Was wondering if anyone does music videos. Ive done live music videos for bands,and cut together many different shows into 1 music video, but now im planning out a music video with a story line. Whats the trick to this? Ive done short films where your script is kind of your guide aka 1 min screen time is 1 page of screenplay. I have my story line ideas in my head but im really not sure how to go about planning this.

Im working on storyboards and trying to get as many shots planned ahead of time. But im worried I wont be able to fit everything in the time of the song. The production is not a huge thing, but it is to me because its my first music video and I dont want to waste peoples time.

Ive gripped on other music video shoots and did some audio work for a Harry Connick Jr shoot here in new orleans, but it wasnt a story line shoot from what I saw, just the band played the song about 6 x with around 10 cameras worth of converage and that was it.

Im working with good friends of mine(the band) and my 1 camera.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Also what forms should I have people fill out.
I have a location release, actor release, do I need anything from the band as far as music goes and whatnot? The band is unsigned and are good friends of mine,i tour with them and run some live audio for them, but i want to cover my A** in the event they are approached by a label.

Michael Gilbert

p.s. Sorry for the scatterbrained pattern of this post...long hours and little sleep=brain malfunction

Michael, I've done several music videos- for better or worse- and it is bloody 'ell to do on a low budget, but I still love it.

I wouldn't worry about not being able to fit everything in the time of the song. If you shoot much more footage than you could possibly use, you'll be in a good position come editing time.

If you are set on the idea of having a narrative within the music video, you might think about a way to tell that story economically-perhaps within half the time of the song, to allow for plenty of performance footage. A lot can happen in a short time if you use skillful editing.

Since you've worked on a multi-camera band shoot you know that your one camera is going to make it a long day if you want coverage. So the more cameras you can rustle up for that, the better. But if you are doing the narrative scenes "on the cheap", getting good footage with one camera will be enough to worry about.

I would have talent releases signed by everyone including the band, and I would write up a simple production agreement with whoever is paying you (whether it's 1$ or $10,000), that says when they are PIF the video is theirs but you can use it for portfolio reasons. Or however you want it to work, but make the terms clear and have it in writing so there's no surprises. Good luck

The narrative scene will be for the most part shot like any short film ive done or worked on. Im figuring the story will probably be told in half the song maybe even less. Thanks for the help