How do you go on Pre-Producing a Music Video

TheArtist

TheArtist

Okay, I just come back from a call with someone who wanna do a music video. It'll be my first and i'm kindda nervous about this (even though I promised nothing and made it clear I wasn't engaging myself yet).

I've thought before about music videos and I feel like people just go on and shoot stuff in different locations and decide of what to do with it in the edit room. Is that true ?

I mean, do guys storyboard music videos ? There are often too many cuts and often, they don't make narrative sense. Do they just cut to the next most beautiful shot ?

I'm meeting the guy tomorrow and I'll discover the music then and see if I can get some inspiration rolling. But frankly, I'm scared.
 
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Music videos can be a lot of fun to shoot. But they are also very challenging, as is any filmmaking project.

Between now and tomorrow, I strongly suggest you change your attitude, at least outwardly. It's okay and perfectly natural to not feel completely sure of yourself. But in this particular instance, you really don't want the musician to get that impression of you.

Project confidence. Be excited about the project. You are going to make something awesome, and don't be afraid to let the musician aware of this FACT! :)

One big issue that seems to pop up all the time with music videos is that one or more of the musicians wants to take too much creative control over filmmaking aspects. I can understand why they would want to do this. The music is their creative child, and they want to coddle it, keep it safe from harm. But what they don't realize is that they're F-ing clueless when it comes to filmmaking. They will make suggestions that are either completely impossible for you to execute, or they have ideas that might seem good to somebody who has never made a film, but any filmmaker would know won't hold up for more than a few seconds of screen-time.

And that is why you need to project confidence. For their sake, they need to be able to trust you, and they won't do that if you don't trust yourself. If you have to, fake it.

As far as the content of the video, dude, you need to watch more videos. There are NO RULES. You can do whatever you want, and there is infinite room for creativity. Do a google-search of best music videos, and do a lot of watching. I'm a big fan of this one.

Mind you, that doesn't make it any easier. Originality is rare; we pretty much all copy each other, no? But if you can think of an original concept that hasn't been done, run with it. Barring that, I recommend you just have a ridiculous amount of fun, and more importantly, make sure that you have fun ON CAMERA.
 
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Thank you for the input.

Confidence wise, I'm okay. I don't have a portfolio to showcase but I'm pretty confident about my "talent" (can't find another word).

Thing is, I can build a story and/or visuals out of a music. How many times did a direct a whole clip in my head just by listening to some music I liked. But I believe it's harder than that and when you do it in your head, your mind tends to go places your no-budget filmmaking won't allow.

Now I like the one you linked. I liked how simple it is even though it most have been hard for that's a pretty long take. I will try to go for simplicity and originality. He's doing Soul music so I might wanna watch some clips from that world.
 
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Cracker Funk said:
One big issue that seems to pop up all the time with music videos is that one or more of the musicians wants to take too much creative control over filmmaking aspects. I can understand why they would want to do this. The music is their creative child, and they want to coddle it, keep it safe from harm. But what they don't realize is that they're F-ing clueless when it comes to filmmaking. They will make suggestions that are either completely impossible for you to execute, or they have ideas that might seem good to somebody who has never made a film, but any filmmaker would know won't hold up for more than a few seconds of screen-time.
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, I've had the opposite experience with the one video I had done, and the discussion for the near-future. The filmmakers in question have always asked for ideas that I have and I always draw a blank. I don't know! I'm an audio guy, not a visual guy!

Now, from the other perspective, what I want as a musician is someone to be inspired by what I do. Someone who has a strong idea that came from listening to my music, and someone with the know how to do it well!
 
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That's exactly what I told him over the phone. I said that we should meet and listen to his stuff and see if and what it inspires me and if we're both on the same page artisticly speaking.

What scares me is having to have to edit something with quick cuts. I don't want something that makes no sense narratively. The only exception I can tolerate is cutting a storyline with shots of a live/studio performance. But the storyline has to make sense AND be related to the lyrics.
 
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I've done lots of music videos, and yes, you absolutely need a shot list.

While you may not be as specific as where each exact clip will go at what time code, a shot list like:

CLOSEUP SINGER FACE
MEDIUM SINGER
HEAD TO TOE SINGER
WIDE WHOLE BAND
CLOSE UP GUITAR 1 FACE
CLOSE UP GUITAR 1 INSTRUMENT

And more and more etc. Do a take all the way through of each and you'll be golden.

Performance-only music videos are pretty lame though unless the band is giving one hell of a live show in a killer location. Even then, it pretty much went out of fashion after "Thriller." Script a narrative (actions, not dialogue) to go with it and cut just a little bit of the performance into it for sure!
 
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He gave me a myspace page but said it was out of date. I understand the kind of music he does but I need the specific song to start turning it over in my head.

Oh and by tomorrow, I mean in 9 hours. It's 5am here.

Thanks Paul, a shotlist makes sense.

Now to have examples of what I can't do is this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4&feature=plcp

10 cuts in 10 seconds. I can understand the purpose (pacing the images with the sound) but fuck...

Also this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_654614&v=qroWFA0tJzA&feature=iv

Do the gestures of the musicians even match the music ? Is that even relevant in a music video ? The narrative part is too fast for me, too many shots.
 
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As far as fast cuts, while many directors might consider them a crutch or a cinema no-no, keep in mind you are quite literally directing for the MTV crowd. Slow music videos are terribly, terribly boring unless done extraordinarily well or it's a one-shot-one-take thing or similar gimmick.

General rule, match the temo. Upbeat means faster cuts. Another rule, if the song is slow and nobody has ever heard it, then absolutely nobody will want to see the video. Pop artists don't release a slow song as a single until their faster stuff has caught on, even then it's a while after. For a slow song, fast cuts and interesting narrative are even more important.
 
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Okay, we met and as much as I'm excited about doing it (I pitched him a story we could fo for right away), I don't really feel like I want to work with him. He is very held back, he is not taking care of himself and I don't want to coach him to look good. Even more so that there need to be an intimate scene with a girl and clubbing scenes.

I'm kindda disappointed.
 
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I actually do storyboard them. I find pictures that roughly (sometimes VERY roughly) approximate the shot and put them on a timeline with the song. That's what I show the client before we shoot to make sure we're on the same page. Then I shot list from that.
 
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