music videos, what makes them tick?
 

what format do music videos usually use. Are the cameras used usually HD cams that range above 20k. I noticed the depth of focus and color tones u get are pretty nice in music videos. Can you achieve close results with the new minidv HD cam from jvc or the panasonic ag-dvx100 or the GYU-5000U.

Well.. You can do pretty much with a normal DV/DVCAM aswell, you do not need to flesh out $50k on renting a HDTV 24P system.

I just finished a music video using a PD100A where short focal length was imperative to blur out the white & black background. This so you didn't see creases and wrinkles in the background. Did this by zooming in (ie. tele lens) and manually set the focus.

Of course, if you have the cash to rent (or buy :) a mini35 adapter then you can use 35 mm cinelenses with all the added focal depth benefits but still work with DV format.

Imho, what makes a music video "tick" is it's rythm and if it conveys the image of the artist/talent.

Remember that a Music video is a commercial for the artist/talent. If it doesn't help the artists image and (hopefully) their record sale, it has failed imho.

Regards,
Henrik "HuBBa" Bengtsson
DocuWild

<<<-- Originally posted by DocuWild :

Imho, what makes a music video "tick" is it's rythm and if it conveys the image of the artist/talent.

Remember that a Music video is a commercial for the artist/talent. If it doesn't help the artists image and (hopefully) their record sale, it has failed imho.
-->>>

Great comments. I completely agree with your statement regarding the fact that a video is a commercial for the artist.

Don't forget lots of booty. Can't have a music video these days without booty. Tons and tons of booty.

Although the booty is a nice effect sometimes, I think the more booty they use, the more they are trying to compensate for the lack of creativity on the part of the director and/or artist.

Why work hard at making a good video when you can take the easy road and just use booty shot. That seems to be the way a lot of videos are made nowadays.

I don't see much MTV anymore, no cable in my area, but is it just me or are almost all rap/hip-hop just one big booty shot?

Since neither the JVC HD or the Panasonic 24p has hit the market yet no one knows...

Record companys (the clients) likes the word 16mm. They like the word 35mm better. Using the word DV will usually make the client go elsewhere.

Never use the word DV around record company clients. You'll end up making no budget videos for buddys producing CD's out of their garages.

Hope that answers the question.

>>Remember that a Music video is a commercial for the artist/talent. If it doesn't help the artists image and (hopefully) their record sale, it has failed imho<<
docuwild, I've read about a group in England trying to go above and beyond the MTV/commercial aspect of Music Video and create short musical films. don't know how they are progressing, but I wish them luck.

Joe

A friend of mine owns couple of telecines in LA...From his perspective, most music videos are still shot on film, then transferred for editing and delivery. (and I'm sure he hopes it stays that way for awhile.)

Barry

Jojolimited. There are several examples of artists creating a visual & musical production that is not related to selling more records. But that is not a musicvideo as per my very personal definition. Can a musicvideo be artistic? Of course it can. But the main goal for a musicvideo is still to promote the artist. If it's not related to the artist in any way and does not promote the artist, it will most likely not be aired.

Barry & Martin, There is definately a big bias towards shooting on film. Especially from people who are not working with it. Actually, it was Your pictures Martin, showing the 2.35:1 method that sold the idea of shooting it on DV to the band. They wanted to do it on 16 mm first aswell since they had heard that was what you should do it on. But with no budget and me claiming that you can do pretty good things with a video camera aswell (as i mentioned in a previous post, its the end result that counts) they finally relented. And in the end everyone (including the record company =) was happy.

But if a client wants it done in 16 mm or 35 mm, i will do it in that format. The budget will be higher aswell of course with the added costs involved in this.

I think we will all have to fight this "it must be shot on film or it is crap" mentality a few years more until you either have everything shot digital or your client actually starts to trust you to use the best media for the production.

The same discussion happened a few years in the VFX business actually. If it wasn't done on Silicon Graphic machines it wasn't worth doing was the general consent. Then the Amiga with Lightwave 3D came along and we saw shows like Babylon 5 and Seaquest. When they came along they did amazing effects, rivaling the high end systems used for cinema effects. And this on a TV Show budget & schedule. That kinda revolutionized the entire VFX scene and today no one is interested if you do it in Maya/Softimage/Lightwave or 3DSMax. But there were a time when the studios who used Alias WF/Softimage 3D could charge about 30-50% more than the studios who used Lightwave & 3DStudio. Thank god those times are over =)

And maybe we'll get there with video vs film aswell :)
/Henrik

Henrik,

I agree the rejection of video as a medium is silly. I think one of the major reasons video has a bad rep is that video is traditionally a "shooters" medium and not the cinematographers medium. All that is slowly changing. When great DP's put their knowledge into video we are going to see some awsome stuff shot on SD and HD. Lighting is lighting. Even on video.

I'm happy the band liked my images. Would be cool to see your video.

Well, if you have the download time, you can view it at http://www.docuwild.com (under mainstream section).

I have no air dates yet for european/swedish channels.

/Henrik

What's the 2:35:1 method?

http://www.operafilm.com/dvscope.html

This is the 2.35:1 method for PD150P cameras I've been fiddling around with. I finished a feature film last week using this method.