Creative on-line plea for help leads to breaking into the top 10 in Canada
The new music video ‘Hypnotized’ by Regina singer-songwriter-pianist Jeffery Straker has been granted a coveted spot in rotation on the national Much More Music television channel. Late last week the video made its first appearance on the channel’s top 10 show helping the entertainer gain exposure from coast to coast. And the eye-catching work might not have ever come to life, if it weren’t for a very creative approach to its production.
The music video was shot last fall in Toronto and brings to life an imaginary back-alley cabaret-carnival complete with an array of circus performers, contortionists and dancers. The song ‘Hypnotized’ was released on Straker’s album ‘Step Right Up’ in June 2008. The album was funded in part by the Saskatchewan Arts Board and SaskMusic as well as FACTOR. Saskatchewan residents might recognize the song from play on radio stations such as Z99 (Regina), Rawlco’s Saskatchewan top 30 count-down across the province, The Fox (Yorkton), CBC, CJTR-Regina, and CFCR-Saskatoon.
However, the grandiose vision for the video didn’t initially match up with the budget. “I just didn’t have a lot of money kicking around to shoot this thing – so we had to get creative to really reduce costs,” says Straker. “Music videos can easily cost about $20,000 to shoot, so the producer/director and I thought we’d try putting a posting on-line on craigslist.org to see if we could get some volunteers to try to make it work.” The responses were overwhelming. “We were contacted by professional circus performers, a professional ballerina, swing dancers, a top-notch choreographer, a martial artist as well as a make-up artist. Even the beautiful old piano that features in the video was a donation that found us via craigslist." An offshoot from the craigslist posting was that the entire crew consisted of volunteer students from the Sheridan College Film and Television program in Toronto. “The result was a high quality production that cost very little money.”
The new music video ‘Hypnotized’ by Regina singer-songwriter-pianist Jeffery Straker has been granted a coveted spot in rotation on the national Much More Music television channel. Late last week the video made its first appearance on the channel’s top 10 show helping the entertainer gain exposure from coast to coast. And the eye-catching work might not have ever come to life, if it weren’t for a very creative approach to its production.The music video was shot last fall in Toronto and brings to life an imaginary back-alley cabaret-carnival complete with an array of circus performers, contortionists and dancers. The song ‘Hypnotized’ was released on Straker’s album ‘Step Right Up’ in June 2008. The album was funded in part by the Saskatchewan Arts Board and SaskMusic as well as FACTOR. Saskatchewan residents might recognize the song from play on radio stations such as Z99 (Regina), Rawlco’s Saskatchewan top 30 count-down across the province, The Fox (Yorkton), CBC, CJTR-Regina, and CFCR-Saskatoon.
However, the grandiose vision for the video didn’t initially match up with the budget. “I just didn’t have a lot of money kicking around to shoot this thing – so we had to get creative to really reduce costs,” says Straker. “Music videos can easily cost about $20,000 to shoot, so the producer/director and I thought we’d try putting a posting on-line on craigslist.org to see if we could get some volunteers to try to make it work.” The responses were overwhelming. “We were contacted by professional circus performers, a professional ballerina, swing dancers, a top-notch choreographer, a martial artist as well as a make-up artist. Even the beautiful old piano that features in the video was a donation that found us via craigslist." An offshoot from the craigslist posting was that the entire crew consisted of volunteer students from the Sheridan College Film and Television program in Toronto. “The result was a high quality production that cost very little money.”
After posting the video on-line and receiving favourable response, it was submitted to MuchMoreMusic in Toronto and added quickly to rotation. Music videos from indie artists who aren’t affiliated with a record label rarely gain play on Much More Music but the station found the song and video to be of high enough quality to make the cut.
On-line voting at MuchMoreMusic.ca determines which videos appear on the daily feature ‘top 10’ TV show. The week of April 20, ‘Hypnotized’ made its first appearance in the Top 10 and has stayed there because of fan and voter response. “It would be great to move it to the #1 spot, but we’re up against the likes of Nickelback and the last time I checked – they had a LOT of fans!” adds Straker. “But who knows – this whole thing has been a surprise.”
The video can be viewed on-line on YouTube as well as
http://www.jeffstraker.com.
On-line voting at http://www.muchmore.ca/mmtop10
Additionally, Straker, who recently conceived and staged FOODSTOCK! (the benefit for the Regina and District Food Bank) has a busy concert schedule including several upcoming performances in Saskatchewan:
May 23 – Cathedral Village Arts Festival
May 30 – historic Mae Wilson Theatre Moose Jaw – concert and television taping
June 13 – Saskatoon Pride Festival
On-line voting at MuchMoreMusic.ca determines which videos appear on the daily feature ‘top 10’ TV show. The week of April 20, ‘Hypnotized’ made its first appearance in the Top 10 and has stayed there because of fan and voter response. “It would be great to move it to the #1 spot, but we’re up against the likes of Nickelback and the last time I checked – they had a LOT of fans!” adds Straker. “But who knows – this whole thing has been a surprise.”
The video can be viewed on-line on YouTube as well as
http://www.jeffstraker.com.
On-line voting at http://www.muchmore.ca/mmtop10
Additionally, Straker, who recently conceived and staged FOODSTOCK! (the benefit for the Regina and District Food Bank) has a busy concert schedule including several upcoming performances in Saskatchewan:
May 23 – Cathedral Village Arts Festival
May 30 – historic Mae Wilson Theatre Moose Jaw – concert and television taping
June 13 – Saskatoon Pride Festival
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