Making a successful music video.

Today we were given a sheet with the top ten tips for creating a successful music video. Briefly described below are the top ten tips needed to help us.

1) Research.

• You need to watch a lot of music videos in order to analyse the language of the genre.
• It needs to be considered exactly what you are planning to deliver before the process is started.
• Examine how different genres work and have examples to draw upon.

2) Getting in a group.

• Sometimes it may be best not to work with your friends on a project like this, as having a good time may possibly get in the way of work.
• Decide whether you and your group work well together, have the necessary communication, organisation and practical skills needed for the task.
• Ensure deadlines within the group are set and met, in order to overcome any unforeseen change in circumstances.

3) Choosing a track.

• As a video maker you are doing a job, you don't have to like the music or even the artist. 
• Narrow it down to not on the basis of your personal tastes but in terms of which music or lyrics stimulate ideas. 
• Consider the genre for each and what a video for that music is likely to entail. 
• Going for little-known or even unknown acts avoids the problem of the artists image being imprinted on the audience's mind.

4) The pitch.

• Involve a single page of ideas, simply expressed, which would enable anyone hearing it to envisage the potential finished video.
• Needs to stand out, with a 'hook' in the first paragraph, a clear idea of location, and narrative.
• Must be clear as a group exactly what you are intending and how and why you are going to do it.
• Ideas need to be, simple, clear, with the more complications you set, the more there is to go wrong.

5) Look at previous student work.

• Look at material from a similar context to your own in order to see what can be achieved and also what can go wrong.
• Previous student work should give you and idea not only of what works well but also what should be avoided:

1. Well-known songs,
2. Overdone effects - you shouldn't use effects just to disguise poor footage.
3. Aimless driving around.
4. Scenes involving booze, fags or drugs.
5. Shots of people walking around.
6. Sped up footage or footage run backwards to cover lack of material.
7. Zooms.
8. found footage - it should be your on unless there's an exceptionally good reason.
9. Atmosphere-less stage footage.
10. Over the top stories.

• Strengths found in previous students work:

1. Consistency through to the end.
2. A clear sense of genre and artist.
3. Well-shot footage.
4. A powerful performance.
5. A good simple effective idea.
6. Judicious cutting.

6) Planning and Shooting.

• Timescale is crucial.
• The director would have no more than six weeks, from being given a brief, or first hearing a track, to plan, shoot and edit the video, then deliver it ready for the record company.
• It may not be the best thing if you have significantly longer.
• Often the most professional looking work is done under pressure to strict time constraints.
• Storyboard as much as you can. 
• Keep written records of everything so nothing is ever forgotten.
• Have time to have some costume changes so you can add variety to the video.
• Make sure you know the basics of how to use the camera, and that you have a working tripod before you go off to shoot.
• Check your footage early on in the shoot.

7) Editing.

• Break your footage down into chunks or load some footage then chop away what you definitely don't want before loading more. 
• Start editing straight away.
• Name files so you can find them and make sure everything is filed in your folder.
• Use effects sparingly and in a planned fashion.
• Line up material ready for lip-syncing. 
• It can be time consuming but it is crucial to the effectiveness of a finished piece. 
• Once the lip-syncing is achieved, you can start choosing which bits of the material will go into the finished video. 
• Cutaways can be inserted in awkward bits where miming has gone wrong or the camera is out of focus. 
• Expect to make compromises.
• May need to apply some filters to even up the lighting. 

8) Screening and feedback.

• Be ready to ask questions of your peers rather than just have say it was good or bad. 
• Try to get other forms of feedback too.

9) Writing.

• Follow the guidelines given by your teachers according to the A-Level spec which you are working towards.
• Don't fill it with excuses - blaming the equipment, the teachers, the actors etc. 
• The writing should:

1. Cover the whole process.
2. Use technical language accurate.
3. Include the feedback and our comments on it.
4. Relate it to real examples and their conventions.
5. Include an analysis of the finished product using the tools you would use to analyse real examples. 

10) Marking.

• Leave this to your teachers and look forward to a good grade.