Producing a Music Video

Producing a Music Video
Norton Rodriguez, Owner/President of The God of Moses Entertainment, Talks about Producing Music Videos in less than a Week (As posted in Christian Video Magazine by Robert Kramer.)

We, at The God of Moses Entertainment, love producing music videos because it’s a very creative form of video production as well as very rewarding. Producing a music video is like producing a short film, especially when the artist demands to have a short story carefully interlaced within the music video. For example, commercials can be fun as well, but telling a story in only 30 seconds can be even more challenging. We are used to working with big budgets as well as very small budgets. In this economy we’ve learned that no job is too small. We’ve produced over 50 videos since the economy went down hill, but we’ve been able to stay busy because we’ve learned to work with all kinds of budgets and limitations.

GETTING STARTED
We usually start by meeting with the artist and listening to his/her song. Once we get an idea for the type of song the artist has in mind, and we hear the lyrics in the song, we then have a better idea on how we may approach it.

The next thing we do is ask the artist if they have an idea or concept in mind for the video. Sometimes they have an idea, but very often, they don’t. In such cases we help them to create the concept. It is much easier to produce a video that is in-line with the artist’s vision. It is easier to please an artist that already has a concept or basic idea in mind, instead of trying to re-invent the wheel by looking for concepts the artist may or may not like.

In cases when the artist has no idea for a concept, that’s when we have to listen to the song several times allows us the opportunity to develop a good idea and come up with a story concept that the artist likes for their video. Most of the time we try to have two concepts available, in case they don’t like first one we propose they could choose the second concept, this helps us save pre-production time.

THE VIDEO CONCEPT
It is important to note that there are two types of music video concepts, there are music video concepts “without a story”, were all we have is an artist singing from beginning to end.  These types of videos have no story, extras or actors in the video.  The artist may sing in one location or several locations. These types of music video are a lot simpler to shoot. For this first concept, all we do is shoot several masters of the artist singing the entire song in several locations. Then the video is edited and completed.  Locations do play a very important role in these types of video, because all you have is an artist or band singing in front of a location, this means the location needs to be amazing!  In this case, the background (the location) needs to be as good looking as the foreground (the artist). Great locations help make great videos.

THE STORY
The other concept is based on shooting five to seven master shots in various locations, but also includes a short story incorporated into the video.  This music video works best when scheduled for a two day shoot, instead of a one day shoot. We have done it both ways, and it has usually been for budgetary reasons rather than a creative decision. In cases when the artist has a bigger budget, we like to include a short story concept in the video. Most top production companies (both secular and Christian) usually take two to three days to shoot a music video with a basic storyline. In some cases, we work with new Christian artists who don’t have big budgets or are signed with a record label, which means that the artist finances his/her own music videos. In such cases we try to help the artist by shooting the entire video in one production day… this helps cut the production budget in half, the only problem is that we all have to work a little faster to make it happen. Another important note is that we don’t ever like to go over 12 hours of filming in a day. We don’t like to overwork our talent or crew. We don’t like the concept of shooting 16 hours.

We usually keep the story as simple as possible. And we like to shoot a music video with a short story only because we are filmmakers and enjoy making videos that are like short films.

PRE-PRODUCTION

Once we lock down the concept of the video with the artist, the next step is to start the physical pre-production process. In this process we start working on finding the right locations for the video based on the preliminary script or concept of the video.

THE SCRIPT
We’ve developed the video script simply and have made it into a science for our team. What we do, is ask the artist for the written lyrics of their song. Then we start writing the scene ideas at the end of each verse of the song. In other words, for each verse of the song, we write a scene description. We may write things like… “Girl looking out the window”, “Man driving a car”, “Clouds moving fast”, and the idea is to fill in the banks “visually” for each and every verse in the lyrics of the song. And that’s how we’ve been able to keep budgets low while converting the lyrics of the song into a shooting script.

PERMITS
There are three types of location filming. There are the Low budget, the No Budget and the Big Budget locations. In the High Budget videos we have the freedom to go all the way and there are usually no limitations of what locations we may select.  With the Low Budget videos we go after locations that are less costly or free. We usually start with locations that we may borrow or use at no cost at all. We use public places that we know police or security may not kick us out… even then, we’ve been kicked out from some great locations in downtown Miami, where we are based. When filming no budget videos, the key is to be prepared ahead of time and always have several extra locations in mind; in case one door closes you at least have another location as a back-up. But of course… we always recommend you get permits whenever possible… and when the budget permits Something that has helped us a lot is working with small HD cameras like the Canon EOS 7D. The camera looks like a photographic camera; nobody knows we are actually shooting a video.

After locking down the locations, we then proceed to get the permits for each location (if or when there is a budget for permits), sometimes we need to hire off-duty police or security, especially in areas where we need to close streets or sidewalks. A permit is mainly needed when you are going to block a side walk or street while filming or when filming in private or government locations such as beaches and public parks, etc. Location Permits are sometimes free, but the problem is that you will always be asked for production insurance which could cost anywhere from $750 to $1500 or more depending on the requirements of the film shoot.

PRODUCTION
Finally, in the production process we bring our HD camera, we are currently using the Canon EOS 7D, we love the camera because we can change lenses and the camera is small enough to shoot most anywhere.  We also call on our crew, which includes a grip truck with a tungsten and HMI package. HMI lights are very powerful lights that imitate the sunlight and are great when filming exteriors. A basic grip truck may cost around $750 per day, plus driver/gaffer $450 for 10 hrs, but again, in cases where we don’t have a big budget for a grip truck & gaffer, we bring a couple assistants at $150 each to help us set lights we own and also hold a couple of portable reflectors for exterior filming. The rest is just setting up the best camera angles as possible, per location and to record several shots of the artist in each location.

Once we are at the location with the artist, we first make sure they go through make-up and wardrobe first. Having nice clean make-up and hair is very important today more than ever, especially when shooting HD or 35mm film, because today’s HD image is so sharp and crisp that you can see everything.  Once the artist (male or female) has gone through make-up and wardrobe, we bring him or her out to the first location. I usually start filming the wide shot master of the artist singing. We always have a playback system with us, sometimes we have a sound tech help us with the playback, but at times, in no budget videos, we’ve even had the artist himself do the playback. Once I roll on the total 4minutes of the song on the wide shot. I have him sing again, and then I go for a medium shot.

By the way, when filming the wide master shot, we usually try to use a basic portable dolly. We may also dolly in the medium shot. After we are done with the medium then we go for the extreme close-ups of the face. Again, we have the artist sing the entire song as we film the super tight shots of the face. If the location is really nice, we may also shoot another master just concentrating in interesting extreme close-ups of hands, feet, eyes, a fallen leaf or cockroach or anything that moves.

In music video production, extreme close-ups play a very important role, the extreme close-ups not only help make the music video look more interesting and creative, but they can also be the shot that helps you cover up most any mistake in the editing stage.

POST-PRODUCTION

We usually like to end up with 5 to 7 “master shots” of the singer singing the entire song, that way in editing; we can synchronize all of them in the Final Cut Pro timeline. Once all the shots are synchronized to the master song, one video layer on top of the other in the timeline, all we do is cut them to the beat of the song, and then start taking clips out, creating a checkerboard effect. Once all the master clips are cut, then its time to add the story… if any. And the video is ready to go.

This entire process could be completed in a week for No or Low budgets, but we always try to promise the artist in two weeks. That way we are able to deliver it early and make them really happy. The higher budgets can take more time because they can be more intricate. But, once you start producing music videos like this, you’ll find that you can turn them around fairly quickly with good results. And you’ll have fun doing it to.
Norton Rodriguez is the Owner/President of The God of Moses Entertainment (www.thegodofmoses.com) and has been in professional film/video for over 20 years. He has produced movies, videos, television and more. He has won several Emmy awards for his work. He will be teaching a one week class at the upcoming Christian Filmmakers Camp in 2010 http://www.norwoodchristianranch.com/filmmakerscamp.htm.