Independent Research - How To Make A Music Video

How To Make A Music Video

The Planning

1. 1
   Plan every detail, like who the lead character is and what song you're using.
2. 2
   Choose the entire cast (even the background characters, they are important too!). Make sure you have good actors and actresses !
3. 3
   Get props for the set, a camera and lights. If you don't have lights, go outside on a sunny day and use something called a reflector. Its a piece of white fabric used to "reflect" light onto the set. It is the most effective way to make a professional looking video. You don't need to go out and buy one; you can use a large piece of poster paper or something similar. For the most effective way to focus light, use more than one or even a mirror. You can have a group of people holding it off camera.
4. 4
   Remember, the main person on screen is always the brightest on screen. When outside, always have the main character's back to the sun except when the sun is in the middle of the sky. This way, the reflectors can illuminate the person's face and front. Although there is a lot to do to get efficient lighting, it is worth it when you want a high quality video.

The Filming

1. 1
   First, find the ideal setting. It could be your room, a location outside, a trailer, or anywhere you want. Some people could rent rooms for the video shoot also.
2. 2
   Set up your camera where you can see everybody in your video. Tripods are excellent for this purpose, because you can smoothly turn the camera, and you avoid the "shaky hand" taping that screws up your great performance. Also, if you face the sun dead-on, your video will be too bright and you won't be able to see anything.
3. 3
   Determine whether some people will be dancing and the others singing. Maybe you want to change it up and have all singing, or all dancing.
4. 4
   Play your song in the background while you're filming. This way everybody is in tune and on the same page.
5. 5
   Transfer your video to your computer.
6. 6
   By using Windows Movie Maker (PC), iMovie, Premiere or Final Cut Pro (for Macs), synchronize the song and the video together. Import the song you chose, and the video you recorded. Then drag the song to the 'Audio' section.
7. 7
   Add a title and credits to the end and there you go, an awesome music video!
8. 
   

Tips

• Always put the copyright somewhere to give credit to the artist and its year!
• For YouTube videos, you need to put the credits in the Additional Details area, or your music may be muted or your video removed due to copyright infringement!!
• Make sure the video camera is not facing the sun, facing a video camera, or any camera for that matter; the sun can greatly damage the internal image capturing hardware.
• A very good strategy to video making is to make 3 completely different videos and mix clips in different places.

Things You'll Need

• Video/digital camera
• Song
• Stereo
• good director/tech producer
• Computer
• Editing software like Windows Movie Maker (PC), iMovie or Final Cut Pro (for Macs), or Sony Vegas for both OS.
• A YouTube account if you are uploading the video.