Information
A Music Video is one of the marketing tools for a musician or singer, kind of your presentation card. A well-done production can make a favorable impression to the record company or label allowing the executives to have a sneak preview to your on-camera talent and visualize your potential value for the market.
Music videos also will be on you side in any television or cable program interview fulfilling the need of what is dubbed “B-roll” in the production language allowing the viewers to see you in action and listen your music recorded under the quality of ideal studio conditions. Your music video also may serve the purpose of marketing your brand through music cable stations (VH1, MTV, etc) and the images will serve as source material if you need to implement a promotional spot announcing the date and place of the next concert.
Of course there are other tools that should be evaluated as part of a successful marketing campaign including the use of the Radio, Papers, the Internet (MySpace, YouTube, Website) and an effective Press Kit that may include a DVD with the Music Video and EPK (Electronic Press Kit) which will include a kind of interview edited in a creative fashion with photos and performances) and other printed material with relevant information.
HOW YOUR VIDEO WILL BE DONE
Some music artists neglect their marketing needs at the beginning of their career forgetting the popular saying that “one picture is worth a thousand words” and usually affirm a lack of resources or poor understanding of the production process. For starters there are as many music videos as artists, some with costly budgets, filmed in multiple locations, with many extra talents, equipment and props and in the other end productions based in one filming session executed in one carefully picked location but done by talented filmmakers which understand camera work, lighting and editing and can portrait an appealing image with limited resources.
The following steps will help you to have a smooth experience for your next music video production.
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Define the theme you consider more attractive for the intended audience. Here be clear who you are looking for, which people, age, preferences, etc; also request opinions from persons you respect and trust and listen carefully to their thoughts.
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Define who you are or want to be as artist or band. This will help defining your look in the image. Your music video should portray you as you want to be seen or in the way that could be more effective to market your music. Also consider how much you want to spend in the project.
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Now look for a video production company and establish a preliminary meeting to know each other. Listen to them and provide some CD with the theme. Professionals usually will listen trying to familiarize with your music, style and points of view. After some days they can provide a proposal of treatment with suggestions and ideas to maximize the budget range you gave them. Remember that professional filmmakers take their job seriously and will try hard for quality to feel proud about the production that will be associated with their names or company bringing mote prestige and new clients.
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After you agree on the treatment a production contract will be signed to protect each part according to what will be provided by the production company, cost and what's expected from you. Usually a percentage is collected upfront as a guarantee that the musician won't abandon the project burdening the production company with some out of pocket costs such as insurances, professional crew contracted, location rentals or permission fees.
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The production company in coordination with the artist will create a technical
script and filming schedule and will arrange for locations or studios and other third parties rentals (dollies, extra lighting, cranes, etc). For the filming sessions you likely will lip-sync to a playback of your theme, so is a good idea to rehearsal before with the band to avoid too many repeats and time delays.
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After all filming is done comes the editing process that includes the montage, color correction and adding visual effects if needed. A copy for approval will be submitted to you and usually you have one opportunity to indicate some changes or correction.
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After the music video is finished and approved the production company can deliver to you as many masters as you order in Betacam Digital (Professional), Betacam SP, DVD or Quicktime/Flash files for the web. It's usual that the producer will include one professional master in the estimated cost of the whole project and after charge for media and transfer service for the extra copies you will need.
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Also is very common that the Production Company will include at their discretion your video in its marketing materials such as demo reels, websites, etc which also indirectly helps with your exposure.
A FINAL NOTE
Before ending one piece of advice: get away from the idea of free music videos. They are commonly done by non-professional people, students or filmmakers at the beginning of their careers and you may end unhappy with the results and paying with your time and effort for their learning mistakes. Music Video production is a labor intensive task and in many cases with time constraints that require skillful labor and costly equipment to obtain the expected results.