What Thou Need'st || Adventures in (not) making a Music Video

Well, I have no update on how publishing is going, as Snippets hasn't given me one yet.

What's it been, two weeks or so now?

This is what their website says:

14. How long does it take for my Snippet to go live after publishing?

Every Snippet goes through a short review process by the Snippet Team and by Apple after being published and before going in the store. Typically this takes 7-10 days. We notify you throughout the review process with status updates. Here is the typical review process and statuses:

• Pending Review (1-2 days)
• In Snippet Review (1-2 days)
• In Apple Review (5-7 days)
• Approved and in the Snippet Store!   Snippets then go live in the Snippet Store the Thursday following approval before 10AM.

So...what could be happening?

Are they overrun with people submitting books to be reviewed?

Did they lose my story?

Do they not like my story?

To try and answer these questions for my impatient little self, I emailed Snippets at the beginning of the week, but have heard nothing in return.

So, I'm still waiting, but I guess this gives me time to do another behind the scenes post.

For this story, I, with assistance from Becca, wrote a song that plays a major part in the plot. What drew me to Snippets, with it's multimedia format, was that I could have a recording of the song in the book!

But just a recording?

Snippets could take video too...why not make a music video?

After getting a musical arrangement we liked, Becca and I had several recording sessions (in our lovely recording studio/kitchen) to get a recording we were satisfied with. With two voices and two instruments, figuring out how many separate tracks we needed, keeping tempo, and hitting the right notes on the recorder, it took a bit longer then we thought. 

Finally we were finished.

Becca: "You can tell we recorded it in our kitchen."

Well, aside from calling our friend Jon over and setting up our jury-rigged padded recording studio in the basement (see here), it was the best we could do.

But hey, at least it's better then some of our really early recordings (way before we started blogging), where you can hear our budgies hollering in the background.

Buddy and Alice, budgies: "We can sing louder then you!"

Us: "SHHHHH!"

Buddy and Alice: "Burble, chirp, screech!"

We had a music track, we had medieval costumes, and during the weekend we scouted out a scenic area to film.

So, early one morning we packed up our camera and instruments, got into our costumes, and headed on the road. 

Our destination was a little a little town not far from us, that has these really pretty walking trails and a stream, and hopefully not too many people. :)

The property where the walking trails are is owned by a little resort. They have campgrounds, a hotel, and a resteraunt, and the buildings there used to be an old school for the blind. It's a really a neat place, but our mom thought, just to be polite, we should ask permission to film along the walking trail.

So, here I am in my medieval costume, walking into the hotel lobby to ask if it would be all right to film there.

There were people in the lobby getting breakfast, and I'm sure I got a few strange looks, but the lady at the front desk smiled and said it would be perfectly all right.

Phew!

Now to figure out what we wanted to film.

Music videos, or at least Becca's and my favorite music videos, portray the story the song is telling. If they don't, they seem a bit pointless don't they? 

My song tells a story, but it could only be told well with the characters from the book, not two girls running around the woods with a guitar and a recorder. So, if the music video can't tell the story, what do we do?

We started by just taking some scenery shots; one of us walking along the path, us playing our instruments.

After finishing one of these shots, we heard a rustle in the woods.

Three minks trotted onto the path right in front of us. The one in the lead actually stopped and looked at us for a minute, then continued on its way with it's friends. Becca wasn't able to catch them on film until after they left the path again, so mostly you see our surprised reactions. :)

A moment later, a forth mink came by. This one was agitated, making little angry sounds as he stalked by us. He was quite disgruntled at being left behind.

Becca was able to catch him on film, but it is rather blurry.

After another hour or so of walking around and filming, we decided this wasn't really going anywhere. The scenery was pretty, but we didn't think it would make the most interesting music video.

Bethany: "So, are we done?"

Becca: "Yeah..."

Then we had the idea to at least take a picture of us in out costumes, to use as a album cover or something.

We took our inspiration from a Simon and Garfunkel album cover we remembered, where they are walking down a path and looking back over their shoulders at the camera. Wasn't Garfunkel holding his guitar too?

Oops, we didn't look in time.

There we go!

Now for a little of Becca's fancy editing.

Funny to find out, when we got home and looked up that Simon and Garfunkel album cover, our memories proved to be a bit faulty.

Garfunkel is holding... a plaid shirt? Oh well. 

So, we ended up not making a music video, but we had a fun adventure together.

Hopefully I'll be hearing from Snippets soon, and have some good news to share!

(We're thinking of making this our signature ending gif. What do'ya think?)