just been a lot.

Chris Baker:

No, I think the psychology there is amazing. So let's wrap that psychology back to integrating it to video. Yeah, how, I think. The question that I asked specifically was if there's a video playing in the club that you're DJing. How important do you feel like having those two sync is Like those being in harmony so that when, regardless of whoever the type of person is, because not everybody jumps on the dance floor- Not everybody's you, chris, not everybody's me.

Chris Baker:

But for the people that aren't, they may be just more like oh, I want to see what this video is going to do to enhance this song for me.

Jackie Sol:

Yeah, yeah.

Chris Baker:

Does that make sense?

Jackie Sol:

Absolutely.

Jackie Sol:

The question I'm hearing is how important is it that the visual matches the audio Absolutely important If your goal is to to leave them with a lasting impression, which I think ultimately should be the goal. But sometimes we miss the mark right. If you have the full opportunity to invoke all the senses, then you're going to capture the depth or the height of the emotion the most. Now you might get the audio right. You might get the visual right If you can time them at the same time. That's where you're going to. You're going to pull the the maximum opportunity out of whatever we're trying to convey.

Chris Baker:

So we can call that the magic.

Momo Abdellatif:

Yes, oh, yeah.

Chris Baker:

So in a previous episode, specifically when we were talking about post production, we actually called it where the magic happens.

Jackie Sol:

Okay.

Chris Baker:

Because when you can put those elements like you're just talking about together in harmony, that is the magic and that is where people are going to be like wow, because you can have really good audio, you can have really good video, but unless you can find a way to perfectly sync them together, You're losing the story. Yeah, you can lose the story.

Chris Baker:

You can lose the audience easily and quickly, and I think that's one of the things right now is we're trying to change specifically with a lot of people, even social media is we need to elevate it. Like you know, I think everybody is doing it just to do it. But are you syncing those two major pieces Like, okay, I'm using this song because it's trending? Is your visual actually working with the song or is it kind of going? What is this?

Momo Abdellatif:

Again it depends if they have a goal or they're looking for impact someone, or they just don't care and it's just to be there.

Jackie Sol:

So often, if you notice, if you notice period, then you might be off the mark. But if you're just, if you're in flow, whether you're in your daily life, whether you're going to that restaurant, whether you're going to that club and there's music and and visuals playing, if you don't notice and suddenly you're like, wow, I'm in the experience and you say, well, how did I get here? And if you're able to pick them up, meet them where they're at and then bring them on the amazing journey, that's the best, that's that flow state. And the more you can be in flow state of life, the more life happens for you and with you. But if the visual in the audio aren't matching, now you're it's not comfy.

Momo Abdellatif:

It's not comfy when it's not matching it's. It gives you that feeling with like what's happening, what's wrong.

Chris Baker:

The first thing that comes to my mind when we're talking about this is I have to go to some of my favorite movies.

Momo Abdellatif:

Hmm.

Chris Baker:

Like that background noise, that suspenseful tone. If it's, you know, more of a horror movie or you know, suspense movie, it drives you to something. Something's going to happen. What's going to happen? And you're like you're excited and you know that something's going to happen, or if you are specifically, you know, wanting something funny to happen, and then it's like that laughter and that chiming and whatever the music happens at the moment, it can really drive you, it can change your, it can change the way you're feeling in a moment.

Momo Abdellatif:

Yeah, what is your favorite movie? Oh, gosh.

Chris Baker:

Well, you had to ask that one. So I have multiple favorite movies. I mean, my current favorite movie that I've watched probably 600 times in the last year is Hocus Pocus 2. The transition from the past scene to the present and they switch to this Halloween song. It just makes me giddy. I really just enjoy it. Um, I don't know how I'll explain it, I can't even remember the song completely, but it's the way that it's the mood, everything changes and then it's just like, oh, we're in a happy movement and I'm like what?

Momo Abdellatif:

Like it was kind of yeah, the transition, the transition was perfect, right and the music was just like Dynamic have you seen that movie?

Jackie Sol:

I. I don't know if I've seen that movie, but I've had the feeling so I can relate to the feeling.

Momo Abdellatif:

What? What about your favorite movie? Oh man, Do you have one?

Jackie Sol:

I'm finding myself talking about Armageddon a lot lately, maybe because the intensity of the feeling of the movie as a classic Uh, I will say, though, my favorite movies are step up, which is, you know, a dancer's movie.

Chris Baker:

Yeah, you told me, I have all four dvds.

Jackie Sol:

Oh, really I'm gonna watch those yes um, I also like a movie that's less known, called the sixth man. It's a basketball movie. But, it's a movie I can cry and laugh right. They pull Multiple emotions.

Chris Baker:

Those are some of the better movies, I would say, when you can actually dig deeper into the joy, the pain, the sorrow and still come out happy at the end, like you're getting all of it In this beautiful drama. I that's. That's when I say it's a drama, because you're getting life. It's the ups and downs, the flows, but then you can still go hey, it's gonna be okay.

Momo Abdellatif:

It's still gonna be good. It's emotions, it's all about emotions. Art, I would say art generally it's all emotions. We all Create emotions.

Jackie Sol:

You asked a question a second ago that jogged a thought. Um, when I hear music, I usually can close my eyes and and something comes that becomes my inspiration. And I don't know if this happens to you as you're capturing capturing video as well Sometimes I, sometimes I hear or see a color, sometimes I hear or see A note or a tone. Um, sometimes I I can hear or see a visual or how I want someone to move or feel. Something pops, and then that takes me, then I know exactly where I'm going and it's usually the first time I hear it or see it, and then I have my, my artistic inspiration.

Jackie Sol:

Um, I'll also say this, too, that sometimes, if the inspiration doesn't come, that's because it's like something really good is brewing and I need to be patient and I need to either watch the video a couple times and wait for that inspirational audio, or, if I'm listening to an audio and trying to match Moves or a choreography, that I need to listen to it multiple times. So so, as an artist, you'll, you'll get the inspiration, you'll get the feeling don't force it and it'll, it'll come to you and then you, then you know exactly where you're supposed to go.

Chris Baker:

I think that's the biggest problem. I'm seeing a lot with people that are just like I have to be on social media Is they're not letting that creative flow happen. They're just like. I gotta get this done and they're just jumping into, just creating something. And it's nice when we can step back, like you're saying, and just have that moment of clarity, like, oh, if I do it this, way am I doing it right?

Momo Abdellatif:

Yeah you need to think about it.

Chris Baker:

And sometimes I think that's one of the reasons that we take a little bit longer with some of our post production is. We need to step away from it.

Momo Abdellatif:

Mm-hmm.

Chris Baker:

We need to let it just resonate with us and go Okay, how does this flow? Because, at the end of the day, we want to make sure that we're producing the best quality work that we are able to. We don't want to just create something quick, fast, simple, um, and that's what makes, I think, visuals by moment different. In that regard, it's like really want to make sure that we're creating something high quality that resonates with people and has impact on people, correct.

Chris Baker:

So one other thing that I would love for you to add is Some practical advice For video creators that want to incorporate music Effectively into their projects. What could you give Tips there?

Jackie Sol:

Yeah, one overarching tip that I'll share and I will see if I can have you experience it. So, rather than just tell you, let's see if I can take you on the journey. Yeah, so we're here in this podcast and we're having a really great time and then all of a sudden, I stop. What do you feel?

Momo Abdellatif:

I feel anxious.

Jackie Sol:

Yeah.

Chris Baker:

I felt anxious, Like are you gonna say something?

Momo Abdellatif:

Yeah, I was waiting for something, yeah.

Chris Baker:

I'm yeah, we're waiting. So there's, there's that anxious mood that's like what, okay, what's happening.

Jackie Sol:

Yeah, right yeah yeah, and anxiety and excitement are the same feeling right. Right, I have a saying anxiety and excitement are the same feeling. It's just anxiousness without the breath. So just breathe, breathe and it'll turn you into excitement. So my tip right because that's what we're talking about here as a tip is silence is the most powerful noise.

Chris Baker:

Oh, 100%, 100%. And I think that's where a lot of people struggle is, everybody wants to add the um and the and and the so because they want to fill the space. But a good speaker knows when to pause.

Momo Abdellatif:

Right, that's a key point.

Jackie Sol:

Right, and we're filled with this world of clutter and chaos and fast moving information, and we didn't even get to into AI and what that's doing for the music industry, but we certainly could.

Chris Baker:

It's a whole nother.

Jackie Sol:

Yes, some, good some not but, but it's just. It's coming at us at a rapid pace, faster than it ever has before, and as I'm listening to the music that's coming out or I'm looking at just other artistry that's happening, often taking, extracting and pulling out and keeping it simple can actually be more powerful, and not forgetting that silence is actually a noise in and of itself. And that's that's the number one tip I would share for anybody that's doing any medium of art.

Chris Baker:

I love that Because, honestly, when I think about it, you don't really see a color in black, but there is value in it. You know what I mean.

Momo Abdellatif:

So, being in my favorite color, I know that it's.

Chris Baker:

That is such a good practical tip, and I can literally see all these people that like are changing their videos on social media specifically and they're cutting out all of the blank space and it's just word after word, after word after word, and I don't really care for it, like I'd rather have.

Momo Abdellatif:

I'm on Oz and I would wrap silence.

Chris Baker:

I'd rather have the silence. I think that's gonna, like you said, it's way more impactful. It is a, it's an audio in itself, but yeah, even having the some of the ums and the Oz makes it more authentic. Because, not everybody talks perfectly, we're all gonna have.

Momo Abdellatif:

I talks perfectly.

Chris Baker:

We're not gonna go there on this episode, but yes so. I agree, I think that's an amazing tip. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody for joining us today on visual eyes. Thank you, jackie, for being our guest today. If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out to Jackie soul at Jackie soulcom and please subscribe, share some feedback and stay tuned for future episodes of visual eyes. I'm your host, chris Baker.

Momo Abdellatif:

Momo Abdul Latif.

Chris Baker:

And Jackie, thank you so much again for being our guest. Have a pleasant day. Thank you, Jackie.

Momo Abdellatif:

Thank you.