Hey everyone. I mentioned in my last newspost that on 29 May, I would be joined by some friends to film a music video for At the Ends of the Earth. Now that filming has finished and it has gone on to editing stage, I'd like to share some thoughts and piccies.

The budget for this video was relatively shoestring. Above was the props bag, which doesn't really give away much, doesn't it?

In this bag were a pack of 100 tealights, and small glass tealight holders, put in a hair products box because we couldn't find anything else to contain them. Besides those, there were two brass candlesticks, an old lantern, and two actual candles (which were old and fragile by the time we got them). The other things we needed to bring with us could not fit in this bag, but we already had them -- a desk lamp for concentrated warm light, a couple lighters, and my harp.

Soundskills had its own material to contribute -- this video was actually filmed at Soundskills proper -- and so it helped alleviate any concerns about what the recording space would look like.

Seán preparing the candles for today's session. There were plenty of tealights to spare, but only 18 tealight holders and one lantern.

The backdrop being set up. The faux fur rug on the ground, the music equipment box over which it was draped, and the black drapes were all Soundskills' own. We would turn off the lights after this was done.

The candles being lit and the lighting being set up.

Someone didn't know how to handle the HDR on my phone (which is fair enough; it's not straightforward) -- but these were filming tests, before the actual lights in the room were turned off.

Shot from recording. Only a bit of ambient light, from the entrance, was let in. By this point the spotlights in the recording room had been turned off.

I sang and played my harp. We expected filming to take as long as it did for Mio/Homu back when it was done (that one took upwards of four hours) -- full filming for At the Ends of the Earth took only an hour and a half. This was aided in large part by the fact that there wasn't much movement. I was sat in place, playing my harp, in a rather solemn and dark setting.

It may have been a relatively short recording session, but it was beautiful. It felt beautiful to all of us. Doing this -- filming, and being filmed -- was fun. I awaited the recording day with muted excitement, rather than the boisterous excitement I had over the last video, because I'd been feeling ill and finding myself in a lot of physical pain. Well, if I ever did fall mid-filming (which, thankfully, I didn't), I figured I'd have several pairs of hands to help me back up.

My Seán had to leave early because he was needed elsewhere, but he was there with me for the first hour or so. The rest of the crew, comprised of friends from Soundskills, stayed to help. For two of them, it was their first time ever being behind the scenes in the production of a music video of any kind.

I am in the midst of handwriting title and credits cards right now, and I will be sending those to editing as soon as they are complete. I hope to be able to share the end result with all of you soon!

Tagging, for interest, the people who inspired the song, and who had a hand in the production of this song, or the production of this music video.

@siteml @JessieYun @etherealwinds @IrishChieftain @Hoeloe @ShockblastDeluxe

On a side note, I didn't realise just how bushy my hair looked from behind. I love long hair, I really do -- I was hoping it'd fall in one direction, and not in this weird broom shape that it's taking. But oh well, I've had the patience to grow it to that extent; I'll take what I can get. ^_^'

There were people who did come and go, and see what the fuss was all about -- an entire area of Soundskills was blocked off to them, after all. They soon figured out that a music project of some kind was being done.

I know that I made mistakes in my harp playing on occasion, and there were times that I wanted to burst out giggling, but otherwise, it went very smoothly. I thoroughly enjoyed today, and I'm grateful that this opportunity has even presented itself. Grateful to the people who helped make this happen.