Hello from the weekend!
And yes, in case you were wondering, from the calendar-less fog of self-isolation, “What day is it?” … it is, indeed, the actual weekend. And with the weekend comes a new love letter from me, and eeep! I’ve got some good stuff for you today. Ok! Here goes:
The first thing is … you already know that Jamie and I are making a new album. Well, this past week we selected the song that’s going to be the lead-off single. (OMG we are so excited for you to hear it.)
The second thing is … we’ve conceived of a group video project to go with the song … and we want you to be in it!
Whaddya say: will you be in our music video?
Read on, dear friend, for:
- The Concept for the project,
- The Assignment for what we need from you,
- The Instructions about how to get your submission to us.
The Concept.
You know that moment when — in your heart of hearts — you recognize a hope or a dream that you just can’t deny?
And in that moment, you know that the next right thing for you to do is to take the first tiny step toward making it a reality?
And you know how sometimes the only thing involved in that first tiny step … is to whisper that dream out loud?
The song for which we’re making this video …
is about the minutely small,
mightily powerful moment
in which we invite a dream from the realm of visions
into the realm of reality,
with the simple act … of speaking it out loud.
We’re living in an interesting time for dreams, aren’t we?
In this extraordinary time of global pandemic …
many of the norms we’ve grown used to,
many of the systems we’ve seen as immovable,
many of the ways in which we’ve organized our world and lives
… seem to be buckling under the pressure, and in some cases have already totally disappeared.
And in that vacuum
… there is room
… for our dreams.
What kind of world do you imagine
in The After of all of this?
What changes in your life do you hope for
when all this is over?
What do you dream might replace
the parts of our world that we can now see
haven’t been serving us?
So … for this video project, we want to hear from you:
What is your dream in this time?
The Assignment.
A dream …
or a hope …
for something in your life,
or for something in the world,
that you want to see happen
in the midst of this time,
or in The After of this time,
and which you now
speak out loud,
even in your smallest voice,
committing your intention
to walk toward it,
or to work for it
becoming a reality.
Maybe your dream is about …
☛ the ways in which we treat each other
☛ how we organize our societies & governments
☛ our relationship with the planet
☛ how we spend our time
☛ a shift in our personal or collective priorities
☛ or … ???
Big dreams. Small dreams. They all count.
Complete one of these sentences. Use as few words as possible, and keep your answer to no more than 12 words:
“I dream of _____________.”
“I hope for ______________.”
“I imagine ______________.”
Write it down.
Make a video of yourself whispering the whole sentence.
Here’s how ⬇︎⬇︎⬇︎
The Instructions.
1) Stand by yourself in a place where there is ample light on your face. Daylight works best. Indoors or outdoors is fine.
2) Hold your phone or device in selfie portrait mode. That’s up-and-down, not sideways. So that the screen is taller than it is wide, and so that you can see yourself on the screen.
3) Hold it at a distance such that only your head and shoulders are in the frame, from a straight-on angle. The camera should be positioned directly in front of your face, not angling from above or from below or from the side. Make sure you’re not creating a shadow on your face with your device.
Here are two examples of how your video frame should look:
4) Once you have the frame set, hold the camera as still as you can and hit record.
5) Gently close your eyes and whisper your sentence three times in a row, as you record with your eyes closed. (It doesn’t matter how it sounds; we’re only going to use the video of you whispering, not the audio attached to it.)
6) After you’re done whispering, gently open your eyes to look at the camera. If you feel like giving a small smile, do that after you open your eyes.
7) Hit stop on the recording.
8) Send two things to my email, skc@shannoncurtis.net:#1 – a typed-out version of your sentence, and
#2 – your video.
Here are instructions for sending the video:
- Download the free Collect app on your phone or device.
- Open the app, and click the “Share files” button at top right.
- A menu will pop up. Select “Photos or videos.”
- Your camera roll will appear. Select the video you made for us, and click “Add” at top right.
- You will see a link that the app has created for you. Copy it, and paste it into an email to me — skc@shannoncurtis.net. Don’t forget to also include the typed-out version of your dream sentence.
9) That’s it! Way to go! You did it! 😎
We’ll be accepting submissions for this project for ONE WEEK ONLY.
The DEADLINE to submit your video is Sunday, April 19th.
We’re so excited to see the dreams you whisper into this project — and into the world — and we’re SO eager to see the beautiful picture our collective dreams make together.
Annnd that’s all for today. I will leave you with this:
In this time — perhaps now more than ever before — it’s important to remember that each of us is one part of something much bigger than ourselves. We are a part of each other … still. And we’ll get through this, together.❤️
Love and dreams — shannon