Planning my first Music Video

M

Mojito

Hey guys,
I am planning my first music video for a friend and would like some advice.

This video is a no budget video, so we will have to make do with locations that are no cost or locations through friends who have access to various places suitable.

Now this is planned for september in London, with a small crew of 4 people max. Handheld DSLR/Tripod/Stabiliser.


Now as this is my first music video attempt which will be used for social media promotion only, what advice would you give?

I am looking for as much information as possible regarding planning, websites with info as well as the must do's and must not's of music video production.




:cool:
 
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Watch a million music videos, be sure to include other genres. As its all your money ($0 budget is a lie, you have gas, time etc, your investing your time and energy) If anyone is paying you are.. .

That said, you have ALL the control. What YOU say goes. Make sure that the band knows that they really don't have any say in any aspect of the video. Be nice of course, and be confident that they will LOVE it...

Make a plan.
A lot depends on the genre.. if its a rock band with an acoustic drummer, you'll need a PA to play the music back loud enough for the drummer to lip sync successfully.. (or head phones.. you see the kinda problems that can come up. )

Plan on at least ONE take focused on each band member. That way you have lots of cut away's...
Get other cutaways.. amps, drums, hands, ECU of eyes, etc..

4 people is a good sized crew for low budget music vid..
If your shooting multiple locations.. split up into teams.. two film the "current location" two run ahead to the next location and setup lights, etc..

If you want specific creative ideas.. I have plenty..
 
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If the budget it $0, then offer the video in exchange for rights to use the song in a future project. That way you won't feel that you're leaving the gig empty handed.

We did that for the video below.
https://vimeo.com/32468730

We kept it simple. One location. It was a lighting warehouse, and we had access to the whole place. We spent 10 hours on the shoot, and went to archive.org for the archival footage (royalty free).
 
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Cracker Funk said:
Happy to give advice, but it would help if you started by telling us your rough plan for the video. What are you going to shoot? Where/when?
Click to expand...

Hi,
As you probably know i'm pretty new to shooting, but not editing (Final Cut)

The shoot will take place in London... At a few locations. The Millennium Bridge is one that i have in mind. I was thinking of shooting the female singer walking down the bridge, with a few buildings behind in the shot. I would be walking backwards whilst the singer is walking towards me maybe using a Flycam Nano DSLR with Tokina 11-16 for that location? 1080p 24p.

Another location would be a city scene, with the singer singing in front of the London skyline, tripod and again Tokina 11-16?

I have the track here, although i need to speak to the singer about the lyrics and meaning of the track to have a possible storyline in the video... So storyline has not yet been planned, but the above scenes will work with whatever it is.

I need to shoot a close up slow motion clip of the singer closing her eyes (one of the lines in the track) And i was thinking, 720p 60p then convert back to 24p in Final Cut X? I'm not too sure which lens to use on this shot? I will use the tripod and i have the following lenses... Tokina 11-16 2.8, Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC, Canon EF 1.8 MKII.

Also would you say turn off the VC IS on the Tamron when using on a tripod and Flycam? I was also thinking of some London aerial footage quick cuts in the video, but as i have no budget to work with, is there anywhere where i can use some HD footage for free?

If anyone would be kind enough to PM me and maybe have a chat via email or facebook, that would be great!
 
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wheatgrinder said:
Watch a million music videos, be sure to include other genres. As its all your money ($0 budget is a lie, you have gas, time etc, your investing your time and energy) If anyone is paying you are.. .

That said, you have ALL the control. What YOU say goes. Make sure that the band knows that they really don't have any say in any aspect of the video. Be nice of course, and be confident that they will LOVE it...

Make a plan.
A lot depends on the genre.. if its a rock band with an acoustic drummer, you'll need a PA to play the music back loud enough for the drummer to lip sync successfully.. (or head phones.. you see the kinda problems that can come up. )

Plan on at least ONE take focused on each band member. That way you have lots of cut away's...
Get other cutaways.. amps, drums, hands, ECU of eyes, etc..

4 people is a good sized crew for low budget music vid..
If your shooting multiple locations.. split up into teams.. two film the "current location" two run ahead to the next location and setup lights, etc..

If you want specific creative ideas.. I have plenty..
Click to expand...

Hi thanks,
It is a House music video... One female singer and possibly one extra if there is a kind of 'Love' story line in there.

The track is by a friend which is going out on a label in a few months and i am shooting this for experience, so yes i will probably be paying for my own transport etc, but im happy with that as the track is great and maybe i can get some paid work in the future.

I will use a small portable stereo on location for the singer to sing too and record the sound on the 7D to sync up with the proper mastered track once in Final Cut.
 
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A few tips.

-Dolly, tripod, and stabilize the camera as much as possible, avoid any panning, or handheld looking shots.

-Second tip is to pull your focus on your camera per shot, and mark the ground for the artists, so they know where they are in focus. Don't try to focus on the fly unless you have to. Especially important in less than ideal light levels.

-Make the artists rehearse to the camera enough to where they don't feel threatened by it.

-Last tip, give "big" emotional feedback from behind the camera during the shoot.. When you feel they are hitting the mark, give a huge smile, act excited, thumbs up and give full encouragement to pump up the action while it's happening. This will help them see past the camera and feel confident.

:D
 
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Rob B said:
A few tips.

-Dolly, tripod, and stabilize the camera as much as possible, avoid any panning, or handheld looking shots.

-Second tip is to pull your focus on your camera per shot, and mark the ground for the artists, so they know where they are in focus. Don't try to focus on the fly unless you have to. Especially important in less than ideal light levels.

-Make the artists rehearse to the camera enough to where they don't feel threatened by it.

-Last tip, give "big" emotional feedback from behind the camera during the shoot.. When you feel they are hitting the mark, give a huge smile, act excited, thumbs up and give full encouragement to pump up the action while it's happening. This will help them see past the camera and feel confident.

:D
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tips! Just the sort of info i am looking for, so i can try and do the best i possibly can!

Would you suggest still using a LED light in the daytime? Or just a light reflector? I have a reflector and a 312LED
 
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Creative ideas:
One thing that you might try is a couple takes for that slowmo ethereal feel..
Create a version of the song that when played back on the stereo for lip sync is playing 20% FASTER than normal. (If the song is too fast just do 10% ) when you record the video the singer is singing 20% faster then normal. In post you slow down the footage by 20% and have good sync with the master audio track playing back at normal speed.. this can look trippy. It has the advantage of making hand held shots look EXTRA smooth..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHR15skaqsg


A fun thing to try is a Snori Cam. You can make one of these your self.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkINO_mvF0o

A fun thing to try is "free lensing" thats where you take a lens but don't ATTACH it to the camera, You just sorta HOLD it out in front of the sensor, moving around to get focus, blur, light burns etc.. You'll need a manual lens, wont work with "focus by wire" lenses...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnWyfJD5AzY


Get LOTS of angles. Just looking at the camera and singing is going to get BORING real fast.
 
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First of all, I like all of the ideas shared here. I think you've been getting some solid advice in this thread.

I definitely think you should get your hands on the song ASAP, and start figuring out a concept. You definitely gotta have more than just the singer performing to the camera in different locations. I did that once, and both myself and the artist were equally not happy with the final results. Just remember that there are absolutely no rules for music videos. You can do whatever you want. It doesn't even have to make sense. You just gotta keep the audience visually engaged, and the possibilities are limited only by your imagination (and resources).

For slo-mo stuff, you can go a lot faster than 20% increase in speed. But it depends entirely on the lyrics. Some lyrics would be really difficult to lip-sync at a 50% increase in speed. For this video, we shot all the slo-mo stuff at 250% speed, but that was only possible because the lyrics were lackadaisical:

https://vimeo.com/39110568

Your plan to use a small portable stereo is worrisome. I've had to do that, twice. In the end, it worked out, but to say it was a difficulty would be a huge understatement. For accurate lip-syncing, the artist really needs LOUD music. Unfortunately, you can't really do that in public spaces. So yeah, you can make it work, but don't expect their performance to be spot-on all the time. And expect delays because of it.

If she happens to have long hair, and is planning to wear it down, I think I would opt for some creatively concealed ear-buds.
 
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Cracker Funk said:
First of all, I like all of the ideas shared here. I think you've been getting some solid advice in this thread.

I definitely think you should get your hands on the song ASAP, and start figuring out a concept. You definitely gotta have more than just the singer performing to the camera in different locations. I did that once, and both myself and the artist were equally not happy with the final results. Just remember that there are absolutely no rules for music videos. You can do whatever you want. It doesn't even have to make sense. You just gotta keep the audience visually engaged, and the possibilities are limited only by your imagination (and resources).

For slo-mo stuff, you can go a lot faster than 20% increase in speed. But it depends entirely on the lyrics. Some lyrics would be really difficult to lip-sync at a 50% increase in speed. For this video, we shot all the slo-mo stuff at 250% speed, but that was only possible because the lyrics were lackadaisical:

https://vimeo.com/39110568

Your plan to use a small portable stereo is worrisome. I've had to do that, twice. In the end, it worked out, but to say it was a difficulty would be a huge understatement. For accurate lip-syncing, the artist really needs LOUD music. Unfortunately, you can't really do that in public spaces. So yeah, you can make it work, but don't expect their performance to be spot-on all the time. And expect delays because of it.

If she happens to have long hair, and is planning to wear it down, I think I would opt for some creatively concealed ear-buds.
Click to expand...
Thanks,
I have the track already and have some ideas, but as the singer is on her honeymoon atm, i cant get to speak to her about the lyrics.

I wanted to make sure my impressions of the track is spot on before coming up with any other ideas.

The track is 125 bpm, so i think i will go with the 10 or 20% increase.

Regarding the singer slo mo closing eyes shot, do you have any tips?
 
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BPM doesn't matter. All that matters is the speed at which the lyrics are being sung. You just gotta play around with different speeds to see how fast you can go, while still allowing the singer to accurately lip-sync. 10-20% is almost nothing. Your audience would barely even notice that. You gotta go much faster than that.

For the closeup of the eyes, there's not really much to say, I don't think. Just shoot it at 60fps, otherwise treat it like any other shot.
 
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focus! SUPER SHARP FOCUS on the eyes is vital. not softness..

Also, try and get eye light in every shot.. if you dont see it, then just get a small flash light and somehow rig it about a foot away from your camera pointing directly at the subject... eye lights make talent POP. Also, pro hair and makeup would be really good, or at least another person who is good with makeup on hand.. the artist cant be worrying about EVERYTHING.
 
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