Making A Music Video - Some Notes.

Hunting through some old paperwork today I came across my notes from a seminar about Video production which I attended back in 2004. The seminar was held in Wellington, New Zealand on Friday 26th Nov 2004 and hosted by www.midi.org.nz. The notes I made may interest some people and follow below:

There were 2 streams of thought: 1 that the 'grab your handicam and do what you can on a shoestring' approach is great and 2 that a professional product which can compete internationally should be filmed on 35mm film (at minimum cost $10K).

How to use videos effectively:

- 2 videos should be out before the album is released.
- A strong single deserves a video.
- Should be accompanied by 2 page press release, with stills, hyping director and act.
- 10x packs of Beta, Audio CD and DVD.

Send copies to:

- C4 x 2 key people
- Juice x 2 key people
- Various other programs that exist (some changeability here)
- TV loop: this is a promo to all music vid promoters. Good to be on but send your own pack anyway.

Make a follow-up call 2 days later.

Service radio 3 weeks before TV as TV will playlist almost instantly if they like it. Radio takes 2-3 weeks to playlist.

Always have your Video ready in plenty of time.

Other perspectives:

You can make a good local release vid on DV Cam and a Mac.

The NZ On Air video grant is $5K. All video maskers agreed that this was insufficient and grant numbers should be halved in order for the grant amount to be $10K. On the other hand many Australian bands would give their eye teeth for a $5K grant - so consider it a godsend either way.

For international airplay the likes of MTV will insist that product is in the big name stores.

University film schools are a great place to find budding film makers prepared to work for limited budget. A short filmmaker could be attracted by the extra broadcast frequency of music vids.

Simplicity and originality is the key to starting out.

Get people on board who are passionate about your project.

A video should play for 3-4 weeks and then pop up from time to time. Some can be timeless. It pays to re-present old videos from time to time as this WILL generate additional play.

Know your market; watch what's happening on the music channels.

Limit portrayal of drugs, alcohol, nudity etc. all of which are not well received.