Music videos can be expensive items. It hurts to spend thirty, fifty or even a hundred grand of your hard earned money on something that you basically give away for free!
Therefore, it can be very tempting to save some money by shooting your own music video. I mean, video cameras come in cell phones nowadays, and HDTV is getting less expensive. Cameras are everywhere. They are ubiquitous. And deep down, everyone really imagines themselves as a director, sorry, an author, right?…
So should you consider going solo and shooting your own music video?
The short answer: NO.
The directors, producers, cinematographers, and production designers are all craftsmen. It takes years of study and work experience to become a decent filmmaker. You wouldn’t leave your CD artwork to a guy you passed on the street, would you? So why consider doing something as big as your first solo music video? It may seem like a simple job, but believe me, producing and directing is not easy!
Can you tell the difference between a low-budget indie movie and a Hollywood summer blockbuster? Of course he can! That is exactly the difference between shooting the video yourself and hiring a professional. You don’t know how to make the film look so bright and perfect, but the professionals do! The best you could hope for is a decent independent movie. Sure, every once in a while a homemade music video comes along and it does it right. But can you even think of one (and, no, Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” was NOT an independent video, the budget was huge). So stick with the professionals. Let them do it all for you.
However, the biggest reason that would discourage you from filming your own music video is probably not one you’ve guessed:
Sure!
Film crews often contain twenty, thirty, or even hundreds of people. There are usually massive amounts of power running through thick wires (often submerged in puddles) to precariously hung lights with a virtual windmill of large, exposed, sharp metal edges (and all this at about 600 degrees Celsius). ). A movie set is literally an accident waiting to happen.
Also, in addition to the inherent dangers of a film set, music video shoots tend to be even more dangerous (music video productions don’t typically have a lot of money for things like security experts and safety harnesses). Maverick directors love to put their subjects in danger. And, on low-budget shots, you can often hear things like, “We don’t need an expensive car mount, let’s just throw the cameraman over the hood! Don’t worry, we’ll strap him down…”
So if you decide to shoot your video yourself, make sure no one trips over a light stand! It could cost you your life savings.
Legitimate production companies will have production insurance that covers the workplace (this insurance would cost you around a thousand or two thousand dollars, just for a music video).
Professional producers and production managers will have access to much better team members than you. If you only have a thousand dollars to hire a cinematographer (COP) then I guarantee I will be able to hire a MUCH better cinematographer than you! So unless you have industry contacts, you should probably consider hiring a production company to do all the production for you. You’ll get much higher quality gear that way.
And one last note…
If you’re shooting on 35mm film (which I highly recommend, unless there’s a VERY good reason not to), you’re going to need to rent a camera that’s worth around half a million dollars! And that camera doesn’t come with lenses (no tripods, no dollies, no film magazines, etc…). You will have to rent all of that separately. So unless you have a VERY high limit on your credit card, the cam house may not even be willing to rent to you. You might even have to mortgage your house to cover the deposit!
Established production companies rent camera packages all the time (a decent music video package will cost at least a grand or two a day) and often receive significant discounts off the rental house that you might not be able to get. So by going with an established production company, you’ll actually get a considerably better equipment package than if you’d done it yourself (producers know how to get movies at about a quarter of the price, too).
So, in general, you’ll get a better bang for your buck if you hire a professional producer or production company to shoot your music video for you. It will also save you an incredible amount of time and effort. And, in the end, isn’t that what you want for your first video: the best possible music video?
Robert D Brooks
