Calling All Shadows!

New Song and a New Video Idea
Sunday 14th December sees the unveiling of my first, so-called produced song over at The Weekly Songcast. It’s all explained there, but to summarize I am marking the anniversary of one of my most successful projects to date. When I say successful I mean mainly from a personal fulfilment perspective. I broke all records of what I ever expected I could do, blew many beliefs about myself out of the water and transformed my whole view of who I am as a result. It’s not strictly the anniversary on Sunday, but from then on I intend to publish a proper, studio recording of the week’s song every week. The song is called "Don’t be Afraid of Your Shadow".

This is Where You Can Get Involved
Loosely speaking it is about something that often holds people back from achieving things or even trying something new. It addresses the fact that we all have a shadow and it often deals us this nonsense about playing it safe or not to try something for fear of failure or ridicule. It’s something we all know, but often forget and don’t realize that it has us in it’s grip. I want to encourage somebody to see their shadow for what it is and go ahead anyway to create the life of their dreams or to just something they haven’t tried before (don’t forget it must be legal and ethical kids!) and I want to make a cool music video to put on the web because it is a really catchy, rocking song. This is where you come in.

I am reaching out to all the networks I connect with to ask for some creative contribution to the video. Twitterers, Facebook & Myspace peeps and anyone else who wants to get involved.

What I would Love You to Do
Here’s the deal: Record a short clip of your shadow, dancing, being scary, being cool, being clever. Doesn’t matter what as long as it’s legal and not obscene and send it to me. Probably the best way is to sign up or login to 12 Seconds TV and record a clip of your shadow, but you can just send me your own clip (make sure it is no longer than 12 seconds though). Send me the link to your 12 Seconds video along with your name (or pseudonym), the URL of your website or social network profile (whichever you prefer). I will then put together a montage of all the shadows I receive along with the link you requested.

We Can Inspire
Why would you bother to do such a thing. Well it’s a bit of Web 2.0 experimental fun. You see, now there is no excuse for not making a video clip. You don’t need to set aside lots of time to do it. You can spontaneously make a video from your phone and depending on your setup, send it straight to the web. Maybe you’ve seen your shadow unexpectedly whilst out and about and thought it looks cool or interesting (remember cool is not always interesting!) Now is your chance to capitalize on the moment and make something fun out of it.

Circulate the Finished Video
The idea is for the video to go viral. If I get some good clips I know it will make a great video, especially with the music being so energetic and uplifting. If you want to listen to the song first, then you will be able to on Sunday at about 10am GMT. It’ll be as good you make it. Once it is a sucess, we can all rejoice in the power of the people, people! All those who don’t get social networking and think it’s just a bunch of geeks telling the world what they’re having for lunch will see that there is a whole movement of people out there with the power to create something for the good of all and capable of enjoying themselves by dreaming up crazy new ideas that reach all parts of the world almost instantly.

You’ll all be credited with your URL in the video and it will cost you nothing except a small amount of time that will be a good laugh. If the video gets enough views then you may get a load of new followers and subscribers to your own campaigns. You’ll also be on my grattitude list!

Enjoy and be creative!