The following is a guest post from Tai Campbell, creative director and music video producer at Epik Music Videos, London.
As a professional music video maker, I am often faced with questions from musicians and band managers who would ask me, “Why is it so expensive?”
I usually tell them that it’s not a one person job. Even when you as the artist might seem to be doing a majority of the work on screen, there are a lot many people working behind the camera to make it all look brilliant!
Costs of producing a music video can vary depending on different factors, right from the choice of location to the treatment required. Furthermore, successfully producing any music video requires an experienced team behind it, but depending on the specifics, the team size may vary as well.
I hope you can now understand why we can only offer you a rough estimate when you ask for a quote! However, if you are looking to manage things on your own and map role-wise expenses, here’s a rate card from Broadcast & Entertainment Union (BECTU) for different crew members who might be needed in producing your music video.
- Actors: £350-500
- Director: £600
- Producer: £450
- Cameraman: £500
- Motion Graphics: £600
- VO Artist: £375
- Production Assistant: £275
- Editor: £700
All the above rates are industry rates and not specifically music video production rates. If they seem a little bit far-fetched, that may be because most of these roles are fulfilled by freelancers who don’t get to work every day. Just keep in mind that whenever you are hiring someone, you are not paying for just their skills, but also the necessary equipment and the many years of experience they possess, and it is this which will make a significant difference to the quality of your music video.
Below are a few other things you should look into when producing your own music video:
The Location
To start with, you will need a good script. Once you have it ready, you can start looking for a good location to shoot it. Decide where you want to shoot the video, indoors or outside? If you are going to rent a studio, it will increase the costs. Make sure you don’t change location after the script is approved as it can lower the production standards when you start settling for things. If you know your budgetary limitations before the start of the project, then make them clear to the scriptwriter so that they can write a script that is not too demanding!
The Talent
You will need to hold castings for your music video to finalise on the talent. Actors, Sound/Graphic/Voice Over Artists etc. can all be finalised after the casting session. However, you should invite candidates to casting only after you have gone through their portfolios.
The Equipment
After you are done choosing the who’s who of your video, you can move on to the next stage. Choosing and renting the proper equipment for your shoot; cameras, lights, directional mics, etc.
However, when you hire a video production company like Epik Music Videos to produce your video, they will provide you with all the necessary equipment at no additional costs.
The Crew
This is one last thing that you would need to take care of before going ahead with shooting your video. It’s very important to put together a team that can work well with each other. Normally, Directors have a set of people that they like to work with, so take their opinion into consideration when choosing your team. However, you’ll find that it will take some time for a randomly assembled team to get acquainted with each other’s working style. So if you are in a rush, you might want to rope in a music video production agency to do the job. Their professional teams will greatly cut down on the time required to shoot the entire video.
The Editor
Once you have recorded your video, you will have to sit down with an Editor to give it the finishing touches. They might require the Director/Scriptwriter to help them with directions on treatment. The Editor’s finishing touches on the video can easily be the difference between ordinary and extraordinary, so choose someone with plenty of experience in the type of video you want.
Extras
You might need to rent or buy some specific outfits or props that you can’t find normally. Also, keep some extra money in hand to buy breakfast, lunch and dinner for your crew on the day!
To learn more about different types of music videos and treatment styles, you can have a look at our portfolio that is packed with many innovative ideas and examples for each type!
Find out more about Tai and Epik Music Videos at http://epikmusicvideos.com