How to Make Music Videos

Find your film crew. Depending on the size of the production, you may need only yourself and your cast, or you may need a large crew for the video. Here are the positions you should consider to find people based on the work that needs to be done:

• Director. Most likely you will be the director. You’ll run all the different aspects of the shoot, from communicating your intentions with the cast and crew, to resolving conflicts between sound and lighting, to making sure the car has enough gas. and all filming locations are well ventilated for recording. You are the boss, and at the same time will be more responsible than everyone else.
• Film. This person will record video happenings with one or more cameras. You’ll shape the shot, but the cameraman will do the shooting, work with the lighting to ensure the set’s brightness, and notify the sound officer when an explosion occurs in the shot. .
• In charge of lighting. It took someone to make sure all the lights were on, the actors were visible, and everything was fine for filming. That person is in charge of the lighting.
• In charge of sound. At the set, this is the person who will attach microphones to actors and set up microphones at the necessary locations. For a video that usually doesn’t have dialogue, the sound guy will turn on the song for the actors to perform appropriately. Between pressing the “Stop” and “On” and “Rewind” buttons, he would run off to get coke, pizza, and other knick-knacks.
• Backstage. This is the lucky character whose job is to move all wires, light bulbs, equipment, furniture, props, and all other things brought to the set. Filming would be a lot easier if you had someone handle these while working on the overview.
• Skin. Depending on your budget, you may be able to simply give instructions to the actors (“wear jeans and a tight shirt”) or order the actors’ individual costumes. Either way, if you need to change clothes during filming, make sure someone arranges this, and that the actors need some privacy when changing.
• Tools. Again, you’ll probably have to take care of this yourself, but someone needs to find the transportation, along with other things the actors use on set – the mustard pot can be fired at just the right time. needed, anything the actor picked up or put down, or items that weren’t available at the filming location.
• In charge of continuing the scene. Unless you’re going to be shooting a scene from start to finish, you need someone to make sure everyone starts where they left off in the previous scene. That is the job of the person in charge of continuing the scene. They record the positions, usually with the help of a camera. They made sure that the mustard stain on the suit in the first scene remained in place for the next three days for the final shot. (Or, conversely, the mustard stain *isn’t* there if the scenes with the mustard stain were filmed first.)

Find the right capable actor. Make a list of all the characters in your video. Your video may or may not include footage of your bandmate performing – if so, you’ll also be directing the band’s performance. If your video tells a story, write about all the characters, making notes about their appearance and behavior. Hold auditions to choose the most talented and suitable actor for each character. Let’s say in our country music video example, we would have to find actors for the following roles:

• Traveler. He doesn’t have to say anything, but he needs to be dashing, confident, and fit to drive an old-fashioned convertible along country roads. Jeans. Sunglasses. Shirt?
• Farmer. Aged, tanned skin. Old hat, jeans and shirt without a shirt, friendly smile. The screen time is short, so there is no need for professional actors.
• Soldiers. Young, tall, muscular, close-cut hair, stronger and more confident than tourists but also more humble.
• Gas station attendant. Lank? Fat? Oily, friendly mechanic with a startling look, good at rolling his eyes.
• People wearing suits. Urban people, relative appearance but not exactly handsome. The glued hair is losing its curls in the hot sun. Expensive clothes and cars. Clumsy behavior and body, seeming ironic to others. Hateful at first sight.
• Girl. A strong, independent woman. Confident with her body, so this girl is very beautiful. Brown hair. Confident, carefree, tanned, funny and with a big smile on her face. Not annoyed by the Man in the Suit, just funny about him. Accidentally joking with Tourists.

Stand beside. Now that you’ve got everything in order, the actors have rehearsed enough, the crew is ready, it’s time to set up the set and shoot. Select a scene to shoot. In this example, we’ll choose the last scene in the aforementioned country music video. In this scene, the Man in the Suit falls to the ground, the Traveler helps him up, and the Beautiful Girl jumps into the car to go with the Traveler.

• Put the vehicles and everything in the scene into place, and let the actors stand in their place.
• Light staging. Since this is an outdoor shot, if you don’t have a high-powered light bulb, you can use a reflector , a white sheet of material, or a poster used to reflect sunlight, blurring shadows and brightening the scene. The most effective way to focus light is to use more than one reflector, or even a mirror. Your lighting manager will take care of this under your guidance, if you have one.
• Remember, the main character is always the most illuminated person on the screen. When shooting outdoors, always have the main character’s back to the sun unless the sun is directly overhead. Thus, the reflector can illuminate the face and front of the actor. While it takes a lot of work to ensure adequate lighting, the effort is well worth it if you want a high-quality video.

Build the camera. You’ll probably want to shoot part of the video on a tripod, for still scenes. Camera shake sometimes distracts the viewer from the video. At other times, you can use a self-stabilizing handheld camcorder for boisterous footage, or a “camera shake” for energetic shots. If you have the people and budget in place, shooting a mix of scenes with different angles and styles will enhance creativity in later editing.

Have the actors stand in their rightful place. If they are in the shot when the camera starts rolling, have them stand in the marked spot. If they enter the scene after shooting begins, have them stand at the entry point.

Turn on music. Have the Sound Manager determine the exact point in the song, and play the music first so everyone can get “in tune” with the music. At first, it would have been better if this prelude lasted longer. If you shoot a scene multiple times, you can shorten the piece of music. When the Sound Manager is ready and the music is playing, he will shout “speed!” (This is an expression from the days when on-set shooting was done with magnetic tape powered by motorized motors, which often took a while to get into normal rotation.) The sound person may also want to include music in the video so the post-editors have a reference track.

Light! Mobilize all personnel in charge of lighting in the right position, and turn on all the high-powered lights.

Camera! The cameraman presses the record button and starts recording the scene.

To act! You know the procedure – when the director shouts “Act!”, the actors get ready and start acting.

Repeat these steps for all the footage in your video. Chances are you’ll end up with multiple shots of the same scene, different angles, great shots and bad shots. This is where things start to get interesting!

• Filmmaking is a complex and meticulous process that cannot be described in a single article. Check out Wikihow’s complete collection of filmmaking tutorials for a more detailed look at the filmmaking process.

Transfer your video to a computer. Usually this is done with USB, Firewire or other proprietary connections. Either way, you want to get everything on your computer and save it in one place.

Use your editing software. Whether you’re using Sony Vegas, iMovie, Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or a premium version of Avid, this is where the magic happens.

Use your best product. Watch the video from start to finish, follow the footage, and find the best scenes.

• Use raw music over the video to match the footage to the song, but don’t worry about noises appearing in the track. Raw music will not be used for the final product.

Incorporate songs into the scene. Once the music has been added to the video, check that your edit is in sync with the music. They will be a relative match, but not perfect, unless you are very lucky. Slightly tweak the scenes so everything happens at the right time – this is especially noticeable when you’re dealing with the band performing the song.

• If using footage of the band performing, be prepared to hide errors. For example, if the guitarist moves his hand to “Stairway to Heaven” during a piece of music where he only needs to hold a note, cut to another member, or switch back to a different scene for the above passage.
• Save when editing. Tons of short and patchy shots can be disorienting, while shots that are too long can become fake. Bad shots are relatively easy to spot – don’t rush and make the most of your judgment.

Add a title and introduce the film crew (credits) if desired. In the past, it was standard procedure to insert the song title, artist name, record label, and director at the beginning and end of the video. Today, many artists leave this information out of their videos and opt for a “cinematic style” for titles and credits. Talk to the cast, crew, and band to see what they think of your idea.

Study the classics. Like any other art form, music video production produces “classics.” These videos have an influence on the work of later artists and directors. Understand that a lot of great music videos are successful for completely different reasons. Some are creative in their visuals, others have sharp focus, and the rest of the videos are in perfect harmony with the music. When you understand what influences certain videos, you’ll have a better perspective on creating a video with an unforgettable impression.

Tell a good story. Many of the most loved videos of all time tell stories that are funny, shocking, tragic, or epic. A truly great story will stay in the viewer’s mind for weeks, months, even years.

• One of the most popular videos of all time, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” directed by John Landis tells a classic story. ^[6] This video is also longer than the song length. This worked, but be wary – too little music and too long a video can be a boring combination.
• Radiohead’s video “Just” directed by Jamie Thraves also tells an interesting story with a different tone from “Thriller”. ^[7] This video cleverly adds squares and an open ending to criticize the futility of office life – very fitting for Thom Yorke’s scornful lyrics.

Create a unique visual style. Music videos are a great place to show off creative ideas and visual tricks. Video is your chance to apply abstract images, unique effects or animation to enhance the beauty of your song. The visual part doesn’t even have to be “reasonable” in the traditional sense. As long as the visuals stand out and support the song, they will leave a lasting impression.

• A-ha’s hit song “Take on Me,” directed by Steve Barron, depicts a romance that unfolds with a combination of real people and animation in a video layered sketch style. ^[8] This stylish selection is perfect for whimsical, fast-paced melodies and unforgettable visuals.
• The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” video (directed by duos Alex and Martin) uses visual effects to give the illusion that it’s a four-minute close-up shot. ^[9] Combined with impressive lighting, this has a strong distracting effect on viewers, creating a dark atmosphere for the video.
• See also: “Stockhpm Syndrome” by Muse and ^[10] by Dire Straits. ^[11]

Experiment with imitation and simulation. Cultural references are frequently used in music videos – sometimes, the entire video shows loving homage or harsh criticism of the reference used. With a great sense of humour, the results can become classics. If the artist doesn’t mind mocking himself a little, all the better – everyone loves musicians who are humble enough to make fun of themselves.

• Video “California Love” by 2Pac and Dr. Dre directed by Hype William is a video parody of the Mad Max series. ^[12] This video serves two purposes – in addition to being simply amusing, it also implies that in the early 1990s, California was a land without laws, people had to fight for their lives. his life and only the fittest survive, similar to the post-apocalyptic setting depicted in the Mad Max series.
• An even funnier parody video is the one for Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” directed by Spike Jonze. ^[13] By having the Beastie Boys transform into caricatures of tough ’70s television cops, Jonze creates a funny and unforgettable video that also matches Perfect with the music part.

Extravagant and extravagant. Throwing a lot of money on the lens is also entertaining enough. Filming in an exotic location. Arrange the dance scene with epic choreography. Hire a supermodel. The best music videos can be just the performances, clear and simple.

• Jay Z’s “Big Pimpin” video, directed by Hype William, is a classic example of a music video simply performing. ^[14] There is little to no narrative or narrative elements – mostly in the video there are only images of Jay Z and his friends partying on a giant yacht, hanging out at a tropical villa and threw money into the crowd, surrounded by pretty girls. An effective display of wealth and boasting.
• Lady Gaga is an artist known for her amazing music videos. The video “Alejandro” directed by Steven Klein depicts a bizarre, erotic and militaristic anti-utopian world, complete with crazy (but very appropriate) setting and costumes. ^[15] It’s an overwhelming and extraordinary product.