Is it possible to shoot a music video with digital NOT by dslr camera!!

[HaniHijaz]

Hi to all forum mates,

Is it possible to shoot a video song with a digital camera not by DSLR? I do not discuss here about the output image quality here just the possibility.

My shoot will not base on live recording but in the sense of playback which will later snych in the editing.

The camera of course has built in mic but not external with HDMI feature.

I guess the recording can be done but what basic techniques will be adapted to make all things run smoothly??

Love to all forum mates and lot of blessings will go for those who will give an appropriate answer with its possibility.

Hani

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi Hani,
sure you can. In fact you can even do it with your smartphone, or for artistical purposes use an old black and white filmcamera. Music videos are not really limited in that regard, there isn´t even a need to show people singing. The most important thing I´d say is Audio, and you´d want to record that separately anyway.
If you do show people singing, you have to synch the files in post production, otherwise it will look awkward (but even that could be characterized as art ). Synching can be done either manual (checking the waveform and clapping at the beginning of every recording would be the cheapest way to do it), by timecode (which usually is rather pricy), or with software - check Plural Eyes from Red Giant (costs $299 - so if you plan only one music video, it might not be worth it).
Does that help?

 

[HaniHijaz]

Hi TPF Supporter,

Yes your post in reply of my thread is really helpful. Of course I will do show singing and this shoot will go in the post production for synch. This song which I intend to shoot will go to private tv channel for telecast.

For the very first video song I will prefer for manual in the sony vegas software.

As you said the audio is the most important thing so I assume I will be requiring a tape running side by side for my lipsing purposes am I right??

Any thing else to say or advice after what I have said right now.

Thanks again with lot of blessings!

Hani

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi again,
maybe you ask the tv channel for their needs first. Some have very strict rules, others don´t.
I see - so you are going to record the song in the studio, right - and then you make the video. It´s not going to be some sort of live recording of the voice while you are recording the video.
Then you need the song running alongside your videorecording - easier for synch in post (so make it loud so that you can hear it clearly in your video recording). It will depend a little on your talent to time your lips when recording video to match exactly as you did on tape, but I guess that shouldn´t be much of a problem if you are considering to send it to a TV station.
And one more tip: sing in the video too, and don´t only move your lips. You usually see the difference.
Enjoy,
Wolf

 

[HaniHijaz]

Yes you are right all the way now and I will strictly adhere to the tips that you have outlined!

Thanks a lot again.

 

[480sparky]

Sure. There's tons of mirrorless cameras that shoot great video.

 

[Gary A.]

Yes.

 

[HaniHijaz]

When you say mirror less cameras does this means they do not have lenses and have to buy separately
as per the requirement??

 

[photo1x1.com]

When you say mirror less cameras does this means they do not have lenses and have to buy separately
as per the requirement??

Hani, mirrorless cameras are similar to DSLRs. They have interchangeable lenses that you would have to buy separately. They are a little bit smaller in size and only have digital viewfinder.

 

[480sparky]

When you say mirror less cameras does this means they do not have lenses and have to buy separately
as per the requirement??

DSLR = Digital Single Lens Reflex.

The operative word here is reflex. When you look into the viewfinder, you see the image as it is projected through the lens, then a mirror, passed through a pentaprism, then onto a focus screen.

When you press the shutter button, the mirror moves up out and out of the path of the light from the lens. The shutter then opens to expose the image into the sensor. The entire process then reverses so you can see through the viewfinder again. This is why the viewfinder blacks out when you take a photo.

Mirrorless cameras do not use mirrors. Instead, the sensor is always exposed to the light coming through the lens. Electronic viewfinder are typically employed so you can see what the sensor sees.

There are all sorts of mirrorless cameras that take fantastic video.

 

[HaniHijaz]

When you say mirror less cameras does this means they do not have lenses and have to buy separately
as per the requirement??

Hani, mirrorless cameras are similar to DSLRs. They have interchangeable lenses that you would have to buy separately. They are a little bit smaller in size and only have digital viewfinder.

Thanks for your reply. This means if I buy a mirrorless camera it will not have its own lens so need to buy first than affix the lens and than take shots.Am I right???

Hani

 

[unpopular]

Hi Hani,
sure you can. In fact you can even do it with your smartphone, or for artistical purposes use an old black and white filmcamera. Music videos are not really limited in that regard, there isn´t even a need to show people singing. The most important thing I´d say is Audio, and you´d want to record that separately anyway.
If you do show people singing, you have to synch the files in post production, otherwise it will look awkward (but even that could be characterized as art ). Synching can be done either manual (checking the waveform and clapping at the beginning of every recording would be the cheapest way to do it), by timecode (which usually is rather pricy), or with software - check Plural Eyes from Red Giant (costs $299 - so if you plan only one music video, it might not be worth it).
Does that help?

I appreciate that you're trying to be helpful here, but there are a few things you have wrong.

First of all, no. You cannot shoot a music video on a phone unless the style of the video calls for that which the phone uniquely produces. There's a huge misconception out there that, simply because artistic skill is paramount, the tools we use essentially do not matter. You're not going to shoot a Beyonce-style music video on a phone! It's simply beyond the technical limitations of the format. You can, however, shoot a "good" music video with a phone, provided that you're working within the limits of the medium. This goes for everything, whether it's grainy 8mm film all the way up to a Super35 digital cinema camera. So you have to ask yourself, what kind of video are you expecting to shoot, and is it feasible with the equipment you have available.

Not really knowing your gear, it's hard for me to really answer this question, though it would seem you're not familiar enough with your own equipment to really answer this for yourself. I know that comes off as critical, and I don't really mean to be bullish, but it's something you're going to have to appreciate before you can really plan your music video.

Now. As for sound. I'm surprised nobody has really corrected this. Music videos are shot with sound as a reference, but the actual sound being used in the edit is the studio recording. Because every performance will be slightly different, using the timecode from the shoot to sync the timecode of the studio recording is frivolous. Rather, the music is synced visually in post. Fortunately this isn't quite as precise as you might imagine, especially when our visual input is further supported by musical timing - though still requires an editorial skillset.

Regardless what you're shooting on, lighting will be most important. If you're going to spend money on rentals, I'd suggest spending it on lighting. Of course, lighting is a skill in and of itself.

 

[photo1x1.com]

When you say mirror less cameras does this means they do not have lenses and have to buy separately
as per the requirement??

Hani, mirrorless cameras are similar to DSLRs. They have interchangeable lenses that you would have to buy separately. They are a little bit smaller in size and only have digital viewfinder.

Thanks for your reply. This means if I buy a mirrorless camera it will not have its own lens so need to buy first than affix the lens and than take shots.Am I right???

Hani

Yes, that´s correct!

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi Hani,
sure you can. In fact you can even do it with your smartphone, or for artistical purposes use an old black and white filmcamera. Music videos are not really limited in that regard, there isn´t even a need to show people singing. The most important thing I´d say is Audio, and you´d want to record that separately anyway.
If you do show people singing, you have to synch the files in post production, otherwise it will look awkward (but even that could be characterized as art ). Synching can be done either manual (checking the waveform and clapping at the beginning of every recording would be the cheapest way to do it), by timecode (which usually is rather pricy), or with software - check Plural Eyes from Red Giant (costs $299 - so if you plan only one music video, it might not be worth it).
Does that help?

I appreciate that you're trying to be helpful here, but there are a few things you have wrong.

First of all, no. You cannot shoot a music video on a phone unless the style of the video calls for that which the phone uniquely produces. There's a huge misconception out there that, simply because artistic skill is paramount, the tools we use essentially do not matter. You're not going to shoot a Beyonce-style music video on a phone! It's simply beyond the technical limitations of the format. You can, however, shoot a "good" music video with a phone, provided that you're working within the limits of the medium. This goes for everything, whether it's grainy 8mm film all the way up to a Super35 digital cinema camera. So you have to ask yourself, what kind of video are you expecting to shoot, and is it feasible with the equipment you have available.

Not really knowing your gear, it's hard for me to really answer this question, though it would seem you're not familiar enough with your own equipment to really answer this for yourself. I know that comes off as critical, and I don't really mean to be bullish, but it's something you're going to have to appreciate before you can really plan your music video.

Now. As for sound. I'm surprised nobody has really corrected this. Music videos are shot with sound as a reference, but the actual sound being used in the edit is the studio recording. Because every performance will be slightly different, using the timecode from the shoot to sync the timecode of the studio recording is frivolous. Rather, the music is synced visually in post. Fortunately this isn't quite as precise as you might imagine, especially when our visual input is further supported by musical timing - though still requires an editorial skillset.

Regardless what you're shooting on, lighting will be most important. If you're going to spend money on rentals, I'd suggest spending it on lighting. Of course, lighting is a skill in and of itself.

EDIT: first of all: any idea how I can link to youtube without having the files embedded here? it was done automatically.

Thank you for your feedback. Written text almost always sounds more rude, than if we set here and talked, so I understand what you mean about bullish - same here - so if this sounds bossy, it isn´t meant to be.
However, I think we definitely have to differentiate between a highly professional music video done by a popular band with an amazing budget, and those that are appearing more and more on youtube and find their way via youtube into private tv channels, etc.. I´m totally with you in regard to the first, but especially for the latter, there is hardly any limitation. Even for big music productions, there are a few examples (even though some are older, but even back then those are really pretty bad despite being very popular), that don´t abide by the general rules.
Like:

(perhaps the best example with 125.000.000 views on youtube - I don´t say it wasn´t filmed professionally, it sure was but other than the shallow DOF, you could reproduce a similar video with an iphone)
(especially in regard to professional lighting)

(a wall lit by the sun would bring a similar result - not the same, but close)

https://youtu.be/a_zKhYXD2u4
https://youtu.be/LB5YkmjalDg
https://youtu.be/H2lbiS1fris (you could go to a amusement park and easily recreate this kind of video)
https://youtu.be/9G4jnaznUoQ (sure professionally lit, but rather "bad" on purpose)
Matt And Kim - Let's Run Away - Official Music Video (shot on gopro only)
Youngsta - Flowing Through my DNA (iPhone 5 Music Video) (a great example shot on iphone)

There are many, many more examples.
my points are:

1. with music video (almost) anything is allowed.
2. there are a lot of iphone and gopro videos out there (not only music videos) that are much better than other videos shot with arri alexa, red epic and others. It´s not the camera that matters most.
3. lighting: yes and no - you can if you love a great result, but you don´t have to.
4. if you have the talent for singing, but not for producing a rather expensive music video - go cheap, but go.

I´ve referred to studio sound recording in post #4 btw Sound is the one and only most important thing

 

[unpopular]

Hi Hani,
sure you can. In fact you can even do it with your smartphone, or for artistical purposes use an old black and white filmcamera. Music videos are not really limited in that regard, there isn´t even a need to show people singing. The most important thing I´d say is Audio, and you´d want to record that separately anyway.
If you do show people singing, you have to synch the files in post production, otherwise it will look awkward (but even that could be characterized as art ). Synching can be done either manual (checking the waveform and clapping at the beginning of every recording would be the cheapest way to do it), by timecode (which usually is rather pricy), or with software - check Plural Eyes from Red Giant (costs $299 - so if you plan only one music video, it might not be worth it).
Does that help?

I appreciate that you're trying to be helpful here, but there are a few things you have wrong.

First of all, no. You cannot shoot a music video on a phone unless the style of the video calls for that which the phone uniquely produces. There's a huge misconception out there that, simply because artistic skill is paramount, the tools we use essentially do not matter. You're not going to shoot a Beyonce-style music video on a phone! It's simply beyond the technical limitations of the format. You can, however, shoot a "good" music video with a phone, provided that you're working within the limits of the medium. This goes for everything, whether it's grainy 8mm film all the way up to a Super35 digital cinema camera. So you have to ask yourself, what kind of video are you expecting to shoot, and is it feasible with the equipment you have available.

Not really knowing your gear, it's hard for me to really answer this question, though it would seem you're not familiar enough with your own equipment to really answer this for yourself. I know that comes off as critical, and I don't really mean to be bullish, but it's something you're going to have to appreciate before you can really plan your music video.

Now. As for sound. I'm surprised nobody has really corrected this. Music videos are shot with sound as a reference, but the actual sound being used in the edit is the studio recording. Because every performance will be slightly different, using the timecode from the shoot to sync the timecode of the studio recording is frivolous. Rather, the music is synced visually in post. Fortunately this isn't quite as precise as you might imagine, especially when our visual input is further supported by musical timing - though still requires an editorial skillset.

Regardless what you're shooting on, lighting will be most important. If you're going to spend money on rentals, I'd suggest spending it on lighting. Of course, lighting is a skill in and of itself.

EDIT: first of all: any idea how I can link to youtube without having the files embedded here? it was done automatically.

Thank you for your feedback. Written text almost always sounds more rude, than if we set here and talked, so I understand what you mean about bullish - same here - so if this sounds bossy, it isn´t meant to be.
However, I think we definitely have to differentiate between a highly professional music video done by a popular band with an amazing budget, and those that are appearing more and more on youtube and find their way via youtube into private tv channels, etc.. I´m totally with you in regard to the first, but especially for the latter, there is hardly any limitation. Even for big music productions, there are a few examples (even though some are older, but even back then those are really pretty bad despite being very popular), that don´t abide by the general rules.
Like:

(perhaps the best example with 125.000.000 views on youtube - I don´t say it wasn´t filmed professionally, it sure was but other than the shallow DOF, you could reproduce a similar video with an iphone)
(especially in regard to professional lighting)

(a wall lit by the sun would bring a similar result - not the same, but close)

https://youtu.be/a_zKhYXD2u4
https://youtu.be/LB5YkmjalDg
https://youtu.be/H2lbiS1fris (you could go to a amusement park and easily recreate this kind of video)
https://youtu.be/9G4jnaznUoQ (sure professionally lit, but rather "bad" on purpose)
Matt And Kim - Let's Run Away - Official Music Video (shot on gopro only)
Youngsta - Flowing Through my DNA (iPhone 5 Music Video) (a great example shot on iphone)

There are many, many more examples.
my points are:

1. with music video (almost) anything is allowed.
2. there are a lot of iphone and gopro videos out there (not only music videos) that are much better than other videos shot with arri alexa, red epic and others. It´s not the camera that matters most.
3. lighting: yes and no - you can if you love a great result, but you don´t have to.
4. if you have the talent for singing, but not for producing a rather expensive music video - go cheap, but go.

I´ve referred to studio sound recording in post #4 btw Sound is the one and only most important thing

No, I get what you're saying, but my point here is that how we plan projects has to take into consideration the equipment available to us.

Think of it this way, no matter how awesome you are at construction you won't be able to build a multi-million dollar mansion with a spade, a saw and a hammer. It does not matter how much talent you have, the task is simply impractical. On the other hand, you could probably build a *ridiculously awesome* fort.

I think this is a moot point. I think you already appreciate this. But there is this tendency to think that because 21 Days Later was shot using a potato that anything can be done with primitive tools provided that you have enough talent. This is not true. The type of film that 21 Days Later is lends itself to the format; raw and dirty footage is part of the storytelling. There are thousands of examples where this choice would have been unfitting and even distracting. Imagine if Ida were shot on a cell phone. Sure, we could appreciate the story and performance, but certainly some part of that would be confused by the video quality.