How To Make a Music Video On a Budget

1. How to create a Music Video: So in this class, guys, I'll show you the step-by-step of how you make any music video. Even if you have a superstring budget, you don't have a lot of experience. Well, there's video that I'm showing you right now on top of the screen as voiceover. Guess what? I made this video on essentially almost a $0 budget. And we'll show you guys exactly how I did it. What you actually need to conceptualize a music video from beginning to end. What kind of equipment do you need? And especially with spree you, if you're a complete beginner, looking into creating your own music video, whether that's for fun or professionally. And we're also going to do some homework and break down some actual trending music videos. Youtube can actually learn the art creating these videos. And by the end of this class, I am guaranteeing you that you'll actually know and look at any type of music video and be like, oh, that's exactly what I learned in this class, as well as be able to create an, apply these skills for your own videos. My name is Peter. By creating videos for the past five years, I've made all types of videos, from YouTube to professional to corporate, to Facebook ad videos, YouTube ad wheels, and more importantly, my own YouTube channel at BBC CEO. And I'm gonna take you along this journey of how you create awesome look at music videos and have you happen and let's get into it. 2. Who am I and why Videos?: So before I get into it, like I already said, what up guys, my name is Peter Krammer, BBC CEO. And I am a content creator, video creator. I have over 2 thousand videos produced on YouTube on the online space. As well as I've made videos for influencers, entrepreneurs and digital marketing agencies. And what do you need to know before you get into this and start taking notes is you need to understand the basics of putting together videos, understanding storyline, and you need to pick, let's say, three to five minute videos. So you can actually break these down step-by-step and look at an essentially deconstruct your favorite music video. And last but not least, remember to have fun. 3. The only 3 Types of Music Videos: So before we get into actually editing and filming and performing and all that, I want you to understand that there are essentially three types of music videos. One is your performance only based music video. It's the name itself. These are the music videos that just have performance. So you see the rapper that talent, the singer, the artists just performing their song. So that's either a rock band playing and planar song. And all you have is just that scene. You don't have any on top of additional B-roll or any sort of storyline. The second type of music video is having a story only type of a music video. This is you don't see any performance. They're not seeing, they're not wrapping. There are dancing. All you see is some sort of abstract storyline. Maybe it's related to video, the lyrics, maybe it's not. But the key point of difference between having a like a storyline only music video in comparison to a performance only, is that you don't see the mutually exclusive. And last but not least, this is the most common type of music video, is you have a combination or a hybrid approach to this music video. It's, you have performing shots as well as B-roll and a storyline. So you're essentially combining the first and the second types of music videos. And you have, this is what I like to call your traditional style of music video. This is where you have an artist or wrapper or singer, and they have the performance, as well as you have overlaying shots of a bureau, whether that story footage or some sort of additional viewing angles are slow motion. So it creates more of an engaging music video. So now that you understand what I just explained to you guys, the three types of music videos. Now I want you to go look at your, let's say pick three to five. Any of your favorite music videos, doesn't matter. I'm not genre bias. Pick any type of genre, rap, hip hop, rock, techno, EDM. You'll be able to see that. Wait a minute. Hey, that's a performance only music video. Hey, that's a story. There's no performance in that. Hey, that's a combination of both. So what I'm gonna do now is I'll be breaking down two of my music videos that I prefer. And I'm going to show you as how I analyze these, the type of shots that they use and how you too can actually break it down and understand. So you can apply these to your own music videos once you start making them. 4. Joji - Run (Breakdown): So the first music video that I picked to break down and allies is Josie run. You can do a simple search on this on the Internet. And as you can see, the title of the miss video is run. And as you can see in the first opening shot, there is him, GOD himself running in a limo. And you see it's a very dark vibe. There's blue overturned and added a very wide angle shot to establish where he is in this scene or environment. So you have him running through this lemma. So that is essentially Bureau. He's not sing the lyrics. You don't see him wrapping singing anything. But after ten to 15 seconds, you see him cut to have very close frame. Essentially almost a headshot or portrait shot of him and singing the lyrics. So there's a combination of EC2, the storylines you have him running across in this lemma, running away and actually singing to the lyrics as well as you see the B-roll of his headshot. So you understand that there is a little bit of a storyline. He's trying to run away from something. So that is a storyline on top of his own performing shots and it is a wide angle shot to establish his limo. But also there is that very close BREEAM. Essentially, you're looking at a 35 mill at his face to show his performance that he is singing the lyrics. And a key thing to take away from the difference between the performance shots and the B-roll footage or the storyline footage, is that you can also see that there's a difference in color grading and how the colour is presented. The limo shot is a very dark blue, dark shadows, whereas the performing sharp, it's just, it has shot, a portrait shot and you see it the great gradient. It's almost a contrast of light and dark. So you, as the viewer can actually distinguish that, oh, these two different shots are taking place at two different types. It's not in the same location. Because if let's say the shot, the head shot where the performing shot is also blue and dark. It can get confusing or whether or not we'd see they're seeing and running at the same time. But because as a viewer you see the contrast is that yes, he's running away from a shot, but he's also performing and singing completely different. And these are two separate times of day that the shot is actually being filmed. So that is the general breakdown of how I like to view music videos is that do you see performing shots? How are they cutting between the shots? And as the music picks up? Does the also the cutting or the pacing of the video is the storyline also picking up. 5. Kanye West - Closed on Sundays (Breakdown): And the next video that I'm going to break down for you from a video editors point of perspective so you can learn from them. Is Kanye West music video closed on Sunday. This is not essentially a performance piece, is more of a storyline with a little hint of a hybrid where there is little bit performance, but you'll see. So you have this openness sequence of Connie and his family walking out of the shot, you see the overall color tones are very dark. They're very like almost nighttime. And as you, the music starts to pick up, you start to see the framing change. So you have a slow tempo beat and the shots are very slow padding and so zooms and you haven't very wide angles where you can exactly see that it is established shots, all sorts of super wide angles where the subject is super tiny, is used as an establishing shot. So you know exactly the environment, knowing where you are. And as you can see, the music starts to pick up. There's something that starts to change. You see established, acquired is acquiring the background and as they start to bring the energy, the pacing of the video also changes. And on top of that, you also see the color grading from dark blue to a very orange or one color. So blue is newly known for you have dark shadowy, what a horror movies are filmed in dark blue. Whereas the warmer it gets, the happier something is or romanticizing, it gets more of those warmer. There's a red tone. And as you can see, you have his family walking the shot and he gets up into the stage where there is this one iconic scene of the establishing shot. There's no performance at all. And as the music stops and you hear this, the constant 800, eight drums, and it zooms in whether that's electronically are done through some sort of gimble or done through 8K cameras zoomed in as the chorus or a bridge you picks up. There is this establishing shot that I think is so epic. That goes into Kanye. And as the music comes, as the climax of the music video, there is the highest point of the video. It cuts to the choir where there's a lot of energy. There's a lot of people dancing by he himself is not actually performed the song, but the choir is. And as you can see, the very last shot of this choir music video with Kanye is that instead of a zoom in, as a music video ends, it zooms out in accordance to the music, slowly zooms out. You can actually see establishing wherever the music video is, the environment that's surrounding. So there is a storyline to this very abstract music video which I really like. How it looks best static of it, of how it opened in, how it closes is that you have dark blue, you have his family going to some sort of a journey radar technique from point a to point B. And as a song ends, the camera also pens away. And after looking at these two types of music videos, you have one which is Josie run, which is very typical standard music video. You have a performing shot as well as overlay B-roll with some Cyrus storyline. Or you can go cause uneasy, the super abstract way of having something that goes against the rules and having completely just to rely on only with a little bit of performance. But music videos or post to be creative and fun. But you can actually learn and look at other artists of how they produce and how the director establishes a shot, how the pacing changes as the music Pick up, there's a cut to the beat. And now you actually understand that, wait a minute, I'm looking at a music video, not from audience perspective, but also in a way how a video editor would look at something. So let's get into the basics now of how you can actually film your own music video. 6. Equipment You'll Need: So now you understand a little bit of music videos and you've done a little bit of homework, study your music videos. What do you need to figure out is write down on a storyboard or a piece of paper what type of music video you're gonna make or you can make it a storyline. Is that a performance only or that abstract, or is a combination of all three. But for the purposes of this class and machinery as the traditional standard approach to making music videos. So I'm going to assume that there is a performing a video. So you have your artist or a singer performing and you actually see them lip sinking and singing to the song, as well as their little bit of B-roll in equation two, the actual artists. So whether that's slow motion or them doing something. So once you have that together, you need equipment. What do you need if you're on a solution budget, I would highly suggest you have at least the camera diesel Argos shoots ten ADP with good autofocus because you will be moving around with your camera. Primarily been using a gamble, which is electronic stabilizer. And you'll see this news or you can just use handheld the sugar that better, especially for hip hop music videos. And what you also need is a speaker because, or your phone if you're on a really budget, because you will be asking the artists to perform their song atleast three to ten times to the point where it gets really boring, but it is worth it. Why? We'll, I'll talk about that in the next part. But once you get your speakers, you can play your music. You're also need potentially some sort of lighting. And depending on where you are, and if you're in a really budget, then you can just film outdoors, which we'll be talking in the next part is location. Location, location, location. 7. Location, Location, Location: So if you're on a shoe string budget, your best location is going to be your best shot because you have your talent or artists. But the background matters because that's going to differentiate your video from an amateur to a professional looking video. And as you see as a music video that I filmed, I shot and directed, is that we decided to go for more of a shoestring budget and we filmed at three different locations. And you can find anywhere from a park, anywhere from say, a school. Really. It can be anywhere as long as you know how to position and frame, but it does matter. The more epic the location, the more cool videos going to be equal. That is going to be your environment, that is going to be your background. Also consider if you are in a budget, it is somewhat complete like a park, then you can control things like lighting if you don't have a ring light or as some sort of soft boxes, so you have proper lighting. So if you're on a budget and it doesn't rain yet to figure, okay, are there alternatives? Have three to five different locations in your mind of where are you going to shoot or Initiative at school. But what if it rains? Should have at a park? What if it's like snows? What are you gonna do? Make sure you have alternatives, but in your mind, have at least three to five different types of locations that you want to fill out. So let's say one doesn't work out or you might get kicked out at one place when you have alternative to film exactly what you want. And the whole purpose of having more than one location is actually going to be into the next part which is filming. And you can have your essentially cutting two different these locations. Because yes, it is interesting if an artist sings and have an entire song in one location, but Azure mind watches a music video that's like say three minutes. You also want to be constantly changing up the scenario and environment. That, that is why you want to be filming the same shot, the same lyric, The same Santi's in different locations. So you as the editor, have different points of perspective of where you can conflict cut. So it doesn't, the video itself doesn't get boring. 8. How to actually Film: So now we're actually gonna be talking about the performance piece of your filming. So once you picked up your camera and you figure out your location and you have a decent concept of how the music video is going to look. Whether that's you referencing your favorite music video as techniques. Are you just going and abstract way? You need to figure out how is your song or artists performing. How did they want to be performed on camera? And you always want their performance be over-exaggerated. So if at a rock band you want them to be stringing on the guitar really hard and look super exaggerated. Or the drummer pounding away on the drums. Or if it's a rapper and having a lot of hand movements and hand gestures. So it creates more of a captivating type of log on camera. And the energy you want to have as a performance as artists, you want to tell them that. You want them to be very energized. You want to have an idea of why you're making the music video. So storyboarding and conceptualizing it because the video is so important. Because once you have the concept, then you can start choreographing exactly how that music video is going to look. So if it's a rapper, you're going to have, you're going to walk here it here. If you say this line decrement like this, like that, or if it's a rock band you want to coordinate. It's a course that bridge, okay, calm. And as the course hits creamy soup or exaggerated, the drummer is going to be hitting harder on the drums. So you won't have exaggerated facial expressions, especially when comes to the rapid or their lyrics. Making sure how are they going to perform. And now you figure your location, each location that you're going to be filming. I recommend that you have at least two versus right. So if you film, let's say at a park, film that location and have them, have, perform the chorus, the verse at least twice. And then you go to location B and you have the perform at least v2 and the chorus and the bridge. And the reason behind this is that as that Bluetooth speaker or whatever speaker that I actually recommend you guys bring or using your phone, is that going to be lip sinking? And yes, if you watch this far now on you guys don't know music video is done with them actually performing. It's all lip sinking. So you want to have a bluetooth speaker so you can actually sink when you're editing. I'll talk to you about that in the next part. Is you want them to perform the same song over and over, but only differences. There's essentially you're using a different backdrop at different setting. So it is more of an interesting music video. So once you having, making sure you want to have more than enough in terms of Vs in different locations. And what do you have, let's say five to ten different backgrounds shots and different locations with the talent singing. And then on top of that, you want to have any additional bureau. And if you just turn out the easiest way of bureau, as you can see in this music video that I built, is having slow motion. So any sort of camera that you can film in 60 frames per second, even a 120 frames that you can do that is having some sort of establishing slow motion shop rather than looking away, looking up. And it's just a simple pan shot that is having additional B-roll footage because having performing shots can get boring. It can keep the viewers tensions. So you want to mix it up. So you're like, okay, every beat I'm cutting. And every beat them also chamber location, but that gets a little predictable, which is why I went there. Well, you want to throw in a little bit slow motion. Maybe the person's walking somewhere or is doing something else, or x, y, z. Which is why once you filmed all the performing shots of all the lip sinking and making sure you as the videographer, making sure you have all the shots you need. You have a shortlist, you haven't storyboard, you check, check, check. I'm like, okay, I filmed this artist. He did his thing in the park there. He found another thing at a school. And now I've completely finished off now it's Tasman phenomena do some slow motion may be a feed of shoes, maybe like a basketball. People walking by maybe do it at time-lapse. You can play around and having different types of B-roll footage. And the whole fun part of B-roll is it doesn't have to be a performance shot. It can be anything you want as long as maybe it applies to the concept or the music video itself. But let's get into the editing portion now. 9. The process of Editing Music Videos: So now when we talk about the most complicated part that I believe is the music editing, the music video editing. So whether you use Adobe Premiere or you're using Final Cut or any sort of linear editing sequence where you're having a beginning to end. The whole purpose of why you film music performances in different locations and shots. Where you want to do now is I'm not gonna overwhelm you and throw you into Premier Pro and show you my timeline sequence combat is very complicated. I'm gonna sensually dumb it down. So anyone can understand this, even if you complete expert gives you a little understanding of how IPs together music videos, or you can complete beginner, you can also understand. So the whole purpose of you filming by, let's say three to five different location performing shots is now you're going to such a layer than up, right? You have layer a, layer B, and layer C. And once you have all of these layers, but you also need to do is you need to sing the music video. So this can get a little complicated, but the more footage you have more complicated is, so I like to break it down into two folders. You have your performance charts and you have your B-roll shots. And what you wanna do is you want to be able to layer in, you drop in your music video, right? Actual music file, your MP3 WAV wherever that is into your timeline. And then you build around that music layer. So you have your music from your artist. Hopefully it's high-quality. And then you want to pace it or time it and think all the different shots. So they link up to the music. So now you can see how their lip sinking and at times to the actual filming itself and the editing. So you have layer one, layer two, and layer three for example. And they all start at the same time. And you can see they're all in sync. Once you have your different charts there on sync, what you wanna do is you want to start cutting from different angles. So ABC, essentially you have Camera 123, and now you make your cuts in between. And this can be anything from, you can cut to the beat. So let's say every time I clap, it cuts to a different angle. Every time I slab, it cuts to a different angle. And that is how you do different types of Vs depending on the beach and being cut off the beat. You don't have to cut to the bid at all, but just constantly being understanding. Okay? If I have this sharp that last for ten seconds, for the next five seconds, I want to cut to a different location or a different p. And now, as you start to pick the different cameras that are in different angles, you start to make your cuts. And once you make your cuts, you start to form your timeline or your sequence. And what it should look like is you have three different shots. And it's almost like Tetris. It can get a little overwhelming if you're not organized when it comes to your linear video editing software. But as you can see, that each one of these different types of cuts is actually cutting to the song. And as a different camera, it may look overwhelming, but all it is is you're looking at different cameras initially sync up to have one big layer, all three layers on top, a, B, and C. But as you begin to slowly cut them, your final music sequence and music video sequence is starting to be revealed once you have your performance piece when you're editing this, that is going to be your core piece when it comes to a standard performance music video. So if you have your performance shot established already, that is going to be your core foundation. And now that you film your B-roll, what's going to happen now is that you're going to have that bureau on the very top layer. So if let's say you have performance shot and then you can have establishing B-roll on top. And now that you have all the performance pieces sync up in your linear timeline, then you want to have your B-roll shots, and then now you have each cut. You can spice it up a little bit and have something like maybe a lens flare and you can maybe in some sort of fancy transition so it doesn't bore the viewers, but also you don't want to constantly be throwing the same affects over and over, use it sparingly. So that is the basics of how I added a music video, is that you have your performance shots. You sync all that together, and then you start to go to the song itself, piece-by-piece, second-by-second. And you figure out which camera I want to change to do that in a beat or whether wherever you as the director of the editor likes to see on camera. And then what do you have your performance piece? You throw on your B-roll layer. And once you cut through that at the very end, when you apply your special effects. And that guy's that how you put together a music video, even if you're on a shoe string budget, on a complete $0 budget. And the foundations of how music videos are actually News and the principles and techniques that I share. It's not rocket science, but it's a way where you can use that as a base, as a foundation. And you can see and look around at other music videos and like wait a minute, I know exactly what they're doing now. Yes. And a higher production level and ambiguity. But everything there is a basics to it. 10. Conclusion: Guys, do you know exactly what I know about creating a music video? How you break down the different types of music videos and having audacity and courage to go out and film your own music video. And I want you guys to go out there, come together with the concept, share your concept with other people and create your own music video. Your first one is not going to be the best, but it does take practice and work just like anything else. And you constantly, you're finding your skills, you refining how you have your different types of angles and videography from filming techniques, you have your different editing techniques that you can apply. And you also have your inspiration of looking at other types of music videos. My name is Peter at BBC CEO, and I just showed you how I create my own music videos, even if it on a shoestring budget. And I hope this class was able to help you.