Planning a no-budget music video + 5 tips for its preparation
It must have been in the first half of 2015, when Luki and I were busy with creating various film-snippets to try out all kinds of effects. At that time, we had already finished a few projects, but were mainly busy imitating, trying out and learning all kinds of things.
Some things were looking quite good. However, most of them were just single short scenes and clips that had no real purpose.
In this way, film-snippets were been creating which did not offer sufficient entertainment value when lined up and make alone none narrative sense.
Although ideas for big projects were in place, they still seemed to be too big for our skills. Therefore, we needed something that is small enough to be feasible in a realistic time and still deliver a finished product.
A music video.
Luki had good contact to Thom, the guitarist of a band. I knew him also, but I did not know so much about his band Pale Black, which he had founded with Wully.
They had put a lot of work into building up this band and developed it into a Death Metal group. Both parties seemed to be on a similar level according the subject “music video“, which named:
We never have done it. Let`s go!
The first meeting of the band took place in Biglen, later they moved to their new practice room in Bern.
We all got along well right from the start and everyone wanted to do this project. As a result, we met regularly to exchange ideas and progress.
All of these meetings were productive and it was always clear what the meeting was about and what was to be done before the next meeting. Of course, we did not have a strict procedure, but if you want to make progress, it should be defined.
The band had not recorded any of the songs yet, but all were planned for the upcoming EP. As a result we had the full selection of all (not yet) available songs of the band.
They finally chose the song Brainfuck, which deals with a dark chapter of Swiss history. These involve the so-called “Verdingkinder”, some of whom were abused for drug testing.
We discussed the idea and decided to present the story in different timelines connected by memories and imaginations. Similar effects to a child’s drawing represent the visualization of these imaginary things.
To check the feasibility, I made a test shot in which the teddy, a key object of the story, was shown for the first time. In the post-production of this short clip, it became clear again, how time-consuming the post-production would be. However, the result looked too good to decide against this design.
Therefor an important element for the story was created and I wrote the script. On this basis, we made a storyboard with timelines to get an approximate overview of what take how much time in the video and where the cuts would be. Usually a script is drawn for this, but because this would have taken too much time, it was done in text form. I do not want to recommend this as a mandatory requirement, but in my opinion, the overview itself is more important than the form in which it is provided.
When we were all satisfied, we were able to complete the “theoretical” phase of preparation. Now it was a matter of finding people and locations.
We already had various ideas and many of them were proceeded very quickly by us. However, some of the locations and actors were only found after several attempts, which did not discourage anyone of us.
We were in the no-budget range and quite newcomer, so we had to accept a few extra rounds.
In some cases, the final decisions were only made shortly before the shooting began. After several weeks of planning, the planned location in the high school was exchanged just before shooting started. The circumstances regarding possible shooting time could not be arranged with our project.
The location for the band recordings was also not clear for a very long time until Michael, the lighting technician, had an idea: his material store was located in a basement, which was once a butcher’s shop. Such an environment was of course perfectly suitable for a dark background, moreover the place was relatively close for all and we had access without any problems.
Finally, with Hanspeter Kissling, someone was found who was perfectly suited for the role as protagonist. Due to his work as a theater actor, he brought a lot of experience with him, which was noticeable from the very first second and we are very grateful to have him with us on this project.
I am writing this text at a time when Hanspeter unfortunately died and I would like to express my condolences on behalf of all the people who were involved.
We did not know each other for long and the time we were allowed to spend together was short. However, I think I can speak on behalf of everyone that it was a wonderful experience and an honor for us.
May you rest in peace, Hanspeter.
Everybody can see now what he has done to make this music video so successful. His role in the story section is the adult version of the Verdingkind, whose younger counterpart was embodied by Alain.
The story was of special importance to us, because it was the one thing Luki and I agreed on: There are too many music videos where you only see the band without a story is told in parallel.
Of course, there is also a sense in showing the band, but if that were the only one, every video would look very similar and would probably be pretty boring.
A music video should tell the story of the underlying song. Of course, this does not always have to be as concrete as in our example, but we also think an abstract video should use its own storyline.
The performance of the band can certainly create an atmosphere and you can best compare that with an image of a landscape.
It shows an atmosphere, but little story.
In the next blog post, I will tell you about the realization and the shooting days. To conclude today’s article, here are the promised tips for filmmakers and bands who have something similar in mind:
- A good team is very important. If it does not work between people, do not start. I can hardly imagine that something good will be created if those involved do not get on well with each other. You will have to spend a lot of time together and reach your limits, so you should not have a bad gut instinct in first place.
- Money is a tool, no money as well. In addition, the whole no-budget thing is always one of those things. Of course, it is not possible without investing at least some money for food, a rent for objects and locations. Do not let the money get in your way. A product that has been compromised to be finished is about a hundred million times better than a product that has been discontinued because no compromises have been made. Of course, it shouldn’t happen that half of the crew is in a mood, in which they do not care about the result. However, nobody usually sees the compromises in the finished product and nobody is interested in the excuse for the never created product. If necessary, a mobile phone camera can also be used as a camera (Steven Soderbergh shot an entire film with an iPhone camera). However, I think with a little research you will find someone with a camera who can help you. There are also possibilities for cutting that do not cost too much. If necessary, you can take the one-month trial subscription of the Adobe Creative Cloud and complete it within these free days.
- If possible, get people with acting experience in front of the camera. Theatre people are also well suited for this, but make sure that they know the difference between stage and film. Movements on stage must be presented much more clearly and a bit exaggerated, but in the film, this would seem very strange.
- If there is a simpler and a more difficult method, it is often the case that the simpler method is sufficient. Do not waste time and money on something that is not absolutely necessary. Even if, for example, you have a location that would be much better than the alternative: the audience will not know when they see the video afterwards. Most things are just one part of many that have to fit in the overall picture. So keep in mind the big picture and do not get lost in the details.
- The whole project can be a lot shorter if the song for the music video is already in the box and produced. Therefore, you already have the original template during editing and possible delays can only occur in the production of the video, but no longer in the recording of the song.
Bonus tip:
- Have fun! Preparing, planning, making, the battle of materials and the execution are a lot of work. Even if no one wants to see the video at the end (which is rather unlikely), it is still cooler to do the thing instead of sitting in front of the TV at home and waiting that something happens. Moreover, such a project generates a few good opportunities to feed your social media profiles with posts.
That’s all for today. Thank you for reading and your attention.
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If you would like to ask me some questions about the making of a music video or something else, don’t hesitate to contact me!
As always, keep your eyes open and stay classy! ;-)
