This summer, the BBC Voices centre at The Forum in Norwich launched a project to help four up-and-coming bands make their own music video, by providing them with equipment and industry expertise. While the BBC helped the project, all the creativity and ideas were generated by each band, who had to come up with a concept and location for the film as well as editing the music video themselves. A director was on hand to provide guidance and tips, but the goal was to let the bands be more involved than they would in the usual production of a music video. One of the four bands that was chosen, out of more than 30, is Jago. They came up with the idea of a performance in a barn, because they wanted somewhere "dusty and industrial," said lead singer Matthew Mead.
 | | Jago's Matt Mead in a video scene |
"We were trying to transmit how much energy we produce live," he said, "and we thought the best way to do this would be with a performance video. "In the barn, we can kick up a bit of dust and put the energy of our performance across," he added. Jago bassist Steve Renaut was excited about the video and the opportunity it will give the band. "A lot of bands won't have the money to make a video for themselves because it costs so much, but this is a great way to get it done on a relatively low budget," he said. "We can use it for promotion and marketing later on and we think it'll give us a big advantage," he added.
 | | Gary Standley has confidence in the band |
The other three bands, Crone, Blag and Fletch Cadillac have also made videos. BBC Voices Producer, Gary Standley, is enthusiastic about what they will do for the bands. "Once they've got the videos recorded, it could make the difference between them being an unsigned band and getting a record deal," he said. All the videos were finished and edited before the end of the summer, with each band using a week of BBC Voice's filming equipment, editing suites and expertise.
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