Gamer Superstar

Chapter 69 69 - Generate content!

One of the reasons I chose Jason as the cameraman I wanted was because of the scenic shots he had in his portfolio.

The shots he took of different places in the city that looked ordinary, through the lens of his camera, looked like places so beautiful you wanted to put them as wallpaper on your phone.

Before we got into Selena's car, he gave us two microphones to put in our shirts so that when he started recording, the audio quality would be much better, even with him sitting in the back seat of the car.

Since I thought it might get boring with just me and Selena interacting, I also told him to put a microphone on and ask things he wasn't sure about, as this would be a good way to get a sense of how the audience might feel about what was going on and make the video less confusing for those who didn't understand.

One thing I noticed was that Selena was embarrassed when she realized that she would also be recorded, but she wasn't against the idea.

"So you already have a plan for how you're going to perform today?" she asked a little embarrassed.

At that moment Jason, who had been filming around us to get some shots of the set, moved the camera forward and started filming us.

"I have a plan for how to start, since they didn't want to hire me to open the show, I thought I would first analyze how the audience will be, what song the previous artist will play, and then choose between Numb or The Lazy Song to start". I explained.

Nodding her head, she simply agreed.

"Why not start with Boyfriend?" Jason asked curiously.

He had researched my songs and Boyfriend was the one he liked best.

"BlackVelvet always ends the show with Boyfriend." Selena replied, rolling her eyes.

"Why?" Jason asked even more confused.

Smiling, I looked back at him and the camera and answered. "Imagine you're in a bar with your girlfriend, the night is wonderful, you're enjoying each other's presence, and out of nowhere a guy comes on stage and starts singing about how he'd be a better boyfriend than you, and your girlfriend happens to be interested in the music, how would you feel?"

"I'd hate the guy..." Jason replied laughing.

"Yeah, for me it's better to sing the other songs first, let the audience like me, let the guys feel like I'm their friend, and then sing Boyfriend at the end, because they already liked me a little bit, they'll hate me less, or if they still hate me a lot, I'll be off the stage haha!" I replied laughing.

Jason was surprised when he heard my explanation. "Woah, it's true!"

Arriving at the bar, after passing through the bouncer's inspection, Jason took the camera and went out for a few minutes to shoot around the bar to get some panoramic shots of the place, leaving just me and Selena waiting for the current show to end so it could be my turn.

"I never thought I'd see you embarrassed..." I laughed at Selena, causing her to glare at me.

"And you, as usual, had no shame at all..." She replied snorting.

I was surprised too, even though it was my first time being recorded, I acted very natural, as if I was really just another friend in the car.

"I think playing on stage for hundreds of people takes away some of the embarrassment of recording for a single camera." I replied.

"That there are thousands of people watching?" She replied.

"There's nobody watching now, only after I edit the video and post it will there be thousands of people watching hehe." I laughed.

When I saw Jason looking for us, I waved my hand and he came over with the camera pointed at me.

"The bar is packed, are you nervous about doing the show?" he asked.

I shook my head and replied with a confident smile. "Nah, I'm glad people are already a little excited, it'll be easier to play like this than if I had to convince people to come on stage to hear me play."

Nodding his head, Jason didn't ask any more questions and left us in silence, which I realized was starting to embarrass Selena again, so I started talking to the camera.

"Since I'm a new artist, the bars usually choose me to play at the beginning of the night, so the higher the artist's rank, the later they play, so the crowd's hype only builds throughout the night, until the main artist arrives at the end of the night and performs with the crowd at the height of their excitement." I said, pointing to the audience. "You can see there are still quite a few people sitting in the chairs, not very excited about the performer on stage, every performer's job is to get as many people up as possible."

"What if people sit down during an artist's show?" Jason asked curiously.

"If the average number of people standing at the end of your show is less than the average number of people standing at the beginning, that means your show didn't go well." I explained. I explained. "Usually bar owners analyze an artist for a few nights, if they keep losing people, that artist will be avoided as a possible hire to play, or they will have to play earlier and get paid less per show."

Seeing that the artist's show was over, I started walking towards the stage, but I noticed that Jason wasn't coming. I stopped and looked at him and waved. "Let's go on stage with me."

Surprised, Jason remembered that he also had to record me doing the show, so he started running and recorded me setting up my equipment.

"After gaining popularity in other bars around town, the name of our next artist may be unknown to many, but I'm sure some have heard of the havoc he wreaked on the more experienced artists at Rank E last weekend. Welcome to the stage, BlackVelvet!" The host said as I walked up with the guitar on my chest.

He didn't mention that for some reason I had also done this to the Rank D artists, maybe he didn't know that I had also ended their night?

To my surprise, before I could say anything, a group of young people started whistling and yelling. "Hey BlackVelvet! Sing The Lazy Song please!"

Smiling at this group, I laughed as I took the microphone from the host. "Good evening everyone, I'm BlackVelvet, a Rank E artist who just started a month ago. When our friend over there called and asked me to sing The Lazy Song, one of my favorite songs, I think it will be a great song to start the show, I hope you like it!"

I started to play the beat of the song on the guitar and the audience started to move as I started to play.

Just like other gigs I've done, this one went very well, in this bar the song they liked best was Numb, they even asked me to play it again just before my time was up, which I was happy to do.

Since we were now being recorded, Selena and I didn't stay around to see if the next artist did badly, as that would not give the audience a good image.

So when my show was over and I recorded myself saying a few things to the camera, we went to the next bar, the Blackout bar, which to my surprise, put me on after a Rank D artist, after putting me on as the last Rank E artist didn't work out too well.

This also served as a good source of content for the video, as I was trying to create a narrative with Jason and Selena to see if I could do well after a Rank D artist.

While I was on stage doing my show, Selena was focused on counting how many people came near the stage and how many went back to their seats.

When the show was over, we got together to calculate the results, as I was curious too, since I couldn't see any difference from up on stage.

"How was it? Did I lose a lot of people?" I asked.

"No, maybe I missed one or two people, but in the end you managed to keep the audience the way the previous artist left it, which is great!" Selena said excitedly.

"Woah, you're like a Rank E artist competing with Rank D artists in bars?" Jason was shocked because he had never seen anyone do that before.

"Yeah, the artist who played before me was very good." I said. "Even though I was an asshole."

When the Rank D artist who played before me found out that we were going to buy our audience, he got mad at me and tried to humiliate me, not knowing that Jason's camera was recording him.

"You're lucky you had a good show kid, put yourself in your place, you're only a rank E artist while I've been in this industry for 5 years and I'm already rank D. Have respect for your elders." The man said as he put down his guitar.

Jason, with a keen nose for content, pointed the camera he was shooting around at the two of us.