My main area of work at the moment is in music video. The following is work which I have filmed (sometimes with help), edited and directed on my own. In making these music videos, I have made them in different styles, briefly explained below, and then discussed in expanded sections:
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Elizabeth Cornish “The End” (Studio filmed to Playback) |
1 Performance-based Music Videos The performer or band are filmed performing, or filmed miming to playback. Multiple cameras (or multiple takes) around the performance capture the performance. The immediacy of actually being there should be replaced by the camera being able to put the viewer in and around the performance to experience it as fully as possible. This is my usual work, and the kind of video usually requested. |
Examples of different kinds of performance-based music videos can be found on Playlists of Music Videos. I discuss these videos on Performance-based music videos.
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KFA “Hit The Wall” (Narrative/Performance Music Video) |
2 Abstract/Narrative Music Videos Not all bands like to have their music videos to have such literal representation as a performance music video. They would like something either more dramatic or abstract for their music when it isn’t being performed live. I haven’t done many, but at the bands request I have done videos mixing in narrative scenes, abstract imagery and even footage from films. |
Examples of different kinds of videos involving abstract/narrative imagery can be found on Playlists of Music Videos. I discuss these videos on Abstract/Narrative music videos.
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Free Control “The Balloon” (Mixed Live/Studio/Film Footage) |
3 Mixed Performance Footage Music Videos Performers and bands have fans filming their shows; a popular band may have dozens of filmed versions of their song on YouTube. Add to that footage shot by the band themselves in rehearsals, or in a studio by me, and you can have a multiple visual records of a song that could be edited together to create a new music video. |
Examples of different kinds of videos mixing footage from different sources can be found on Playlists of Music Videos. I discuss filming and editing videos using mixed footage on Mixed Performance Footage, Editing Mixed Performances and Filming Mixed Performances.
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Finches of Attica “Rock’n’Roll Queen” (Live Performance Music Video) |
4 Live Multi-Camera Sessions The main goal of a filmed performance is that you re-create the immediacy of being at a live performance. You can’t compete with a live experience, but with camerawork and editing you can replace that immediacy with the intimacy and involvement a live performance, filmed with multiple cameras, can provide. |
Examples of different kinds of live performance videos filmed with multiple cameras can be found on Playlists of Music Videos. I discuss filming and editing live performances on Live Multi-Camera Sessions.
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FKA “Be Myself” (Studio filmed, using a Green Screen) |
5 Working with a Green Screen If you want to try and represent you band in a visually interesting way, then getting yourself in front of a green screen opens up a wide variety of possibilities. |
Videos involving the use of a green screen can be found on Playlists of Music Videos. I discuss these videos on Working with a Green Screen and Green Screen Compositing.
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Paul Cole, The Drum Academy “Paul³ @Rehearsal” |
6 Combining, Compositing Multiple Takes You do not necessarily need a green screen to make full use of the possibilities of video (and image) editing packages. The ‘compositing’ of footage also opens up possibilities for adding visual distinctiveness for a music video, even if the basis for the music videos is standard performance footage. |
Videos involving compositing can be found on Playlists of Music Videos. I discuss these videos on Combining Multiple Takes and Compositing Multiple Takes.
For more of my finished work, visit my YouTube Channel.