How to make a music video?

At first glance, creating a music video may seem like a rather complicated and time-consuming task. But first, let’s define ourselves and find out what a music video is. In fact, this is the same film, only very cut down, short.

The process of creating a music video is practically no different from the process of creating a film; similar methods and techniques are used. And some moments even exceed the complexity of creating a film; for example, editing a music video takes much longer. Just before moving on to the question of how to make a music video, let’s understand a little more about the purpose and objectives of the video.

Purpose, tasks, types

The purpose of the video is quite simple – an illustration of a song or musical composition for the purpose of being shown on music TV channels or on the Internet. In a word, something like advertising, for example, a new album or single. The video clip has many more tasks; three main ones can be distinguished:

• First and most important, the video should appeal to fans of the artist or group.
• The second task of the clip is to visually complement the text and music. In some moments, the video sequence reveals and enriches the creativity of the performers much more deeply.
• The third task of the video is to reveal the images of the performers from the best side.

All video clips are divided into two types – in the first, the basis is a video made at concerts, and in the second, a well-thought-out storyline. So, let’s proceed directly to the stages of creating a music video.

Stage one: Selecting a composition

When choosing a song for a future video, you must be guided by certain criteria. Firstly, the duration of the composition should not exceed five minutes, and ideally its duration should range from three to four minutes. It is advisable that the song tell some kind of story, although coming up with an idea for a composition without words can also be quite interesting. You cannot take other people’s writings without permission – or use your own, or ask the author’s opinion.

Stage two: Flurry of ideas

Now you need to think about ideas to illustrate the chosen composition. It is not necessary to convey the lyrics of the song in the video; you can experiment with the mood, music or theme. Then there will be much more space for ideas for the video sequence. And the illustration of the composition will not become a banal, template video, but truly a real creation.

Stage Three: Storyboard

After the final selection of the idea, it should be storyboarded, that is, a list of frames that will be necessary to create the video should be compiled. Some shots that are an integral part and carry the main essence will need to be sketched. It is the high-quality preparation of this stage that will allow the process to go nastier and much faster.

Stage four: Stylistics

You need to decide on the style of the clip in advance; maybe the video will be black and white, or maybe it will contain some kind of animation. All this needs to be thought through and written down. Another important fact is the opinion of the performer; some want to appear in the video in the leading role, while others do not want to appear in the video at all.

Stage five: Filming

So, we have come to the main steps in the question of how to make a music video – this is filming. Basically, in video clips, the audio track is the work itself, on which the video sequence is filmed, so you don’t need to worry about the audio tracks. We take sketches of the storyboard prepared in advance and proceed directly to filming.

We film the main moments of the conceived idea, not forgetting to do several takes for each scene. If scenes with a singing performer are planned in a video clip, then during filming it is necessary to put a song in the background so that the movement of the lips is similar to the recording. Then, according to the storyboard, they follow everything to the end, also not forgetting to do all the scenes in several takes, because the more footage you have, the easier it will be to edit, and the video will look better.

Stage Six: Editing

Now you should start editing the footage. There are a sufficient number of such programs; the choice will depend on the budget. There are video editing programs that cost thousands of dollars, and others that are completely free. For beginners in this complex, but wonderful and creative process, inexpensive versions of similar programs, for example, Final Cut Express or iMovie, are suitable.

So, the finished material is loaded into the video editor; you must include the composition on which the video clip was shot and begin editing.

The main thing to remember in this matter is that a good, high-quality video clip should be an illustrated version of the composition, for example, a slow guitar solo sounds – the video frames should match the tempo and rhythm of the music. After all, it would be strange and unnatural to watch a series of fast frames during a slow intro melody. So, when editing the footage, you should be guided by the mood of the composition itself.

Stage seven: Effects

In some video clips, effects are simply necessary for the plot of the composition, while in others you can do without them. But still, if you decide to add effects, you need to remember that they should be like finishing touches, and not the basis of the video sequence. You can, for example, make some frames, or better yet scenes, blurry, in some, on the contrary, you can adjust the color scheme, you can add slow motion. In general, you can experiment, the main thing is not to forget and clearly see the end result.

By following exactly all the above stages of preparing, shooting and editing video, you can shoot wonderful material for the composition. In this matter, the main thing is not to overdo it; in some moments, a “golden mean” is needed, thanks to which both the process itself and its final result will bring only positive moods to all participants in this labor-intensive and complex matter.

Over time, after the second or third video clip shot, the question of how to make a music video will no longer seem so complicated and overwhelming, the process will bring only good emotions, and the result will get better and better.

At the end of the article, watch a video on how to make a simplified version of a video from photos and music:

Read also – How to compose a song?