The Making Of The Hurt & The Healer
So, I know it’s been a while since I’ve been on here and I’m working on ‘repurposing’ things around here, even if that means getting back to just adding content on here. For now, I figured I’d let you in on a little something that I’ve been working on since, well, October I guess.
Back at the beginning of the recording process for MercyMe’s ‘The Hurt & The Healer’ I thought it’d be cool to try and capture the entire process. It was just me and a camera so I shacked up with them for a few weeks in the studio. The result was nearly a terabyte of video footage and really no plan for what to do with it.
My friend Ryan and I started talking and decided that if we got a little live footage, and sat down with the band we could have ourselves a pretty cool little documentary… or… soft-rockumentary… or something. Since Ryan likes to edit video and I like to tell people what I think is cool, it worked out pretty well and I’m pretty happy with what we came up with. In the end it’s over thirty minutes of studio footage, photo shoot outtakes, interviews, behind the scenes junk and some live performances.
Now, I’ve never really “directed” anything before and honestly I don’t even know if that’s what I did on this. On top of that I’ve never really “filmed” anything for more than silly YouTube videos so this was a bigger project than I anticipated, but I think it turned out pretty cool. So here’s the deal. This thing is available Tuesday for sale on the band’s website so go over there in a couple days and check it out. I’m curious what you all think.
The Hurt & The Healer
So check it out. This record is easily MercyMe’s best record. I’ve had a blast doing all sorts of different projects on it from filming the entire process, art directing the packaging, filming the photo shoot, designing merch, and now working on what’s possibly going to be a music video. These guys are some of my favorite out there, and it’s a blast working with them.
Pre-Order this record now. Trust me.
The Hurt & The Healer
Check it out. This is officially the cover of the new MercyMe record called “The Hurt & The Healer”. Thrilled to be working with the very talented Nate Farro on the packaging for this project. It’s going to be a great record and I’m honored to be a part of it.
MercyMe’s Lovewell Live
So, I’ve decided to really put some focus on photography this tour. I don’t really know what that means, but one thing I think would be cool is to actually know what I’m doing when I’m taking pictures. I’ve had all sorts of photographers ask me different things about the concert photos I take and I’m tired of telling them, “I have no idea. I just point the camera and push the button when it looks good.”. I even thought about getting some new lenses before this tour, but then realized how much they cost so I changed my mind. The cool thing is that Jim has a really nice camera and awesome lenses so he’s letting me play around.
At this point I can still only say that I pointed Jim’s camera at things and pushed the button when it looked cool, but I’m learning and I’m even going to start writing things down, like settings and F stops and all that.
One thing I’m not sure on is the editing process though. What do you guys think of these? Too “scratchy”? Is that ‘so 2009′? It was late last night when I was editing these so I’m not sure my “arty judgement” was all that great. But this morning I think they still look kinda cool. What do you think? Is a clear picture better than a “roughed up” one? I suppose I could do both.
Anyway, if you guys are cool with it, I might throw some stuff on here during the tour and see what you think. I doubt I’ll do pictures from every show on here so make sure to check out MercyMe’s page too where I’ll most likely be putting pictures up from every show. Appleton, WI is today. Let’s see what happens.
Next Level Tour Pages
Okay, so remember when I said I was a little ‘geeked’ out about what we were working on for MercyMe’s Tour Page? Well, it actually worked and our first working model is up and running. Now, I know most of you are like, “yeah cool Brody, you’ve got some new buttons on there. Big whoop”. Here’s the deal, I’m willing to say it out loud right here on this blog, or more accurately type it out loud, that this tour page is an absolute game changer in the way that tour pages are done. Here’s why. In true Michael Hyatt fashion, I’ll give these points numbers.
1: Visual Mapping: We’ve seen the maps before. We’re certainly not the first to use this capability, but I still believe it’s rare enough to mention. We are all visual people when it comes to the Internet. No more scrolling though dates looking for my city. I know where I live in America. I look there and if there’s a pin, I’m going. Not to mention it helps with directions to the venue.
2: Creating Local Community: See those little faces on there? Those are your peers. Those are the people in your town, going to the same show that you are going to. You might not know them but they live near you, and they are interested in the same concert experience as you. And you can see them and get to know them. They have RSVP’d just like you and now you can see them directly on the tour page. Game. Changer.
3: Gowalla: Location based stuff. Yeah, it’s the ‘hot new thing’ right? Well with Gowalla we have the capability of creating “Trips”… or the music industry likes to call those “Tours”. Yes I know folks this is revolutionary stuff. Well guess what? You can now “check in” at the shows letting us know you’re there. And when we know you’re there, we can give you things. Have you ever “checked in” at Best Buy and gotten a free pair of Toms Shoes? Me neither, but I know someone who has. I don’t have details, but let’s just say, if I were you I’d be checking in at some MercyMe shows this tour.
So that’s it as far as the tour page goes, but I’ll tell you this. MercyMe’s LOVEWELL LIVE Tour starts tomorrow, and we’ve got some massive stuff planned. Along with checking in, we’ll have some cool things going on at the show which may or may not include something you’d need this for. Just sayin.
‘Lovewell’ Release
Well, it’s a big day today. I feel like I’ve been more involved MercyMe record than anything I’ve ever been involved in as far as work goes. From the packaging, to the web, to being involved in the planning conversations with the band and the label. It’s crazy that it’s finally here.
Last night at midnight I started watching Twitter start to slowly pick up speed and all of the sudden ‘Lovewell’ was everywhere. When I went to bed last night ‘The Generous Mr. Lovewell’ was sitting at #7 on all of iTunes. That seems like a pretty big deal when it’s knocking off folks like Ke$ha and all. Not too bad, eh?
Along with the release of the record we’ve also launched a brand new MercyMe.org and also a new ‘movement’ over at MrLovewell.com. All sorts of crazy things going on, but it’s awesome to see all this work finally come to the forefront.
So anyway, check out the new sites, let me know what you think. Check out ‘The Generous Mr. Lovewell’ and let me know what you think of the packaging. I’m curious your thoughts.
But I Like Brie Cheese…
I had Brie Cheese and crackers for lunch today. That doesn’t matter to you, but I did. It was a late lunch. Something like two o’clock. Yesterday I was only able to grab dinner. It wasn’t Brie Cheese though. Burritos. That Kristin made.
The Roadshow officially came to a close earlier this week. For the most part a success in my book. The bands were great to tour with, the crowds sang loud and collectively the SkörInc sites that were on the tour racked up well over a million visitors checking out what was going on there. And you know what I say to that? “I’ll take it”. Over a million people.
I hit the ground running this week with preparation for MercyMe’s ‘Lovewell’ release, planning for Addison Road’s release, a launch of a site I can talk about in a few days, the re-design of a couple new sites, helping figure out a mess to clean up, and the organization of day to day operations. Not to mention, the family that I love, and want to share Brie Cheese with. It’s no wonder this post is primarily about cheese.
I’ve had coffee today too.
And water out of a cool, new stainless steel bottle.
I’ve got a white board that’s full of things that I’ve added, erased, then added again in different colors. It looks good. I was able to erase one thing on there for good though. Getting my license plate for the car. I got that yesterday. Two months late, but it’s because they had the wrong phone number and address for me so they couldn’t tell me it was ready. I’ve got it now. And it’s erased from my white board. Forever.
That and I’ve got an Apple appointment tomorrow to repair a year of throwing my computer in a backpack and driving all over the country. You Apple users should really consider Apple Care when you buy stuff from them.
I’m not even joking. David Crowder’s ‘Church Music’ is amazing. I’m still not sure it takes ‘A Collision’, but it’s dang close. Is “dang” a Southern thing to say? I think I’m saying that a lot. I blame the MercyMe boys… and Texas.
Yeah, I’ve Been Busy.. Can You Tell?
Hey, so it’s been a crazy few weeks for me. Lots to talk about, but hardly any time to talk about it. First off the tour has been going great. It really feels like this last week we caught a stride. The crowds were more of what we expected, the shows seemed to flow perfectly, equipment stopped breaking… you know stuff like that. All really good stuff.
Second, Kristin and the boys flew out to California to meet up with me for the show on Friday in Sacramento, then to hang out for the week. It’s been cool to be in our hometown for a few days and go to the Easter service at our old church. Tons of people to catch up with for sure. Not to mention I haven’t seen Kristin and the boys for about three weeks as well.
As far as work junk goes, we’re moving along great. Amy Grant‘s record is killing it right now which is awesome to see. She’s been everywhere over the past few days doing TV interviews, magazine interviews and all that. MercyMe‘s “All Of Creation” is still sitting on the top of iTunes Christian songs and doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere any time soon. Also awesome to see. Stephen Mansfield has release a new book called ReChurch and is currently traveling around speaking in different places and on TV. We’ve got a couple other projects in the works right now including The Afters, Paradigm Booking, Compassion International and a brand new skorinc.us/brodyharper.com. See, I told it’s been insane. More details on all of those later.
So that’s about it for now. I’m sure there is more, but I’ll think about that later. Hope everyone had a great Easter. We’ll see you soon.
In Walmart’s Across The Country
I bought all four of these yesterday. Hopefully Walmart had more in the back or something because it was the only four on the shelf.
Krisitn has always been super creative and talented so when we started talking about her painting a heart for the new MercyMe record, I knew she’d knock it out of the park. And check it out. She did. And here’s the thing. She will try to pawn this off and say that I had something to do with the design of the packaging for the ‘All Of Creation’ single that’s currently on iTunes and exclusively in Walmart’s across the country, but not true. See, I actually had nothing to do with this packaging at all. This was completely ‘label chosen’ and ‘label designed’. What that means is that my wife is awesome and so is her heart painting skills. Enough so that it’s the entire cover of the single. I told you she was awesome.
So here’s the deal. This thing is only at ‘Select Walmart’s’ and I have no idea what that means, but if you haven’t already, you need to track these things down and buy them…. lots of them. What that also means is that in our house is that Kristin is an awesome painter and now her art is everywhere. And I think that’s pretty cool. I’m proud of her and think she did a great job and I love the fact that she can’t put any of the credit on anyone else.
MercyMe – The Generous Mr. Lovewell
So, most of you have already seen this, but here it is. The cover I designed for MercyMe’s new record ‘The Generous Mr. Lovewell’. It’s pretty simple, but exactly what we wanted.
Now comes the tough part of getting the rest of the packaging put together. I’m excited to show you some of the photos, and can’t wait for this whole thing to come together.
And remember those videos I was talking about a while ago…. you can check them out here…. Lot’s more to come.
