"Look at you, you are acting like a true production company owner," Liam smiled. "Unfortunately, the production team for the event will be sent over by my old man. As this is somewhat a big event, I asked my old man for help."
"Oh, that's too bad, I thought I could eke out some leaks from you," Dave shrugged.
"Hmmm, that might be possible," Liam muttered to himself and thought for a moment.
Even though the old man will send a production team, relying on the big tree for all things was not suitable. What happened two days ago already gave him a hard lesson. MusixZ must learn to operate self-sufficiently.
And this music festival was a small one. Using it to train some troops for him to rely on later sounded good. Dave's current production company was entirely reliant on MusicZ. While Liam didn't have the budget to create an in-house production team, he can also give Dave some benefits now so that he will be willing to help Liam sometime down the line.
"Tell you what," Liam looked at Dave with a brisk look. "The team that the old man will send will only handle the production stuff for the event. I will hire you to create some promotional stuff and do some on-site interviews. Do you think your company can handle it?"
"Please, I have already hired a bunch of filmmakers who are looking for any kind of scrap. They will be overjoyed to do stuff like this. You don't understand how desperate they are for opportunities like these," Dave smirked.
"Then, I will ask the legal department to prepare a contract. But, don't expect a huge amount for this. I'm just doing this for our relationship. A small event like this doesn't need all these things," Liam spoke bluntly.
"Hey, mosquito meat is still meat. It is not as if I will be the one toiling away. I will let those guys break their heads and come up with plans," Dave said happily.
"Ideally, one promo video for each performer, one video for the event team, a couple of interviews of onlookers and some artists during the event. This should be enough, I think," Liam thought out loud.
"In that case, Happy Cooperation."
"Happy cooperation."
After Dave left the room, Liam immediately called Rosa in and asked her to set up the MV tapes for the first set of rap videos in the video room. Since he planned to check out Lilith's performance, he also decided to inspect the tapes to see how they had come out.
The expectations in his imagination may not have translated completely into his verbal instructions. Having a look at the tapes will allow him to give out some constructive criticism early on so that Dave's production teams could adjust early on.
As Rosa and Evan set up the video room, Liam concentrated on finishing the work he had for the day. After about an hour, Rosa entered the office to let him know that the video room was ready. By then, Liam had already gone through half of the work pile on his table.
Letting out a satisfied sigh, Liam rose and followed Rosa to the video room. Evan was waiting for him inside. He didn't say anything, merely motioned Evan to start and took a seat.
Under Evan's operation, Liam watched all the forty videos in the first batch Dave had sent. It took him over three hours to completely watch them all.
During this time, Rosa sat beside him and took notes on the criticisms he offered for each video. After each video was played, Liam would comment on it with a critical eye. Once done Evan would play the next tape. Sometimes, Liam would ask for a repeat if he felt that he wasn't sure about a certain video. Thus, every video was watched and reviewed thoroughly.
While his expectations weren't completely met, he could safely say that these music videos looked much better than the ones that were currently being aired on their channel. These videos at least made him want to watch them for a few minutes.
While checking out the entire first group, he naturally came across Lilith's videos as well. It can only be said, she was good. Some of her performances were truly outstanding. Her dance numbers in particular made Liam's eyes light up a bit. Like Dave said, she truly had a good screen presence. It's a pity that her segments were short.
Liam didn't let his appreciation show. He merely noted it in his heart. Watching her performance a new idea sprouted in his heart. After watching all the videos, they took a half an hour break and gathered together once more.
"I don't know why these rappers like to wear so much gold on their body. It is truly nauseating," Liam opened the meeting with a cutting remark. "Evan, ask them to tone it down a bit. I understand that this is the way they wanted to express themselves, but isn't it a bit too much."
"Ahem, Mr. Liam, some artists are headstrong. They don't listen to the filmmakers or the production team much," Evan said a bit uncomfortably.
The subtext was clear. Even if he forwarded the suggestion, the artists might not follow through. Being the ones who made the song, they were like little kings on the set.
Liam felt a bit speechless after understanding it. It wasn't a major issue. He just felt that those things were too gaudy. From the looks of it, others agreed as well. However, if it can't be implemented, no loss. Whatever, let those artists hop around however they want. As long as the final products are upto satisfaction, who cared what those guys wore.
"The next thing I feel is that there are too few women's portions. Most of the videos are dominated by those artists and those inexplicable guys. I can understand giving enough screen time to artists, but why are those inexplicable guys hopping up and down and showing their faces in random places?"
Liam's question was met with an uncomfortable cough from Evan once again.
"They are the so-called brothers of the artists. The artists want them to be featured prominently," Evan explained softly.
Liam felt like he had punched cotton once again. How come these artists are there wherever he turns. Are these little devils so hard to reason with?
"I don't care about all that stuff. No one wants to watch these guys hop around. The females are the eye candy. I want those portions to increase. If those artists want these guys to feature prominently, then pair them with the girls and keep them as background props," Liam replied curtly, causing Evan to nod in acknowledgement.
"Rosa, is there anything else I have mentioned several times?" Liam asked Rosa.
"One of your frequent remarks is that videos featured guns too heavily," Rosa said after looking at her notes.
"That one as well. Reduce their prominence. We are a national TV, Evan. We will get into trouble for this stuff," Liam warned.
Evan nodded solemnly.
"The other point is that the color palette of most videos are dim," Rosa noted and closed her notes.
"Ah that one. Look, these guys are already dark in color. Tell those filmmakers to make them dress in bright colors so that they could pop on the screen. I get that black is a cool color to use and white brings contrast, but we aren't taking black and white films here. Ask those filmmakers to use colors like yellow, red, and green. If not on the artists, at least on the surroundings," Liam sighed and explained his requirement.
"Apart from it, things look solid. But, there is no video that truly impresses to be honest. They are all concentrating too much on art and missing out on telling a story. Even rap songs have a story in them, right?" Liam asked exasperatedly.
Evan simply nodded and noted it down.
"Do you have anything to add Evan? Rosa, what about you? You both watched the videos with me as well," Liam asked candidly.
"I noticed how these videos are more entertaining to watch than the ones we are airing now. Maybe, we can do this for other genres as well, Mr. Liam," Evan spoke first.
Hearing Evan's words Liam smiled. At last, someone connected the link and thought on his own in this office. It was tiring to be everyone's brain. And what Evan noticed was a very important cornerstone in ensuring MusixZ's success.
"You are right. The idea behind these videos were to see if such MVs have an effect. These rap videos are mere test runs. If it works, we can do the same to other genres. If needed, you can hint about it to Dave," Liam smiled and gave an appreciative nod to Evan.
Evan beamed happily and nodded back. It was clear that Evan understood that it was Liam's signal for Evan to be more proactive in that area. If not for that, Liam wouldn't have mentioned his relationship with Dave. So, Evan felt inwardly happy at this moment.
"I noticed that one of the dancer's performance was really good. But it is a bit too short to make an impact. She appeared in a few videos," Rosa said from the side.
"Her name is Lilith. Don't worry about it. There are other issues with that part. Leave it be," Liam instructed Rosa, causing her to nod.
"Anything else? If there isn't anything else, Evan, take the feedback to Dave's team and let them adjust accordingly," Liam instructed and walked out of the video room.
It was time to get back to his workload. Sigh, his work was neverending.