Music videos are not only a great way to promote a band, but they are also a fantastic way to showcase the talent of the technical team that creates these videos. Best of all, today, these videos do not have to cost a fortune.
As long as you have a game plan, a solid team, and a decent understanding of your video needs, you can develop a great-looking final product at a fraction of the cost.
To help you manage all these moving parts. This blog post will walk you through everything you need to know about planning a music video and the lighting setup required to create the perfect footage.
Plan the Video
One of the most critical parts of a music video is ensuring you do not waste your time. That is why the video planning steps are so crucial to the overall product.
Consider the following:
- Plan Ahead: You will first want to figure out the comprehensive plan for the shoot, including specific aspects, such as whether the music video will be shot outside, inside, or at night.
- Build Storyboards: For each shot, create a storyboard to ensure you do not miss any scene. This storyboard can also help you convey your thoughts and ideas to your crew.
- Make Lists: You must stay organized while filming. This means you need to make sure you create lists of the equipment and the casting you need for each shot.
- Ensure your Crew Understands Your Expectations: Finally, you will want to ensure that your lighting and camera crew understand your expectations and what is required for each scene.
Setup Lighting
If you are looking to shoot an amazing-looking music video, you need to understand that lighting will be one of the most significant factors. Music video lighting not only sets the tone and the mood of the video, but it also can help you tell a story through visual effects. For these reasons, you must keep the following lighting setups in mind:
- Indoor Lighting: When you are shooting a video indoors, the ideal lighting setup will include a wall behind your main subject so that the fill light can spill onto it. Additionally, you will want the camera to be placed to the side of your filled light so that it is more perpendicular to the backlight source instead of shooting from the same angle. The fill light will also be placed up higher so that you can get a nice spill of the light off the background.
- Shooting Outside: If you plan on shooting your video outside, it is important to factor in what time of the day you will be filming. For instance, if you are shooting just after sunrise or right before sunset, the sun's light is less harsh. As a result, you will want to make sure you have the right white balance and temperature. However, if you are shooting during the middle of the day, you may want to work with reflectors and diffusers to bounce the sunlight onto your subjects without using any additional light.
- Top Lighting: This setup is relatively simple, as it only requires one main light and a solid background. You will mount your light behind your main subject and slightly angled towards the background. This will help create the ideal silhouette for choreography shots.
Conclusion
It is important to remember that when creating a music video, thinking "outside the box" can be the key to connecting with your audience, regardless of your budget. That is why if you are looking for unique tips, tricks, and even tutorials on how to execute even the most complex of video ideas, check out Pinnacle Studio for all your video filming and editing needs.