Garrity, a rootsy band from Ottawa, plays a showcase at Lee's Palace in Toronto during Canadian Music Week to help launch its independent album, Carve a Hole in the Mud. A single from the release, Lately, is picking up radio play. There's a buzz, and Tracey Human, who manages R&B singer Carlos Morgan and owns Solroc Music, has picked up on it and confirms a management agreement. She suggests the band make a video of the song, and approaches Gina Below, the director of marketing at Black Walk Productions. The eight-year-old Toronto company has so far produced well over 300 music videos, and is by far the most prolific company in its field in Canada.

Below and Human have hammered out a budget, which will depend on funding from VideoFACT. Below calls in one of the company's younger and newer directors, Renee MacCarthy, to come up with a concept for the video. Both the director and Below are anxious to do the shoot because it'll be a change from MacCarthy's previous dance-oriented videos.

The shoot will involve three locations, a live performance from the band, and a cast of young school kids. A shooting schedule is prepared, a provisional budget completed, and the first steps of an application to VideoFACT undertaken. The emphasis, however, will be on performance, since the band is unknown outside its own market. MacCarthy, Human and Below all agree that the band hasn't toured, has little profile and needs to establish its "look".

The VideoFACT jury meets. Garrity's application is one of 34 (out of almost 200) that wins approval. A sum of $10,000 is awarded, and the rest of the cost of the $20,000 project will be paid for by the band, or donated services.

Black Walk, Below and MacCarthy move into gear. Locations are scouted, a crew hired, equipment rented, school kids recruited and shooting script finalized.

Scheduling is difficult: getting a single day when the band, a crew and a window in Black Walk's busy shooting and production schedule all coincide is not easy. Time, too, is of the essence: the song's already had a run at the stations that have been playing it, and there's a need to keep the interest up.

The night before the shoot, Below learns that the owners of one of the locations, a derelicts building nearby, want $2,000 to film outside it. Thanks, but no thanks. The decision is made to use a weed-strewn industrial lot just behind the Black Walk building in Toronto's King and Dufferin area.

MacCarthy figures this process is like panning a wedding. Everything's geared for one day and everything ahs to go right, but you have to plan for emergencies. The stress levels are high, but everybody involved bonds well, and there are far more laughs than tears.

MacCarthy is on set. She has a bad cold, but the adrenaline is keeping its effects away. The crew arrives 45 minutes later and the major need seems to be a constant supply of coffee and muffins - fuel for a long day.

The band - Mike Easton, Chris Lochner, Steve McGrath, Mike Yelle - is on set. The make-up crew has completed its work. Human has shown up to watch her band at work. Naz Etessam from VideoFACT is on set, too. Set builders have completed a mock wall made of mud that will play a key role in the video's story. Meanwhile, the weather is humid and slightly overcast. It can't rain, because a reshoot the following day is impossible because of crew commitments.

As the camera crew and lighting people set up the shots, the band runs through the song, again and again and again; long shots, medium shots, close-ups of each of the four members. MacCarthy's impressed with the band, thinking: "These guys aren't nervous, they're giving it everything they've got, time after time. The lead singer is right on the money: he's got star quality in his eyes and his moves are good. We're getting something here.

As the day goes on, the weather turns sunny and bright, and the clock keeps ticking. There are inevitable delays, and the sunshine make the "threatening" mood part of the story difficult, so the plot line is slightly rewritten and the shot list rearranged to save time.

Post-production, editing, decisions about which shots work, which don't, and how they're to be pieced together. MacCarthy, staying totally involved, sits with editor Frank Guidoccio as they go through the footage and decide how it fits with the concept, choosing the best shots and the best takes.

Then she leaves him to it, returning a day later to look at the first rough cut. Some minor changes are suggested, using a couple of different shots to establish more energy - and the lead singer's face - earlier in the video. MacCarthy figures it's pretty close, and they assemble another rough cut for the band to look at. Human has a couple of comments - good points, well taken, and they're incorporated into the final version.

Human deliver the finished video to MuchMusic, only an hour before the weekly programming committee meeting chaired by programming director John Jones. The committee, pushed for time, decides to hold the Garrity video over for another week for a closer look.

The programming committee meets again at Much. It decides to add the track in light rotation to the MuchMoreMusic schedule. Human, hoping for MuchMusic play and medium rotation, is slightly disappointed but pleased that it will get seen.

"There's an awful lot of competition to hit the playlist at Much, but because MuchMoreMusic is relatively new, we don't have the wealth of Canadian videos to choose from. Musically, we felt that the Garrity video had a better fit for MuchMoreMusic. Hopefully it will develop there and, if it becomes a hit, we can cross it over to Much. We'll be watching it, and watching for the progress of the band - and the song - on radio."

In discussing other options while waiting for Much to make a decision, Human gets feedback that the video could cross over, so she's sent a copy to CMT in Calgary. To her surprise, it's added in light rotation, while the programmers tell her: "It's a great track, perfect for our format." She starts preparing copies to go to YTV. - RICHARD FLOHIL