At least in the indie music genre, people are advised to make music videos in order to fulfill a requirement of publicity. The music video needs a certain degree of polish, which creates a natural economic filter weeding out musicians that have less economic resources. (Paying someone to make a suitable music video can easily cost $5K for a video – a price I was quoted by a certain indie production company in 2016).
Making your own music videos with cinema cameras can be done on a budget. (Say a one time cost of $2k, which is worth the investment if you can afford it, especially when spread over dozens of videos). But also requires a bit of a learning curve to learn basic editing, color correction and planning. However, it also allows you to use your own creativity to make truly unique product that doesn’t fall squarely into the realm of most indie videos that take one prop or visual gag and beat it to death for 5 minutes.
I tend to use music videos to further an idea presented in the song, which reinforces the purpose of the music in productive ways. For instance, in Arthur is at a Shiva, the protagonist interacts with a different religion in ways that affect the protagonist’s views on death. (Which relates to the album’s themes of reenvisioning Christianity in present times). The video (“The Great Fractal Challah”) similarly portrays the protagonist’s interaction with Jewish traditions in ways that are meaningful. So the music video reinforces ideas presented in the song in ways that are informative.
All that I needed to make that video was a BlackMagic 4K camera (which costs $1295) (LINK), a tripod (LINK) and a camera lense (LINK), which you can get for less than $300 depending on what kind of lense you want. (You can get a speedbooster (LINK) to improve the camera’s field of view but don’t need to, though more affordable speedboosters (LINK) apparently are on the market already. I don’t think I used one for that video).
In terms of subject matter, I avoided most costs by simply focusing on personal stories with rather mundane subject matter. No need for additional actors (aside from my very generous husband). Though because of that you will see that the camera almost never moves because I am also in front of the camera.
Which might be an issue, but there are great film makers who use virtually no film movement, which is why I’d been studying the films of specifically Yasujiro Ozu as of late. (His film, Tokyo Story appears regularly on critic lists of the Top 10 greatest films of all time). Ozu also tends to concentrate on domestic dramas which makes him a person to study for one-man budget music video operations.
For this next record, I now have a pair of Black Magic 6k Cameras (LINK), two tripods, and a few Takumar lenses (e.g. LINK), which you can just get a cheap adapter for (LINK). I use two cameras now, just to make cutting more seamless, especially since nobody is behind the cameras. Though the cost is more, I plan to use these cameras for the next few albums. And given the one time sunk cost, I can decide to make 6 music videos without batting an eye at the cost. (At the rate the indie music production company requested, they would be asking me for $30,000!).
All subject matter will be domestic dramas that take place mostly indoors, so no need for expensive props, actors, sets, etc… Just very domestic stories about things going on in the house.
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