Archive Work and Music Plans

I started by looking at how we could turn our songs into finished music videos. We explored Higgsfield, compared production options and worked through what a three-minute video would actually need. Choosing the song is only the beginning. There is the story, the people in it, the look of each scene and the way the pictures move with the music.

I want to try a short section first. A chorus would give us enough room to see whether the visual direction works before building the full video. We also looked at the possibility of using a short Unlimited pass for generating footage. That still needs checking. For now, we have a production plan, with the song selection and first visual test ahead of us.

After midnight, I turned to FOI.ONE and how people find our work through Google. We submitted the sitemap successfully and requested indexing for a few archive pages. The search report showed that most clicks were reaching the homepage. There is more work to do in helping someone find the particular model or collection they are looking for.

This connects to something I keep coming back to: the archive needs clear introductions. Someone arriving for the first time should be able to understand what they are looking at, when it was made and what an edition includes.

We saved four free introduction drafts on FOI.ONE, covering Tanisha Atrey, Raini Pramanik, Lavanya Manickam and Miss Moon, also known as Khusi. The texts and collection links are in place. The cover images and final checks are still to come before publishing.

These posts will give people a way into work from different shoots and different years. I want to make those distinctions clear, especially when someone is choosing between a separate collection and a membership. Existing members should also be able to check what they already have access to.

I spent time looking at the business side as well: what it would take to make FOI.ONE more consistent, how to look after members properly and where to focus the next round of work. Clear information, reliable access and a reason to return all need attention. That is part of keeping an independent studio going.

Alongside this, I am working out how SOUR-X can help me keep track of decisions and handle repetitive preparation. Photography, films, music, publishing and the archive all belong to the same FOI journey. I want more of my time to go into making and developing that work.

That is also why I am starting these notes. I want the journal to hold the process as it happens: what we worked on, what we decided and what still needs doing. Tonight, that means a music video plan, a search check and four archive drafts waiting for their images.

— Sourish