Great World of Sound

Reading blogs on a Sunday? Of course you are! When you're done "mashing up" presidential "debates" and "diagnosing" Britney Spears' "mental" condition, here are two "non-blog" activity picks: 1) 92nd Street Y Street Festival. I'll be working a video booth to record anyone's New York stories, etc. 2) Great World of Sound. Amazing film. Go today. About the story:

Song Sharking is a pervasive music industry scam. A fly-by-night company places ads in newspapers luring aspiring musicians to an audition. At the audition the Song Shark tries to sign the musician whether they're good or bad. He then skips town with the money leaving the musician with little or nothing in return.

To illustrate the tactics of this scam, this film was broken into two parts: a conventional narrative and a more reality-style approach. The story is a traditional tale following two characters as they audition would-be musicians. However, instead of casting actors to play these musicians, advertisements were placed in local newspapers enticing genuine musical acts to try out- just like the shady company does in the story.

The result: real people performed in the audition scenes without knowing it was actually a film shoot. With hidden cameras, the interaction was recorded between the lead actors and the unsuspecting musicians. This documentary-style process was integrated into the final narrative, creating a unique blend of fact and fiction that will expose audiences to the dubious nature of all "undiscovered talent" schemes.

Presumably, those who didn't end up on the cutting room floor were then paid for their appearance or at least got their bus fare back.