Music video
For this video production, I worked as a music videographer. Working with music has been a passion of mine since I started my career in media. This case study gives an overview of the production process behind a music video I recently collaborated on.
Concept development
For this video production, I collaborated with production and set designer Luis Carvalho. Together, over a period of weeks, we devised a total of seven different scenes that would work well for the song lyrics. We decided to film all the scenes of this music video in one studio location. This advance planning ensured we could deliver a unique and high-quality video on the available budget.
Music video production
The production of the music video began several weeks ahead of the actual shoot. This ensured that Luis would have enough time to design and make the costumes and design and build the props for the set. A series of rehearsal sessions, with the cast and the actors, took place in the studio that we would use for filming. The bands and supporting casts movement rehearsals were led by the talented movement director, Rebecca Bogue. These rehearsals helped everyone gain a sense of the available space and understand what would be possible for the choreography. I took the opportunity to film these rehearsals. This helped ensure I could gain an understanding of the angles and shots which would be possible for the actual filming.
Building the studio set
The week before the actual filming commenced, Luis and I built the scaffolding-based rig inside his Hoxton studio. We used builders’ scaffolding that we had hired for a two-week period. After the scaffolding had been erected and secured, we then installed the hired-in black wool serge backdrop. We followed with the installation of the lighting rig. This consisted of a series of tungsten spotlights, being fed by two different phases of a three-phase supply.
Filming the music video
Working as a music videographer, I filmed all seven scenes over a three-day weekend. The location, set design and lighting all worked well. All the pre-production and detailed planning definitely helped me and Luis ensure a successful production phase. In total, I recorded over five hours of the bands and supporting casts movements and performances.
Video editing
The filmed media was first copied onto my Promise RAID 5 drives and then backed up with a second copy on separate drives to ensure it’s security. After the media had been backed up, I transcoded the files so that I could edit on Avid Media Composer. I then set about editing the footage to develop the story featuring the best performances. During the post-production process, I edited many different versions of this music video until Luis and I were both satisfied with what ended up being the final edited version. In the end, one of the seven-filmed scenes did not make it into the final edited video.
Music videographer
I really enjoyed working with Luis as a music videographer co-directing and co-producing this video and working with the rest of the artistic team. The music track is called Fall Forever by Ray Grant with vocals by Billie Ray Martin. You can view more examples of my music based projects on my portfolio. If you would like a music video produced, directed, filmed or edited, please get in touch.
