How To Shoot a Music Video (Tutorial)

how to shoot a music video here we go what's up everyone my name is Cracka Lack welcome back to Cracka Lack TV in today's video we're gonna go over the long awaited tutorial how to shoot a music video my goal for you is by the end of this video I want you to feel confident enough to either go out and shoot your first music video or just shoot your next video but a better video with the knowledge that I'm gonna share with you today so I've been shooting music videos for over 10 years now I've shot over 300 music videos majority of those videos being low to no budget in the very beginning and over the years I've worked my way up to more of the mid and sometimes even like the higher budget music videos now to keep this video under 4 hours I'm gonna briefly touch on each topic that goes into shooting a music video and if you guys want me to go more in depth on each topic in the future let me know in the comments below what questions you have and I'd be more than happy to answer those questions in future videos if you're new to the channel make sure you subscribe and hit the bell to be notified for future uploads more good content just like this right here now we're gonna talk about gear first then planning the video pricing a little bit and then actually shooting the video so first let's talk about cameras I always recommend just use the best camera that you can afford in the beginning if you don't have a camera use your phone it's not about the camera that you use but more so how you use it so when I first started doing music videos I actually used my mom's old Sony Handycam camcorder and with that camera I learned how to kind of piece together a project and then I also learned how to do basic video editing from editing that footage now today I use a sony a7s ii which is a 4k camera but before this the camera that really changed the game for me was the canon t3i shoots in 1080 and that was the camera that forced me to learn how to use the camera and i'm telling you right now learning how to use a camera and adjust the settings to get the correct exposure is gonna be the most important thing that you can learn with photography or videography I have a video on this channel where I go from start to finish over every single camera setting and what each setting does I'm put a link to that on the screen right here and also in the description I do plan on doing future videos where I show you what level of videos that you can get with using just very cheap cameras and even like shooting with a phone I'm gonna do some of those challenges in the future so make sure you subscribe to stick around for that just make sure that you conquer the camera that you currently have before you even think about investing your money into a better camera now but lenses one tip that I got from more advanced shooters when I was coming up was invest in the best glasses as you can so when you're looking up cameras you can have a nice camera but if you have a lens for it you're not gonna reach the full potential of what that camera is capable of so with every lens I've noticed that there's a cheap version and there's a more expensive version the cheap version it's gonna be plastic the glasses and has a good I remember going to a camera store one time and I said hey this fifty millimeter lens is one hundred and thirty dollars but then there's also the same brand fifty millimeter lens that's twelve hundred dollars what's the difference and then the salesman pretty much said is you know a night and day difference and if I'm not happy with the sharpness that I'm getting with one hundred and thirty dollar lens when you upgrade you'll see the difference so my takeaway was you really do get what you pay for with lenses so invest in the best glass that you can if all you have is the money to invest in one lens I would try to get a zoom lens so that way you can cover a decent range of focal length so let's say you have a 16 to 35 you know at 16 you can get a wider shot and with 35 you can get a closer shot a nifty 50 is a beast so when I got my Canon t3i I was told that you know the stock lenses that they come with aren't very good and you know it's not gonna give you that sharp image and I remember I bought a 50 millimeter 1.8 130 dollar lens from Best Buy and actually use that lens for every single video that I shot for two years so I really got a lot of practice in with that one lens right there I probably did over a hundred music videos using just one lens and I was a fifty millimeter one thing to remember with lenses is the higher the millimeter the more close-up it is and then the lower the millimeter the more far away and wide it is in the future if you start having multiple lenses you're gonna have a wide-angle lens which is gonna be a lower millimeter you can have something in the middle like a 50 or 85 and then maybe like a really close-up zoom lens that can go past 100 200 millimeter next is gonna be lighting they said lighting is key and it is true in the beginning if you don't have lights just shoot a lot of daytime stuff and then even if you have to shoot at nighttime you don't have lights use free lighting resources that you can find like street lights or headlights on the cars or I used to have a $30 light that would screw onto the top of the camera and I use that in the beginning for all of my like nighttime music videos now I actually have a tutorial where I show you guys I think five different examples of how to shoot nighttime music videos I'll also put a link to that somewhere on the screen and also in the description now when you do have a budget for lights I would honestly just look on Amazon for under $200 you can get some nice light search even right here we have a softbox white LED right here and I think this came in a three pack for around 150 to 250 dollars so it doesn't cost you that much now as far as stabilizers tripods drones those can help out quite a bit actually but in the beginning you know everyone starts somewhere I didn't actually have a drone for my first seven years of filming I didn't have a stabilizer for my first six or seven years of filming so everything was all handheld and then I did have a tripod but I barely used it so once you've done enough videos and you run into the problem where man I need a stabilizer that's when I would honestly say it's time to go get a stabilizer when I got my DJI Ronin em which is the thing with the handles that balances the camera it really did take my videos to the next level I when I watched him I'm like wow they look so professional now they're so smooth and it was about a thousand dollars so a stabilizer can help a lot I did a full length review tutorial side-by-side comparison where I showed you guys before and after footage when I was using the running and then when I was just trying to walk smooth my elbow stuck heel toe walking really smooth and there was no comparison like the running was way better drones are cool because they give you that aerial shot again the first seven years I had no drone and I had no problem honestly it's a really cool thing to add like a dope shot to the video you know if you have a drone and you got a car driving down the road or things like that drones can give you that extra seasoning on your food or that you sprinkle on the top I currently have a DJI maverick air which it does shoot in 4k it's the slo-mo and all that it's about a thousand dollars all right now that the gear and all that's out of the way let's talk about actually planning the video kind of pricing the video so in the beginning just remember you got to get those reps and you got to get those shots in the gym if you're just getting started I would honestly not even think about charging at this time I would be focused more on shooting videos to get better videos so that way you can draw more people in to actually start getting paid to do the music videos as far as the pricing and payment process what I currently do is I require a deposit from there the artisans made a song after they sent me the song I asked them about what the budget is and then another thing to consider is remember it's their video and they're more invested into the song like this is your first time hearing the song but actually sat there wrote the songs and they recorded the song they've listened to the song several times before they even reached out to you about doing the video so I like to ask the artist hey do you have any ideas right now or anything is in mind that you want in the video and usually if I have a couple ideas and I'll say okay I'll take those couple ideas and I'll turn that into a real music video and I also have this idea this idea this idea and sometimes the artist will give me the freedom where hey I don't have any ideas I don't wanna hold you back there's anything you come up with and those are honestly my favorite videos to shoot obviously but some artists do have their own vision that they want for the video and it's our job as music video directors to capture their vision and deliver that to them because it's their video so we got to make them happy so now once we've agreed on a price we'll set a time and day to shoot the video I'll let them know any other things that I may need like I'm picturing certain items like hey do you have a car like this or can you get access to a car like this I'm picturing a location like this can you get that location or can we rent that location any specific things that you for the video that's all plain and talked about right there I'll always recommend the artist to bring at least one trend of clothes if it's a 2 verse song like to two different outfits the most important tip for planning your videos is I always like to picture how the videos gonna start what's gonna happen throughout the video and then how does the video end so back in the day a lot of videos were very literal so if it's a hustling song about drug dealing or whatever it is the videos would show literally all the things that they're talking about but I've noticed nowadays it's kind of the opposite so the song could be about big booty girls but it's gonna show you know the artist dressed up in a suit and tie in a cubicle working in the office and a pet lion comes in like very random things are becoming more and more normal in music videos that I'm seeing nowadays but a lot of that follows back on the actual director so it's kind of like what is your style are you a off-the-wall creative type person try to make that stand out in all of your videos so you have like a similar theme or style my style I really like to do more of like the cinematic stuff so as far as they animated After Effects things popping up here and there that's not actually my style of videos I like those but usually what I told artists is if that's the type of video you want you're kind of in the wrong spot and my style is more of that cinematic look and very movie like all right guys now it's time to shoot the video how should you prepare yourself first make sure you have some extra batteries with you I always have three to four batteries you can buy spare batteries really cheap on Amazon they usually come in like a pack of two or three for anywhere from like fifteen to twenty dollars one make sure you have your memory card there's been times where I showed up to shoot a video and I'm like oh shit I don't have a memory card hey man I'll be right back I gotta run to the store real quick and I had to go to Walmart and buy a memory card my memory card was full this first time whatever happened in my life so I had to stop get this go right back so since then what I've learned is one make sure you have your memory card to make sure your memory card has open space like at least 32 gigs or so and then three you can go above and beyond and actually have a spare memory card on top of that I keep a spare memory card in my wallet at all times just in case something's wrong with the other memory card I always be prepared don't get caught off guard now for playback on the song I just have a Bluetooth speaker I got a 30 to $40 Bluetooth speaker off Amazon make sure your speakers charged and make sure you have everything ready to go before the video even the night before if you want to be super good now as far as having a shot list if you want to you can but what I found is a lot of times when I'm shooting videos what I'm preparing for versus when I'm showing up and actually seeing a lot of different things so sometimes we're kind of walking in blind as far as like the location scouting if you have access to the location like if it's somewhere close by you go to the location kind of look around find the coolest spots they're like ok I like the look over there I really like this wall right here and then I like these poles over there so you pick out the coolest spots in the location always make the artist feel comfortable that's that's major key right there because a lot of times it's gonna be the artist his first time shooting a video and they may be nervous or scared or you know you could tell sometimes when they're shy and they're not that into it like hype the artists up make them feel confident make them feel good make them comfortable take the lead you're the director a mistake that I made in the beginning I was very shy like I'm still a shy person but I would be the shy director so I'm kind of just they're quiet with the camera letting the artist take the lead and one thing I've learned over the years is the artist is way more comfortable if you are there you're confident and you're calling out the shots like someone has to take the lead in the music video is your baby so you should take the lead with that be confident and um even if you don't know what you're doing act like you know what you're doing like confidence is key fake it till you make it my dad told me a story because one of my biggest problems to this day is a hiding my motion so sometimes what I'm showing up there and I don't have what I need or I was picturing one thing and another time at the location and I'm seeing this like man this isn't what I'm picturing and I have to readjust cuz how I am I have to see the video in my head before I actually turn the camera on and start shooting so as far as showing at your confidence and you know what you're doing and you're you have things under control that's security for the artist to feel comfortable like oh yeah man this the cameraman he's got it under control he knows what he's doing because if you aren't able to hide that my dad said imagine if you went to the dentist and you open your mouth and the dentist was like holy Sh in panic right you'd be like oh what's wrong what's wrong what's wrong but instead anytime you open your mouth no matter how the be teeth are the dentist is cool calm and collected you got to be the same way while you're on set music videos consist of two things one is gonna be performance shots and two is gonna be be raw performance shots is anytime the artist is saying the words to the song b-roll is just everything else so for your performance shots I recommend filming at the highest quality that you can at 24 frames per second now when you get more advanced you can do 60 frames per second performance shots that way you have the ability to slow down the shots like you know when you see the artist and they're sander wise to the song then all of a sudden it goes slow motion and then speed ramps and speeds up real quick and goes back to regular Holmby you can do that if you film at 60 frames per second but in the beginning for years all I filmed was performance shots at 24 frames per second the highest quality possible now as far as how many scenes should you do for the music video I'd recommend on average if it's a 2 verse song at least two scenes and if it's a bigger budget you can do three to four scenes or go above and beyond that but the main thing is to keep the video interesting so you're not seeing everything that happens in the video in like the first 30 seconds so now at each scene I would recommend to get at least three performance shots so let's say this is the scene right here and you're and you've got the camera on a tripod for all three takes of me doing the performance shot you got to change something up to give it more of a variety with the look so one shot could be right here on the tripod the second shot could be handheld moving the camera kind of like this the third shot could be you know closer to my face farther away you just got to change the angle change the look change the camera movement change something about the shot for each take and then get three of those in one spot they need to move to location two now you don't actually have to get in the car drive to a whole nother location if you want sometimes it's just utilize the resources you have and there might be a really cool wall that you guys don't see that's right there and I can get up and move right there change my clothes and boom let's do it again now we do three tapes where I do the whole song you do a close-up you do a far-out you do a low angle or high angle around you know a steady shot whatever you do just change the look each take that you do get at least three takes and that's your performance shots now for b-roll what's important to do is show the surroundings or any type of scenery shots if I'm sitting right here you might want to get some b-roll slow-motion of the table or the texture the texture texture of the table close-up of the ceiling around here show the surroundings and tell a story with it too some songs are different and maybe they don't have a storyline going on but with rap videos a common thing to do is just show them vibing to the song I'll always tell the artist hey on this tag don't say any other words and on the side note no matter how many times you say don't say the words they're still gonna move your mouth a little bit it's like they can't help it but get a shot at them vibe into the song any type of movement they're doing as long as you're filming like 60 frames or 120 frames as long as you can slow down that looks really cool now for be well you don't have to film slow motion sometimes I'll switch it up and shoot a video and I might not film anything in slow motion there is no rule for B roll that it has to be in slow motion you can film it and whatever you want but if you are gonna film the world and you want to be slow motion that's where you would change your camera settings to 60 frames or 120 frames and make sure your shutter speed matches that so if you're filming at 60 frames per second you want your shutter speed to be at least 120 usually cameras don't have 120 so it would be 125 and then if you're filming at 120 frames per second your shutter speed would be at least at 240 most cameras don't have 240 as an option so it'd be 250 now how long should the video should take it can really vary average I would say most videos that I shoot take about four hours anywhere from four to five hours the fastest video I Bashar was only 25 minutes but it was a short minute and a half song it was one location and we just got alright take 1 take 2 take 3 take 4 all right let me get some slow-motion all right guys we're good it was like the police we're gonna show so we had to leave but it was still a good video we had everything we needed in an hour 25 minutes this remember don't be too hard on yourself everyone starts somewhere so in the beginning everyone's videos that's like the starting point and then you're I promise you your second video is going to be better than your first video and then so on and so forth it should continue that way you're gonna learn every time you shoot a new music video once you're editing your fifth video you're gonna learn something new that you apply to that one and when you go shoot your sixth one it's like you should keep getting better and better as you progress and do more videos the next step would be editing the video and that's a whole nother tutorial that we're gonna talk about another day so again leave comments and let me know which topics that you want me to go over more in depth in future videos subscribe to the channel hit the brother be notified for future uploads if you want more help hit the link in the description and I'll be happy to help you if you found this video helpful it really does help me out a lot if you get the video a thumbs up alright you guys I'll see you in the next video Cracka Lack TV yeah I think we did it oh I think we did it

Channel: CrackaLackTV

Views: 190,835

Keywords: cracka lack, how to shoot a music video, how to shoot a music video tutorial, music video tutorial, music video tutorial for beginners, tips on filming a music video, how to film a music video, how i shoot low budget music videos, how to shoot a music video by yourself, shooting a music video, filming a music video, beginner music video, music video tips, beginner music video tips, beginner music video tutorial, how to shoot music videos, direct a music video

Id: TGsz6JO6TxY

Length: 18min 40sec (1120 seconds)

Published: Thu May 21 2020