Yay, Manifesto! (And yes, subject to change) Please ask us if you have questions.
MUSIC SEEN
The Music Seen is the new music show on UNC Chapel Hill Student Television (STV). Our purpose is to promote the local music scene by making music videos for local musicians.
We air at 9 pm on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays; campus channel 15 and Chapel Hill channel 4.
WHO CAN GET INVOLVED?
The Music Seen is open to make music videos for any musician.
As will be discussed in the PREFERENCES section, we concentrate on bands in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, but are open to working with musicians from other places as well.
You do not have to be in a band to work with us, you can be a solo artist (this includes DJs).
Your work can be from any genre, all genres, or none at all.
You do not have to have a recording, but we greatly prefer it. [see performance section]
So basically we’re open to anyone who is interested, excited and committed to work with us… but of course, we do reserve the right to choose not to work with any particular musician/act.
WHAT’S IT GONNA COST ME?
Nothing. That is, we have no fees or charges, and we earn no money from making your video. However, your particular video may require certain things (in the way of costumes, props, decorations, etc) that we as STV or individual crewmembers cannot readily supply. If it is something that the musician particularly wants, the responsibility/cost will fall to the musician. In certain cases, band/crew may pool resources to cover the cost, but this would happen only rarely if at all. We are students; we do this for free, in our free time, for a great number of bands.
Beyond that, you probably also want a VHS copy of your video, maybe a copy on DV tape, a clip from the video to put on your website, or several stills. It is your responsibility to supply the VHS, DV tape, zip disk, hard disk, what have you (and to reserve the time with us to transfer the video from the computer to whatever format you choose).
SO TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE MUSIC VIDEOS.
There are two basic kinds of music videos we do, which go on two separate kinds of episodes.
1) Real Music Videos. You know, like you see on TV – part narrative (no matter how loose or ‘avant-garde’) and part band performance. Of course, you do not have to have a band performance segment; some bands choose not to. Or, you might want your video to be all performance.
2) Live Show Videos. These videos go on our aptly named Live Show Episodes. Basically, you have a gig; you tell us about it, we will try to be there.
MORE ABOUT THESE LIVE SHOWS
For live shoots we bring two cameras, one for a steady long shot (default footage) and another handheld for close-ups. We generally shoot 3 songs. We may not use all three songs, however, depending on how the video and audio turn out, and how everything fits in the episode. Sometimes the musician can select the songs you want us to tape, but other times we have specific ideas of what we want, or we’re restricted by scheduling in how much time we can stay at the gig.
In editing, we sync up the two videos and cut back and forth, using whichever audio turns out the best (conceivably, if both cameras’ audios turn out well, we could use them both for a more stereo effect, but that’s usually impractical). As far as audio… we’ve tried plugging into the soundboard, and we may try using a microphone in the near future, but so far we’ve found that in camera sound works out best (and surprisingly not bad). We’re open to further hints and suggestions, though.
IF YOU ARE FROM OUT OF TOWN
If you are not from Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Pittsboro or Raleigh, you can potentially still be featured in a live show episode. We probably won’t be able to get to most (if any) of your gigs in your town, but if you had a gig in our area, we’d make a special effort to get out to it. Also, on occasion we sponsor music events. If you tell us you would like to play at one of these events, we will keep you updated as to when they are scheduled for and we will try to include you in the line-up. Some of the events will be on campus, and some might be held at other venues, such as Go! Studios.
HOW LONG DOES A LIVE EPISODE TAKE TO COMPLETE?
It completely depends. Maybe a month, maybe several months – a lot of factors go into determining this. However, it only takes a little over an hour to put together one song from a live episode, so it is possible that we could get you a copy of your 1-3 songs a lot earlier than when the episode actually airs.
THE BAND’S COPY
As mentioned before, once we have completed your live videos, you can bring us a VHS (or what have you) and we will make you a copy. The important things to note here is 1) this will be done on or own time since we will probably already be working on other music videos at this point 2) we can only guarantee you a copy of material that is actually airing, not everything we may have shot/edited. Also, we do not give out raw footage.
WHAT WE NEED FROM YOUR BAND
*First off, tell us about your gig! We need to know the date, location, an approximate time. If you tell us at least a week in advance we are more likely to be able to make it. If you tell us way ahead of time (several weeks, a month) we may not be able to immediately say affirm that we’ll be there, but still, the best policy is the sooner the better.
*Be sure to give us as much notice as possible if your gig gets cancelled, or if the date/location/time changes!
*Get at least one of our crew on the guest list. At least one. We generally bring 2-4 crewmembers to a gig. Remember, we are students, we are not getting paid; we cannot afford to pay our way into numerous shows. Depending on the situation, we may not be able to come to your gig at all if we are left to pay our way in. (And if only one of us is on the guest list, we still may not be able to come, since that would omit one of our needed camera operators.)
*Try to remember to give us a shout-out while on stage. This is partly because yes, it does make us feel special, but also it lets people know we aren’t random fans with nifty video cameras. The crowd will know we’re there for you, helping you out, and therefore your footage will be better. (Less heads in the way, less people getting annoyed when we run around everywhere with the camera, and sometimes people will try to talk into the camera or claim its attention if they don’t know we’re doing an official shoot) It just makes our job a LOT easier.
*Don’t be afraid to make eye contact with the camera! If you’re shooting a script, you don’t want to look at the camera, but for live shows it’s perfectly appropriate. Besides, the temptation to glance at the camera is going to be there, and it looks better to acknowledge the camera than appear as if you looked at it by accident. Plus, it can give the video an overall more professional (or personal) feel.
*Consider letting us join you on stage, at least for one song. This is another thing that can bring the footage to a whole new level. You may not feel comfortable with it at first, so it might be better to have us on stage later in your set after we’ve shot a song or two, or even until the second time we come out to one of your shows. However, on stage we could get more dynamic shots, including crowd shots also. So do consider it, at least for one song.
MORE ABOUT THESE “REAL VIDEOS”
Again, most real videos are composed of a narrative of some sort, inter-cut with footage of the band/musician playing.
The exact details of the performance segment will depend on the particular video, crew and musician. Live video (from an actual gig) will not be used unless the live audio is used!
The Performance Segment
*This is footage in which the band plays their instruments, the singer sings, etc. It could take place in a practice room setting, someone’s house, outdoors, in the woods… just about anywhere, really.
Concerning Audio
*If you have recorded material we will use that, unless it is of poor quality and live audio would be better. This would be taken on a case-by-case judgment. We very much encourage using a CD you already have recorded!
*If you have NO recorded CD, or a CD of very poor quality:
We can still make a video for you by recording your song ourselves. In this case, we will either come to one of your gigs, if you have one in an appropriate timeframe, or we would set up somewhere (ie, your practice room) and tape you live. If we tape you in your practice room (or some comparable location) we will run through the song several times so we have several versions to choose from. However, since we are mainly video editors, not audio editors, think of it as a gig – we will not do a large number of takes, and one take will have to be the source of audio for the whole song.
*If you do have a useable CD:
During the shoot for your performance segment, we will play the CD version of your song so you can play along and sync up to it. We will not try to sync recorded audio with live audio. We’ll go through this several times, getting various angles. During this shoot, don’t worry about the actual audio, how anything sounds – we won’t use any of it. Just make sure your performance matches the recorded audio as much as possible, as that will be the only audio we use. If there are any specific sounds you want that correspond with the narrative and are not in the recorded track (such as a door slamming) we will get that audio during a separate shot.
*If you have a CD in the works:
As long as it will be mastered by our deadline, we can still go ahead – we will just use a rougher version of the song to sync up any performance section to, and to use for editing purposes.
*(As stated before) There will be no using recorded sounded and live (as in, from a gig) images! Too impossible to sync up!
The Narrative Segment
*This is, basically, anything that’s not the band straight-out performing. It may include elements of performance (i.e., the singer walking down the street lip-synching the lyrics as he interacts with people, or the keyboardist playing in the back of a party scene), but not to the extent the performance segment does.
*This segment does not have to be overtly narrative, the way a script or skit would be. It could just be a collage of old home movies or some other found footage you have (The Silent Seas), it could be very abstract and postmodern. Then again, it can also be very narrative and story-like if you want – in fact the majority of bands opt for this (Tad Dreis). It could be somewhere in between.
*It could be a primarily performance segment (i.e., only actors are band members) in which mostly all you do is play (Vibrant Green, can joann). If you want to play around with the video image in more creative ways – such as having the band play in the woods – we can also try that (again, synching up with a CD of yours). In fact, we encourage that.
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
*What should the band come up with before meeting with the crew? Nothing! Okay, maybe an idea of what song you want to use and if you want to have a performance segment or not. But that is it.
*We will come up with the concept for you video together – crew and musician. That’s why you shouldn’t come to our first meeting with anything more than an idea of which song you want to do! We will not take already thought out ideas unless we specifically ask for one, or you specifically ask us for permission and we say agree. Why?
***We are not your hired crew. We are the video directors. This means, even if we do ask you to come up with an idea, you can’t expect to give us something and have us regurgitate it in video form. We are not your technical crew, we are not a music video service.***
*If we do have you come up with an idea beforehand, we still have the right to reject your video idea, to change it, to come up with an alternate idea.
*If we do ask you to come up with an idea beforehand, all we need from you is a story idea. We decide the shots. We decide the edits. (You can suggest… but we may not use the suggestion.)
*No musicians editing with us! You may check in time by time, if the editor agrees and it works out time-wise, but that’s it – no trying to make editing decisions for us. (Not because we’re trying to make you look like freaks. It just creates a better working environment, which means a better video for you.)
*Our deadlines may create emergency situations. Just because we are the director does not mean the band won’t have lots of input throughout the whole process – but if there’s a deadline crisis, for whatever reason, we will have to finish up the video by whatever means possible. +[see deadline section further on]
All that being said… don’t worry – we don’t want you to hate your video, we want you to love it. We try to cater to what the musician wants. Therefore, we won’t be creative fascists, and we assume you won’t either. That’s why we’ll create the concept together from the start.
*Keep in mind that we have production knowledge that might help us come up with things you’d never think of by yourself. Also, we have a fairly good idea on what we can accomplish and what our limitations are.
*Keep in mind that we are students, and we need experience in both the creative and technical aspects of production – that’s STV’s first and foremost purpose.
WHAT THE BAND NEEDS TO KNOW BEFORE PRODUCTION STARTS
*Once a creative concept has been decided upon, it cannot be changed without us okaying it. This is done to make sure the video gets completed on time.
*It may become necessary to change/adapt the creative concept due to problems/restrictions in securing the props, locations, extras and so forth it might entail. For example, if the decided-upon script calls for the protagonist to bump into eight friends on campus, but only seven are available, we may just use seven.
*The musician needs to gets a song copy, song name and lyrics to us before production starts.
*The musician needs to get us certain information before production ends: actors names, name of album, website (if applicable) – basically anything you want included in the credits (although realize there may not be room/time for us to include EVERYTHING you want us too… like if you have a mile long thank you list, for example)
*It is the musician’s responsibility to make sure certain things (actors, locations, props) things are secured unless otherwise stated. Even if STV/the crew can supply it, the musician must make sure that this is both understood and possible. As stated before, if we do not have it, the musician will have to pay for it.
*Make sure you have these things secured and ready BEFORE the shoot. At the time we schedule the shoot to begin, you should have all props, extras, etc. that are your responsibility ready to go. We sign up for the STV equipment for specific times, so delay may mean the shoot does not get completed! This is a very bad thing, and could ruin the whole video. Very bad.
*As with live shows, if for whatever reason you find you cannot make a scheduled meeting or shoot (or are delayed), give us as much notice as possible – especially for shoots! We need to coordinate people, places, and equipment, so the sooner we can try to work these things out the better. And please do whatever possible to avoid having to reschedule – it may turn out that we can’t find a suitable alternate time before the deadline.
*Speaking of deadlines, if for whatever reason it looks like production is happening too slowly to meet deadline, we will have to take steps to ensure that the video is completed, at least in some form. Things that can slow production include delays and rescheduling (due to crew, or musicians, or uncontrollable events) and so forth. In these cases we would adapt to make sure SOMETHING can get out on the episode. This may entail a change in creative concept. In the worst cases, it may mean we complete the video WITHOUT the band, if that’s what it takes to get the video done on time. In these cases, the video would probably end up more narrative than performance, and we would try to re-shoot/re-edit the video later in accordance to the original concept… although this may or may not be possible. If that does not work out, we would give the band a higher preference for their second video than they would have otherwise gotten. We will try to work things out with everyone – musicians and crew – as much as possible, but we will do whatever it takes to make deadline without unduly compromising aesthetic, so the band and crew will have at least something to show for the premiering episode.
*Remember, we are students, and are doing this in our free time. And production of even a three-minute video can take a decent amount of time, in planning, in shooting, and in editing. So don’t be surprised if we don’t have the quickest turnaround, and remember we are doing the best we can (and we love what we do) but we’re not miracle workers and we do have other obligations.
PREFERENCES IN CHOSING BANDS TO BE ON AN EPISODE
If we have a surplus of musicians who want to work with us on any one episode, we will decide whom to begin production with based on several criterion.
*Locality: The closer the Chapel Hill, the higher the preference.
*# of Completed Videos: Bands who have made less or no videos get higher preference.
*Bands whose video had to be adapted in the name of the deadline (unless it was due to the musician not coming through on his/her side without it being a ‘beyond my control’ thing.)
*Recording: Bands who already have a CD recording get higher preference.
*First Come First Serve: The sooner you let us know you want to be on the episode, the better chance you have.
*Genre: We may choose musicians in a way to achieve the greatest amount of diversity on the episode, or we may have an episode with a certain theme.
*Availability: Whether or not a musician’s schedule will work out with ours.
We may end up with more videos than will fit on the (30 minute) episode – which is in part insurance in case one video totally falls through for whatever reason. If we find we have more material than will fit by deadline then we will decide who will be included by similar criterion as those above.
Examples: Who contacted us first about wanting a video, which will work in time
wise, which videos were completed first, who will work in best sound/concept wise.
***If your video does not appear on the premiering episode, it WILL appear on the next one.***
And remember what the S in STV stands for!
Any more questions, contact me at March3@email.unc.edu. I’ll be happy to answer them, and they may be useful to include in here!