P.P-C - Institutional Context

What is the procedure of making a music video?
Music videos are used as a marketing device to increase the sales of the music records. There are many different people involved in the making of a music video; they all are given different jobs however working towards the same goal. Although there are many different stages in making a music, they all serve just one purpose in the end, this being promotion. The art of making a music video has grown to be one of the most influential and individually stylistic modes of production in the industry.

The very first step in making a music video is the planning and writing a treatment. As this business is extremely competitive, the directors are asked to come up with a treatment or a concept. This treatment or concept will allow record companies to visualize the following; what will happen in the story, the mood of the song and how it makes you feel. This part of the procedure is vital, as it will either sell the record or not, if this part of the stage goes wrong then the other stages will be affected dramatically. The job could either be won or lost. Whilst trying to get the concept of the song and video across, they must be thinking about how much the video will cost and if they think it is worth it. It is often the videos which don’t cost as much which will leave a longer lasting impression on people. A storyboard must also be made to show the different shots that will be used, characters and where there are fade-ins and outs. Once this is complete it is easier for the director and makes it much easier for everyone to visualize what is going on in the video. Once the treatment has been approved the director can move onto the next process.

Once you have got the go ahead, they must then make sure that they have got a license for the making of the music video, otherwise it could cause a lot of problems and legal inquiries. After this someone must hire people to play the part in the video, if they are wanted. While this is happening there must be a plan of shooting days and the locations in which these shots will be taken, this is called pre-production planning, if more locations are required it means there must be more planning. Someone will then have to make sure the location has enough room, for all the camera-men, lighting, crew, props and musical equipment. Forms will then be filled out to use the area, or land giving them the permission, although they must make sure that no random passers-by will just walk past when filming. Then the filming will take place and more shots will be shot then needed, to make sure there are no blank gaps once editing.

Finally the editing will be done and shots will be put in place and fitted to the song, by synchronising the audio to the shots. This is to make sure that nothing is out of time and everything is synced together. This section of the procedure takes a lot of time, as there are so many shots that need editing and put in place, furthermore a lot of the footage will be deleted as it is not needed. All the sound with the footage will be deleted as it’s not needed and will just use a studio recorded version of the song. Once the editing is complete the music video is ready to be released. And in the end will be advertised and shown on music channels, such as MTV.