Gamer Superstar

Chapter 145 145 - Shooting the music video

Looking at the dozens of people Selena hired to shoot the music video, I have to admit I was a little scared.

According to her, the cost of production would be split 50/50 between us to make up for how much AJP would miss out on by not receiving a portion of the revenue from MeTube and Spokify, which I initially accepted until she told me that the cost of the team of camera operators, equipment rental and extras had cost $14,000.

"$14,000 to make such a simple video?" I asked in shock.

Hearing my surprise, a smile appeared on Selena's face. "That $14,000 is still cheap since we didn't hire a director, sound recordist, or anything else that would add to the price, not to mention that the cost is really just paying the extras and crew, as well as renting the equipment. To give you an idea, music videos for very big artists cost over six figures..."

Hearing that the cost of producing a music video can exceed 100k really shocked me...

But when I thought about the production of these videos, I had to admit that it did seem expensive.

Compared to music videos like this that cost over 100k, paying $7,000 as my 50% didn't seem that expensive, not to mention that AJP's 50% help was very welcome.

So far, I think they were even negative about my career, since their expenses for me and Selena's salary still didn't pay for themselves with the 20% they got from my shows, but thinking about shows as expensive as Lila Brooks', which grossed around 50k per show, I could see where they would recoup their investment.

"So are you ready to record this?" Selena asked me.

Holding my guitar and looking at so many people getting ready, I nodded.

I had stayed up late last night recording and editing a rough version of the song Bailando for us to use as the basis for the video shoot.

This version would still need to be edited and reworked, but at least it would serve to synchronize my lips with the video while I was being recorded.

Looking around, I noticed that people were still getting their makeup done while I was getting mine done.

Although I wasn't a Korean artist who wore make-up for everything, there were certain make-ups that looked better on camera, and with the make-up I could intensify my rebellious style a little more, which matched my hair.

So even I couldn't escape that.

To match the style of the song, instead of using my electric guitar, which I had been using more in my last few songs, I wanted to use an acoustic guitar in this music video.

Since we hadn't hired a director, I was the one who gave them my vision of how I wanted everything to be shot and organized, while Selena would oversee everything during the recording.

Of the supporting actors Selena hired, she chose half Latinos and half Americans, since the song was sung half in English and half in Spanish, for a total of 40 people.

I had a clear vision for the video while thinking about the original video from my previous world, so even without a director, the recording process went very smoothly!

The only change I made to the original video was that while the original song in my old world only had the three singers singing and the dancers were just the extra girls with synchronized choreography, I decided to change that part.

I thought it would be a good idea to spice up the video, especially since we learned to tango in dance class at school last week, so it would be very useful.

~ Do any of you know how to tango? ~ I asked the Latin girls in Spanish.

Since I hadn't interacted directly with the supporting cast, the girls were surprised that I could speak Spanish so well.

~ One girl quickly raised her hand, looking at me expectantly.

Other girls also raised their hands, but since the girl who raised her hand first was the girl I thought was the most attractive in the group, I chose her because I knew it would give a good effect for the video.

~ There's a scene I want to record of you dancing the tango with someone while the other actors circle around us celebrating, do you want to be in it? ~ I asked.

Hearing my question, the girl's eyes lit up even more.

~ Yes! ~ She replied as she stood up excitedly and walked over to me.

From the way she looked, I'd say this girl is between 19 and 22, which is a good age for the video.

Since I'm tall and muscular, no one has ever suspected my age, so no one would think it strange if I recorded myself dancing with this girl.

At this point I wanted to take advantage of my audience who already liked Thirst Trap and take it to the next level by dancing the tango, one of the sexiest dances in the world, using myself to attract the female audience and to attract the male audience I would have a beautiful Latina dancing with me for them to pay attention to.

This was a great time to put two skills into practice.

[Spanish Language Mastery Lv 23] and [Dancing Mastery Lv 13].

Since my dancing skill wasn't at a very high level, I couldn't take full advantage of the sensuality of the dance to make the music video, but when I saw the footage of our test dance, I was satisfied that it would be fine.

I had also called Jason to come and record with us to get the backstage footage that I wanted to post as a bonus vlog next week, not to mention it would be a good experience for Jason.

We started recording after my afternoon class and in 3 hours everything was done before the sun had even set.

Now all I had to do was edit it and post it on my channel.

Of course, to get my audience even more excited, I was recording stories the whole time to show behind-the-scenes footage, but without making it too clear what I was doing.

To give you a clue that I speak Spanish, I started recording a video talking to the audience in English, and "coincidentally" my dance partner called me over to talk to me in Spanish, and I responded as if it was natural, before going back to talking to the audience in English.

My Lv 23 mastery meant 3 years and 9 months of practicing the language, so my Spanish was very advanced.

It was still clear that I wasn't a native speaker, but someone who had really learned the language on their own, which I thought would attract a bit more interest from the audience.

Those who understood Spanish might catch a little spoiler of what we were doing, as my partner would ask me to practice the dance in the video again in Spanish, but those who only spoke English would be left in the dark, or warned by other people who knew English.

To thank everyone for their presence and participation in the video, we bought pizzas for everyone who participated, which not only pleased the extras and cameramen, but also provided good content for the vlog.

I have to admit that recording with so many people was a lot more tiring than just having Jason record my show.

We had to record the song at least 20 times from different angles, doing different things, all to have a variety of clips to use in the edit.

So when I got home with the memory cards the cameramen had sent me, I started editing the video as fast as I could.

The shooting day was Wednesday, so I had until Thursday to edit the vlog and until Saturday to edit the music video...

That was very little time...

During my breaks, I took out my cell phone to check how the public was reacting, and I was surprised to find that there was a BlackVelvet fan club page!

I only discovered this because the person who ran the page also knew Spanish and had translated what we were saying and it was a post explaining what they understood about what I was doing.

Surprisingly, this page that I didn't even know existed already had 1,400 followers, which was not a small number for a page that was apparently only a week old!

Who would have thought that one day I would have my own fan club?

Out of curiosity, I started looking at the other posts they had made on the page and was shocked to find that they were starting to question things I hadn't explained yet.

Their first theory was about my real name and if my last name was Black like my stage name!

Another one was about my age.

But the most surprising was when they posted pictures of me when I first appeared on the Internet and how I look now, comparing my muscles and my body fat.

Do I have to worry about these people? I asked myself, mentally surprised. Nah, I think it's still cool for now...

Putting that thought aside, I just liked the post that this fan club made translating what I said in Spanish in the stories and went back to editing the video.

What I didn't know was that that simple like I gave to the post of the person who managed that account was more than enough to make a girl from the other side of town spend an entire night without sleeping.