The Touring Performer - January 2021 Edition

I can spend every evening like this!

 Last January, I wrote a post about how I was preparing to put thousands upon thousands of miles on my car. I was giving tips about surviving the incoming touring season which typically lasts from February to May.

In fact, over the last decade, I've written similar posts. These are as much to remind me about how to survive my schedule as it is to share with others how I manage it.

Not this year.

This year's workflow is very different.

1. I don't even know most shows are happening - The David changes the passwords on the pre-recorded shows on Sunday. Everyone who has a show booked that week gets the new password for the link, and they have access for seven days, He turns the links "on" and "off" as needed.

2. I have to edit particular intros or outros. - The David sends me images or video clips for specific venues. I edit them into the pre-existing packaged show, upload the altered show into Vimeo and The David sends the link to the particular venue.

"I think she's frozen!"

3. I have a new show or shows coming on-line, so I have to record, edit, and upload new material - I head upstairs to the studio, record the necessary material, come downstairs to the kitchen table, load the footage into my computer, edit it, compose the set, put a copy on my external drive, upload the content into Vimeo, and interact with it like step 1 or step 2.

4. I have a festival coming up where they want pre-recorded sets - I follow step three, organize the information, and send the sets to a dropbox. 

5. I have live/virtual shows - The night before the show, I go upstairs to my studio, check to make sure the background I've got on the frame is the background I want to use, make sure I have my video camera charged because I record me performing for the computer and then I edit the recorded live zoom show and upload it into Vimeo. The school then has access to the recording of me live/virtual telling to them for seven days.

I have a hate/love relationship with Live/Virtual

There are so many things that can go wrong with this set-up!

1. The internet on one end or the other gives up because of Gremlins.

2. The internet slows down because of Gremlins

3. The connection is bad because of Gremlins.

4. People randomly unmute themselves because of people.

5. The sound goes wonky because of Gremlins.

6. The people in their little boxes forget that you can see them and they do something.....because of people.

7. The children in their little boxes totally know they can see you so they do something....because of children.

8. You are totally distracted by the people in the boxes and you lose your concentration.

9. You are totally distracted by yourself looking back at you and you lose your concentration.

10. Your neighbor decides to cut down the tree in his backyard in the middle of your set because of neighbors.

11. Some random dog decides now is the time to express his displeasure at the clouds because of nature.

We are not a quiet bunch!

12. Your son and husband start having a great, loving, loud, silly conversation in the kitchen and you have to leave the set, and remind them you are performing live. They are covered with chagrin because they didn't know they were that loud...family.

13. Pets. Let's just leave it at that.

The Bottom Line?

It is just as exhausting.

I'd rather not have to do it.

I am enjoying it. 

Live Zoom is Exhausting!

Yes, I do see the appeal of live telling. The kids can see each other and me and they can interact. There are some things that make it tricky, like when they decide to unmute themselves when they are supposed to be joining me or doing call and response. I love to hear the voices, but they come in at all different speeds and at different times depending on what's happening on their computer.

It makes a cacophony of sounds that I must stop and wait for because kids who either didn't or couldn't unmute also hear it at different times. The pauses are odd and the rhythm of the story gets wonky. Still, it is kind of fun to watch the kids grooving out to storytelling.

They are at home, so nobody is making them sit still. Some kids go full Charleston Boogie. Some kids don't respond at all other than to stare at me unmoving. 

I've watched twins fight over the best viewing spot to see the screen while I'm telling. I watched one little girl act out each and every story enthusiastically a second after the narration.

People who are really into stories are the most fascinating, distracting, amazing things to watch. I'm enjoying a show while I'm presenting a show!

There are some wonderful things about this brave new touring world.

This is the easiest touring schedule I've ever had.

I fill up my car about once a month instead of two times a day.

As for the grueling commute...There are about a dozen stairs I have to climb. Think about my FiftyThree-year-old knees!

Yeah, I don't feel sorry for me either.

I have never toured so extensively and to so many countries and still managed to sleep in my own bed every single night! 

I actually like The David. I'm glad we get to spend time together!

I am enjoying this as much as I can while I can!

Happy Commuting.

Part 6: The Virtual Storyteller - I'm a Teller Not a Film Editor!

 I remember the first time I opened Imovie. Yes, it was six years ago. I was in Canada freezing my tuckus off and I made a video about the freezing weather.

It was the first video I'd ever shot on my computer. I downloaded Imovie because it was free, and I "produced" a little short that ended up on my Facebook page.

I was very proud of myself.

After that, I did a few videos that I uploaded to Youtube. Here is one of those old videos:

I can't tell you where I shot that or anything else about it, but I do know I did it in Imovie.

I was pretty impressed with my new skills but not so enamored of them that I continued to do movies much after that.

No, I didn't have much use for the whole video story connection.

Fast forward to 2020. 

I opened Imovie again for the first time in six years and had to start all over. Nothing about it was familiar.

I have no idea what other people have on hand if they are not mac folk.

I sent out an SOS to the internet. Someone suggested I use Adobe.

Adobe? Right. That's why I have children. If I need something in Adobe, I'll just ask them.

Brainstorm! I'll shoot videos and let my kids edit them. If they balk, I'll start talking about how I had hyperemesis with both of them and they owe me.

No, I would never do such a thing. I'm talking about the hyperemesis, not asking them to do things for me. 

After letting my son edit my first video series back in March, I decided I should learn the software and do it myself.

Back to Imovie and video tutorials like this one:

So, that's the end of this post...

No, just kidding.

Once I started using Imovie, I discovered it wasn't as flexible as I needed it to be, and besides that, the dang thing kept crashing. 

So, I upgraded to Final Cut Pro.

I love Final Cut Pro.

This post, however, is not about the software. Use what you like. This post is about what I've found effective in editing, and what I have found to be ineffective.

My experience with editing has led me to these conclusions:

1. You can edit out every pause, and smack, and slip of the tongue and produce perfect looking videos. Yes, you can, but it is not natural. The humanness of the story is in your humanity. Humanity is not perfect.

2. You can edit in the midst of a story, but be very wary of where you start from and where you end.

Matching your hand gestures, tone, and such is tricky.

3. If you must edit internally, it is more important to match your voice than your hands, gestures, and the tilt of your head. Try this - Close your eyes. Can you hear the edit? If you can "hear" the edit, then you should reconsider that section. (A tip from my son)

4. Listen to your edited footage...more than once. I had some bad edits when I first began and luckily they were caught by people who love me before they were widely distributed!

5. Whenever possible, I do the story in a single take. I perform as if there is an audience present, and I just get through the tale. I can always go back and edit out things if I hate them, but I much prefer the single take to multiple edits in the story.

6. If I get too flustered and can't get through a tale, I stop and move on to a different story, or I stop for an hour or the day.

7. I stop when I get tired. It comes across in the recording

8. I stop when I get frustrated. It comes across in the recording

9. I stop when I am feeling stressed. It comes across in the recording. 

10. It is perfectly okay to hate the sound of your own voice. Get another set of ears on it before you erase it in a fit of anger or disgust!

11. Recording yourself and editing the product is incredibly exhausting. Monitor yourself. Keep hydrated, and make sure you take enough breaks to keep the work fresh

A few hints -

1. Before I start speaking, I pause, give the camera a huge smile, and hold it for two seconds. I end the same way. That way, I will have a visual cue as to where the actual recording is starting and ending.

2. I use fades between stories as well as at the beginning and end of clips. I give the audience at least three seconds to reset before the next story. More if it is a particularly heavy one.

3. I offer custom introductions to venues for the videos

4. I offer live Q&A or discussion for an extra charge if you get a pre-recorded show....

Wait!

I've strayed into marketing with the last two statements. Oy. This business of editing and marketing and how you work this all bleeds into each other!

Okay.

Time to edit this post.

Next Week...How to market the Virtual Storyteller!

See you then!

Happy Recording!

Part 1: The Virtual Storyteller - The Philosophy of Plenty - Don't Let People Talk You Out Of It!

Part 2: The Virtual Storyteller - You Need A Cunning Plan

Part 3 - The Virtual Storyteller - Getting Equipped

Part 4: Lighting the Virtual Storyteller

Part 5: The Virtual Storyteller - Performing For The Camera

Part 6 - The Virtual Storyteller - I'm a Teller Not a Film Editor!

Part 7: The Virtual Storyteller - How Do You Market This???

Part 8: The Virtual Storyteller - The Internet Gods Are Not Always Kind

Part 9: The Virtual Storyteller - We Are An Evolving Business

Part 4: Lighting the Virtual Storyteller

 

Billy Porter's Oscar Hat - He looks like a lampshade to me!

There is this amazing thing called a lighting designer.

"A theatre lighting designer works with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create the lighting, atmosphere, and time of day for the production in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety, and cost."

So, basically, there is a person who designs lighting situations to account for shadows, outfits, angles, time of day, the contours of the space, the skin tones of the subject, and every other thing in a performance space to give the audience the right mood, feel, impression, and experience that the director wants.

You can even get a degree in this field!

You know what I really could have used when I started this whole process? 

A degree in lighting design, or potentially a lighting designer. Neither thing was at hand.

I turned to the cheat section of lighting design. That's right, I started looking up articles and videos on the interwebs. 

I watched hours of footage, read tons of articles, and tried loads of things. 

The following videos are the ones that I found most useful.

This one is great as a jumping-off place.

A great, simple tutorial to get you going with a complete set-up.

 I read about  3 point lighting. 

I called a young man who is a lighting designer and asked him about some of my lighting challenges.

There was a huge glare on my glasses. I attempted to sort this problem, but I could not do it to my satisfaction, so I just tell without my glasses. I do have some videos with my glasses, but those tend to happen when my natural light in the area is bright enough to allow me to forgo one of my ring lights.

Here is the tutorial I watched about glasses glare. I suppose if I decide to re-design my lighting set-up, I could buy the type of lights he's using, and that might solve the problem. If you wear glasses, this might be helpful to you.

Armed with my research, I went about setting up lights and shooting videos. 

Sometimes I was successful and sometimes I was not. Some videos came out too dark and had to be reshot, and some videos were lovely, and I could use them. 

I moved from my living room to one of the bedrooms upstairs. That space is now exclusively my "studio". I store everything up there, and my lights are set. It also has two big windows, so I get great natural light...providing it isn't night time or raining.

I bought some ring lights, and I have two standing lamps. I also have spotlights.

With all of this light, I have managed to light my videos to my satisfaction, but it was a long slog of trying to figure out how to do it.

backdrops on my daughter's old bed!

My performance outfits and a little changing area!

My "work table" lights and a backdrop.

Here are my recommendations:

1.  Find a space you want to record and stick with it

2.  Use the lights you have. Supplement if you must

3.  Try different things until you get the quality you want

4.  Ask for help if you need it

5.  If you can, buy your lights from an outfit that works with videographers, and can offer advice when you purchase. B&H comes to mind, but there are lots of them, so go out and find what works best for you.

6.  There is no right answer here. Do what works.

7. Be bold, be bold!

Good Luck. Have fun. 

Happy Lighting!

If you missed the other posts in this series:

Part 1: The Virtual Storyteller - The Philosophy of Plenty - Don't Let People Talk You Out Of It!

Part 2: The Virtual Storyteller - You Need A Cunning Plan

Part 3 - The Virtual Storyteller - Getting Equipped

Part 4: Lighting the Virtual Storyteller

Part 5: The Virtual Storyteller - Performing For The Camera

Part 6: The Virtual Storyteller - I'm a Teller Not a Film Editor!

Part 7: The Virtual Storyteller - How Do You Market This???

Part 8: The Virtual Storyteller - The Internet Gods Are Not Always Kind

Part 9: The Virtual Storyteller - We Are An Evolving Business

Next Week I Will Talk About Performing For the Camera.

Part 3 - The Virtual Storyteller - Getting Equipped

Okay! Now you have made some decisions about what you think you might want to do on this virtual performance ride! 

You think you know what you are going to try to produce

You think you know what you want to offer

I use the word "think" because you should not set anything in stone at this moment. 

Stone is bad

Stone breaks

Stone weathers and becomes illegible

Try something more flexible. Flexible is very good at this point.

I went into my first recording sessions on my laptop with gusto. I could do this! I am woman, hear me record!

Failure

Abject Failure

Horrible

Unacceptable

I went to The David and informed him I had failed to do a thing that I was pretty sure I should be able to do.

What was the problem?

Lighting

Video Quality

Background Too Busy

Not focusing well enough on the camera

Content Not Engaging

Structure not tight enough

Not connecting on a personal level

In other words, I did not have a handle on this at all. 

I had to back up and try to acquire a set of skills I had neither wanted nor needed at any other point in my life. Honestly, I didn't even know what those skills were.

I did a few "shots across the bow" stories and uploaded them to youtube just to see if they worked.

Well, this looks...homemade. 

Clearly, I needed to up my game, but how could I do that?

That's when I realized that despite all the time I'd spent in front of the camera producing subpar work those first few weeks, I was only at the tip of a very big, very intimidating iceberg.

I researched video editing

I researched lighting

I reached out to professional lighting designers

I researched video recording speeds

I researched how to deal with echo

I spoke with my friend,  the talented and sexy Simon Brooks who helped me immensely - with recording

My son - Degrees in digital music and 3-D art and animation was a key player in the research!

All of this research resulted in several different outcomes:

1. I went from room to room and space to space in my home and listened for echoes and ambient sound. 

The first best place was in my living room in a corner between the fireplace and a bookshelf that faced the downstairs hall. No wall to bounce the sound back, and lots of ambient light as long as I shot footage during the day at it wasn't raining.

2. I decided to get an external camera. I have an old Iphone and an even older laptop.

Webcams were out...not because I didn't try to source one, but because every single human being on the earth was smarter than I was and bought one the second the pandemic hit. There were none available.

After buying and returning a camcorder, I finally settled on this one.

The Canon Vixia r80

3. I listened to what was coming out of the camera and decided I needed an external mic.

Insignia Universal External Mic

After acquiring my purchases, I discovered I needed a tripod. These were also in short supply, so I bought a selfie stick that doubles as a small tripod and I repurposed - wait for it - my ironing board.

I borrowed a really bright light from my daughter and bought two track lights at Lowes.

My totally professional and not jury-rigged setup looked like this.

I got a horrid glare off of the picture behind me, so I took out the glass. It is a very nice, contained, non-echoey space with a simple background and nothing distracting.

All sorted, right?

No.

Not even close.

I had not yet begun to purchase!

My Macbook Pro, which had been a wonderful word processing machine and portable movie theatre for the last nine years discovered that I suddenly needed it to process video, upload, and download a ton of content, and talk to a video camera.

I can almost hear the thought process.

The Mac - "What the hell is wrong with you? You knew my memory and processing speed when you bought me! At no time in our relationship did I ever give you the idea that I was up to this sort of abuse. You better back up, woman!"

So, I bought a new Mac.

Wait! Wait! Wait!

I am not suggesting you go on a shopping spree! You don't need to do what I did at all!!!!!

1. I am explaining what happened to me.

2. I am explaining why I made the choices I did

3. I am not saying that if you don't drop 4 grand your quest is hopeless or anything of the kind

4. Lots of people are using their Iphones - I just have one that doesn't have a stellar camera

5. Lots of people have great lighting situations already - mine sucked

6. Lots of people have computers that could handle the processes - mine didn't

I am not a technophile, and mostly what I used my laptop for was writing. I have an amazingly huge amount of writing on my laptop and little else.

I was completely unprepared to be a virtual anything.

Now, if you do need some new equipment do not despair.

If you are having a cash crunch, there are tons of sources for cash out there right now for artists who need to upgrade their gear for this new age of virtual work. My buddy, Tim Lowry, (Head to his website and support his brilliant work) just went Mac crazy at his house with a PPP loan. (This program is closed, but keep a lookout for future programs of this kind)  

 The resources are there.

Start searching for artist grants here!

Okay, back to the saga of transforming my reality to a virtual experience.

Now, after purchasing a new Mac, transferring over relevant files, and commencing to store my videos on the drive, I discovered that if you try to put ten one-hour-long videos on a computer that is already storing lots of other things, it gets mad.

(I promise I will do a post about editing software and what little I know about how to work it.)

So, I bought a Seagate External Back-up Drive. I'm currently on my second one.

Then, there was the backdrop saga. (Blog post where I decide to upgrade the feel and look of my videos)

Now, all of this buying and rethinking happened in the first month of the lockdown as I realized I didn't have the capacity to go virtual in any way that looked professional.

The amount of failure that I experienced over the course of this summer was epic. Each and every single fail taught me something valuable that I was able to take into my next attempt. 

As the Mythbusters were always fond of saying - Failure Is Always An Option.

 

So, wherever you are in this process...here is my advice for dealing with the absolutely annoying, frustrating, exciting, draining, nonsense up to and including listening to hours of your own voice and performing for a camera of some kind:

Some New Rules for Old Dogs

1. Be gentle

2. Be patient

3. You can always start over

4. Not everything works

5. Play - Play like there is no tomorrow

6. Victories whether large or small should be celebrated like the world is ending.

7. Breathe

8. Relax

9. Lather, rinse, repeat

Happy Recording -

In the next installment - I will talk about lighting

Part 1: The Virtual Storyteller - The Philosophy of Plenty - Don't Let People Talk You Out Of It!

Part 2: The Virtual Storyteller - You Need A Cunning Plan

Par 3 - The Virtual Storyteller - Getting Equipped

Part 4: Lighting the Virtual Storyteller

Part 5: The Virtual Storyteller - Performing For The Camera

Part 6: The Virtual Storyteller - I'm a Teller Not a Film Editor!

Part 7: The Virtual Storyteller - How Do You Market This???

Part 8: The Virtual Storyteller - The Internet Gods Are Not Always Kind

Part 9: The Virtual Storyteller - We Are An Evolving Business

Covid Can't Even Delay Storytelling!

As we were being locked down across the country, many storytellers were asking:

What Now?

In that simple question, there were lots of other questions.

How will we make a living?

How will we do this art form at all?

How long will the world be unsafe?

There was a certain amount of despair and a large amount of panic.

Our next question was:

What's Next?

We embraced that question all over the place.

Online performances went live!

Priscilla Howe

Liz Weir

Laura Packer

MyLinda Butterworth

Bill Harley

There are too many to count! Follow this link to the NEST calendar for a great list of all of the online storytelling!

Storytellers are learning how to make art, share our work, and find audiences that are just as hungry for us as we are for them.

Artists Standing Strong Together and other online groups found their feet and started connecting people from various parts of the storytelling world with each other.

What did all of this wild change mean?

We suddenly had access to international performers we could never see live!

 https://worldstorytellingcafe.com/performances/live-stories-with-colin-urwin/

Some of us have been lamenting the lack of being able to have our big festivals. 

Well, there is no need to lament! The Big Festivals Are Still Happening! 

Timpanogos goes up this weekend!

You can buy tickets, and you get access to all of it! No longer do you have to agonize and choose which sets to watch...WATCH THEM ALL!

Guess how much all of that will cost you? Guess!

Not even close.

$25

Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it.

The National Storytelling Festival is happening on the first weekend in October like always. You can go from anywhere in the world and it is affordable!

Who is going to be telling this year? EVERYBODY!

This can easily become a $1,500 dollar weekend. How much will it cost this year? 

$50

Not only that, but you can also do the whole thing from your living room, your kitchen, heck, you could watch it from bed!

You no longer have to choose which Donald Davis set to catch, or whether or not you can see both Ed Stivender and/or Adam Booth. Want to catch every single Josh Goforth set? Not a problem. See EVERYTHING! 

=Hit this link to see more online treasure throughout the storytelling virtual world on The NEST Calendar if you didn't do it already!

On to other matters.....

I know I have not done much blogging during these crazy times, but I have been trying to reform my own business model. Now that I have a little more knowledge in me about how to make this work, I have some information to offer.

I will be blogging more about the business of storytelling in the time of COVID. In fact, that is what my next series is going to be dedicated to doing.

I am going to answer the questions I have been fielding, explain how I transformed residencies into online products, and go into detail about how we marketed this product, how we figured out what we wanted to do, and offer as much information as I can about this new world of work.

I am of the opinion it will be at least 2 years before we are back up to capacity in a safe way. Even after that, I don't think virtual telling will ever go away.

Let us march forward with both of these great skills under our belt.

You can't stop storytellers when stories are on the line.

Heck, you can't even delay us! 

Happy Virtual Telling!

Waiting For My Artist Card: Negotiating Prices in the Age of COVID-19

I've been waiting for my artist card for years. I'm sure there has to be one. There must be.

How do I know this?

I imagine it is sort of like this but with artist stuff on it

Because negotiating a fee for storytelling, or any art, is tricky. For some organizations or people, when they get into the process of hiring an artist, they are flabbergasted at how much it can cost.

Some organizations want an artist to come, but they are annoyed that they have to pay you at all aside from covering dinner.

Some organizations are shocked to find out that you won't come for free or work for a pittance.

Some organizations think they've offered you plenty of compensation and they don't get why one hundred dollars is not sufficient for your time. You are only going to be telling for an hour!

Some people complain that they are hiring you to do something you love, so why are you charging so much?

Clearly, there is a formula on the artist card that must look something like this -

Artists love their work. +  They are only banging on drums/telling stories/singing for x amount of time. + They are only working with families/children. + They are not traveling far. + They really are having fun. + I am offering them exposure. = They really should be paying me for giving them this opportunity.

I suppose that is why some people approach fee negotiations with an artist like, "I guess I'll toss them a bone. I'm sure that will be sufficient."

Luckily for me, I don't negotiate fees. I leave that to The David. I let him wrangle with people over dollars and cents.

Yes, in the best of times, it is hard to negotiate a fee.

Throw in a global pandemic and you make things even harder.

In the before time -

"We have fifteen libraries. We have this much money, how many of them will you visit if we pay you x amount?"

In the now -

Client: "We want a virtual show and we want to stream it to all fifteen of the libraries for two weeks, and we want to pay you as if you have only visited one branch on one afternoon because you are recording the show. That seems fair.


Artist: "Umm. No. I'm sorry. I can't afford to do it like that. Let's talk about a fee for each library in your system. Certainly not as high as if I was there in person. That way, I am in every library, you have programming for your entire system, and I am compensated for the work I am putting into preparing this program for you.

Client: "What? You want us to compensate you for essentially working every one of our libraries this summer even though your show is pre-recorded?  That is unreasonable. The formula on your artist card says that creating pre-recorded virtual programming is much easier and less expensive to produce!"


I really need to get hold of this artist card.

this is the TIR apartment in Jonesboro!

Since it is being used against me on a regular basis, there must be a way for me to use it to help my situation.

I could take it to my mortgage broker. She'd say, "Wow, I didn't know you had an artist card. Considering this formula, I am going to drop your mortgage payments by forty percent!"

How about grocery shopping? I could present my artist card right before my credit card. "Wow! You're an artist who loves what she does. Your groceries are going to cost fifty percent less than everyone else who has to work for a living!"

Oh, at the bookstore! "Wait! You're an artist? Well, here are all of your books at ten percent of what everyone else has to pay for books!"



Yes! My artist card, the card that makes people assume they don't need to pay me, should also alert the people that I have to pay that I shouldn't be charged full price for anything!

Sadly, my artist card has not come, so, I am still in the position of negotiating a fee.

Here is a blog post I wrote years ago with some tips about setting and negotiating a fee.


I reread it this morning and was surprised to see that it still holds.

We have adjusted our fee structure because of COVID.

My travel expenses are nonexistent, but there are other expenses we have to contend with.

We have a pro Zoom account.

We have a premium Vimeo Account.

I upgraded my laptop.

I bought a camcorder.

I bought an external mic.

I've purchased lights, backdrops, frames on which to hang the backdrop, editing software, upgraded the internet to the fastest speeds allowable in my area, and spent hours rehearsing, recording, re-recording in various parts of my house to find the best place to make solid sound without echoing or feedback. I've invested hours and hours in educating myself about how all of this works. We are combining years of education, brand new skills, and our knowledge of our craft to make art in a new way with an unfamiliar tech world.

What a client is getting on the other end of this process is a high quality, well put together, specifically crafted piece that is designed for this particular medium that displays our artform to the best of our ability.

That is no small accomplishment.
That is not cheap.
That is not easy.
That is not thrown together.
That is not an afterthought.

If we charged what our work and dedication is actually worth every single time we stepped into a venue, nobody could afford it.

The price we quoted is already a steep discount unless it is in the six figures.

You are more than worth the fee you charge.

If we do not fight for the right to be properly compensated for our work, we won't be, and nobody will have any idea we should be.

That was true in the before time.

It is still true now.

Then again, my artist card might come today.

Happy making art work for you!