Soundbytes: How to Make a Music Video blog

Creating a music video is another creative way to showcase your music’s message. But while making music videos has become more accessible with high quality phone cameras, the process of creating one is still complicated and involves planning. This starts with what message you want to convey in your video. While inventing a new dance may be good for Psy’s Gangnam Style, you may want to create a love story whose plot parallels your song, like Lord Huron’s Ends of the Earth. Here are some tips for creating a meaningful music video.

• Pick your team. In order to be successful (and productive), you’ll likely need a team of people outside of your band to help you get everything done. That may involve actors, a camera person, lighting crew, and maybe even a director to make sure everyone stays focused on the task on hand.
   

• Plan ahead. Create a storyboard to show the basic W’s; who is in the scene, what props do you need, where is the setting, why is this scene important in the overall plot line, and how does it relate to your song? This will also help your camera and lighting people know what you want filmed beforehand. Don’t know what a storyboard is? Let me Google that for you.
  
  Tomás Donoso is a professional you-name-it-he’s-done-it in visual media. His photography has won him the Sigma Delta Chi Award in 2008 for excellence in journalism, and he’s gathered many other accolades for Chattanooga-based and international film and video production. When asked what people need to think about before filming he said, “First, there has to be a striking visual concept.  This concept is developed into a treatment followed by a more detailed script.  Budget, location and available props often influence the script and scope of the project.  The script is broken down into a shot list and sometimes further refined into a storyboard.  
  
  Once locations, cast, crew, wardrobe and props are secured the shot list may be revised for practical purposes.  A production schedule is created and filming begins.  During the production process you quickly realize that a well–thought–out shot list is the key to an efficient and successful shoot.  A shot list is essentially a pre-visualization of the video with helpful notes on scene order, locations, lens choice, camera movement, lighting, cast movement, dialogue, prop use and special effects.  After gathering all your content it has to be organized and edited using software like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut.  At this point you may find it necessary to do some pickup shots or add animation to complete your vision.”
   

• Invest in good equipment. Your budget will determine if you can afford to buy/rent equipment, but you should know that there are options if you can’t drop a ton of cash on your first music video. Some places with community arts programs will rent out equipment cheaply. Local colleges may also be able to help. If you are planning on buying, then make sure to do research to figure out if the high–definition camera you can afford will create the project you are looking for. Here are some equipment items you should look for:

  • Camera

  • Lighting

  • Spare batteries

  • Tripod

  • Camera carry case

  • External microphone

  • Transport

  • Extra storage memory
     

• Film! Once you have all of your eggs lined up and everyone is ready to film, remember to take several takes if you have the time. It is better to have too much footage to sort through and edit than to have limited options to choose from and create something you don’t enjoy. Retaking a shot may also capture something you didn’t notice the first time around.
  
  Live performance footage can be a great resource. However, it is a difficult thing to record because you only get one shot to capture the right footage and often the lighting is dark if you’re playing smaller clubs. If you are using this footage for your music video, it may also be difficult to sync the music to that of a prerecorded track. If you want footage and music that will sync, your best option is to “stage” a live performance so that the band plays along to the track in front of an audience. This will give you control over the lighting of the scene, the amount of takes you film, and the audience interaction.
   

• Edit. What is the overall vibe of your video? Clay Maselle is the lead singer and founding member of Strung Like a Horse, a Chattanooga act making waves in the national music scene. His innovative and often quirky ideas make for great music and even more engaging music videos: see this video, for instance. When asked about the method behind their madness he said, “Music videos are mainly being used to reach a larger audience, and you want people to get an idea of who you are without expecting them to dig deeper into your material.  Hopefully they do, and you need to have other content ready and accessible, but most of them will spend a minute or two watching your video before moving on.  This is still a good thing.”
  
  Final edits of your video can be done on programs such as Final Cut or Adobe Premiere. You can put together a rough edit by putting the main footage that you want to use in a logical, chronological order in the timeline. Sync your music to the overall story arch, especially if you are using live footage of the song from a performance, and make sure not to go crazy with transitions or special effects. Only use what will enhance your video’s story.

Your music video should give your audience a better idea of who you are and why your music exists. It can be a fun, low budget way to show off your creativity to your fans while still being a high quality project. Sometimes studying other artists’ music videos will give you an idea of what you want to do with yours, but Tomás said that the key to personal success is to “not follow trends, find your own voice, work hard and push yourself to be better with each new project.”

Photo credit goes to Strung Like a Horse.