Definitely very cool. And I like the singer/songwriter, too. I'm wishing you very good luck with this project.
Iechyd Da!
Thank you!
What other artists do you have lined up, or is that top secret?
Justin Farren who puts on a really fun quirky show. I really need to find a way to get this across in my format.
All On Seven a really solid band centered around songwriter Evan Palmer.
And
Ricky Berger who just has a stunning stage presence and really uses her classic vibe to good effect.
This is just a cover, but it's the best quality video of her (on the right).
This one shows more of her vocals and songwriting.
I recommend a more relaxed camera angle for the performance part. Think of a position where someone would be sitting and casually watching. That way it's less awkward for the viewer than straight-on angles. Also, I recommend the artist be sitting down. It's obviously up to them, but with a simple setup like an acoustic guitar and vocals, sitting makes it seem less like a performance and more like you're visiting their house, backyard, etc.
Otherwise, what you have is great, keep it up. The interview is great, just avoid those jump-cuts where you cut them off in mid sentence. Not a huge problem, though, they're just conspicuous. I really hope this works out, and I'm optimistic that it will. What band wouldn't like exposure, right?
Thank you, some very good points to think about. Fortunately, the real show will have a 3-camera setup where we can move around and change shots during the performance, get a little artsy about it. One thing that did strike me as I was editing all this was that I should have set up a different angle for the interview, not enough visual difference to mark the segments. Something I'll need to consider in the studio, too. I may totally reverse the angle and put some part of the working studio in the background to signify that kind of after-the-gig casual conversation feel.
Justin's a sitdown kind of guy; full band with All on Seven; Ricky plays guitar, ukelele, piano, flute and accordion; and Autumn is a stand up and belt it out girl, so I'm pleased so far with the variety of sounds and looks I'll be starting with. A "songwriter" showcase can definitely get into an all acoustic guitar/vocal rut if I don't seek out some different feels.
The editing was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to shoot this demo. Since it won't be shot "live to tape" where the basic timing is taken care of on the first run, I'll have lots of extra footage I'll need to edit down into the time slot.
For example here I had 6 songs running 25:30, and 15 minutes of interview answers that had to fit in a 28 minute slot (well, I didn't
have to since this is strictly online, but for practice in making the tough calls, I stuck with the hard limit). Learning how to make those cuts it's part of the process. The main one I'm not happy with is the final one to end credits. Sometimes there's enough of a pause to make it natural, sometimes there isn't. The real show will hopefully be a full hour where I don't have to cut
quite so tight.
I didn't plan on editing myself so completely out of the interview but 1) I really sucked at it this first time out, and 2) Autumn gave me such a wealth of fantastic answers I didn't want to waste a single second with my thoughts instead of hers.
One thing I thought I'd have to do since the questions were missing was at least put a bit of text like "... on performing" to give context to the answers, but it didn't seem to be necessary on any of these. I'd like anybody's opinion on whether this made it confusing or not.
