On a small level, I realized with my last few vids -- basically since I switched to Premiere and discovered the film dissolve and different blend modes -- I'm in danger of relying too much on dissolves and overlays. So I decided my WIP would have NO dissolves and NO overlays, which I thought fit the song and the vid well anyway.

Ahaha, I am doing the exact opposite! I love dissolves and overlays; creating new images from the existing source feels like a writing a really good metaphor to me. My last two vids were all or almost all straight cuts, and I was determined to use more dissolves in the current vid just so I didn't forget that dissolves were an option.