The manager of Miss Lily’s, Susanne Larner really wanted a YouTube video about Miss Lily’s Cafe in Picton, but she didn’t want just another commercial. Online viewers do not want to watch commercials, they want things that are funny, emotionally moving, or anything that they would share with others. Crowe Productions has always tried to provide clients with something unique to their business and story, and pitched the idea of producing a musical! The idea was met with enthusiasm, assuming it could be pulled off.

A lot of leg work went into pre-production, for one, the music had to be written, and scored. Victor Cooper, director at Crowe Productions has a past in theatre, and is also is a talented musician and song writer. He worked with Susanne on the lyrics, that reflected the cafe’s unique offerings, in a whimsical way. Once the lyrics were approved, Victor composed them into theatrical style song, and recorded the song by himself, as a placeholder to work with, which can be heard HERE.

From there, casting calls were put online for any fans of Miss Lily’s to be part of the video, which was met with a huge response. A shot list was created for each scene, that lined up with the music. When it came time for the shoot day, each person had their role and lines, which they lip synced to during the video shoot, and later added voices ‘in post’. Trevor Crowe, owner of Crowe Productions says “we had to record the singing separately in studio because the cafe was too noisy to use as the recording”.

Once the video was reviewed, tweaked, and approved, it went public on YouTube and Facebook. Susanne said “within the first week it received over a 1000 hits and everybody was talking about it. We even had people coming to Miss Lily’s simply because they wanted to experience the place in person after watching the video!” Trevor of Crowe Productions says that “It was a blast to shoot a musical, and were so happy that it has been such a success, everybody has watched it”.

Check out the finished musical HERE, and make sure you watch the Behind the Scenes video HERE. If your interested in viral YouTube videos, give Crowe Productions a call at 613-476-5080. ”

Trevor Crowe
Crowe Productions
84 Bridge St. Picton, ON, K0K 2T0
www.croweproductions.ca
613-476-5080