Hip-Hop Videography 101 | James Huang | Skillshare
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Hip-Hop Videography 101

teacher avatar James Huang, Hip-hop Videographer

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Class Introduction

      1:58

    • 2.

      Project Introduction

      2:56

    • 3.

      State of Hip-Hop

      6:05

    • 4.

      History of Hip-Hop Directors

      3:49

    • 5.

      Hip-Hop Videographer Starter-Kit

      2:05

    • 6.

      The Life of a Hip-Hop Videographer: My Story

      5:10

    • 7.

      Music Video Ideation

      3:46

    • 8.

      Designing the Treatment

      2:42

    • 9.

      From Treatment to Shoot

      2:16

    • 10.

      Basic Editing Technique

      12:40

    • 11.

      Conclusion

      1:33

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About This Class

Hi there!

Welcome to the Hip-Hop Videography class! This course is designed to prepare you for the exciting world of Hip-Hop media. 

My name is Sakyboi. I've been shooting and directing Hip-Hop music video for over 8 years racking up over 5 million views across YouTube and other social platforms. I directed a Hip-Hop documentary at the age of 20 that was shown at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. I've worked with many of today's hip-hop greats such as Future, 2 Chainz, Ty Dolla $, but have found a passion for underground Asian-American talent. 

Why did I create this course? Well I believe that the world of Hip-Hop videography is one of the most exciting online mediums for many reasons.

1. The Accessibility. ANYONE can do it from ANYWHERE! There is no barrier for entry. 

2. The amazing experiences that shooting Hip-Hop promises. It is the most exciting genre of music to work in right now.

3. The opportunities to meet and work creatively with your favorite artist. 

In this course, I will be providing you the knowledge you need to start directing music videos for Hip-Hop artists and to stay on top of the culture.

We go in-depth on:

- The Current State of Hip-Hop

- The History of Hip-Hop Music Video Directors

- How to Get Booked for Work

- Designing a Music Video Treatment

- Essential Videography Techniques

- Post-Production & Video Editing

This course isn't just about learning techniques. It's about understanding culture, uplifting the artist community, and taking control of your own creativity. 

This is a first-of-its-kind type of class. I can't wait to share my knowledge with you and take you on this one-of-a-kind experience. Hope to see you soon!

Meet Your Teacher

Teacher Profile Image

James Huang

Hip-hop Videographer

Teacher

 

James Huang aka SAKYBOI is an freelance director, videographer, editor, rapper, stylist, and humanitarian. Born on August 3, 1994 in Beaufort, South Carolina, Saky was raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to two Chinese immigrant parents. In 2015, Saky directed, shot, and edited an original documentary that premiered at the 48th Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner. In 2016, He started the first street photography club at his university. In 2018, he began making music with electronic trap group, NITEMRKT, and has since performed at Google HQ, Globe Theater, The Belasco, and opened for Snoop Dogg. At the end of 2018, he began getting involved with Theatreworkers Project, a program designed to help formerly incarcerated individuals re-adjust to society. He has worked on s... See full profile

Level: Beginner

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Transcripts

1. Class Introduction: What's good you all, welcome to Sakyboi Hip-Hop videography class. This class teaches young creatives and hip-hop lovers how to get started creating video content in the realm of hip-hop and rap music. We'll be talking about the basics of videography and how to actually get work in this field, and then also we'll be getting into a short history of hip-hop videography, as well as the current state of hip-hop today. So that you can make sure that you're ahead of the curve. And the world of hip-hop music videos is exciting for so many reasons. First off is the accessibility. Anybody can get to this field. You don't need any previous video experience or film education really. Second off is the opportunities. The skills that you'll learn from videography can take you anywhere. Every artist needs video content. As long as you have an online portfolio and like a reliable kit, the possibilities are really endless. And finally, if you're a hip-hop lover, videography is an amazing way to start getting to know these artists and potentially even working with them. For me, having shot a range of independent artists, being on sets with Billie Eilish, Future, 2 Chainz, et cetera, and even having my own self-directed hip-hop documentary shown at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. I believe that the experiences that I can show to you guys will help you prepare for your own videography adventures. Alright, so let's get started. Do me a favor, hit that save button down below and take your first step in the exciting world of hip-hop videography with me, Sakyboi. 2. Project Introduction: What's up, guys? Welcome back to the Hip-Hop videography class. Today, I'm going to be introducing our class project, which will be Creating your First Music Video Treatment. A treatment is basically the presentation that you'll be giving to your artist that lays out all your ideas for the music video. Knowing how to create a music video treatment is a chance for you to get started working with the artists that you've wanted to work with. It's also the foundation for any music video. You want to make sure that you're prepared with your ideas before you go out into the field and starts shooting. I've decided to split this up into level tiers. This is going to be the level 1 music video treatment. Each level has a different objectives. As we go along with these lessons, the music video treatments are going to be more and more complex, they are going to be dealing with more and more situations. But our level 1 music videos treatment will be the baseline of understanding how to create a music video treatment. The objective of our level 1 music video treatment project would be to create a music video with a $0 budget. Now, that means we really have to get creative using only the things around you, the camera, equipment, the locations, resources that you have immediately surrounding you without any budget. Number 1, I want you guys to choose a song from a rapper that you may know personally or that you're associated with, whether that be from a friend of a friend or someone that you are able to contact pretty conveniently. This is a great starting point when collaborating with artists. Then I want you guys to draw a storyboard. I'll have a downloadable link for a storyboard template. Essentially the storyboard is rough draft of your ideas where you collect all your inspiration and draw whatever is in your imagination. Then once you start creating your treatment, you start collecting those ideas into something cohesive. Then number 3 is to create the treatment. Now imagine that the music video treatment is like a presentation that you're giving to your boss or your coworkers. You want to make it visually appealing. You want to communicate your ideas with confidence, and then you want to convince them of your ideas moving forward. What I mean by that is doing a research of the artist and of the song and finding a good color scheme and a good font so that your designs look appealing. Then number 4 is to post your work on the class project gallery, share with the peers in your class and absorb and receive feedback once you're done with your project. That's pretty much it, make sure to post your project in the class project gallery and if you have any questions, let me know and I'll make sure to answer them. Actually, you're going to find yourself in this situation a lot where you don't have any budget with a music video other than yourself, your camera equipment, and your artists. You have to be the most creative, but only with the resources that you have and you're going to find yourself in that situation a lot getting started at first. Have fun with it and let it be inspirations for music videos that you'll be doing in the future. All right guys, good luck. 3. State of Hip-Hop: What's up guys? Welcome back to the Hip Hop Videography class. Today, I finally get to talk about one of my favorite topics, which is hip hop music and how it pertains to music video-making. Today's landscape of hip-hop is so vast, there's so many artists, so many different styles, and so much great music that it can be hard to keep up with. I want to share with you guys some of the artists that are influencing the culture today. Maybe some of these names that you've heard before, maybe some artists that are new to you. Hopefully, this gives you a sense of where hip-hop is at today. First off, you got your legends. These guys have stamped there and legacy in hip-hop, based on previous work that are now considered classics. Kanye West who came out of the gate with what people consider now to be a classic in the College Dropout, and then his second follow up album, the Late Registration, and graduation, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy are all pantheons in hip-hop music. Then you got Jay-Z, who is widely recognized as the greatest rapper in hip-hop history, with works such as Reasonable Doubt, the Black album, 4:44 and then we can't forget the Blueprint series and the Hard Knock series. Then you've got Kendrick Lamar, rapper out of Compton, California. His discography is considered one of the best discography is in hip-hop. Section 8, Good Kid, Bad City, To Pimp a Butterfly and then Damn. Then you got J Cole out of Fairfield, North Carolina. J Cole's two mix tapes with the Warm-Up and Friday Night Lights are considered classic mix tapes. Then you've got his albums, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, Born Sinner, For Your Eyes Only, KOD. Then you've got Drake from Toronto, Canada with works such as So Far Gone, Take Care, Nothing Was The Same, If You Read This It's Too Late, and What A Time To Be Alive. He's one of the most successful artists, breaking the record for the most entries ever on the Billboard Top 100. Then we move on to the current stars, These guys are what make up today's sound and are heavily influencing the culture of hip-hop today. Artists like Travis Scott with Astroworld, Cactus Jack. Then we've got Kid Cudi with works like A Kid Named Cudi, his work with Kanye West, Kids See Ghosts are cultural staples. Lil Uzi Vert with his new album Eternal Atake and his past work, Luv Is Rage are just hits on hits on hits. Tyler, The Creator who has created his own culture and fan base based on his music, has personality, his TV shows and obviously these aren't the only guys that are creating great music. From the West Coast, you've got YG from Compton, Shoreline Mafia from LA, YBN Nahmir from the Bay Area, Dom Kennedy from LA, and Vince Staples from Long Beach. From the East Coast who got Joey Badass from New York City, Flatbush Zombies also from New York, Griselda from Buffalo, New York, Meek Mill from Philly, Wiz Khalifa from Pittsburgh, Action Bronson from Flushing New York, and Wale from Maryland. In the Midwest, you've got Freddie Gibbs from Indiana, Big Sean from Detroit, Chief Keef from Chicago, Chance The Rapper also from Chicago, and Tee Grizzley from Detroit. From the South you've got DaBaby from Charlotte, North Carolina, Kodak Black from Florida, Isaiah Rashad from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Maxo Kream from Houston, Currensy from Louisiana, and Big K.R.I.T from Alabama. In a genre so dominated by men, women have really found representation in hip-hop recently as well, with artists such as Rhapsody, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, and Tierra Whack, Young M.A, just to name a few. Then we can't forget the OGs, guys that have made timeless music that have created what hip-hop is today. Artists like Eminem, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Gucci Mane. Also we have some of the up and comers, guys that are making waves in the hip-hop scene right now. Don Toliver from the Cactus Jack record label, Jack Harlow out of Kentucky, Roddy Ricch out of Philly then YBN Cordae representing Maryland. Then you've got a special category of rappers called SoundCloud rappers. These rappers really came up big posting their music on SoundCloud, high-energy, goofy lyrics and usually their songs are like a minute-long. These artists include Trippie Redd, Pouya, Smokepurrp, Ugly God, Wifi's Funeral, Ski Mask The Slump God, and Lil Yachty. Then I'd like to mention some of my personal favorites. Some of these guys that I'd like to share with you, Xavier Wulf out of LA, Run The Jewels, which is Killer Mike and El-P, Cousin Stizz out of Boston, and Childish Gambino, one of the most renaissance artists of our time today. Now a lot of these artists you may have heard before but hopefully some of these guys are new to you and if you guys decide to discover them then maybe they'll become your own personal favorites. Now how does this pertain to music video making? Well, a lot of these artists, if not all of these artists, have used music videos to project their fans to where they are today or to propelled their careers forward. You can pinpoint to certain music videos in history that have put artists on the map. Just some recent examples, YBN Cordae, with his response to J. Cole's 1985, signified the arrival of the new age lyricists. Rich Brian with Dat stick, little Asian kid who shocked the world with a music video that showed that Asians had a place in the hip-hop game. This goes to show that music videos are a tool for artists. It can help them grow an online fan base. It can help them create content for the press kits and they can show the labels and concert promoters and also it's an extension of their artistic expression. These are just some of the things to think about what you're shooting your own music videos. So go out there, help artists grow, and make your own contributions in the hip-hop world. 4. History of Hip-Hop Directors: What's good guys, welcome back to the hip hop videography class. As you can see, I just got myself a new microphone, so hopefully the audio quality is going to skyrocket from here and if not, I'm probably going to have to return this mic. Today I'm going to be going over some of hip hops most successful music video directors. I'm going to be going over some of these guys and styles, you're going to be seeing some of the work that they've done before, and get an understanding of where music videos have come from, and where it's at today. First off is Hype Williams, who is perhaps the most decorated hip hop music video director in history. There wouldn't be a 90s era hip hop without his work. He became popular in his early work with his fisheye distortion aesthetic, but his background and graffiti has had a big influence in his work as well. Next is Spike Jonze, who has directed some hip hops most iconic music videos. Spike marks his work with his ability to bend reality and draw his audience to his characters. His far side music video drop, when you first watch it you're not really sure what's going on, but as you start watching it more and more, you start to see that they actually film this whole music video backwards and you're watching the music video unfold volatile reverse. Another great music video veterans is Dave Meyers. He's known for his all inspiring music video moments, his amazing art direction, from the concepts to the costumes, to the colors and set designs. He's able to unify his vision into southern cohesive, and some other notables such as Paul Hunter and Chris Robinson, who are responsible for so many unforgettable visuals for the '90s and 2000s. Then you've got today's best such as Director X, who has high willingness, Protege. His signature letterbox opening start off every one of his videos. He's a great visual storyteller, oftentimes placing his artists into everyday situations and imagining how they would play out. Then you've got Cole Bennett, the creator of lyrical lemonade with over 10 million subscribers on YouTube. He is breeding a new generation of artists through his visuals. He has a very DIY style of filmmaking that gives his videos a childlike exuberance, along with his inflows of 90s and 2000s cartoons. Then you've got Collin Tilley, who has worked with nearly everyone in pop culture. Colin understands the aesthetic of fun, his eye for popping color, and a flashy lifestyle, and his ability to showcase cool is essential for big artists and their brand. Then you've got Brthr, who's a duo of directors known for their innovative yet chaotic style of filmmaking. Their stimulating visuals are like dream sequences filled with minute details that make the viewers go, "I've got to see that twice." Here are some other great filmmakers that I recommend, Jack Begert, Glassface, Lonewolf, Hidji films, Laka films, A Zae productions, the Reel Goats and Kid Art. These music video directors have made a name for themselves in hiphop and the music industry, but they all had to start somewhere and so can you. Next time we'll be talking about how you can get started shooting your own videos and filling up your portfolio to get started shooting out music videos. All right, till next time peace. 5. Hip-Hop Videographer Starter-Kit: What's up. Guys. Welcome back to another lesson in the hip hop videography class. Last time we talked about some well-known music video directors that have made waves in the hip hop landscape. But they all had to get to start from somewhere. Today, I want to talk about some of the essential tools that you'll need to get started shooting your own music videos or just shooting hip hop videography in general. First of, of course you need your camera. There's alternative different cameras out there. There's not one single right camera. It's all depending on the look that you're trying to go for and then you need your lenses. I like to use wide-angle lenses, like 60-35 millimeter is great for landscape shots and wide shots. Also, I have a 24-70 millimeter. Does really well getting the detail shots in the portrait shots that I need to have a really solid tripod. Try not to go cheap on these and I really recommend getting yourself a handheld stabilizer, also known as a gimbal. I have the zhiyun crane V2. It helps stabilize all my footage while I'm on the go. It takes away the shakiness of handheld and also gives me a lot of great creative and smooth motions when I'm controlling my camera. Also to have in your tool bag should be a flasher or LED panel. You should get yourself a polarized and some ND filters. ND filters are used to balance the exposure when you're shooting outdoors. Also has some cleaning supplies, items like a lens wide or air blower, glass cleaning spray. These ions will help prevent getting dust on your lens or your sensor. Have a couple of hard drives on u, one as a main hard drive and one as a backup to make sure that you're backing up your footage constantly. Don't forget a water bottle. You don't wanna go thirsty in the middle of a shoot. Now, I want you guys to do your own research on camera equipment, write down your ideal camera kit and also one that's within your budget. This practice will help you figure out what your camera should look like in your own personalized way and next lesson, I'll be talking about my journey and how I got started shooting videography in hip hop till next time, see you guys. 6. The Life of a Hip-Hop Videographer: My Story: What's up, guys, welcome back to the Hip-Hop videography class. You want to be Hip-Hop videographer. What does it take? How do you even get into it? Well, I'm about to explain my story and some of my experiences that I've had. It's been a long journey with a lot of twists and turns and has brought me to a lot of amazing places. Maybe if I speak on my experience, it can help you understand where you can get started. I started getting interested in videos early on in high school through a videography class. I was really not doing that great in school, but this videography class allowed me to be creative. I had just an amazing time making skids, being funny, trying things out for class. That experience really helped me solidify what I wanted to do. Then, around early college, I started shooting concerts. What we will do is we would research artists that would be coming into our area. Then we would find those artists managers and offer free video service for the concerts. Oftentimes we'd get rejected, but very few times and very meaningful times we would get accepted. Artists that I was lucky enough to work with early on was Chance the Rapper, Lil Dickey, and those experiences made me want to continue going further. I started to discover my love for underground Hip-Hop around my scene. I started working with local artists in North Carolina. That interaction was a little more intimate because they were so closer proximity, I would shoot concerts for them, I would do a lot of photography stuff, but I wanted to transition into more creative substance, original work with my music videos. I asked a close friend of mine who was making music. I started planning out music videos for him, starting off small, but having a concept around it was a different experience than purely shooting concerts. There's a little bit more for thought that goes into shooting music videos. I've felt like for me, music videos was more of a creative expression for me. But all the conservatives that I'd done before was preparation to shoot these indie music videos. In 2014, I directed a documentary covering the Hip-Hop cipher that was happening in my university. That opportunity then gave me the chance to go to the Camp Film Festival the very next year after winning the Student Film Festival. That experience really solidified my vision and my course for being a videographer in Hip-Hop, moving forward. Around the North Carolina area, I started to get known for making music videos. I wanted to continue to make more and expand on my skill sets. I decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue music video director. There I was able to gain more experience in the industry. I picked up a few gigs, guffing and gripping for certain sets. Then I transitioned into the camera department being a camera PA, and even being a second AC to a few shoots that I'm really proud of being a part of. I've been on some amazing sets with amazing professionals and it gave me a lot of learning experience for my own videography. I'll still also shooting constant videos and photography for festivals such as the AD8 Rising Festival, IDENTITY fest LA. These experiences really gave me inspiration to help young Asian, American artists. These self produced, self directed, self edited music videos were amazing experiences for me to really help Asian, American artists that I felt were moving the culture forward. Now a lot of these experiences that I obtain came from a lot of networking, reaching out to artists online and taking the initiative to set up that opportunity for myself. You want to set up a relationship, report, get to know these guys and gain their trust. I recommend setting up a website with all your work, creating a real, after you've done a few concert videos, had a few shooting experiences yourself. Following up with the RSA, you want to work with. Making sure you reach out to them. Make sure you go to the show's really just be deep in the sea and show support for these artists. It's important to have really a strong mentality, making sure that you set goals. There's a lot of times you're going to make mistakes. You're going to feel like you're not experienced enough. It's important to just never give up in those situations, to learn from those mistakes, and to really persevere and pursue that vision that you had from the beginning. That's pretty much it, I hope you guys learned something from my experience, and use that to kick-start your own experiences as a music videographer. All right guys, till next time, peace. 7. Music Video Ideation: What's up, guys. Welcome back to the Hip Hop Videography class. Today, I wanted to help you guys out with coming up with an idea for your music video treatment. Now, I can't come up with the music idea for you. You're going to be working with a totally different song with a totally different artist, but I'd like to present some methods that I like to use to come up with ideas to help me give direction for where this music video is going to go. First off, I listen to the song carefully over and over again to try to get an idea of what the song is sounding like, what are some of the lyrics that the artist is saying, and what are the grooves and the feel of the song. That all comes together when coming up with a music video idea, whether it'd be something that is really descriptive that the artist is saying, or whether this is an upbeat song, or more low key, a sadder song. Next, I'd like to do some research on the artists, whether that'd be reading articles or listen to his or her previous discographies. It's all about how do you get to know your artist better. Then I'd like to think about what is trending in today's world, either culturally or politically. This may not be the best method as sometimes, music videos that are too much of the times can be a little bit unoriginal. But thinking about what is happening in our current world today can help figure out what kind of message you want to bring to your music videos. It also can help your video be culturally relevant, which may be good for the artist's branding. Then if the opportunity presents itself, I'd like to try to pull some of my own inspirations, whether that'd be from TV shows that I like to watch, or sports references. These are obviously things that, if the artist allows it, you'd be able to bring your own flavor and your own original ideas into the music video. Oftentimes, the artist will already have a vision as to what their music video is going to look like, but if there is room for more collaborative experience, which may happen when you're in a smaller production and you're friends with the artist, then this is an opportunity for you to bring to life something that you've always wanted to see on screen. And then be creative with the resources that you have. Know your kit's limitations, and also its potential, whether that'd be with your lighting equipment, playing around with the lighting, or the camera equipment that you have. If it's more of a digital quality, or maybe more of a film quality. You can kind of texturize and manipulate your video in that way. And then what I'd like to do after all this is write and draw out my ideas on pen and paper to give myself a rough sketch to visualize what actually all these ideas look like when they come together into one visual component. You don't have to be a good drawer or good artist. I am not definitely, but I like to just sketch out something really rough and put stick figures together, put descriptions and different indicators of what the scene I see in my head actually looks like on paper. And then afterwards, explain your idea to your friend, show that rough sketch to someone that you trust, and see what other ideas they might have or provide for you. Maybe they brought an advice or an idea that you may not have thought of but would fit perfectly into the music video. You never know, so it's always good to ask. That's pretty much it, guys. Let your imagination run wild. Possibilities are limitless if you know what you're doing, if you are having fun with it. All right, 'til next time, guys. Peace out. 8. Designing the Treatment: What's going on, guys. Welcome back to another class in the Hip Hop Videography course. [MUSIC] Today, I wanted to talk about designing a treatment. Now, obviously, our class project is Designing the Treatment. It's all about transitioning your idea into a solidified vision. Make sure you provide clear and concise explanations of your scenes. Make sure you provide a lot of image references. Make it really a visual project. Choose an appropriate color scheme, and make sure that you aestheticize your presentation. Then make sure to peer review your work. Have somebody check out your music video treatment and give some feedback so that it looks as polished as it can be. Let's look at this Esty music video treatment that was made by my friend, Anissa. Now, this isn't a hip-hop music video per se, but I do believe that this is a really beautifully designed music video treatment. She has her contact information, her e-mail on one corner, in the other corner, she has her name as a header, just to make sure that she has her contact information easily read. Now in the first scene, you already see the aesthetics that she's trying to portray. The visual reference that she provides, she gives a description for; a scene from "modern women" by tennis. You see the title here. Music by Esty, title "I do," duration three minutes 50 seconds. Then below, we see a very concise, yet very bold explanation of her idea. We follow Esty backstage as she prepares herself for her performance. The video is simple, elegant, soft, yet bold. It really encaptures Esty as herself, an artist from the beginning to the end. So with this description, she's setting the tone for how the artist is going to be portrayed and how the video should feel to the audience. Then her second slide is a step-by-step description with time codes of each scene and how they're going to be played out. Then on the right side, you see her visual references clearly laid out to give a more cohesive color scheme idea, and also visualization concept. Then as we go further down, her last slide includes mood boards and color schemes. Colors are really important when it comes to creating and designing music video treatments, and so as you see here, she gives a lot of visual references of elegant women in red clothing, red lighting. When you guys are working on your music video treatment, make sure to post your finished project onto the Project Gallery page. That's it guys, 'til next time. 9. From Treatment to Shoot: What's up guys, welcome back to the hip-hop videography class. Today, I wanted to talk about how to get from the treatment to the shoot. So the treatment lays the groundwork for your visuals, your concept, and your ideas. Now the next step is to put your plans into action. So here's a few steps on how to make that happen. First off, you want to scout your locations. If you have multiple locations, you want to make sure you go to these actual locations and see what the good shots are, bring your camera take some photos at the location, bring a friend with you as subjects so you can put him or her in the shot and visualize it and actualize it to see how the shots are going to come up before you actually shoot. Come up with a shot list, this is super important. You want to make sure to have a shot list with you on the day of the shoot. So plan and write down all the shots you're going to do beforehand. When that's going to happen, what kind of shots they are, so that when you're in the shoot, you're not confused as to when to shoot these shots on that day. Charge all your equipment, make sure all your batteries are charged for your camera, for your LED lights, whatever battery you have, you want to make sure they're fully charged before the shoot and for low budget films, see if your friends are willing to help you on the day of the shoot. Having a second or third hand is really helpful when you need things to be carried, when you need to remember certain things so that you don't have to handle all the responsibilities on your own. Sometimes, when you're first starting off, that's kind of how it has to happen, but if you've got a good friend that's willing to help you on that day, that is a great and amazing health. You will not regret having a second or third hand on a shoot day. The next step is just to have fun in your shoot. There's a balance between being meticulous and creating a fun environment for everyone. You want to still be focused on the shoot and the schedule that you have planned out and having fun during the shoot and having a smooth shoot day builds your confidence for the next shoot you have. So creating a treatment and putting together shoot is all about just putting a plan into action. So take that next step and manifest that treatment into a piece of art. 10. Basic Editing Technique: What's up, guys, welcome back to the hip hop videography class. This is the last class that we have for you guys today in the hip hop videography course. If you guys made it this far, congratulations, we're this close to finishing your first music video project. Now the last part I want to talk about is editing your music video. Now, editing can be a daunting task when you first think about it. You've got a lot of footage, you think the fun is over. Now you had to sit at a computer for hours and put this music video together, but the truth is, editing is where all the magic happens. Knowing how to edit is an indispensable skill that every filmmaker needs to have in their [inaudible]. I'm going to show you guys my basic editing techniques, and my editing setup using Premier Pro as my editing software. I'm going to be using a music video that I've shot before as an example to show you what my editing software setup looks like. It is so important to be organized when you're editing. You want to make sure all your footage is in clear distinct folders with folder names that clearly show when this video was shot, what camera it was shot with, and what day it was. Okay. Here is my basic editing setup. We've got the project window to the left here. This is where you import all your media, all your footage organized all over here to the left, and then your program window is actually where you'll see your music video as you're progressing in your edits. I have my own way of naming my folders. Big footage means the main footage folder that has all the main footage from my music videos. I'm going to put my big footage folder here. Drag it right into the project window. We have 66 items, meaning 66 pieces of footage in here. That's a lot. Once you click in this bin, it'll create a new bin window with all your footage in here and that's great that you can see the preview of your footage right in the project window. If you scroll a little bit, you can see. Okay, this is my friend here, he's just checking his phone. You can just scroll through here and see what's happening. I'll select all my footage. I'll press the first footage in the bin, and then press "Control A" select "All", select all my footage as you can see here, and what I'll do is I'll drag it all into the timeline in the bottom here. Just like that. As you can see, it automatically creates a new sequence with all the footage, all 66 files laid out in chronological order for you right here. As you can see, this is our timeline file here, we'll rename it as big footage timeline, and then as you can see how I lay out my timeline, I have my toolbox right here, and to the right here is my audio levels. You can see is boosting up for all the audio that's happening in my footage, and here comes the editing part. It's all about hunkering down and putting your foot on the gas, and going through all the footage, every single thing that you've caught with your camera during the shoot day. Now the editing process is the reason why getting good footage and being prepared with your shots are essential during the shoot day. You want to make sure you have all the best footage that you could get during the shoot so that in editing, you have plenty to choose from. Going through the footage here you press "Space" to press "Play", press "Space" to pause, press "Space" to play, and you can scroll using the cursor right here on your timeline head. So you can fast-forward, see what's going on here. As you can see in this shot, we've got a car here. This is my establishing shot of the point of interest for this music video is this car. I want to make sure I get a great shot of this car in smooth motion. What I will do here is watch the footage first off, okay, and watch where the movement starts. Watch where I want to get the movement exactly where I want it to go. As you can see, this is where I got my camera set boom, that sweeping motion, beautiful, it gets the whole sweeping part of the car. Around here's where I want to stop the footage. I'll press "C" for cut my razor tool, I'll cut the footage to that spot right there. I'll back it up to around here. It doesn't have to be perfect. You know, this is the beginning of the shot that I want to get. I'll cut it here and what I'll do is I'll lift this piece of footage up to the next track, V2 track, so that it differentiates itself from the first V1 track where all the footage is. This piece of footage right here is usable footage for me. What I'll do is I'll right click here on the timeline, make sure that your right-clicking above the timeline into the timeline head. Press "Add Flash Q Marker," and then a marker window will pop up. What this is is now you can name and label your footage. What footage this right here is sweeping part of car, let's call it that, and you can make it a different color if you want to, you can add description to it, but I like to keep it simple, and keep it moving because I got a lot of footage to look over. I'll put it right here, sweeping part of car. Okay. After you've got a couple of these footage filtered out, some good pieces of footage, you want to start creating your music video timeline. I'll click "Control N," which is create a new sequence. You'll see that a new sequence window has popped up here. I want to call it music video timeline and a new music video timeline will pop up right here. As you can see, it's annoying to go back and forth between timelines. See, I want to take a piece of footage from my footage timeline and put into the music video timeline. I don't want to have to switch back and forth all the time. What I'll do is what's called the pancake technique. The pancake technique is stacking one timeline on top of the other. What I'll do here is I'm on my big footage timeline. I'll take that and I'll put it right on top of the music video timeline. What I did there was now both timelines are stacked up on top of each other, so I can see both timelines and start manipulating them at the same time. I can drive one piece of footage from one timeline directly into the other one. I want to start stacking up the footage. We'll take this shot of the sweeping part of the car. I don't want the audio of this. There is no need for audio with their footers. I'll unlink selection, which means that now if I press the video that I won't select the audio either. I'll put it in the beginning right here. Now this window pops up that says "Clip mismatch warning". This clip does not match the sequence settings. Change sequence settings to match the clip settings. I usually press "Change sequence settings," so that my sequence matches my footage settings. Here we go. Then I'll take this footage of my friend here next to the car and what I'll do is just drag it, and drop. Perfect. Now I've got two clips in order that I want for my music video. The sweeping part of and the car right here looks beautiful and now I have him next to the car. Another important thing. So let's put this timeline back into the main timeline so I can see my program window here. You know, if your shoot has multiple locations, when you're editing in your timeline, you want to make sure you differentiate between the different locations. What I'd like to do is call color-coding. If you see here, this is all footage of them in this little parking lot here and then we see here that we have changed locations. Now we are in a little parallel parking spot outside of a shop. As you can see, all the footage right here now is blue colored but we have the ability to color-code this footage to tell when we started changing scenes. Right around here is a different scene and this is where we start with the parallel parking scene. What I'll do here is see that this is where the scene ends. I'll select all this footage here. All right, and when I see that I'll select it, I right-click, and I go to label, and I choose a color in which I want to see this footage in a different color-coding. So usually I want to choose a color that matches the vibes of the footage to give myself a little mental connection. Okay. This color meant we were in a brown parking lot. So maybe I'll give it a little brown color here. Boom. Now we can see that this clip is all completely colored brown and now I know, and I have a mental mark that this is where the parking lot footage is. The points of color-coding happens as you start really getting a grind in with your editing. Editing is a long process. I'm not going to sugar coat it, but with these organization techniques, it really cuts down the time in the editing. I love the way that this looks. I'll listen to the footage a little bit and hear what they're saying. If I liked the shot and also they're saying the lyrics at the same time, I'll right down the lyrics in the marker so that I know that this is the part of the song where this footage is taking place, and then I can directly sync it with the music in my other timeline. Okay, I like that "fun the gas and doing the dash." Okay, what I'll do is I'll cut that footage out here. Play it again. Okay. Yeah. Here we go. That's my piece of footage here. I'll right-click "Add flash Q Marker," "doing the dash, foot on the gas". Here we go. Now I know exactly what he's saying in that time and I know that I like the shot because I marked it. These are all indicators to help you edit. I go back to my music video timeline. Now I've got to lay out the song. Okay. That's easy. If you get the song from your artist, you'll have it ready. You go to your file here. You get the song right here. Boom, laid out. I put it on A2. It doesn't really matter. We go to the part of the song where he says, "foot on the gas, doing the dash." Foot on the gas, doing the dash. You want to have that timing and rhythm when you're editing. Now I see that I go back to my footage timeline. Boom, and you know what? I'm going to do the pancake timeline again. What I'll do is I'll grab the title of my timeline, big footage timeline, boom, and it goes on top. I really recommend having two monitors when you're editing. It really helps a lot so that your program monitor doesn't look tiny. You can put it on your other screen and have your timelines be the main focus of your basic editing setup. You know that this time marker's right at the end of doing the dash, so you want to go. Okay. Grab this footage and you can drop it right here. Boom, and now you want to go back here and check, and see if it's all lined up. Pretty good. We matched up the lyrics with the video, and we are really on our way to editing a complete music video. That was long guys, I hope you guys took everything in. I know it was a lot, but it's all part of the process. Thanks for joining us again until next time, peace out. 11. Conclusion: This concludes the Hip hop videography class. Congratulations for making it all the way here. I hope you guys had as much fun taking it as I did making it. We've covered a lot in this course. From the current state of hip hop, to hip hop's most famous music video directors, to the life of a hip hop videographer, coming up with a music video idea, designing a music video treatment, essential tools of a hip-hop videographer, how to execute a music video shoot and basic post production. From taking this course, I hope you guys are inspired to take the leap to making your first music video projects or to polish your skills as a music videographer, whether or not it's in the realm of hip-hop. In light of the recent events in 2020, I wanted to make my intentions clear for this course, hip hop originates and still is black culture. For those that are outsiders, our contributions and consumptions of it are merely that of visitors. That means we must treat the people, the values, and the culture with the utmost respect. Using it as a form of parody, appropriation or exploitation is intolerable and must be held accountable. Hip-hop is a beautiful culture, built upon generations of black struggle in America, but speaks on the triumph and confidence of all humans, is a genre that speaks loudest of our generations and hopefully a future generations to speak freely and to tell the truth of our society today. With that in mind, please handle with care. Thank you for taking the hip-hop videography course.