Pre-Production of Music Videos

Pre-production and Production of Music Videos

A lot of planning goes into a music video, making sure everything is perfect, making sure that the message that the artist is trying to convey through their lyrics is conveyed properly. Pre-production is the planning involved before making the finished product of the music video. Pre-production can include the following:

Pre-production

• Storyboard - this will be a rough idea of what actions and scenes that the director/music artist wants for their actual music video. Most of the time, the story board will be changed slightly, but the general theme will still be there. A music artist can choose whether they want a music video that conveys their lyrics (usually found in hip-hop/r&b videos), or they can choose to create something completely different, with the song they are releasing playing in the background of the video.

This is what a storyboard should look like

• Budgeting - this is obviously important, because going over budget in making a music video will cause many problems with the music artist's label. The artist is given a specific budget that they have to work with, and the size of that budget will depend on the popularity of that particular music artist. For example, Usher may be given a multi-million pound budget to create a music video for the leading single of his highly anticipated album; another artist from a small record label may only be given a budget of a few thousand to work with.

Budgeting plays a very important part in the production values of a music video

• Filming Location - before shooting for the music video begins, the director (or person in charge of the whole operation) must choose an appropriate location to film the video. The location should be included in the story board for the music video. 

Your chosen location sets the general tone for the music video

• Casting - much like the filming location, the chosen cast need to be perfect for the music video, this can include looks and common interpretation of the character discussed. As the characters are what the audience will be paying most attention to,  casting is very important. Also, the chosen actors and/or actresses need to be affordable within the set budget - an unsigned music artist can't hire someone like Tom Cruise to play the main character.

Someone like Tom Cruise wouldn't feature in my music video, due to the budget I have

• Equipment - cameras, props and various other things fall under this category. These are important, as before the shooting of the music video begins, the camera crew/directors need to know exactly what to bring, in order for production to run smoothly. There will usually be a set checklist of everything that is needed. 

Camera equipment like this would usually be involved in the Pre-production 

• Mise-en-Scene - this refers to everything from the setting, to the floor the artist will be standing on. The Mise-en-scene is very important for the vibe and feel the artist wants to get across. For example, a Hip-Hop video would stereo-typically include lots of jewellery, fast cars, and nice weather, all these things would come under mise-en-scene, to make the audience feel as though what they are actually watching represents the artist and the genre the artist is in.

This would be particular for a Hip-hop music video