It’s pretty simple what you’ll do. You’ll stand in one place and sing along to the music. You’ll also take an extra shot called “The Hold.” I hope you can ask one of your cousins to shoot this. It shouldn’t take too long.
Here are some basic guidelines.
- Don’t shoot with a phone’s selfie camera. Use the much better camera on the back of the phone.
- Hand held is okay if you can keep it steady. A tripod will make it easier to keep the framing consistent
- Pick a place where you feel comfortable, a place that feels like you. It doesn’t have to be beautiful or fancy, just natural to who you are. indoors is fine. Lighting is important as you know. Making it look natural is really important.
- Wear what you would naturally wear in that place.
- Center yourself, waist or chest up, framed horizontally. See these examples.
Once your shot is set up, you can shoot it all in one take if you want or in separate shots, but making sure you are in the same place for all the shots. Because I have the audio separate, play this music out loud and sing along syncing to recording. I’ll match it up in edit.
There are four shots to shoot. One is new. I’d like to have your face be in the big choir part at the end so please take a bit to learn it enough to sing along. Don’t worry about syncing perfectly. There are four verses so I’ll grab a piece that matches well enough.
1. Diana Part 1
2. Diana Part 2. Same shot. I don’t have you singing this part in the mix, but I do need your face singing along with it. It’s a subtle part, so feel free to record along with it a few times and I’ll grab a piece that fits. See the words below.
When the beast is at your door And it's taking everything you know When it gets inside your Ma-a-a-a-y you feel!
3. Third, sing along with the big gospel choir. We recorded you singing this straight and improvising with oohs and ahhs. Please sing along straight with the first two verses then improvise for the second two verses. There’s a big ending where you sign “May you feel safe” twice. You can re-record that part if you feel like you didn’t get it. I have so many great versions of your singing this. I will have plenty to mix and match.
May you feel safe
May you be happy
May you be strong and free from suffering
May you feel kindness for yourself
(4 times, then)
May you feel safe, may you feel safe
Sing big.
4. Finally, shoot “The Hold.” Shoot 60 seconds of you looking straight into the camera. Don’t smile big. Don’t stare. Just look at the camera and let whatever crosses your mind cross you mind.
Then upload the files!
Once you record everything, please make sure to name the files to include your name. It’s okay to have separate files or a bunch of parts in one. And please don’t worry about your stuff being perfect. I’ll be editing your part together with other people’s grabbing just the best parts. Click on this button to upload the files.
Let me know when you’re done. I’ll get an alert, but it’s good to double check.
Thank you!
-David