The Ever Lovin’ Dollar

I would not recommend you try to make a music video for no money. Eventually there are some costs, no matter what you’re doing. Need half a dozen treadmills? Want your crew to eat? Please do not make a video without feeding your crew.

I have only been doing this for a minute, and I jumped right in, so I didn’t have any big fancy career as an advertising director or anything to carry clout with me. I started on a very low budget project, and have had projects of very low budgets so far. If your band is putting up $10k for the video you’re directing, this little howto may cease to be of use to you here.

So here’s the deal: Your concept and your budget need to be having a conversation with each other. If there’s only $500 to play with, you may want to rethink that speed boat chase scene. I was asked to do a video for a rap song about how wealthy the rapper was, but the rapper only had $100 to spend on his video. I told him to pick a different song or find someone else.

Here’s how it should break down:

• Food
You need to have craft services on set and provide lunch every day you shoot at MINIMUM. Don’t be a douche bag. Feed people.

• Crew
Please try to pay your crew. If you can’t, that’s a bummer, but feed them at least. If you can, be fair about it.

• Cast
Are you hiring dancin’ girls? Boys? Actors? Oh shit do you need to deal with SAG? Fuck me. I cannot help you.

• Art
You might need props, set pieces or costumes and if these can’t be gotten for free, you need to find out how much they’re going to cost and tally it.

• Locations
Shooting in a real studio costs a lot of money. They also usually need proof of insurance. If you’re shooting in a bar or anywhere else, I highly recommend you pay to use the space. That means there’s a business relationship, and you can’t be jerked around as easily. It would suck to show up on shoot day and have the location owner change his/her mind, right? Don’t let it happen.

• Insurance
If you’re doing something big you may need to look into production insurance. This is especially true if you need to rent your equipment or are shooting in a studio. Production insurance can be expensive, but it can save your ass. It can be particularly hard to get if your video is for gangsta rappers, as the insurance companies learned a long time ago that some of that gun talk isn’t just talk. I have never made a gangsta rap video, but have sometimes worried that my definition wasn’t as broad as an insurance company’s might be. Something to keep in mind anyways. You might be able to hire a producer who has insurance. That would be good.

• Equipment rental
Need a camera? Lights? Are you staging any dramatic interludes? How about microphones?

• Transportation
I recently crewed on a video that had two cube trucks, two 15 passenger vans and two cargo vans. That costs money, as does the limousine for the band. Har.

I think you’re probably starting to see my point. There’s a lot to keep track of. Here’s some advice: get a producer. If you’re like me, you have a tough time keeping all the numbers straight. A producer’s job is to keep them straight for you.

Fortunately for the little guy/gal, the budgets on most videos are very manageable. Here’s the budget for my next one (with some dollar amounts changed to protect the fantastic deals I get on some of this stuff).

Budget:
• Studio - $50,000 for the day, we will be using multiple rooms and lighting setups.
• Key Crew members - $8,000,000 each
• Production Assistants - $100/day
• Art: $1,000
• Craft Services $200

So that’s not so bad, is it? Not too many numbers. The way I recommend you do it is have the act give you half the budget up front so you can get the video rolling, then the other half when they get the final cut, at which point you pay everyone and such.

A studio will want its money up front. So will equipment rental. I am fortunate enough to have my own equipment. That fact, coupled with how low the real budget is on this video, prevents me from charging my rental rates, which is why equipment isn’t a line item. If you have your own equipment and the band can afford it, you should charge them. Gear is expensive and you risk it when you take it out of the closet.

So once you have an idea of how much money you have to spend, and have that number reconciled with your concept, it’s time to get down to the task of planning the video out in fine detail. That’s next time in Part 4: Plans, Plots and Schemes.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Posted: February 29th, 2008 under Film and Video, how-to.
Comments: none

Dreaming

The first thing you should do is talk to them about how this process works a little bit. What your plan is. Some acts will want more input on the visuals than others. If your band is a gothic speedmetal act, they’re probably going to want dark, spooky visuals or something. Your job here is to help them sell their band’s image. Music video is like a less douchey cousin advertisement. You’re advertising the band, not Charmin. So lay some ground rules. Get them to tell you who they want to be in the video. Let them know how much you want to share the conceptualization process with them. Just so everyone’s on the same page. Then go listen to the song.

When you’re in this period, you should find ways to just be alone with the music. Play it on loop. The first time you hear it just let it happen. Don’t try to listen too closely to any part of it. Just see how you feel about it. Then pick up a pen and play it again.

What you’re doing here is brainstorming with yourself. You shouldn’t be filtering yet. Just get as many ideas down as you can. Here are some notes I wrote for a song I recently considered making a vid for:

Landsacape portraiture

Push edits

Super colorful, even, glossy lighting

Sense of community: portraits of who “this is for”=>facets on a rubik’s cube? proof sheet?

seasons? represented by costumes

That seems pretty stupid, right? That’s a small chunk from a page of similar nonsense. Most of this will be bad. That’s fine. Here’s a couple of things that I did poorly on: there’s lots of punctuation, meaning I slowed down to type in commas and quotes. This doesn’t need to be grammatically correct. However, it should be comprehensible to you. I have no idea what I meant by ‘Push edits’. Be clear with yourself. Be efficient. I did this one on a computer, but really I should have done it on a piece of paper. I like to be able to put my words anywhere, draw a quick picture, draw arrows between things, &c. What you’re writing are visuals that occur to you, themes and motifs you notice, colors, types of shots, anything else. I find being heavily caffeinated helps this process. I haven’t tried it under the influence of anything else, but I imagine some interesting things could happen. I’m not really trying to have artistic crutches, though. Personal choice.

So you’ve played the song through dozens of times. Written copious notes. Great. Now take a break and spend a couple of days doing other stuff. Your subconscious and occasionally your conscious will address the ideas you have had and do interesting things with them.

Schedule a meeting with your band (and their manager if they have one). Before you go, take your notes and pick the best ideas in them.

Things to consider: some awesome videos are extremely composed. Some are single shots. Some cut every two seconds and have lots of scenes. If there’s one idea that stands out from the dozens and you feel confident that it will an excellent video make, don’t feel guilty killing all the others.

I make a bullet-pointed list for myself and in this second meeting pitch a video to the band. They will generally get really excited because I’m a visual artist and I’m doing something visually interesting with their music. Sometimes they totally hate my idea and I have to take it back to the drawing board. Usually when they hate it they are 100% correct. Recently I had an idea and pitched it to a band, only to see a video with the same goddamn idea a few days later. I called and told them I needed to change it so as not to make a video that was the same as another video. Once there is consensus on the concept it’s time to talk numbers. That’s Part 3: The Ever Lovin’ Dollar.

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Posted: February 28th, 2008 under Film and Video, how-to.
Comments: 1

I’m just getting started as a director, and I’ve found that the music video is a terrific sandbox in which to play with the toys of cinema on someone else’s dime. This is the first in a series of posts which will add up to a guide to making a music video from start to finish. THis is partly for anyone who is interested in doing the same, and partly for me to collect and systematize my process. I’m totally self-taught here, so this isn’t The Way to make a music vid. Just the way that works for me.

I’m preparing to shoot my next video this weekend, so this series of posts will largely reference what I’m doing for that, and with the finishing post I’ll show you the video.

The Act

I’ve heard of directors being excited to meet a band because “they’re perfect for this time-travelling vampire music video idea I have”. I guess that’s cool. I have never preconceived a video until I’ve heard the song, but some people do. Whatever your approach, though, finding a song to make a video for isn’t always obvious. Here’s some ideas:

1) Hang around a local music venue
Don’t hang around some huge concert hall that big bands come through. If you’re an untested director and you’re trying to cut through a mob of fans to sell your services to some rock star you’re just going to be part of a mob of fans to him/her/it. If this is your first time you’re going to have to start small. See if you can find a band that is just getting started. Show them something you’ve done or just offer to make a video for them. Getting turned down isn’t the end of the world.

2) Look on Craig’s List
This is how I booked my first video. The rapper’s manager put a post up searching for a director who could work for free. I made a compelling case in an email to him. He called me back. Don’t lie, but talk yourself up. Tell them you’re excited to give it a try. This will be a lot easier if you have some video work online that proves that you aren’t an idiot. Never done anything? Time to get some friends together and run around the backyard with mom and dad’s handycam.

3) Make friends with musicians
Go work in a restaurant or something. Maybe hang out at the music store. Basically, try to find an environment to be in that other creative people will also be in. I have had some food service jobs that put me in touch with cool musicians and that led to us working together. If the musical act knows you then there won’t be as much trouble in convincing them to let you make their video.

Essentially, you need to be outgoing and you need to shake hands without coming off like a sleazy grifter. If you’re a sleazy grifter, pick a different hobby. Make some business cards if you want to. Become your own biggest advocate. It probably won’t happen overnight. Just try to keep making the suggestion to people and sooner or later someone will bite.

Couple of things to remember: You’re performing a service for them, so this shouldn’t be your money you’re spending. You might not get paid on the first one, but don’t turn it around and offer to pay for parts of the production. This is why building trust is important. They need to be able to trust you to make them something dope because they’re taking all the risk. Also, be transparent. They’re trying to make it in a tough industry. So are you. They will either sympathize with you or be assholes. I don’t recommend forming collaborations with assholes.

When that happens, tell them to get you a copy of their song as soon as possible, and then you can start to work on it. Tune in next time for Part 2: Dreaming.

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Posted: February 27th, 2008 under Film and Video, how-to.
Comments: none