Shooting Lip Syncing Music Video

J

Jordan_S

Veteran
I have a shoot on Monday involving a lot of people who will each "sing" one line from a song. They'll know their line ahead of time. I figure that playing the song at their line while they sing will help them time it correctly. It doesn't seem to me that this is enough of a plan.

Are there tips or tricks to making this work well?
 
For each 'singer', grab just their one line from the music and loop it maybe a dozen times (matching the song's overall beat if possible) and play that while they mime to it - that gives them multiple tries at getting the timing etc right. It's more preparation work, but will make the shoot much easier.
 
Hmm...sounds like it will get their timing down for at least one of the runs but may make editing a nightmare. We're actually talking about two songs here and it will be about 50 clips. Finding the right sync in each clip would be time consuming...but worthwhile, I suppose.
 
Depending on your editing system I have a technique that has been very helpful for me. This will require a laptop with the program you plan to edit with. I take the actual music that will be used and put it into the timeline that is formatted to the format you will be shooting in. Place markers at the spots for each person or shot so your playback op can find it quickly.

With the helpful program Plural Eyes and this technique all you have to worry about is creative decisions. No sync or drift issues.
 
If these are amateur performers, you can guarantee they'll unpredictably fluff at least half their takes. Letting them do their line a dozen times in one continuous take makes it much more likely they'll do it right at least once. As you'll (hopefully) only end up with one take per performer, editing shouldn't be that hard, other than synch. Presuming you have a non-vocals version of the track as a 'control', you'll just need to find the best performance of each new line, then synch it up with the 'control' track.
 
I just finished shooting 3 music videos for a Chicago band. They are professional musicians, and even they have trouble nailing the sync to their own songs.

You need loud and consistent playback on set. If each of your actors sings one line, cut the song up so that that one line repeats over and over again...so they can get into a rhythm. That should help with your syncing
 
Shot half of the people this morning (in Israel - 7 hours ahead of EST). In an hour, we'll continue with the rest.

I prepared the small mp3 files yesterday and we're looping it while the singers sing along and try to get in sync. They usually do. Or appear to.

The only thing I'm worried about now is if there will be spaces between the lines wherein the video, for whatever reason, is unusable. Or if there simply isn't enough. I suppose we could cut away to something else during those times, and try to make it meaningful, but it would be better to go from one directly to the next. Not everyone can handle looking normal before singing his line.
 
Some cutaway shots will certainly give you more editing flexibility, letting you snip the clunky beginning or end of an otherwise perfect take when you desperately need something onscreen to fill a half second or second. Some possible cutaways: closeups of performers' dancing/tapping feet, clapping hands. Or musicians 'playing' the backing tune.
 
Thank you all for your help. I think it came out pretty good but far from perfect. It was shown on a screen outdoors at night in celebration of Israel's Independence Day. Unfortunately, the system was not set up properly, causing the size to be rather small, the colors to be off, and for an overall dark image. If I had not been paid for the work, I'd be extremely upset. I'm just disappointed. Obviously, 720p looks a lot nicer.


"Kan" (Hebrew script: כאן, English translation: "Here"), was the Israeli entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1991, performed in Hebrew by Duo Datz. Its lyrics and melody were written by Israeli songwriter Uzi Hitman.


The song deals with the singers' (and, by extension, the global Jewish community) establishing their home "here" after "two thousand years" of wandering. The home is explained as being one in which everyone is welcome ("we'll say "Ahalan" to whoever comes") and generally a great relief to finally have.
 
projected images always appear darker than on your editing monitor. Rule of thumb is to ALWAYS check your colors and darkness on a projector (if you can) before you show any piece. Especially audio as well. I've seen many times where your image and audio mix look perfect on a monitor / in the headphones, but once projected and put through a sound system, the piece requires alot of tweaks to match what you had on your editing system
 
Some of the people were really into it, but others just didn't want to take part - and this was very evident. The track consists of solo and ensemble singing - so maybe you could have extended the quantity of participants to give you more willing solos, and relegated the less willing to ensemble sections where their lack of effort would matter less. The ones who gave it a go really looked good
 
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