Making A Video?

[DespisedIcon689]

Our band was thinking about making sort of like a music video. We were wondering how to get a good recording of our instruments through the camera (even though i'm not sure how it works). Or if we had to put our song on a CD, listen to it and act like we were playing it, then go into a movie editor thing and put the song so it plays with the video...get what I'm saying? I'm not really sure how it works though. I need some help.

[MXicanDrummer]

Dont record through the camera, use the camera for solely video purposes. Use a pre recorded track of your song that sounds good (professionally done if you can get it) and then use that as the audio in your video.

This of course entails that you play the track while filming so that the band can be on time and the playing matches the track.
You can then cut out all the cameras audio out later (or tape with no audio?)

That's how it's done professionally, so try it out. But whatever you do, don't record sound through your camera.

[DespisedIcon689]

Yeah that is what I meant...most of other garage band's record it through the camera and it sounds like s***. Thx for your advice.

[MXicanDrummer]

No problem, have fun with it

[drumass04]

I don't know what equipment you have available to you...but here is what I would do;

Get a high quality recording of the song; either go to a studio, or borrow/rent/use the gear you'll need. Make sure that if you record yourself that you have someone who knows what they are doing in charge of the whole recording process.

I would suggest using a click track for all members of the band, whether you are recording all at once, or individually I feel that it is still necessary.


Once you have this recording, you need to develop a plot for the video. It is boring if you are just stood there playing your instruments, there are probably guides on the internet that can talk you through the process better than I can, but here are my suggestions;

Talk within the band and develop a plot or storyline.
Create a storyboard...either in writing or in pictures. Use a digital camera to take still shots of angles etc that you want.
Once you are all agreed on these things you can start to shoot;

Remember to play the pre-recorded track when shooting any film...this will ensure that you are all miming in time.
You can use just a simple digital camera if you want...though I would suggest a camcorder or DV cam. Whatever camera you use, ensure that you use a tripod, as shaky cameras look totally unprofessional. (You could use a shaky cam as an effect, but it really doesn't look that good.)
For each angle or shot you have decided to shoot, I would suggest that you film the whole song from the angle/environment. This means that you can cut and paste parts of the film to fit the music. For an average pop-song, I would take a rough guess at approximately 30-40 shots. For a pro-shoot, it would be around 100, but we obviously aren't at that level!

Once you have these 40 or so videos...each of the whole song, you can begin cutting them up and fixing them all together to create your film. It is possible to do this in a program such as Windows Movie Maker, but obviously the better the film you want, the better the program you are going to need. WMM does give you some limited effects, and also allows you to cut and paste both audio and video files; so in theory it is possible.

The hardest part of the whole process is, in many cases, making sure that the video and audio files are sync'd correctly, in a program such as WMM this really is a case of trial and error. In a more advanced program it is possible to view the audio waves, this would mean that you can line up the audio from the high-quality recording and the low-quality recording from the camera before disposing of the low-quality recording.


I hope this helps, it may seem a litle garbled as I have just sat here and written it off the top of my head!

Good luck, if you have any more questions contact me via e-mail or msn; drumass04@hotmail.com

Timmy

[DespisedIcon689]

yeah man i totally get what your saying...thx for the help.

[Mispeled]

Also, if you're in need of good video equipment, try looking into a public access station. If you've got a good one locally, they'll probably let you shoot it with their stuff, as long as you air it on their station and you don't try to make money off the video.

[DannySmith]

Our band was thinking about making sort of like a music video. We were wondering how to get a good recording of our instruments through the camera (even though i'm not sure how it works). Or if we had to put our song on a CD, listen to it and act like we were playing it, then go into a movie editor thing and put the song so it plays with the video...get what I'm saying? I'm not really sure how it works though. I need some help.
The music needs to be on CD. It will come out crap if it's through the camera, the camera only records an overall sound through it's crappy little mic. Even if you plugged in high quality external mics it still won't be as good quality as recording the song properly.

Look around for student film makers. Ask them for a reel. They'll be happy to do it for you just for the experience.

But one thing they will ask for is a CD. And possibly a Hi-Fi to play the music on loudly.

You will mime the music. Ask if the drummers got any pads for the drums to kill any noise from them.