Spicing It Up: New Photos and Videos
This last month I have been busy doing things that I have never really tried before or worried about. I have been working on taking photos and making videos to build “online content.” (It sounds horribly businessy and I feel like a suit when I say it, it makes me cringe.) I’ve been working with a production company and bringing my music, visions and promotional ideas to life. For instance, I sat down with the dudes at Ground Level Productions and answered some questions to help you guys learn more about me, my history and my goals. I also went into the studio to create some live performance videos for some of the songs off of Doozy. If that wasn’t enough, I put my best clothes on and snapped some nice pictures in my very first photo shoots. Check out my Instagram, website and Facebook as I start to release these things starting this month!
Creating all of this content has definitely been a different and challenging experience for me. I never realized how much work goes into a well organized and produced video or photograph. I usually only think about writing the song, coming up with the music or making a good performance. As an indie artist, keeping up with the budget has probably been the most stressful, which seems to be a reoccurring theme. But also the time it takes to produce all of the content is way more than I expected. When shooting a video for “I Wish I Was a Feather” it took us an hour to set up just for a 4 minute song. Finally, the stress of being on camera wasn’t that bad but is definitely in the back of my head. Where do I hold my hands? How many times have I worn this shirt this week? Are my beard hairs sticking out in weird locations? There is something about the permanence of being in a photo of video that is definitely a little stressful.
In the end, I enjoy diving headfirst into projects and doing new things for the first time. It was fun setting up the studio, scouting locations and planning videos treatments. There was a time filming in the park when I just took a breath and stopped to appreciate what I was doing. I love being creative and having a comprehensive vision for my work, so being hands on and bringing these projects to life is really rewarding. Diving headfirst into this kind of stuff is also the way I learn the fastest. I definitely know now how making content works, how to make promotional packages and what goes into music marketing. Next time around I will have a better grasp of a budget, a timeline and the concepts I want to achieve. That way I can be less hands on and concentrate more on the music.