Aronyk is gearing up to host the 8th Britonish World Hit Festival and what could be the last all-Britonish World Hit Festival ever. Aronyk is a city in the south of Britonisea in the middle of urbanisation to the nth degree. While people didn't think that Aronyk was ready to host something international such as the World Hit Festival, despite some roadworks and whatnot, the city coped very well with the hosting of the IBA Football Champions League which had as many visitors to the city as the World Hit Festival would have. The World Hit Festibval bosses that in keeping with the tradition of going around to different cities in Britonisea (except for Kyvivre which was considered at one point), it would be best to continue and so Aronyk would be a great choice. Aronyk isn't too far away from a few major cities such as Quickenden and Junterapten and sits alongside the M1 - the main motorway in Britonisea - right in the centre between Doportedas and Telm City - the two big'uns of the country. With over 20,000 people packed into the stadium for what is expected to be a great show, it was time for the Festival to start. There was a huge silence in the stadium as they all counted down, with the official World Hit Festival theme tune playing out for everyone to hear. Television screens were now trained on Britonisea for the first time in seven editions. Aronyk was ready to go...
Official Transcript of the Commentators in the BVC Commentary Box
Josh Marténse: Hello everybody and welcome back to Britonisea! We're hosting the 60th World Hit Festival in the city of Aronyk!
Rigas Jengiz: And what a beautiful city it isn't, isn't it? Look at all those tall mountains - wonderful. The reason why we are here is because of one man...
Josh Marténse: And his name is Josh, as well, Josh Morris won the festival last edition with his Vha Mehlodhivestoile banger, "Mine" and the trophy certainly was his!
Rigas Jengiz: After performing first in the running order as well, Josh was 15 points clear from the rest of the pack - it was certainly his win for the taking!
Josh Marténse: And for those of you who love a bit of Josh, I for sure do, you'll be able to catch him performing not just once tonight - oh no - he will be performing twice! He will perform very soon so keep an eye out.
Rigas Jengiz: Wooo! And that's the stadium that we are currently in, look Josh! I am so excited to get started, I heard it's going to be a good night full of great music.
Josh Marténse: I hope so, it feels like such a long time since Britonisea last hosted - it's been our longest wait to host since the gap between the 27th Festival and the 35th Festival - can you believe that?
Rigas Jengiz: Winning just became a lot harder recently - even if Normandy and Picardy won like twice in a row!
As Rigas finished her sentence, the picture slightly changed as the World Hit Festival logo was focused on the screen for a couple of seconds. The screen dipped to black before a small orchestral tune started to play.
Official Transcript of the Commentators in the BVC Commentary Box
In true Britonish fashion, you simply couldn't start the World Hit Festival without an exciting, suspenseful beginner - could you? This edition was absolutely no exception as a small tune started with Josh Morris lifting up the trophy in Achaean Republic. Some people thought that it was interesting that the last time Achaean Republic won, it was in Britonisea and the next time Britonisea would win, we would collect the trophy back from Achaean Republic. With the colours of the Achaean Republic now fading onto the screen, we then started to see a montage of the moments after the Festival.
Josh Marténse: This is quite an interesting montage. You can see that there are some shots of Josh Morris walking after he performed his winner's reprise and he's being quickly whisked away by the stage personnel to the Press Conference, I'd assume.
Rigas Jengiz: For a winner, the night after you perform is incredibly stressful, yeah. You can see him speaking there in the Press Conference, he looks happy though - he's soaking up the moment.
You could see that Josh Morris was answering some questions in the Press Conference before the camera cut to him returning to Luton Airport (the city where he is from) with Britonish flags being waved in the air in the foyer where he arrived. He opened up his arms so everyone could hear him. We could hear cheers over the music being played. We then moved onto the pictures of the broadcaster deciding whether they should host the upcoming World Hit Festival or not, with Josh Morris in the room with them.
Josh Marténse: Now you can see Josh's involvement in the hosting of the 60th World Hit Festival. He was involved every step of the way, even deciding the logo and overall design package. He said that he liked the idea of the diamond, you know? With it being the 60th diamond edition of the festival, he said it made the most sense!
Rigas Jengiz: This is probably our darkest design yet and it really brings out that diamond, doesn't it? I personally love it!
We then saw pictures of Josh Morris in the studio again, making some new music which he is about to perform live for the Opening Act of the Festival. Meanwhile, we saw some pictures of people moving into the Arena Aronyk for the football matches that happened a couple of weeks before, with the television officials looking at the matches with glee and excitement - they knew their plan to host in Aronyk was going to work. We saw a shot of fireworks pumping into the air as we then saw a snapshot of the creation of the large and intricate design of the stage.
Josh Marténse: And that is the stage everyone will be performing on tonight - what an hour right?
Rigas Jengiz: It's such a vast stage, I cannot wait to see what everyone will do with it.
As Rigas said this, we saw a few more shots of Josh Morris getting ready to go up onto the stage before we heard the applause of the rampant audience in Aronyk today.
After the VT finished, we transitioned straight into the stadium for the start of the festival. Josh Morris was due to perform his winning song, "Mine" - the eighth Britonish song to win the World Hit Festival. In what was confirmed to be the last fully Britonish hosting (as the Overseer is Britonish and it is BVC officials putting the show on), Guy Autriche was more than excited to have Josh back on the team for a spectacular opening resembling what he did last edition.
OPENING ACT
JOSH MORRIS - MINE
Tune: Irama - La genesi del tuo colore
Lyrics: Atekon Shipton, Josh Morris • Music: Jayden Christopher, William Cross
There were lights all along the edges of the block in order for dimensions to be seen clearly - but also strobe lights in the box itself. The top of the box was clear as well, with there being no lights apart from the bright spotlights being on display to give the illusion that was another black wall above him. The staging took some time to set up and we're sure that the stage personnel started during the host intervention. Josh took one last breath as the postcard came to an end. It was time for the performance and the first thing that audiences could see is the masculine outline of Josh Morris' chest upwards. As shown on the image above, you couldn't see Josh Morris' facial features at all - just his body and he slightly swayed along with the heavenly strings at the beginning of the song. The Britonish audience roared powerfully as their winner took to the stage. You could see the outline of Josh's cheek slightly enlargen as he couldn't help but smile. It was the second time (the first time being his winner's reprise) in which he could do this performance without the pressure of winning.
Before you leave, let me speak...
Let me say what went through my head
I'm not here to fight, not here to raise my voice, no
Don't want no back and forth, I'm in the wrong, I know
As the country had a lot of experience doing this performance, both at Vha Mehlodhivestoile and then again at the World Hit Festival in Achaean Republic, they knew exactly how to stage this on the one that they made. Throughout the first verse, apart from the first line which was focused on Josh Morrris' face - we started to show different parts of his body - such as his hands, before showing his chest which - in and amongst the darkness - had a red beam pointing at him, similar to the ones you'd find if you were about to be shot. The lights which lined the bottom of the box flickered with low intensity, with parts of Josh Morris being shown in between the shaky and quick camera jumps.
Hear me out as I make one final plea, I'm begging, I'm begging
I'm brought to my knees, don't ignore me
Just one more chance, I'm not asking for much
Then our future's in your hands, will you decide to stay?
Will you leave?
As we move into the thirty-second mark in the performance, there was a remarkable difference, as the strobes turned on all around which exposed Josh Morris completely, from a shot slightly further away to show the huge expanse of the box in which he was standing in. Josh Morris slightly tilted his head backwards, swaying along to the song, and tightly grasping his palm as he begged the person he was singing to. As the mention of hands was brought up, similarly to a shot before, we focused on his hand as he moved it up to his face and outwards - his facial expression one of serious doubt. There was a sense of sadness in his eyes as he finished the chorus - transmitting the sense of guilt he feels for wrecking the relationship between him and the person he still loves.
A sketch of the box: The same box that was used in Achaean Republic was brought back to Britonisea and used in this performance too...
With the first sections of the song being rather simple but intricate with the staging - for this section of the song - the lights started flashing erratically, fitting along with the camera shots which would change along with every drum beat - especially during the first few lines of the chorus which otherwise was quite quiet. Each of these shots would be moving - even if it was ever so slightly, but just to make the performance seem dynamic and still visually interesting. The red light that was once there was gone now, with the flashing lights from each of the lamps on the stage along with the pulsating beat of the song. Lights similar to this was being seen for a matter of seconds during the instrumental section at the end of the chorus which is the reason that there was an epileptic warning at the start of this performance! As it can look rather jarring if it happened for a long period of time, this section was only very short and would happen once - with the high contrast between the black or white not being the most comfortable thing to watch.
Mine, you were mine,
The fault's mine, threw away all we had.
Lie - my way through life, karma bites
Now I gotta live with...live with what I've done
The motorised-sounding voice added to the theme as well and the friction - made the song seem slightly off which is what Josh wanted. As he sang the final line - he sang it out towards the audience, before looking out into nothingness with confidence. With the use of a gobo with prison cell bars cut out in front of the light, creating a picture such as this one, it looked as though Josh was behind bars - which obviously relates to what he is singing about. There were flashing deep Britonish blue and red lights around him which signified the colours you'd universally find on police cars - which is the type of vibe that Josh wanted to go for. Josh was happy with how the performance was going so far, and while he wanted to smile and be all happy during the performance, he knew that he had to remain focused and stay in character.
Drank myself into oblivion, caused a scene
(Put...your hands behind your back,
Lower your head, get into the back, and shut up)
Didn't know what I had done (How do you plead on the account of..)
Couldn't remember last night (You're sentenced to...)
As he sang the lyric, "Yeah, you warned me", the gobo looked like tumbling bricks which Josh Morris reacted to by also falling to his knees as well at the same speed as the bricks which fell around him. He then sang the high note once again with "I couldn't stop", as the lights flickered with him. A shot caught Josh while he was on the floor but the man slowly picked himself back up like he did after being ridiculed for going to prison. During 1:37 where there was a static sound, there was a similar flash of light as well which looked like electrocution, with Josh Morris holding himself high up, before dropping once again, but this time keeping on his feet. There was a shot as Josh stepped heavily on the ground before it trailed the front of his body to his eyes as he sang how the pain was strong. The lights slightly died down once again as he moved towards the end of the pre-chorus.
Yeah, you warned me, I couldn't stop
Was stuck in a rut 'cuz the pain was strong
But after time in solitude, I visualised the light ahead
Mine, you were mine,
The fault's mine, threw away all we had.
Lie - my way through life, karma bites
Now I gotta live with...live with what I've done
All the pain that I've caused.
Didn't want to hurt you, I hate seeing you cry,
Your wounds, they'll heal with time and I'll face what I've done.
A wide shot of the whole stage for a split second as we moved into the chorus before we went back to the box with it being more of a technicolour display, lights interchanging (but with different colours such as black and white, with a hint of deep blue). Josh Morris continued to sing with his heart throughout this longer chorus which would lead into the bridge section of the song. Josh felt as though he was nearly at the end. As he explains that he didn't want to hurt, you could see the sorry in his facial expressions as he touches his own face, closing his eyes gently at his own touch trying to imagine that it was his partner's touch. It was the obligatory steadicam time of the performance as we moved onto the bridge section. The camera came to him while the lights were playing up and flickering, circling rather quickly around him and at points exposing the audience behind him who were plunged in darkness but all had their torches out. There was then a shot looking up at him as he extended his arm with - the one without the microphone with a huge shadow appearing in front of him thanks to the overhead lights.
You were my forever,
I know that I betrayed your trust,
Could you forgive me for what I'd done?
I know that our love for one another is still there,
I can see it, I can still see it in your eyes...
At the end of the climax of the song, each of the sides of the box falls over (similar to this, but in this example, it was curtains that were used instead of it being actual sides). As the sides of the box collapse, there was a huge applause in the arena for Josh Morris and his countries. Thousands of people around had their mobile phone torches out with Josh almost surrounded by a sea of lights - which was a great shot from further away in the arena. As we moved into the final chorus and everything slowed down for a hot minute, we were then greeted to a circle of fresnel lights and strobes all around him 360 with one of the cameras focusing on the lights before swiveling around to Josh Morris who was waiting for the camera to face him again. He had a very serious facial expression on him which slowly tuned into one of hope as we moved into the final chorus of the song.
Mine, you were mine,
The fault's mine threw away all we had.
Lie - my way through life, karma bites.
Now I gotta live with...
Didn't want to hurt you, I hate seeing you cry,
Your wounds, they'll heal with time and I'll face what I've done. (the fault, it is all mine)
You might not trust me but I'll admit when I am wrong. (the fault, it is all mine)
I hope we'll reconcile and restore what we had.
(The fault, it is all mine)
At the end of the song, the Britonish flag was displayed on the board behind him using the colours from the light. The man cheered along with the rambunctious audience who were excited at the time. After waiting a couple of seconds, you could hear a voiceover...