'Making Professional Music Videos'

[kk01]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and also new to video making. I hope this forum is really gonna help me. I'm a music producer and now I'm very
much interested in making music vidoes. I just acquired a copy[s] of Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5, Adobe After Effect 6.5 and Photoshop CS.

My questions now are these:

1. Are these software programmes i.e. Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effect and Photoshop CS good enough professional music videos. If not, can someone please kindly tell me what I should do.

2. What hardware system[s] are required for professional music videos apart from the above softwares.

3. What factor is responsible for that 'professional video quality' and also seperates it from the amateur music video. When I say professional video quality, I mean quality videos we watch on MTV.

4. I've searched the internet and www.amazon.com inclusive for a very good book that I can learn alot from about achieving that 'big picture', but
unfortunately I have not found one. Please, can somebody recomend one to me. Free articles could be a good start and if anyone knows if there's any free .pdf document on the internet I'll be grateful if somebody can send me a link but a book for sale should be a good start.

Will be very glad to read from somebody...

Kind regards,
'kk'

[Sartori]

When you say "professional video quality" , do you mean the way the video is edited or the texture of the actual footage ?

[mats.hogberg]

What factor is responsible for that 'professional video quality' and also seperates it from the amateur music video.

I dare say: $$$ !
Have a chat with John Landis, get a deal with Indistrial Light and Magic.

/Mats

[kk01]

Satori U wrote this, 'When you say "professional video quality", do you mean the way the video is edited or the texture of the actual footage ?'...I mean both editing quality and texture quality...

And Mats can you please tell me who is John Landis and how I reach this person. Also, how do I get a deal with Industrial Light and Magic...that's is if I know what Industrial Light and Magic is anyways...

Expecting your replies soonest...thank you.

Regards,
'kk'

[mats.hogberg]

Well, John Landis has directed several of Michael Jacksons most famous videos, Indistrial Light and Magic is a company founded by George Lucas, I think about at the same time as the first Star Wars trilogy was made. It specializes in (digital) special effects for movies.
What I'm trying to get across is that creating a professional music video is not a one man job - it takes enormous proportions and resources. You might as well have asked if you had bought the right software to start the production of "Titanic II" and what makes "Titanic" look so different from how your home video looks.

/Mats

[northcat_8]

The software you have is capable of producing the results you want, problem is all 3 programs have very steep learning curves and you'll need a great deal of creativity.

You'll also want to learn about camera work because in my opinion, the best music videos are the ones that are not high in effects but have great cinematism?

Check out the Faith Hill video "Breathe"...great videography, cool shots, zero effects (I know it had some but nothing too noticable, which IMO is the best effect of all)...it also had Faith Hill in it which was a major plus.

and that's not even talking about your hardware.

mats is right, it is definitely not a one man job, very complicated.

[kk01]

Thank you guyz for all your replies...

I think it will really be very stupid if I should do a music video all by myself just becos I have some softwares that I think will do the job...the idea is this...there is a concept and the question is, how do I bring out that concept into reality....

I appreciate all your replies...but I still need to know what more I need apart from the 'concept' and software tools.

I asked if anyone knows an article or book that can help me achieve that 'big picture'...but non has answered it yet...I think Sartori is the only person who is close to answering my questions [please read her post] but she hasn't replied yet. I hope she replies soon tho'.

I thank you guyz for all your help and I appreciate alot...

Kind Regards,
'kk'

[rkgibbons]

We haven't provided you with any solutions, because there really aren't any easy solutions for your problem.

You're saying you want to create professional music videos.

When we think "professional music videos" we also think MTV style videos -- and we know that they take a hell of a lot of hard work, a hell of a lot of experience, a hell of a lot of money, and a hell of a lot of creativity.

Now, at the beginning of your question, you mentioned that you don't have any experience working with video.

That's the first flag.

With absolutely no experience, the chances of producing "professional music videos" is ZERO.

And in fact, it's insulting to those of us who make a living at this profession to suggest that you'll be able to find a software package or a book that will let this be possible without committing the years of trial and error that the rest of us committed.

There's no chapter in any book that will solve this puzzle for you. The only thing that will solve this puzzle is experience and committment.

Can a talented video editor use Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro to make a professional video? Of course.

Can a complete beginner? No.

I suggest downloading the trial versions of some of the software you mentioned, and just start fiddling around. Go through the tutorials that are available with those packages.

That will provide you with a very basic understanding of how the software packages work.

Once you have that fundamental knowledge, you'll be able to ask more specific questions -- key things that you're trying to achieve -- and perhaps then we'll be able to help you.

[BJ_M]

the software you have is fine (to a degree - premiere i would not use for the audio portion) - more important is the cameras and methods of your shoots and technique ..
If not shot on film, you will probably want to shoot on HDCAM or HDV or D-Beta at the very least ..
Lighting and sets are also critical .. (lighting very much a factor)

All of the above may be rented. You will also need a method to transfer such content to your machine .. as well as store it, preview monitors and of course some way to sync either the live or sync'd audio tracks (as well as sweeten the mix and master it) and listen to it.

Really the NLE and effect software you use are the LEAST important factors ...

[northcat_8]

You are going to need more than 40 GB of HD space.

[dcsos]

40 GIG AIN'T enuff...he said
Not really..for music Videos you could do them 4 minutes at a time and get away with not having really enough space!
but seriously, you've got a long hard road to climb..(and you will need more space, but)
Most of the posting around here that gets response concerns specific use of the TOOLS and PROGRAMS for DVD creation.
You need an overview
The way to break into the business is to offer to do a job for a local band for free
(or expense) money.
Then when they see what you can do, you can consider taking money for your next effort..
Or work as an asssist on someone else's shoot ...so you can see how its done.
Read a tutorial on the web from Milllimeter Magazine, Videograpghy or About.com expert guides.
What I'm trying to say...at your point the next step is not to have the perfect editing software..Adobe is good enough If you have a real idea of something you wanna do...you could do it on FILM even ...
I speak as the director-editor of "QUEST for HERB" by Murphy's Law
"PLANET ROCK" by Africa Baambaata (NY, NY)
and editor (offline, online) of "SHOT in The DARK" by OZZY OSBOURNE

[Cunhambebe]

the software you have is fine (to a degree - premiere i would not use for the audio portion)

-Try Vegas instead of Premiere. You may try also Sound Forge (Vegas' default audio editor). Vegas has started as an audio editor, that's why is unbeatable. You can easily encode your soundtrack with Vegas since it's got a Dolby Certified AC-3 Plug-in. Learning curve is not that difficult.

[wonderuss]

Premiere is an ideal program to use for this purpose if you already have a music track to work with, I've made loads of home-made music video's, this all started when i made a music video to someone else's song.....it was fun and the start of a big learning curve. If you don't have a track already try it with a song you do have mabee from a cd, record some footage and just have a go!. "Pro" music video's i agree can cost a lot of money and time but a good idea is what matters most. You will need a theme to your video that matches your song to be creative, learn how to use the software you have if you make a small video clip watch it and think what could be better next time. The best way for finding out what you can do with certain programmes it just giving it a try, the best look to a video is not always something big and flash. Using premiere you would only really be using one audio track for a music video, then dropping in video segments to the timeline and testing different effects as there are some very effective effects within premiere to use.
Just give it a go!

[dewaynespaw]

KK01,
One of the biggest factors that makes professional music videos look the way they do is that about 99.9 percent of them are shot on film. I am not sure what MTV and VH1's policies are at this time, but I do know as of right now that CMT (Country Music Television) will not accept a music video unless it was shot on film. I do however think GAC (Great American Country) will accept a music video shot on tape only if the quality is high. Don't mark my words on that but I have saw a few videos on there that really look low quality and I can't imagine anyone spending the money to shoot them on film to get the result they got. Film is very expensive unless you know someone. I do think that all this will change in time. With the advancements in camera's (digital and HD) they can't ignore it forever or well, maybe they can. One of the things this does is weed out the artists who cannot afford to shoot on film which is a lot of independent artists.
But you can shoot a great looking video on a digital camera with the correct tools including lighting, an artistic eye and experience. I am an artist myself and I directed and produced a few music videos for myself and even though they would never make it on CMT, they sure have made a difference in booking my act!
Please don't get too discouraged. Everyone had to start somewhere, even rkgibbons, but it does take time to learn how to do this but educate yourself, go to school for it and you could be in a few years shooting videos for tomorrows biggest stars! I will say the programs you have are good ones to use!

[BJ_M]

a lot are shot on HD now also - but given a 'film look' , or shot partially on film and on video for a certain video look here and there ..

i know several shot on HDCAM, but you can hardly tell it - they are very film looking ..

[housepig]

there's a good book on music video creation called "You Stand Here", I can't remember the author offhand, but I'll check and post when I get home from work.

one thing I'm didn't catch in your posts - what is your motivation? are you trying to film a video to get on MTV, or are you just trying to do one for a local band, for a dvd release, etc? what is your target audience?

[dcsos]

Could be the poster isn't really in Nigeria!
but if he/she is, LAGOS is the place to go.
Ever since Paul McCartney and Wings chose to fly a 16track (back then) studio into AFRICA for the "Band On The Run " record, Lagos has been a center of recording for the African record industry

[edDV]

My questions now are these:

1. Are these software programmes i.e. Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effect and Photoshop CS good enough professional music videos. If not, can someone please kindly tell me what I should do.

Where are you getting the video you want to edit? Music videos are notorious for being scripted to the camera to reduce post production costs. Given a script, and quality video from the studio, the software you mention can do more than 99% of the music videos shot before Y2K. Its all about the script and the editor's skill. Tool selection is a small part of the formula unless the script calls for something special.

2. What hardware system[s] are required for professional music videos apart from the above softwares.

Let's see the script. Is audio being processed separately? If not you will be spending > 70% of effort on the audio track. A typical home PC can be used to make a music video if the script matches the operator skill and software capability.

3. What factor is responsible for that 'professional video quality' and also seperates it from the amateur music video. When I say professional video quality, I mean quality videos we watch on MTV.

To get that look, shoot on 35mm film, HDTV or at least Betacam. Budget at least $500k for studio, lighting consultant, production team, film processing and color correction costs. Short of that kind of budget, use prosumer DV gear and professional lighting at a minimum. Given good source tapes, any standard DV editing environment can produce acceptable results. Most music videos are "cleaver" in effects rather than effects intensive. They put most of the budget into studio production.

4. I've searched the internet and www.amazon.com inclusive for a very good book that I can learn alot from about achieving that 'big picture', but unfortunately I have not found one. Please, can somebody recomend one to me. Free articles could be a good start and if anyone knows if there's any free .pdf document on the internet I'll be grateful if somebody can send me a link but a book for sale should be a good start.

Subscribe to publications like "Millimeter", "Film and Video" or something similar focused on music video production. Ask your local librarian for help. Check your local junior college for a basic film school. Video courses are useful but not as much focused on the creative shooting and editing side.

[edDV]

Could be the poster isn't really in Nigeria!
but if he/she is, LAGOS is the place to go.
Ever since Paul McCartney and Wings chose to fly a 16track (back then) studio into AFRICA for the "Band On The Run " record, Lagos has been a center of recording for the African record industry

Yep, in Nigeria options are limited unless you apprentice for a film/video production company. Start by sweeping the floors, lifting the sets and learn everything you can.

[housepig]

further to previous post:

"You Stand There - Making Music Video" - David Kleiler and Robert Moses.

Amazon Listing Here.

[Sartori]

Sorry to take so long to reply , edDv and housepig have been very nice to say most of and a lot more of what I was going to add really - thanks guys .
My favourite band is a group called Faithless , they had a video called "I Want More Part2" which consisted of a cut up / editing of a TV documentary about Chinese Dancing - the point being here is that someone else filmed the footage , the skill lay in the editing to their music (incidentally they won an award for it as well) .
This is just a suggestion of something to try , that`ll cost you nothing and will look like film (because it is) , obviously you can`t release it without copyright clearance etc but it gives you a chance at trying your hand at creating a video with the film look and feel with zero cost . Its only one of a million styles of video and as someone said above , its the ones with less effects but very well made(edited) that make the most impact , you would need to create your own style or make one by "borrowing" bits off others .

If you wish to see how that video looks

http://www.video-c.co.uk/microsite.asp?vidref=fait002

Ignore the music (as its my musical taste) , the key to how it won the award is in its editing etc .

ps I am a bloke ,( the girl on my avatar is Alison Goldfrapp) no offence taken and it made my wife laugh her socks off .

[flaninacupboard]

You are going to need more than 40 GB of HD space.

And also more than 2 megabytes of RAM.

[housepig]

further to Sartori's post, you could also pull public-domain footage from The Internet Archive and use that as visual material... and you don't have to ask for permission if you come up with an edit you like!

[BJ_M]

you can not use most of that material in a commercial application - some you can ..

you should check first ..

[kk01]

I really appreciate your help guyz...you have all done well and I appreciate a 100 times over...thanks alot...

The question I wanna know now is what hard apart from the computer do I need...

1. What kind of camera

2. What kind of cables

3. What kind of converters

4. What kind of TV monitor e.t.c

I'll be glad if any useful info is sent to me....

I know I dont have to buy all this hardwares, I could borrow them for a fee or even for free but I need to know what I am doing...I hope you guyz understand.

dCos posted about Lagos being the place to be...Yeah! I am Nigerian and I reside in Lagos...can you please throw more light...and for Satouri...thank you for the link...also I wanna thank Housepig for the book [link] you sent me...it was helpful...thank you guyz...I appreciate your kind gestures.

Regards,
'kk'