Meetings with Tom and Kabeer:
This was our first meeting, to find out about the project and how I could help them get the most out of the project. I agreed to assist with promotion and put Kabeer into the showcase. We thought of doing this as a previewed interview and performance video on release day and then reuse the performance video on the showcase. They plan to finish by May 10th and are most likely performing using Ableton so that the set is not an acoustic one and can be true to the original studio recordings.
Their recordings need to be completely figured out and reworked despite being recorded last year. This is because Kabeer’s vocal ability has greatly improved and Iza’s production is not up to Tom’s standard. So they plan to go straight into college and get started on improving these songs and finishing the writing process.
The one thing I asked was that I could pop in and out of their sessions. They agreed and once Kabeer had left, Tom asked that I keep Kabeer in check and on track and to keep the first years out of his way. This is because Kabeer was asked to send at bare minimum the chords to all 3 songs by the end of the week. However as this did not happen, I had to ask him to do it again. In return, I advised Tom to not take on too much so as to prevent him from burning out.
This call was a week later, we discussed that a lack of progress had been made practically. This is mostly because Kabeer had been absent for the majority of the week. I asked Tom to set himself a target for the same time the following week. He says that he wanted at least one demo finished and they are now almost done with that, meaning they are on schedule. I offered to give Kabeer another nudge by explaining to him why he needs to complete the work and how his project would be affected if he left it too long. Tom would have to move onto something else.
He also asked me to discuss what exactly it is that The Old Jammers need from Tom so that he can work that into his schedule if he needs to. However, they decided to ask Lewis for help instead.
Google Forms:
Creating a spreadsheet to track the projects:
I am using this spreadsheet to keep track of everyone’s projects from both year one and two. It helps me to see where everyone needs their recordings and the way they want to showcase their work on May 28th. It also makes it easier to see who is going to collaborate with who. Over the next few weeks I will be editing this. I have already made a few amendments because a lot of the replies to the google form were lacking in detail or some people were still finalising ideas.
Since the last time I used this spreadsheet, I have adjusted some projects by adding more detail to explain what each person is doing. I have also added a colour code of people with and without Photoshoot slots. Lucy and Meg are in red but should be orange because they have one but may not want it. Ellis is in red because he does not have one and everyone else is yellow because they do have one. I’ve also added a column for videos submitted in preparation for May 14th so that I can keep track of who’s projects we still need video evidence of for the showcase. Finally, there is a column for BCB Interviews. This has “N/A” for everyone who I did not think to be appropriate to ask, “No” for people who do not want to do it, and all the others for those I have asked but not heard back from yet.
The spreadsheet now includes green for everyone who had a photoshoot slot and showed up for it, orange for those who did not show up, yellow for the group where only one person showed up and red for those who didn’t want an interview. The green on the second tab is for those who have submitted their video evidence. I think that the fact that this is all green by the deadline is very positive and know that if I do this again, it is helpful to keep track of it and remind those involved on multiple occasions. Finally, the lates addition to the spreadsheet is the links for our description box to each individual project. I set this up in a new page of the spreadsheet too so that it is easier to read.
Marketing Discussions:
At 3pm on 19/04/21 I met with Ruth to discuss my marketing schedule and the ways she could help us to promote the showcase and get the most out of the marketing team. She asked me to describe why the showcase is worth watching and I explained that we have a huge range of talent here on the course with many people doing a variety of interesting projects and in addition to this we are now up to 2.7k views on our first showcase.
BCB Radio Contact:
I emailed David Carpenter, who is the Youth Development Worker at BCB, to ask him if he and the radio station could be of help to my project, particularly in terms of promotion. He offered his assistance and suggested a few ways to go about it. For example 5 minute interviews, social media reposts, track of the week and networking opportunities.
He explained that making a media engagement plan and working around key moments of the project would be really useful. He also told me that reaching out to the T&A, BBC Radio Bradford and Leeds and even Look North could be fantastic for press releases. These could include audio diaries or regular interviews with students. Personally, I like the idea of creating audio diaries or even vlogs because they are a great way of tracking progress but also it can be used as interesting content for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or all three.
Today (01/03/2021), we had a phone call to discuss these in greater detail. He ran through his ideas again and explained the slots he had available for us to appear on. He asked me to see if anyone would be willing to create a jingle to add continuity to the content we share.
After a long gap in communication, David and I had another phone call with updates and made some decisions on what was best to do going forward (23/04/21). I told him about the new date for the showcase and explained that our original plan to do audio diaries was not going to be feasible in the time frame and that we needed a less time-consuming idea. We decided to do an interview a week, choosing various projects all of which are different. He then put me in touch with BCB’s news team and we arranged our interview for this week.
Contacting other local radio stations:
I contacted BBC Radio Bradford and BBC Radio Leeds to see if they would be interested in our showcase and ask for their help with promotion.
I also sent this email to BBC Look North, Telegraph & Argus and to the Thornton Directory. These are all local news sources and I believe that we can easily advertise with them.
Planning Video Recordings:
In order to arrange a convenient time to record the performance videos and work out the best amount of time that would be needed for editing, Nic and I had to arrange a meeting with Zaid (who is a staff member inside college’s central media department). Whilst we were there, we discussed what we needed his help with. This included how many bands would be performing (2) and how many acoustic performances there would be (4-6). We then discussed the best day to record these performances and decided on May 11th. After that we talked about the editing process. Zaid mentioned that he wanted to do a 3D video for our YouTube channel so that we could reach a slightly wider audience and be unique. I am really excited to see how this develops. Next, he explained that the editing process for these performances is simple and won’t take too long but adding captions and credits might lengthen the process. We used this information to give the editing process up to May 21st, which is a week before the showcase. We will then use the last few days to stitch all of the showcase elements together including things other than performances and then bounce it down and upload as a premiere ready for May 28th.
After watching the HE live music showcase premiere on YouTube, we decided that we needed better quality video footage. This meant that Nic had to bid for additional funding and then use that funding to book two full days of filming with Barney – a professional videographer.
Bradford Producing Hub and Bradford Music Network:
As you can see, Sinead (Bradford Producing Hub’s Music Instigator (Sinead Campbell is joining Bradford Producing Hub as Music Instigator – Bradford Producing Hub, 2021)) was more than happy to help. On May 6th, Bradford Music Network posted us on their Instagram Story (twice). They also posted to their Facebook page and linked to ours.
Although it seems it has not done much for our following, I see this as being a good opportunity to build connections with those in the industry.
Accidental DM to a Verified Instagram Influencer/Youtuber:
Whilst sending an invite to our showcase premiere to my friends and family on Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, iMessage and Instagram, I sent a DM to YouTuber and Influencer Rachael Levin (AKA rclbeauty101). Although she did not reply, she did like my message:
Professional Feedback:
Caroline is a tour manager for artists such as Pale Waves, The Japanese House, and Zara Larsson. She is someone I look up to in the industry due to her love of her career right out of school (Hissong, 2021), this reminds me of myself.
Bibliography:
- Bradford Producing Hub. 2021. Sinead Campbell is joining Bradford Producing Hub as Music Instigator – Bradford Producing Hub. [online] Available at: <https://bdproducinghub.co.uk/sinead-campbell-is-joining-bradford-producing-hub-as-music-instigator/> [Accessed 06 May 2021].
- Hissong, S., 2021. She Managed Concert Tours. Now, Covid Vaccines. [online] Rolling Stone. Available at: <https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/music-covid-19-vaccines-zara-larsson-pale-waves-1139585/> [Accessed 26 May 2021].