how make a music video with just one camera?

[ultrab]

I'm supposed to make a music video soon with a d5000 and I would like to have some advice with what to do when you just have one camera.

Should i turn around the band performing with my camera? Or for beginning a overall plan of the band playing the complete song?

To give a idea i would like to have the punk band playing with some teens partying around.

 

[djbobbyrhodes]

I'm supposed to make a music video soon with a d5000 and I would like to have some advice with what to do when you just have one camera.

Should i turn around the band performing with my camera? Or for beginning a overall plan of the band playing the complete song?

To give a idea i would like to have the punk band playing with some teens partying around.

We've done a music video with only one camera. What we did was play the song on a boombox so the singer's lips would sync up with the recording we were using. Then, we filmed the performance a couple of times from multiple angles. Then, filmed the audience from a few angles. Then, filmed all the b-roll stuff from multiple angles. It took quite a while, and by the end of the day, I think we all hated the song.

Basically, film the song multiple times from multiple angles. But make sure they play along with the recording you are actually using. We found out the hard way when we went the first time out and the singer was slightly off from the original speed of the recorded song. We had to reshoot the whole thing (except the audience) with the boombox to make sure everything syncs up.

Oh, and it helps if you have the singer(s) exagerrate their mouth movements a bit too so you have less problems later.

You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC7LBcqhO6g
It's not amazing or anything, but you'll get the idea. Filmed with one camera.

Hope this rambling post helps.

 

[illking]

Most music videos are shot on one camera. The name of the game is coverage! Try storyboarding so you cane visialize what shots you need. And then fire away. Shoot the band on sticks wide, tight , dolly, handheld. Then repeat for the band members. There's no real recipie for this.

 

[mattsand]

But make sure they play along with the recording you are actually using. We found out the hard way when we went the first time out and the singer was slightly off from the original speed of the recorded song. We had to reshoot the whole thing

really? i've shot a few music videos that featured live coverage, and i've used non sync film cameras several times, some wind-ups that ran anywhere from 23 to 25 fps depending on their mood. i don't think i'v ever used a cut in a music video that was longer than 5 seconds or so and if you can't get it to hold sync that long it needs to be *really* off. but maybe you just didn't want the hassle of syncing it up edit by edit?

/matt

 

[paulears]

The soundtrack is the important component. You can use the audio tracks and then get them to perform it live, and yes - if you select very short clips, you can make it work - but you cannot guarantee it. For me, the giveaways are the things in the background. A drummer who is clearly not playing what we here, or guitarists with fingers doing wrong things or the keyboard players fingers.......

If they simply play to track - which is how practically all single camera music video shoots are done, then apart from making editing more accurate, time wise, the musicians HAVE to play in time - and no band are tempo and rhythm accurate - especially if they are good - good musicians have feel and tempo pushes and pulls, and vocalists especially take real liberties with timing.

Play to track, and as said, do it as many times as you can - but even here, you may have to keep them doing the same things. If the guitarist jumps up and down in the chorus, he has to do it each time, just in case he's in the chosen shot background.

 

[mattsand]

Play to track, and as said, do it as many times as you can

or plan ahead and avoid a lot of headaches in editing. the first time i did a video on video, i had only done them on film before and thus always had limited coverage for budget reasons, we did 92 takes, all at least slightly different angles and most of them the full song, and it was a disaster.

/matt

 

[ultrab]

Thank you all!

 

[djbobbyrhodes]

really? i've shot a few music videos that featured live coverage, and i've used non sync film cameras several times, some wind-ups that ran anywhere from 23 to 25 fps depending on their mood. i don't think i'v ever used a cut in a music video that was longer than 5 seconds or so and if you can't get it to hold sync that long it needs to be *really* off. but maybe you just didn't want the hassle of syncing it up edit by edit?

/matt

The real problem was that the original singer was off in his timing pretty bad. When we recorded him without the boombox, the song kept varying in length by 5-10 seconds. And his tempo kept changing as well. It was just easier to reshoot (for us, not everybody) than butting heads with FCP for days.