Guest post written by Rotor Videos
Once you’ve written, recorded and perfected your new song, it’s time to share it with your listeners—but just posting your track on Spotify or Apple music no longer cuts it. The next step in your release strategy should be music promotion. That’s where video comes in. Creating an official full length music video to promote your new song allows you to connect with fans by sharing your own interpretation through visuals.
A full length music video is also great content to share on socials and to increase your chances of being discovered by new listeners. Before you start creating your music video, it’s important to storyboard in advance and to pick a style that best suits your brand.
We asked Eoghan Kidney, music video director for Madonna, Underworld, and Oasis, plus Head of Innovation at Rotor Videos, to give us the lowdown on the different styles he recommends musicians use in their official music videos.
1. A minimal music video
This is the easiest way to get an official music video up quickly. To make a minimal music video, just grab a clip and repeat, loop or ping pong it for the length of your track. If you choose your clip carefully, your video will have the potential to evoke the emotions you want to communicate to your audience.
It might not be the best way to show off your showmanship or style, but it will give you an official music video to share on YouTube and social media so you can get your music out there fast.
2. Single shot performance
A single shot performance is a great way to show off your personality— you could even get your friends or fans involved. Eoghan recommends spending some time choreographing or storyboarding your single shot performance in advance to make sure you get to include the clever, fun shots you want to incorporate.
Creating a single shot performance video is fairly simple. Just play your track on set, shoot your video in one take, use simple editing software to crop the intro and outro and sync it with your track. For this style of video, it definitely helps to know a little about editing, but it won’t take long to learn—promise!
3. Short film
This style of video is all about that main character energy. Think of your music as the soundtrack to a short film. What scenes would play out during the different parts of the track? What story do you want to tell during the chorus and the bridge? Music has a natural structural progression, just like storytelling, so you can use this to create pretty powerful short films.
The one disadvantage to short film music videos is that they can be expensive. On a lower budget, you can reduce the cost by using friends as actors or shooting your story in good lighting, like daylight or outdoors, so you don’t need to hire or set up expensive lights.
4. Traditional performance music video
These are the most popular type of music video—think YouTube full-length music videos and the style you would have seen on MTV. These can be tricky to pull off, and probably not recommended as your first foray into music video direction.
However, if you want to jump in the deep-end, here are some tips. This style of music video will require different things depending on the type of music you are promoting.
For instance, if the lead artist wants to dance and sing you’ll need a choreographer and a budget to spend on amazing outfits and makeup. You may also need to rent indoor locations in order to build sets or find strange outdoor locations to film, and don’t forget about renting a crew to help you shoot all this.
Choosing the right crew can make or break these videos—you’ll want a team who are in constant communication with each other. Finally, make sure to stay inline with the artist’s vision, which usually means a streamlined pre-production process so everyone is on the right page. Finding a great director that’s well experienced can make the difference when filming a traditional performance video.
You can try approaching directors you like over social media or contact director agencies — make sure you have your budget, brief, and track ready for the best chance of getting a response.
Online video creation tool: Rotor
Want to find the sweet spot between a time-consuming DIY project or a high-budget performance video? Then using an online video app like Rotor Videos is a great option.
Rotor was built specifically with musicians in mind, so you’ll find thousands of stock footage clips, editing styles and high quality motion graphics. You can even upload your own footage and use Rotor to add special effects or mix your own clips with stock footage.
The Rotor app will analyze your track and automatically cut your music together based on your song’s rhythm, tempo and intensity. These HD videos are affordable for any musician, starting at just $19 for a full-length music video. Using an online video maker like Rotor Videos can be a great choice when you have limited editing skills, a low budget, or need footage.
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