Shooting first music video. Help!!

WayneC003

WayneC003

Member
Calling all you visual gurus! I am shooting my first music video. I am requesting any and all tips, tricks, procedures, recommendations, warnings, hints, equipment list, budgets, pitfalls, guides, directions, tools, shortcuts, 2 cents, and narcotics, that can help me accomplish award winning feats of visually magnificent eye popping work. And anything else you might want to throw in.
 
Re: Shooting first music video. Help!!

what I can tell you is take your time before the shoot & during the shoot. Prep is 90% of the shoot. No what you want before you start to rolling the DVX. I have found from my mistakes is not sticking to my plans and changing them on the set, only do that if you have to.

you can look at some of the stuff I Directed with the DVX camera.

http://homepage.mac.com/rburnsdirect
 
Re: Shooting first music video. Help!!

Rburnsdirect,

I too will be shooting my first video w/dvx100a in a few weeks. How difficult is it to sync the sound (which will be off of their already release cd) to their singing of it (which they will be following their own cd as it is being played during the shoot)? Is their any pointers in doing that?
 
Re: Shooting first music video. Help!!

1 quick tip is to feed an audio line to the DVX of the same CD or media you will play on the set for the actors to do the lip sync. That way when you are at your NLE sync would be easier. Of course there must be better ways to do it but this works and it is easy. Good luck with your video!
 
Re: Shooting first music video. Help!!

I've taken a few hitpoints with sync issues at shooting time.

Make it clear to the band that they will be lip-syncing and air-playing to their own music, and that it is essential for them to
practice playing along with pre-recorded music. Some artists naturally internalize the timing of a recording, and some will never be able to do it properly.

Second, have a loud enough sound system to play their pre-recorded music back to them. If they can't hear their own music, they can't sync to it. And if it is a genre of music which wants to be loud anyway, then extra loud playback reinforces everyone's performance.

It is vital - VITAL - that the drummer hit their cymbol crashes and snare shots in sync with the soundtrack. Your audience automatically uses the visual reference of the drummer to match with the percussive part of the music. While the drummer can drift a bit, they MUST be back on time at the end of each quarter measure or so. If they can't do this, then you are going to have to cover for them by doing speed changes to your video, like many MTV videos already do.

It is also vital that the lead singer can lip sync convincingly.

What I typically do to manage playback effectively is rip the CD track they want to use to a WAV file, copy it to my laptop, and use a program like Adobe Audition to do the playback into an amplifier or two.

Before the start of the song, you'll want to create four clicks in the starting tempo, so everyone is at the same speed and knows where the song begins. It is like the drummer counting off before they start playing. If you don't take the time to do this beforehand, it will be difficult to get good video coverage of the start of the song.

Actually, if your band gives you pre-recorded music, it makes the post-process easier because the first thing you lay down is the music track, then you start to add video as you go, and sync each clip properly.

Have a strong vision in your mind of what shots you need to get throughout the song, so you can get 'em on the day of the shoot. You either know how to do this, or you don't. It can be learned, though, after you've done several videos.

Be willing to drop everything if you see an opportunity for an unforseen shot. In other words, be prepared to be flexible, and your artist sense will send you signal flares when there's goodies to be had in your environment. For instance, at my last video shoot, we had a bright sunny day, and everyone was standing outside taking a break. The sun was suddenly obscured by a big cloud, and the light got this wonderful diffuse quality that would only be around for about five minutes. The street next to where we were shooting is a long corridor through town, so it is a great 'perspective' backdrop. I dropped my sandwich, ran over to the band, screeched for the camera guy, and told them what I wanted to do; shoot some video of the band, with their guitars slung over their shoulders, walking down the middle of this long street. We did it quickly, and got a few good shots before the sun came out again. Watch for opportunity!

If your band has any kind of 'showy' personality, you are going to want to have each of the musicians overact a bit. It may feel a little silly during the shoot, but you want to have extreme faces, emotional statements, and the like to work with in post.

One of the most effective showbiz tricks you can impart to your band is to tell them to make easy things look difficult, and difficult things look easy. Simple note bending on the guitar should look like a muscle-straining effort, and hitting that superfast riff should look like the musician was thinking about painting the garage while they did it, ho-hum. Do not underestimate this simple little gimmick; allowing small queues like these to slip through to your audience will heighten the interest in ways they can't quite put a finger on.


The best way to do good music videos is to do several of them, and learn from each one. Good luck with your project!
 
Re: Shooting first music video. Help!!

Wayne,

Some tips...

Have a story...don't just rely on your camera work in a standard performance video to keep peoples intrest...no matter how good a cinamatographer you are...that will get old quick.

Please storyboard your shoot from start to finish...you can always change your mind but a storyboard not only helps you with shots, it also let's the band know your not "winging it" with there time.

Spend time with the band before the shoot...building a relationship with them...even dinner the night before the shoot. ...you'll get a better product.

Learn each band members name...and refer to each of them by name...I cant tell you how anoyed members of a band can get when the lead singer is refered to by name and the rest of the band are treated like extras in their own video.

Make your edits musical..I know this has nothing to do with the cinamatography aspect of a music video but I thought I had to mention it...you are making a music video...music has a rhythm...so should your edits.

If you can...and it's a performance video...have a couple of cameras filming...after a while you will start getting deminishing returns on the bands performance...also cutting from several perfomances can be tricky if you want to keep a natural "flow"

I hope that helps...

Post it when your done...

Kip
 
Re: Shooting first music video. Help!!

Very good information (at least for me anyway). Thanks so much for the replies.
 
Re: Shooting first music video. Help!!

Hey, thanks to all you guys for throwing me peebles and gems. Keep em coming.
 
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