Whether or not you use me, when you deal with freelance camera operators and editors, you may want to keep the following comments in mind – I will start off with some discussion of what work is involved in making a music video. Once you understand the work involved, I’ll introduce some costs you should consider, and will now hopefully make sense, if you want a music video.
At the very end of these comments – I will briefly outline some thoughts on whether or not you actually need a music video. Even if you make a music video, or just record some video on a smartphone, unless you have a plan for how this will help you – it may be a waste of time, or worse, actually harm you. That will be especially aggravating if you have spent money; it would have been better to keep it and spend it in a recording studio. Having well-recorded music you can sell on BandCamp, ReverbNation, and on CD at shows, is more of a priority than having a music video with good camerawork and editing.
These comments below, briefly.
Immediately after this summary, I will just raise the obvious question: are you sure you need a music video? I will also return to this question further down in discussing how to use any music videos being made for you. It may be more important for you to start a website or record music
I will discuss the work involved in making a music video, the better to explain the kind of fees you might encounter. With this in mind, I then discuss the kind of work you can ask for when negotiating with those fees in mind.
If you are sure you want a music video, I discuss exactly what you should be using the music video for. Then, how that should guide you in discussing and negotiating what music videos are filmed and edited for you.
Are You Sure You Want A Music Video?
So, before I say anything, I should ask this: do you need a music video? If you want a music video making for you – you should be sure if you need it, and, how you are going to use it. If money is tight, or you just want some kind of record of your live performances before you start promoting yourself in earnest, you may not need someone else to make a video of your work.
All you might need is a decent smartphone – a tripod, a mount that holds your smartphone on the tripod. You can stick that in a corner, make sure it is well framed – and your main task is to make sure the general sound from the PA sounds good when recorded by your smartphone.
Some suggestions: don’t record 30 minute sessions of new music and dump it on YouTube and FaceBook all at once. Whatever you record, cut up the videos so you are showing individual songs (to put on YouTube); and even shorter clips of maybe 30 seconds or less (to put on FaceBook as little previews to link to the YouTube Channel). This is so you can have a steady stream of video to keep those following you aware of what you are doing – don’t be afraid to record songs multiple times (in different venues) and maybe regularly do alternative versions (e.g. practices, demos – acoustic, or on a piano). In this manner you can build up a collection of performances that help those following you feel connected, and, people new to you have something to familiarise themselves with you.
This is a big subject – and the above suggestions didn’t even scratch what you could be doing with video on social media and the internet in general. I will come back to this at the end of this discussion, but it is worth saying now – if you haven’t thought about this and researched some kind of plan – then the last thing you should be doing is thinking of making a music video.
What is involved in making a Music Video?
Let’s be clear what I would offer, and any other professional you hire should be offering: using either multi-camera (for live performances) or single-camera (for staged music videos of any kind) production techniques. The end result should provide an interesting range of multiple camera angles edited together in a way sympathetic to the music, dynamic in energetic music, more considerate in other styles.
For some kind of live performance you are trying to compensate for the a viewer not being in a live show. You will hope to replace the immediacy of being in a crowd with a live band with multiple cameras, in and around the filmed performance, providing a variety of shots, from wide shots at the back of a venue to intimate on-stage shots, that provides a experience as interesting and fulfilling as being there.
For some kind of staged or image-orientated music video you could expect anything from a narrative played out by actors to abstract imagery or found footage being edited to the rhythm of the music. It is up to the artist or band what they want. Narrative, abstract or staged performance music videos usually offer a band a way to communicate a more personal, or heightened, experience of their music. Using footage filmed by fans (or friends of the band), found-footage or paid-for library stock footage, may not require you to do any filming – but may result in a lot more time for the editor, so it might not save you a lot of money usually spend on being filmed performing.
Production needs that can make Music Videos expensive.
Because of the different requirements, it is hard to say what these different types of music video should cost. But I can just suggest what you might find are the two main difficulties you may need to deal with (and pay for).
For anything live – the live recording (and post-production mixing) of that performance is usually outside of the experience of the camera operators or editors you might bring in to film you. You have to be responsible for that. (Or you understand that if you don’t – they will have to hire an engineer/producer to make sure your live sound is recorded and mixed well.) You might save yourself a lot of money by being responsible for the live sound yourself. Doing it yourself means you aren’t forcing the freelancers or production company you hire – to in turn hire (at extra expense to you) an engineer, mixer, etc. If you know a good venue or have a favourite rehearsal studio – before even thinking of making a music video, make sure they are OK with you filming there. Also, you may find you can record off their sound system/mixing desk. (You may be able to get away with just using camera audio; usually this is poor – vocals are lost; the drums dominate. But if you use a smartphone or a digital to record your audio at your preferred venue – and you are happy with the sound… then it is up to you.)
For music videos – because of the variety of such videos, there is a possibility of spending a lot of money. Multiple locations, hiring cars, hiring costumes – what can you afford? Even if you supply your own props or locations, there are at least two things you need to consider: availability for filming and time needed to edit the footage gathered. If you want to make best use of a hired camera operator, regardless of what you do, you need to restrict this to as little a time as possible. A simple music video may only need 1 full day of filming; the more complex the idea could stray into 2-3 days. The footage filmed, even if you film it yourself, or, even if it is just ‘found footage’ intercut with basic performance footage, will take time to edit – especially if you want something that works well with your music. If filming took a day and it is simple music video – maybe a day of editing is all that is needed. However, if you’ve had to plan out 2-3 days of filming, editing will be at least a week.
General Costings.
What does this cost? Now you have read the above, let me explain a few costings. If you want a music video of any kind making and you want it done as professionally as possibly, the absolute minimum you will be looking at is around £5000. If you are prepared to work with freelancers directly, be very focused on what you want and be prepared to provide locations yourself, you should be looking at around £500 for a single music video.
That £500-£5000 range really depends on not just what you can afford – but what you can do in preparation. You have somewhere you know you can perform and record in and sound great? You have a garage, a venue, a recording studio or rehearsal room – and you’ve recorded there and it sounds OK? Or you have recorded track you are happy with? And you have checked that it is OK to film, possibly all day, at your favourite venue or place of performance? Then you just need someone to come in and film you, and someone else to edit the footage. You’re looking at £500, not £5000. Again, for a narrative/abstract-image music video – you have a house (and permission) you can film at? Or do you just want to run around a forest at night for a few hours? Or, if using found footage, you know what you want and you just need to hand-over lots of footage (and a definite idea) to a video editor to work with?
Freelancers in media work are usually charging around £25 per hour. They will usually be expected to be employed on a per-day basis; some may allow half-day bookings (especially if they are working in a group or you have made a deal to do a range of work with them). That £25 per hour doesn’t necessarily reflect experience. Media students still at University will try to get away with charging that; experienced freelancers might change £35-£50 an hour in order to screen out potentially clueless clients, or, to get potential clients to focus their minds on what they want.
Breaking down basic charges for Music Video production …
Here’s an example of how £500 might be justified by one or more freelancers.
Filming – regardless of whether or not you perform for 5 minutes live in front of multiple cameras (and do 2-3 takes until you have a live performance you like), or, perform a song 5-6 times, to play-back, with a single camera, the camera operator has had to come down to your studio or venue and set-up. They will probably need to bring lighting equipment, even if you think the place you are performing is well lit. They may need one or multiple cameras – but regardless of that, the cameras need their own additional equipment (if only tripods), and they all need setting up and testing. This takes time. Even if you are filming in the evening at a studio – that camera operator has had to collect equipment (possibly some or all is rental), pack it up in a car or a van, and then drive down to you. You may only be with them for an hour (but the more time, even if it is live, you can give them the better the result will be) – but they have spent at least a half-day, maybe longer, preparing for that filming. Also, they may need you to provide a couple of hours for setting up: you may only need an hour in a studio. When filming, you might need an additional 3-4 hours. In addition, this half-day/full-day charge is also in respect of their experience or professionalism; they may only be with you for an hour of actual filming, but you will get quality footage in return. So, that’s around £200 per person, at least, for filming.
Editing – if we take multi-cam filming (say 3-5 cameras filming) or single camera production (1 camera, but you perform to play back 3-5 times), then, very roughly, a day of editing should create a near-finished rough edit. However, if there are multiple takes, or problems with the takes filmed (mistakes by performers – common), then a day is a minimum. You will see a lot of editors actually think of editing as 2 days minimum. To maximise filming time, a lot of what might be dubbed ‘cinematography’ is passed onto the editor: the camera operator will film, colour-wise, in a ‘flat’ style that allows a lot of time-intensive camera setting-up to be avoided, and then carried out in post-production. This ‘colour-grading’ work is then carried out by the editor (or a specialist if you’re prepared to spend a lot of money). The editor is also going to be responsible for creating a full-quality ‘master’ edit for you to use; to put on DVDs, Blu-Rays or upload to FaceBook, YouTube, etc. This work can be automated (rendering, uploading), but still ties up equipment and needs supervision. An editor may spend just a day editing – but could easily spend another day, at least, preparing/finishing/mastering the edit. Again, that’s around £200 at least.
Keep in mind this £500 is a minimum figure. Having said that, as long as you pay that money – whether it is to a group (covering filming, editing and sound recording/mixing) – you may find you can ask for additional work at no extra cost. First of all, being generous with the deadlines won’t hurt – the footage could be edited in a day and you could have your music video back quickly. Or, you could make sure you plan your music video well in advance and allow your editor to do a rough cut as soon as possible, go back to other work, then come back and check what they’ve done on your video. Can it be improved? If you allow that kind of lee-way, you will get a better music video.
But more generally – if you are funding a music video that intercuts a mimed performance to playback to a narrative of some sort, it might not be a big ask for the editor to produce some alternative edits: one video where there is only narrative footage, one video where there is just the filmed, mimed performance, and the originally planned music video inter-cutting both. If you give the editor a lot of time and, crucially, permission to do what hey feel is correct with the footage – they might agree. If you get them to agree before filming – you could just make sure that while the filming it taking place that additional takes are made of the performance or acting to help the editor. As long as the camera operator isn’t having to spend many additional hours around your locations or venues, they probably are not going to mind either.
Also, if you going to the expense of making sure the live sound for your performance-based music video is properly recorded and mixed – why not go all the way and make sure the finished music is good enough to release for money? If you’ve got a sound recordist or engineer present – why not do a full set of songs and make a separate deal with whoever is handling the sound to provide you with properly produced music you could release separately or as an EP? Or, if you are going into a studio to record – why not make sure you have a camera operator in there as well? Book an additional session in your studio where you either perform live, or to playback, and make sure someone is there to film you as well?
You could also think about how this £500 is spent – either as one music video made as professionally as possible… or maybe 3-4 (or more songs) done as simply as possible. You may find a lot of media workers are shy of doing this; getting paid is important, but in order to get work they need to ensure the work to their name isn’t of a poor quality. Bashing out poorly edited music videos doesn’t help them – and, ultimately, you. Having said that – this depends on the artist or band and style of music. A singer-songwriter with a guitar doesn’t need the same kind of camerawork and editing a 7-piece blues-funk band might require. For £500, someone might be prepared to do a set of 3-5 songs. Again, for punk bands or acoustic acts that maybe only have 2-3 members; not having to deal with a full band allows the filming and editing to be a lot simpler and you may find agreement in asking for not just one performance-based music video, but several. If the music is meditative, ballad-based, rather than frenetic, energetic – this impacts camerawork and editing. Also – how long are your songs? If you really are into 2-3 minute punk or rock songs – it is not unreasonable to ask for 2-3 songs to be filmed and edited for £500. However, if you like performing for 5-7 minutes or more – it’s going to be one song. If anything, those filming and editing your performance will be worrying about not making a song with that long a duration look boring visually.
As long as you accept £500 as a minimum – you will find the people you want to hire more open to helping you with other requirements you might throw at them; alternative edits, additional songs filmed, providing proper audio recordings. If you don’t, trying to force down the fee more and more will only generate resentment and an unwillingness to work with you. You won’t be getting the best out of the people trying to do creative work for you. If you feel like that this is all over-priced, better to do it yourself.
So… Do You Need A Music Video?
At least £200 for filming, £200 for an editor – throw in all the preparation and support, and that is around £500. Don’t be surprised if you’re paying £600 or more (but by that point, make sure you are getting extra songs filmed, or alternative edits). If you’re not providing a studio, or you need audio recording, engineering and mixing, then you are looking at more money (again, possibly hiring someone else for at least £200 to handle the recording and producing of your music). If you are not careful, you could easily wander upwards toward £1000 when you start hiring venues and equipment, transportation for yourself.
Yet this is down from £5000 – where you are effectively paying someone else to hire venues, equipment, camera operators, editors, sound engineers and music producers. But you could still be telling yourself “Well, if we keep this simple and negotiate hard…” and think maybe you could do more for even less than £500. Film your own footage. Edit your own footage. Make the people you hire perform the most basic of tasks… at this point, I might ask: why bother? Why not do it all yourself?
For live filming, the best results are gained from having a minimum of 3 cameras – 1 fixed on a wide, master shot, and then having two additional cameras either side of the performance, ideally both being operated. With experienced camera operators, a variety of camera angles throughout the performance are possible – so you get great footage to edit. If it isn’t possible to have skilled camera operators – the alternative is to have lots of fixed cameras, i.e. a single camera operator would have been tasked with setting up cameras that record wide, long, medium and close shots and would replace 3 fixed cameras – although the footage will be comprehensive, it could be less dynamic. It’s a trade-off.
Editing live footage from multiple cameras, some operated, or, many fixed, will require an editor to look through all the footage, select the best moments, etc. This takes time. If you say: “I just want a simple video, I don’t want you spending more than a day on the editing.” Well – why film it complicated or comprehensively? And if you want it “simple” (i.e. few camera angles, few edits) to keep costs down – then why bother? Just go for a single wide shot, filmed by yourself.
If you own a recent smartphone of any make, you probably have a camera good enough to film yourself whilst at a gig or at rehearsals and get decent HD footage (and possibly 4K footage). You just need to buy a tripod, and a mount that holds the smartphone and attaches to the tripod. This should cost you no more than £25-£50 (go look on eBay and Amazon). (And remember to place the smartphone so it is filming in landscape, not portrait.)
If you hire other people to make music videos for you – then you should be asking for something that you couldn’t do yourself. You want an interesting, arresting visual experience of some kind. You want the camera framing to be interesting; you want the editing to be dynamic. You want something that is interesting to experience – that to a new viewer, unfamiliar with the band – that is going to enhance the experience of listening to the song, making sure that anyone, anywhere around the world, is likely to at least watch the first 15-30 seconds of the music video, and then more likely to keep watching and get into the music. If you are sure you can do that and not pay anyone to help you – by all means do so.
But even if you are just going to have simple videos – you still need to also ask yourself: what is this for? You should especially be asking this for videos you are prepared to pay for, but you might need to think this through before doing anything because how you answer it may need you to be organised – and pay – for what you want.
What are you using your Music Video for?
Every artist or band wouldn’t mind a video document of themselves performing. It used to be prohibitively expensive to get music videos made – now we have smartphones which record decent footage. What still takes time and effort is to film that footage properly and then have it edited properly. Then you have a nice document of what you have done. If that is all you need – then it is up to you what you want. If you just need a simply framed, single take video of a song – then you don’t need to hire a camera operator and editor. For a lot of performers – a singer-songwriter with a guitar, or, a 2-man punk team, having more than a single camera might be unnecessary. However, if you want something a bit more considered, dynamic, which aims to heighten the experience of listening to your music – you’re going to need to pay money. In saying that, you’re paying for expertise. You are paying for an end result, not an hour of filming and a day of editing. You could spend an hour filming and a day editing and it won’t be as good. If you feel differently – then, again I would tell you, by all means go ahead and do this yourself. And I don’t mean that to be mean – common smartphones, editing software, laptops, etc, should allow you to actually create media by yourself. You just need to do it, and you may find you only need to keep releasing basic videos to keep your main followers happy – they are, rightly, more concerned that your release more, good music, than flashy music videos.
If you find £500 too much, making you feel half-hearted about committing level of money to a project, then this probably points to other things you need to do. It is not a lot of money; but for a new/local band, it is an expenditure that needs justifying. Maybe you shouldn’t be making videos; concentrate on touring, for instance. Your probably need a decent set of images of the band and band art (don’t underestimate how, for instance, t-shirts may be more important to your success than a music video.) Again, you could take photos yourself or make band art by yourself – or you may need help, that needs to be paid for, to get these done. Or – maybe you need to think about what exactly you think having properly filmed and edited music videos is achieving for you.
This is why I think you need a music video: you need a music video of some sort that shows off you, or your music, in the best possible light. This could be a single shot, single take live video of you performing a song – but you’ve made sure the audio is perfect; that the lighting in the studio is good. And your performance is good. All of this makes you look good; that you are to be respected and listened to. If you can then afford it; the music video should be properly filmed, lit and edited – multiple cameras, dynamic editing, as well as properly recorded/mixed audio. Further to that: a narrative or abstract-imagery music video that highlights the ambitions and character of the artist/band and their music: you’re telling people who you are not just with music and performance, but with imagery.
The difference between something shot on a smartphone stuck in a corner of a badly-lit rehearsal room, possibly with poor audio, and, a properly filmed and edited music video (properly, as meaning: reflecting the music and character of the band) with music that is properly recorded and mixed, is that one of these is showing you to the world in the best possible way, showing you to the world in the idealised form you feel you are; that you aspire to.
Music videos are primarily an aesthetic experience; crudely, we’re making you look good, we’re making the audience feel good about you. More so that just a static camera in the corner of a room would do, no matter how well you perform your music. At the most basic, it’s showing you have enough self-organisation to record music and get a video made – and look good doing it, how great you look performing. You are a band; you have ambitions. There are people who will claim the smartphone, in the corner, in portrait mode, recording your rehearsals represents some kind of non-corporate authenticity. If you think the factory-default auto-settings of your smartphone’s camera, with automatic gain control on the sound recording, fully express your authentic being… OK.
But let’s be honest, regardless of how good (or artistic) a music video can make your look, a music video is not going to make you money. This is one expectation, which if you had, you need to be disabused of. If you are expecting this to generate revenue, views or interest… sure. How? Just because you release a video doesn’t mean anyone will watch it; or that it will be recommended by YouTube (of FaceBook) to others. If you already have fans and followers on YouTube and FaceBook – it will make them happy. It’s up to you if £500 is worth that. (It may be worth it if you have a large and loyal fanbase, don’t knock making you followers and fans happy with a decent music video they can pass onto colleagues, friends and family.)
If you were hoping for a music video to help bring in and keep new fans, as well as make existing fans and followers happy, then this music video needs to be part of a wider plan and set of activities. This is called marketing and needs to be a whole different, longer discussion, but I want to outline some steps you should be taking, with or without making music videos:
You need a website, FaceBook page, YouTube channel, BandCamp, ReverbNation and SoundCloud. Also consider getting yourself on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch (film yourself having fun – for money). In fact, get on as many different platforms as you can. Your website should be used as a hub – that links to everything. For instance, you can get different packages that combine renting a domain name and a content management system packages (like WordPress) – and you can then set up your website (run by WordPress, for instance) so that every time you post (like – you have a new video on YouTube), it pushes out notifications to FaceBook, Twitter, etc.
Then, you need to post regularly, and to all these platforms. Keep people updated on what you are doing; upcoming gigs, gigs as they happen, reviews of gigs that have happened. Encourage fans to take photos and send them to you. Take your own. Rehearsing? Recording? Take photos; post them. Before you are even thinking of making music videos you should be thinking: are we being photographed by friends and fans regularly? You need that kind of help.
Part of this should be posting audio recordings (especially if they link to BandCamp so you can get some sales) and videos. I’ll concentrate on YouTube for now. For YouTube to take notice of you (and recommend you to others), you need to post new video regularly. Ideally, once a week. You also need to make sure you YouTube channel links to other channels; like other bands in your area. Ideally, you’re Channel’s main page should have multiple sections, with multiple playlists – playlists of favourite bands, favourite movies, favourite political/movie/cat videos.
To post videos regularly – you could make a habit of regularly filming your rehearsals or, if good sound is possible, occasional gigs. Do not dump these un-edited into you Channel. Split them up into videos of individual songs. Release them once a week. If you film a half-hour rehearsal with 5-6 songs, that’s a month, and more, of uploading. Don’t be afraid to re-release the same song again and again: just change studio, try different videos. (Consider doing a tour of all your local recording studios – you will probably surprise yourself of what studios exist in your area or close by.) When rehearsing – you may want to consider filming entire rehearsals full of covers. Pick songs or artists and bands you and your bandmates really like and admire and reflects your sound or ambitions; you will find fans of these bands will drop by your channel. Also consider filming yourself doing demos in your living room or the bus. Maybe do a vlog – just saying ‘hi’ to fans and talking about what you are doing next month, or how last month went. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. You don’t need to say much. Just talk to your fans. It can be 30 seconds long; but do it every week, or at least every month.
In to this situation, where you release a video to YouTube every week, post images of what you are up to on FaceBook, and all of this gets distributed to Twitter and Instagram. (And you make the effort to give yourself a ‘hub’ website; and whilst filming in these studios – make sure you record yourself properly and upload these recordings to SoundCloud. And don’t be afraid to, politely, re-tweet/re-post whatever you are selling on BandCamp or ReverbNation.) In to this situation – as well as doing the basic work of an artist or band: performing live to audiences – having a music video will then be of a help to you.
If you are not doing all of this – a music video is probably not going to help.
There are exceptions: but even then, you still need to be doing all of the above mentioned activities of posting something/anything regularly. If you are an electronics/noise/DJ studio-based act, then performing live is going to be tough; staging and releasing interesting photography of you in the studio is going to be required. If you don’t perform live; you may need to think of releasing simple abstract-image videos to your studio tracks; release DJ sets, mix-tapes. Do a vlog; review your own and other’s music. In to this: release a full-bloodied music video.
In short; release regularly and network. That’s a brutal redux – and needs a lot more explaining. But I hope you understand this is about marketing. If you want to make an artistic statement, have a loyal fanbase, and have at least £500 to hand – then go for it. If, on the other hand, you need this video to help you break out and become successful – read the above and see if you are doing any of the suggested activities. You may find it more useful to make sure you are posting images and stories more often to FaceBook than actually making music videos.
If I make a Music Video, what should I ask for?
If you decide you want a music video, you should probably take the following steps. To begin with: follow the best in business/government practice and talk to at least 2-3 different people about making a music video. Make it clear you just want some advice; don’t mess people around. With that in mind, you should be able to get a quote and some advice.
Before discussing anything, you need to get a concrete example of what you want. Go on to YouTube and find a video that best represents what you want. Find several if you want; for everything you want – editing, camerawork, scenery, animation, colours, etc – get an example video. It doesn’t have to be a music video – it could be a film, an advert, a documentary. Whatever they are, make sure they fit what you want to do and you can explain why this is an example you want to looked at. Make sure you can clearly articulate what you want.
You can save yourself time and money if you can clearly articulate – with examples – what you want. If you feel you have a simple, self-explanatory music video requirement – great. It’ll be easy to find an example of what you want. A clear explanation, with examples, will help those making the music video plan for your music video – and make the music video in the way you want.
In discussion – take £500 as a start, but don’t be afraid to ask what else, with the filming and editing, can be offered. At this price you are usually talking to someone who has started as either a camera operator or editor and now branches out into doing everything, or, they work regularly with others and is working closely with someone on work like this.
When filming – if you can make as much preparation as possible, the cheaper the music video. Make sure you have a studio and engineer/mixer ready for your live music, or, a fully finished track. If you are recording an EP or album – you’ve already booked studio time; book some additional time and get someone in to film you. If you haven’t started recording yet; include that in your discussions with the engineer/mixer at the studio. While you are in the studio, you can just extend one session and bring in someone to film you – either live (with the studio’s help), or, you can use a roughly mixed track to mime to. As long as you don’t edit the track (shorten, lengthen, etc), the editor can use the rough track whilst the engineer/mixer finishes your tracks for you. In this way – try and think of ways in which you could invite someone to film you doing what you are already doing.
When in the studio – you could negotiate with whoever is filming you the following: what exactly is your music style? If you are singer-songwriter, performing alone, concentrating on introspective ballads, then for £500 it is not unreasonable to ask for not just 1 song, but maybe a short set to be filmed and edited. Keep in mind that anyone worth working is as concerned with doing quality work as getting paid; if they don’t mind that you are prepared to sit a camera in the corner and just film you for £50 when you could do it yourself – you shouldn’t probably use them. However, if they understand that you don’t perform songs that don’t require intense camerawork and editing – just a performer surrounded by 3-5 static cameras with deliberate, relaxed editing. They’ll accept this as the correct artistic response to your music; you might find for £500 they’ll do a set, not just 1 song.
But let’s say you are an act with music that demands more complex camerawork and editing – £500 is still for one song, but whilst in the studio, you could perform simpler/slower songs, maybe do a small acoustic set, and you might find these could be filmed and edited as part of the £500.
When editing – you have been filmed in a studio performing live or miming to a backing track, but you could ask for alternate versions to be edited for you. If you perform live – ask if the video can be re-edited with a studio-recorded version of the song. As long as the two versions are not too different, that isn’t too much of an ask for the editor. As long as you are happy with waiting for this second version; the focus is on getting the original version to you as soon as possible. If you perform a studio or live track – does that same track might have lots of fan-footage versions on YouTube? FaceBook? As long as there are at least 4-5 different versions of your song on YouTube/FaceBook – an editor can make another video for you. (You could even involve fans and ask them to film upcoming gigs so you have these options.) You then might ask for a simple lyric-video to be made for you using the same footage.
How do I use this Music Video?
During both filming and editing – you need to ask yourself: what is the best use of this music video? As mentioned, you need to post content regularly – so when having a music video made, you need to discuss what is the easiest way to make more than one version of the music video. You should be prepared to pay more than £500, but it may provide you a lot of content you find useful.
The basics may be: the music video you agree as the most important (live or recorded), then a second version (with different colour grading) using the studio recorded version of the track, a lyric video re-purposing and then some kind of spot/advert/teaser re-edit of the video that includes promotion of the track/Music Video (different versions saying what you want: “New EP Released…” and “Music Video to be released…” and so on; 2-3 versions plus a ‘master’ with no text could be provided to you).
If you are doing a narrative music video – most of these will inter-cut between a performance of the song and the scenes of narrative (or abstract imagery). This could, within reason, result in three videos: the main music video combining performance shots and narrative/imagery; a second performance-based music video; a third, simple video using only the narrative/imagery footage (it could be easier to make this a lyric video). Depending on the video idea, this might cost £500 – or you may need to pay a little more. In paying more – you may also get an agreement to then make an additional fan-footage video; the performance footage filmed could be combined with fan footage. (And again, the editing should be able to provide a series of much shortened versions you can use as adverts for the artist/band, an EP, the song itself.)
Keep in mind: just because you are being billed for a day or two of editing, you are not going to get a finished video in a few days. Unless you pay a lot more. Ideally, an editor may finish a rough edit as soon as they can – but preparing footage, performing some kind of very rough, assembly edit, then the near-finished rough edit, and then final edit, whilst taking several days, may be split up over several weeks. There is an advantage to this; the editor will be able to do some useful work on the edit, take a break by doing other chores or working on other artists’/bands’ work, come back, look at the footage with fresh eyes, and make informed decisions about the editing. In this way, the best use of the footage has been insured; also, if agreed in advance, thinking through and preparing how to re-purpose the footage for other versions isn’t such a chore. It may take extra time – but it is not like having to start from scratch and prepare a new video.
So when you arrange a video – make sure you plan it well in advance. You may only pay £500, but you are looking at around a month before you get your music video. And it will be as good as it can be; demand that it is given in a few days – and you are not going to get something as good as it could be. Also part of this understanding is that the editor is rolling out additional versions when they can; but they are doing so no more than several weeks apart. If you have specific plans for how to use these versions: share them with the editor. Regardless, they will need to finish the main video first – but you may then decide it is important to have the smaller advert-like videos created. Lyric videos or re-purposed edits incorporating fan footage can come later – and be released later – to help support your regular content postings and support this new video, track or EP.
Don’t be afraid to ask a question – or ask around.
The above is a very short discussion of the issues involved. If the idea of marketing is new to you – you need to do more research.
If you accept that £500 buys you a music video or maybe a session – then you understand this is more about asking yourself what exactly you need, what exactly you want to do. Understand that and then you can ask someone to make a music video for you and you can discuss and agree work like lyric videos or re-purposing filmed footage to incorporate fan-footage.
More importantly, if you understand what you want for that £500, you will end up with a filmed performance or a music video that makes you look as you think you are.
Paying for Music Videos, Summarised.
Experienced or skilled media workers (camera operators, editors, sound engineers, etc) are expecting their basic pay to be set to around £25 per hour. They may be expected to be billed per half-day at minimum. The fees you are negotiating involve (for camera operators, for example) hiring additional equipment, travelling and setting up their cameras and lighting, and not just the couple of hours spent filming you. If you can deal with an individual (or an agency, or production company) you can negotiate a round figure and what you expect from that payment.
If you go to a production company, or ask an agency to negotiate a package for you, you are looking at around £2000-£5000 for a simple music video. If you are prepared to negotiate directly with one or more freelancers, you can get that down to around £500. You should expect around a month to plan, film, edit and master your music video. Longer if you want something interested, complex, but you won’t pay more.
The work involved for making a single, staged, music video, with detailed camerawork (possibly involving narrative or visual elements) will start at £500. The work involved for filming and editing a short live, set of your songs, will start at £500. These costs will rise if you can not provide locations, expect your live music to be recorded and mixed for you. You can keep costs down if you can think through locations you think you need for your video (e.g. making sure you can hire and perform at a local studio or venue), or, make sure you provide professional recording (finished tracks or you pay someone else to record/mix your live music). If you do this, the fee will be around £500. If not, the fee coming back will be heading toward £1000.
When negotiating the fee – make sure you know what you want from the music video. Make sure you can articulate what you want – have examples of other videos to show to people you want to work for you (especially narrative/abstract-image music videos). More importantly – make sure you know how you are going to use what is made for you. Even if that is just you want something well filmed and edited to stick on your FaceBook page to show yourself off to visitors. Use that understanding to negotiate what work is done for you – to secure that £500 fee additional, alternative versions can be asked for.
That £500 fee shouldn’t be negotiated downwards; you should be making sure you get your money’s worth. That may include waiting more than a month to see finished work, longer if you ask for more work. It could be finished earlier – but keep in mind that the freelancers (who can be hired more cheaply than a production company) are juggling different clients. If you want something done quickly, as soon as possible, you will have to pay a premium – presuming the people involved have the time, you can spend £1000 and expect a single, simple video to be finished in a week. Be flexible over time and what you want, you can get multiple videos for £500.
Having read the above, when you are ready, feel free to Contact Me.