What I Learned From My First Self-Made Music Video
My music video for Never Could've Been is Out Now!
Today’s newsletter will describe the process behind my music video for “Never Could’ve Been”.
Please watch the music video before reading any further (and maybe leave a comment telling me what you think about it 🤓).
Did you watch it? Cool! Here’s how I made it.
Learning to Film by Myself
Usually, I have a friend or someone who knows more about filming than I do, but at this point, I was sick of paying or feeling indebted in some way. Even when people work for free, there’s always a hidden cost.
But once I committed to doing everything myself, I was so lost.
HOW DO PEOPLE MAKE THINGS LOOK SO CINEMATIC?
This question dropped me into a rabbit hole for over six months. I didn’t know where to start so I started studying cinematography and watching movies. I’ve watched more movies this year than I ever have in my whole life.
The challenge that stops most people before they even try is “how do I film by myself?” And they would think to themselves, “I need someone else to move the camera around or it won’t be exciting or engaging enough for the viewer.”
I thought the same thing for a long time. I thought it was hopeless. All these movies and music videos had movement. So I had to borrow inspiration from something more self-made and outside the realm of music videos: YouTube.
I got recommended this video in my feed by Casey Neistat and I couldn’t help but notice that majority of the video was filmed handheld or with the camera sitting somewhere in a stationary position. And had ~32,000,000 views.
I had a lightbulb moment: I could make a video like this too!
So it made me think to myself “what is separating me from the frames that Casey Neistat is shooting?”
I wrote everything down that I could think of:
Composition
Lighting
Photography fundamentals like shutter speed, ISO, aperture
Coloring
Scripting
Camera techniques
Editing (we’ll touch on this later)
These were now all on my curriculum. I was studying everything I could find. With a clear target, I went in and the experimentation began.
And just like any new skill, you absolutely suck at the beginning.
As I filmed this music video, I experimented with a lot of different camera angles, locations, and times of day. I didn’t have an idea of which shots would be my best, so I filmed anything and everything that appeared even the slightest bit cinematic. Most of them didn’t turn out the way I had imagined.
To stop myself from negative self-talk that would make me quit this ambitious goal right away, I gave myself one rule: every day I spent shooting was a no judgement day. Shooting was also a nice excuse to be outside during the summer. I would shoot anything I thought was cool. Then only when I got back home, I would upload the videos on my computer and judge them honestly, but not harshly.
Sometimes, the purpose with these shoots was concrete and determined. I would film myself performing to my upcoming song, lip-syncing, and moving around. Any action that I can perform in front of a camera, I do. I never know what would be useful while I’m cutting clips in the editing process. And with this being the first music video, I really wanted to try everything.
But I had to get comfortable.
When you film by yourself out in public, you’re never really alone!
The Awkwardness of Filming in Public — And How To Stop Worrying About Other People
Have you tried singing your own song in public to a camera while people walk past you and watch?
It’s the weirdest thing ever.
I was so scared of public judgement that I started filming in locations I knew would have very few people and build my courage up to more crowded places. My own personal, self-perscribed version of exposure therapy.
I started in public parks, the woods, lakes. I would hike into the middle of nowhere, sometimes discovering hidden gems I didn’t even expect to find. When I found a shot, I set my camera down, scanned for a frame, and pressed record.
Sometimes, a lone hiker would see me, and with an awkward smile, I’d wave and say hello. Suddenly, my pits and the hairs on the back of my neck could feel the sweat coming down from the summer heat — I would question my entire existence at this moment. Then they would look at my camera and carry on their way. I could feel my soul climb back into my body and reality would continue on as normal.
This would happen again and again. Despite my fear, I kept going. I had to work on my craft. My love for the art was stronger than my fear of humiliation. That, and I ran out of public parks to film. Unless I was going to keep filming nature, I had to change my scenery that would fit better for my music videos.
If you’re struggling with filming yourself, try any video idea you like, start small, and build up your courage one day at a time until you don’t care anymore. People will always be curious about what you’re doing. You should welcome it. You’re doing something cool!
Spoiler alert: the fear doesn’t go away, but with consistency, neither will the work ethic. You will get better. Trust yourself.
Editing
Luckily, with editing music videos as a small artist, they don’t require too much technical labor. If you already did the hard work of getting footage and telling your story, then editing should be simple for you. Most people suffer during the editing process because they didn’t plan out their filming and story properly. Most of the time, music videos like these are curated by vibes alone — telling a story from shot to shot that strengthens your connection to the song. If you’re accomplishing this with your edit, you’ve already done most of the work for your video.
Just make sure you organize your footage so you can access the exact clips you need without wasting a lot of time. That was a mistake I’ll never make again. Going through thousands of clips to find the exact vibe in one big folder was torture and unnecessary.
Consistency
This video is a result of multiple shoots over a couple months — you need to iterate a lot to get what you want as your final product.
There’s a story about a film professor who separates his students into two groups. Group one was tasked with turning in one perfect shot, while group two would take as many shots as they could and turn in their results.
The students who took more photos were more likely to turn in great shots as opposed to the other students who were theorizing and assuming what the perfect shot even was.
This is a great example of what quantity of attempts will do versus assuming you will produce quality work at once. This can apply to any field. Making 100 songs in 100 days will get you closer to your hit song versus waiting for the inspiration for that one song in the same 100 days. It’s better to choose from your options of songs than have your songs choose you.
With this in mind, after each day of shooting, I would take notes on what I liked and what I didn’t like so I can repeat the winners and make less mistakes. I’m training a muscle and getting closer to striking my own gold. Now, take this advice and go get your own.
Thanks for reading this newsletter.
Want to give me some feedback? Email me at hellodragaan@gmail.com
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