Listen Here: It’s Too Late… We’re Visual Addicts

Surely no-one contests the argument anymore. Didn’t we bury this conversation decades ago? Is it even possible to imagine a popular song on radio or television these days that doesn’t have a film clip? The more crucial conversation should be around when to start planning for it, who will be involved, what it might cost, and when the cameras should start to roll.

The fact is, anyone who thinks a new song release will penetrate the visually-addicted consumer world of entertainment without a video clip, has either A: recently been found in the Bermuda Triangle wandering around in khaki greens, or B: is twenty cents short in the dollar.

A song without a video is like a car without wheels – it ain’t goin’ nowhere.

So rather than talking here about the pros and cons of whether a new song release should be accompanied by a video – because frankly, there are no cons – let’s consider instead how one should be conjured up in the first place, who might be involved and when, and how much money you’re prepared to throw at it.

Know Your Visual Self

Now, I’m no authority on how to make video clips, and I’ve only ever been on the pointy end of the process typically, but one thing’s for sure, I’m no fan of having a camera shoved in my face.

So maybe we should start there, and talk about who you are as a musician. Have you ever thought about it from a visual perspective, beyond what clothes you wear on stage?

If you have a single, or album release coming up in the near future, how do you imagine presenting yourself visually (or haven’t you thought about it yet)? Because, make no mistake, if you want your new album to get somewhere, it’s going to need one, two, or possibly even three film clips.

Are you like me, and feel camera shy or are you ambivalent about it? Maybe you’re a natural in front of the camera, the kind of person who lights up at the first sight of a lens. Or perhaps you’re a natural actor – that certainly helps! Knowing your strengths and weaknesses in front of a camera is an important first step towards knowing what kind of video clip you might want to make.

The problem with most music videos made in Australia is that they’re typically an afterthought, especially for albums that don’t have the backing of a big record label or a production machine around them.

As individuals, most of us amongst this fine CX readership have music and/or audio as our primary focus. Video runs a very distant third. So distant, in fact, that video clips sometimes only come up in conversation after you’ve walked out the mastering suite’s front door with masters in hand. Which means that all those weeks and months in the studio, when your cool instruments were setup and those magical takes took place, are all now lost to the lens! You could have filmed so much great stuff back then, but now it’s too late! Bugger.

Don’t Fear It, Own It

It’s time musos and producers alike got far more savvy with the visual side of the musical coin, by putting more forethought into what types of video releases are likely to go with certain songs on their albums. I say this only because most consumers of music nowadays watch every song they listen to. To them, a song presents as two inseparable components: the music and the video. They don’t distinguish one from the other. One thing’s for sure, if a listener searches for your song on YouTube and it’s not there, it basically doesn’t exist.

Video, like audio and music, is infinitely broad in its scope; we all appreciate that inalienable fact. But rather than letting the concept paralyse us, we need to face the issue head on, and either get professional help from someone who knows what to do, or start experimenting with the medium just for fun and see where it takes us.

Don’t just throw your hands up in frustration at the prospect of having to learn a whole new artistic medium from scratch. You have a phone, don’t you? It probably has a kick-ass camera in it that requires you to press a single button to start recording. Complicated stuff.

The point I’m trying to make here is that video clips can be comprised of almost any visual imagery, but like your music, that doesn’t mean any old thing will work, or represent you as an artist. Whether you’ve thought about it or not, chances are that if tomorrow you were presented with different types of imagery for your new video clip, some of it will feel ‘just right’, while the rest of it will be absolutely out of the question! You are full of musical opinions, preferences and styles – chances are you feel the same way about visuals, though you may not know it! Now is the time to become far more self-aware of this, using your ‘eye’ for video in the same way you use your ‘ear’ for music. Get on board with the process, and back yourself.

How Much You Got?

Like audio recordings, some video clips can cost nothing. But above zero, the sky’s the limit, and when it comes to videos, the bill can often be 10 times higher than the one that came with the album! I’ve known quite a few that cost about as much as a new car, and others that were the price of a fancy new instrument… and one in particular was equivalent to a down-payment on a house!

So now is the time to think about your film clip budget, and where you sit on its pricing scale.

Oh, you don’t have a budget?

Does you mean you haven’t thought about what your budget might be, or are you saying it’s zero? Or have you spent everything you’ve got on the album production?

Hmmm. I would argue that even the most underground video will incur some sort of cost along the way, especially if you know zip about the process. Now might be a good time to talk to a film-maker about it. You probably have a mate who makes films… ring them up!

We’re not all made of money, unfortunately, but that mustn’t stop you from producing some sort of video for your next song release. Absolute worst case scenario is just a still shot of the album cover, but these days there’s far more you can do beyond that without incurring many costs at all.

A good example of a video clip that basically cost zero was one I saw a few years ago, for an ambient album a mate of mine released independently. The audio budget was basically zip, and the film clip budget was even less… so this is what he did.

He went out in his brother’s boat off Airey’s Inlet one calm summer day, and filmed a Pacific Gull floating on the water. Actually, I think the truth of the matter was that he went fishing, and just happened to see the gull floating nearby. He shot the video in slow-motion on his iPhone, paid the gull in fish intestines (a good deal I thought) and that night imported the video into Final Cut Pro on his laptop alongside the audio. Final bill? Nothing for the gull (apart from the aforementioned gizzards), zero for film stock, plus a few dollars in fuel and bait – he already owned the computer and software.

But the film clip looks absolutely amazing, and crucially goes hand in glove with the music. A second clip was done the same way for another song: slow-motion capture of a lace curtain blowing in a summer breeze… sounds tedious but the results were riveting. Cost: zero.

Now I’m not contending that you should try to do everything for nothing. What I am suggesting, however, is that you start experimenting with the visual medium in the same way you experimented with music way back when. Try it, have fun with it… take a chance! There are no excuses anymore, unless you want to publically admit this profound statement about yourself: “I am too old and crotchety to learn something new.”

If you’re not prepared to admit that quite yet, then get the phone out and get to it!

When you’ve captured some footage you like, import some of it into your favourite software program (whether it’s a fancy Avid system or Adobe Premiere Pro) alongside the audio file, sit with it as you listen to the music, and start to make visual connections between the two. It’s not hard, and once you break the ice you may just find that the same aspects of your personality that make music are also quite good at making film clips, thanks very much.

Andy Stewart owns and operates The Mill studio in Victoria, a world-class production, mixing and mastering facility. He’s happy to respond to any pleas for pro audio help… contact him at: andy@themillstudio.com.au or visit: www.themillstudio.com.au