How a music video is made. By Jaime

How a music video is made.

There is a variation of artist and genres. Myself and group members have decided on doing a pop, indie acoustic singer.

The stages of how a music video is made.

1)     The label, artist and management agree what to release as a single.

2)     Video commissions make a shortlist of possible directors.

3)     Video commissions send tracks of a brief, of ideas for project plus shortlist of directors.

4)     Directors provide outline treatments.

5)     A director is chosen, budget, deadlines agreed.

6)     Director develops the idea with storyboards!, location photo’s.

7)     Art director, wardrobe, photography, locations and sets designs are all set.

8)     Sets built.

9)     All personnel on site for shooting.

10) Shooting complete, film is transferred to tape for editing.

11) Editor produces a rough cut.

12) Label artist and manager view and comment on rough cut.

13) , Changes are agreed, made before visuals effect is added.

14) Online finished video, passed to label for release to TV stations and airplay.

The Record Company

A record company signs up an artist or band. The advance covers most of the costs of releasing the single including marketing costs, such as the music video, funded by sales of the record. The record company employs a video commissioner. The commissioner develops a brief for the video, a particular director, budget, deadline, sketches and sends it with the music track to either the director or production companies.

The video production company.

The company acts as an agent on behalf of the director, seeking work for them and negotiating with the client. Individual directors are unlikely to have the resources to pitch for a job. The director generally takes 10% of the fee for the job.

The director

The director listens to the track, looks at the lyrics and any other materials e.g. previous videos by the same artists or album covers. This may vary. There is little reference to a detailed budget. This is sent to the client. If the commissioner/ record company likes the idea, they will hold a meeting with the director, sometimes with the artist.

Budgeting

The producer draws up s budget, which is approved by the head of production. This is submitted to the client who may wish to negotiate. Once agreed, a deal memo will be countersigned on director and budget.

Production Unit

The deadline for the finished video is based on the release date of the single. The record company usually wants the video to be delivered 6 weeks prior to the release of the single and, for the director, this may mean that there is as little as a weak to set everything up, production unit must operate quickly and efficiently. If the video is not delivered to deadline, no one gets paid.

The key members of the unit are:

·        Production designer in charge of the sets and overall image.

·        Director of photography/lighting, in charge of lights and camera’s

·        Production manager, in charge of logistics, such as locations and probs.

·        Choreographer depending on the artist and type of video.

·        Production assistant, who keeps records to ensure continuity,.

·        Wardrobe person, makeup artist and stylist.

·        Additional crew members, such as camera operates, electricians, grips, runners, set construction etc.

The director meets with the team to develop ideas and work out costs, such as the lighting plan. The producer negotiates the costs based on the budget. Developmental stages all the details of the project have to be put together quickly. Elements will be added in the run up to the shoot.

Shooting

A shoot usually take about 5 days of preparation and 1 or 2 days of actual camera time. A shoot on location may be less complicated than shooting on a set. A shoot can involve a very long day, often starting at 7 am and continuing to 1 am the next morning. For the shoot, the whole crew comes together with the artist and supporting casts or extras.

The job of the director is to make it look as good as possible for the money, shooting costs can be high e.g. cast of dancers, and they will need taxis back from a late shoot at night which may mean £2000 for transport. Over running can be expensive in over time cost for casts and crew. Security costs and a trailer for the star. After the shoot the producer and production assistant spend a day or 2 wrapping up the whole event.  

Shooting on digital video.

Record companies demand a product which looks good on TV and this justifies the use of film stock. DV tends to be used to signify ‘actuality’. The aim is to show the artist off to a maximum effect, which tends to achieve better.

Editing

The shooting only producers the raw material, not the finished product. The first stage is for it to be sent to a lab processing.  At this stage, only the negative is developed and through a process known as telecine, the film is converted to digital tape and the film graded so that it looks satisfactory to the client. Edit facilities are hired for the next stage, where an offline editor(freelance) uses an AVID suite to put together the basic edit. The editor must have a clear idea of what the director wants from the material. Four days of editing, a rough cut is sent to the client for comments/approval.

The next stage is the online edit where effects are added and the tape is produced to broadcast standard. If a video is made up of straight cuts or minimal transitions, an online edit may take as little as 3 to 4 hours, but with 3D animations, CGI and other effects the process will be significantly longer.

Management interference

Artists are shown material out of courtesy, because their money is financing the project, but on the whole they tend not to interfere. The video commissioning editor should be the only one to see the edit in process and to see the offline edit at the telecine stage, where his/her input from too many. Very occasionally, a completed video may be made or shelved by the record company.

Delivery

Finally, the ‘dubs’ of the finished music promo are delivered and released forms are signed. The production company invoices the record company for the job. Production company will seek 50% of monies on commencement and 50% on delivery. Any overspending not approved has to be met from the maker’s budget, which might mean the director losing part of his/her fee.

Exhibition: Music TV channels.

There are now far more spaces for music video to be shown, partly because of the increasing number of TV channels but also because of the potential to release promos as VCD on singles or even on DVD collections. MTV is still the target window for music. National radio tends to make chart success a slower process. A video is likely to reach the national audience more quickly than radio play.