Here are a few blunt, even rude suggestions regarding your music video. You can do whatever the heck you like, but if you follow these simple rules and pointers, your video will look good, and will look like a music video
Vary your cinematography
Not all shots are created equal. And simply pointing the camera at what you want to film and hoping it looks cool just isn't going to work
The most important thing to remember is to vary your cinematography. Mid shot mid shot mid shot is not only boring, it also looks nothing like a music video (unless of course you're doing something really specific and precise). In general, you'll want to use every shot type, camera angle and camera movement you can think of.
However, some shots just work better than others. This is why we're asking you to watch lots of music videos: to see what other creators do, what works, and what shots you can effectively steal for your own production.
This very famous cartoon by Wally Wood is related to comic book panels, but it should give you some inspiration for what shots are particularly effective.
Michael's top shots that always work
- ECU of lips, eyes, fingers etc - mysterious and builds character!
- ECU of fingers on guitar fretboard - very indie
- CU of points/gurning/shouting at the camera - very edgy!
- ECU of an insect crawling on a leaf - bugs are cool
- MES of fluro/neon/glosticks in a black box room - techno techno!
- ECU of shoes walking across floor - maybe combine with a slider track
- GoPro POV of cycling around - I love cycling!
- Crazy, excessive makeup - go hard or go home
- Costume changes - If it works for Kylie
- Cross dressing - really simple, really effective, still catches attention in 2022
- Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits - it looks like Mars!
- Abstract water shots - bit of ink blooming in water or flowers floating in a bath... always works
- Flickering TV screens - bonus marks for CRT
Don't just wear jeans and a T shirt
Things that look normal and cool in real life often look REALLY STUPID in a music video. Wearing jeans and a t-shirt (or a hoodie or trackie bottoms or whatever) is a sort of uniform to not get noticed. In a music video, you look like some random person who shouldn't be there. Do NOT wear normal clothes in your music video. Wear the clothes of a celebrity. Wear something crazy!
Think carefully about an interesting setting
Your living room is boring. Your bedroom is boring. The local park? It's boring. Unless you start to pull furniture around and think about how to frame things artistically and strikingly, your video will descend in to pictures of stuff.
Keep the camera still
Always keep the camera still. Never move the camera. Are you in doubt? Don't move it. What should I do with the camera? Keep ii still! Moving the camera around, especially just holding it in your hand will create a jerky, blurry, fuzzy, amateurish mess. If you want movement, you can achiebve it through EDITING later on. Cutting shots together is WAY more exciting that running around with the camera like you're some kind of drunk reporter or you're trying to reenact The Blair Witch Project.
Don't 'go for a walk'
Going to be honest here: sometimes the worst videos are the 'going for a walk' videos. Like, 'lets go for a walk round town, also I'm really sad'. The issue is, going for a walk is good for exercise and to get from A to be and for the purposes of relaxation. But going for a walk is also REALLY boring to watch. We don't watch music videos to watch mundane things. You can also add 'hanging out down the park' and 'having a big party' to this list. Sorry!
Cutting to the beat is overrated
This is more editing advice than shooting advice, though it pays to be thinking about editing when you're shooting. But basically, cutting in a way that is too precise, and too much on the beat can actually make a video that is too jerky, boring, and lifeless. This is one to play by ear when you edit, but experiment with not cutting each time you hear a bass drum or something, especially if your song is in a simple time signature like 4/4 (UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ)
Keep things clean, in focus and well lit
If you shoot at night it will probably look terrible. If you film in your bedroom with no additional lighting, it will definitely look terrible. Cameras need light. If you don't have light, it will look terrible. No exceptions. So how to film at night? You can use lights to flood light the area. But here's a better, easier, more effective way: shoot during the brightest day imaginable. Have your actors wear big jackets and scarfs (it might get a bit sweaty). Then, tweak the exposure and the colour balance in post production. It will look great! Artistic! Evocative! It will look like a music video!
tl;dr: You can't 'fix' wobble or grain or darkness in post production. So shoot in clear, sharp focus in the most light you can manage using a completely static (still) camera, and use post production to add any effects and colours to the mix!
Things to absolutely never do in your music video because it's illegal or unethical
Hopefully ALL of these go without saying, but here are some examples of things that you legally or ethnically cannot do in your music video
- Chose a song that is blatantly hateful, fascist, racist, etc
- Have a white artist lip-syncing to the 'n-word'
- Hateful or offensive imagery with no justification - eg using a Nazi flag, even ironically
- Filming unstimulated physical harm and distress, even if consensual
- Unstimulated drug use and the depiction of actual illegal drugs
- Significant sexualised representations - remember, you count as a vulnerable adult
- No depictions of vandalism
- No upsetting and disruptive behaviour, eg setting off smoke bombs in public, and deliberately shoving cameras in peoples faces
- Blocking public paths
- Extreme depictions of violence that are highly likely to traumatise the audience