A good music video is more than a video with pictures over a song. Adds a new dimension to the music. With an online video editor, musicians can experiment with pacing, framing, colour, text and movement without turning every project into a major production.
Clideo is one option worth considering for this kind of work. Its browser based editing tools let creators cut footage, add text, resize videos and combine visual elements without building an elaborate post production setup. For independent musicians, that can make experimentation much more accessible.
The more interesting question, however, is what to do with those editing capabilities.
Your genre can influence your editing style
The ideal size for a music video doesn’t exist. A slow ambient composition and a fast punk track probably should not look as though they were edited by the same visual playbook.
The first question is “what should the listener feel?
If the music is atmospheric
Consider:
- Longer shots
- Slow camera movement
- Gentle transitions
- Minimal text
- Layered imagery
- Wide compositions
- Visual repetition
A song built around texture and space may benefit from visuals that give the viewer room to breathe.
If it is aggressive or rhythm driven
The polar opposite strategy might be more effective:
- Faster cuts
- Strong changes in framing
- Rhythmic movement – to the beat.
- Close-up of instruments.
- Abrupt transitions
- Repeated visual motifs
You don’t need to edit all the beats. In fact, it can become predictable to continuously cut on the beat. When letting a picture linger over a musical change, it can sometimes cause tension.
Edit for the emotion, not just the rhythm
The most common pitfall in music video editing is to sync all of the visual cuts with the music.
It looks impressive for a while. Then it gets tiring!
There is more to music than beats. There are pauses, anticipation, repetition, release and contrast. Those qualities can be addressed by editing in various ways.
Imagine a track that spends two minutes building toward a huge final section. To chop away from the get-go would ease part of that anticipation.
Instead, you could gradually introduce:
- Wider shots in the beginning.
- As the piece unfolds more movement is added.
- More concise scene cuts in the climax.
- A sudden return to a static image after the final note
The visual structure then corresponds to the musical structure, but not necessarily to each beat.
Let the lyrics influence the visual language
Sometimes, lyrics offer a very clear beginning point, but literal interpretation isn’t always the most interesting.
If a song mentions rain, you do not necessarily need footage of rain.
Rather, think about what the meaning of the lyric is.
Use for a song about isolation:
- Empty spaces
- Reflections
- Distant figures
- Repeated shots of the same location
- Negative space outside of the performer
Nostalgia could be the theme of a song that could include:
- Older looking footage
- Faded imagery
- Home videos
- Still photographs
- Deliberately imperfect transitions
This way, you aren’t just copying the words in a picture, you are producing a visual interpretation.
Give the instruments a visual role
Often musicians focus on the singer and the other musicians become invisible.
That is a missed opportunity.
You can use a close up of a guitar player’s hands to represent a guitar riff. A complicated drum pattern can be accompanied by quick cuts between different angles. Electronic music may employ equipment, controllers and screens as elements of the visual world.
Even a simple performance recording becomes more dynamic when you have several types of shots:
- Shot of the entire performance.
- Close-up photo of the musician.
- Close up of hands
- Detail of an instrument
- Reaction between performers
- Audience perspective
- Environmental shots
The objective is not to use every shot. It is to have sufficient visual matter to make conscious decisions in the editing process.
Build a visual motif
The best music videos have something that lingers with the audience.
It could be a colour, object, location, movement or recurring image.
But for an independent artist, this isn’t a difficult thing to do.
An element that is repeated visually could be:
- A particular colour
- A distinctive room
- A vintage television
- Mirrors or reflections
- A specific light display.
- Handwritten lyrics
- A repeated motion of the camera.
- One particular costume or prop
After you have decided on the motif, repeat it at significant points in the song.
That creates cohesion without requiring an expensive production.
Never underestimate simple footage!
A sophisticated concept does not require sophisticated equipment.
A musician can create a very successful video using footage from:
- A rehearsal room
- A home studio
- A backstage area
- A record shop
- A city street
- A tour bus
- A soundcheck
- An empty venue
The key is picking out the meaning of the footage before putting it together.
Berklee’s guidance on music video cinematography similarly treats the form as a meeting point between music, visual storytelling and film. Its examples focus on thinking before shooting, with an emphasis on the story and the visual concept.
Use editing to create contrast
Contrast is one of the most useful tools available to an editor.
A loud section can follow a visually quiet sequence. A close up can suddenly become a wide shot. A moving camera can be followed by a completely static frame.
Try pairing:
- Fast music + slow visuals: This can make the music feel more intense because the viewer is not being overwhelmed by movement.
- Slow music + fast visual changes: This can have an unsettling or tension building effect.
- Quiet section + minimal imagery: This allows for a visual breaking point before the next musical development.
Images and sounds do not have to be the same. Sometimes the most memorable moments happen when they disagree.
Keep in mind that music videos are artworks.
In addition, there is a practical consideration that musicians should keep in mind when creating a video around external content.
For musicians, and others in similar positions, the U.S. Copyright Office notes the general need for permission or an appropriate licence when using another creator’s copyrighted work. This may pertain to recordings, compositions and other creative work used in an audiovisual project.
If you are adding a famous photograph, film clip or other artist’s recording, check rights before adding it; do not assume that because something is on the internet it is in the public domain.
For the independent artist, maintaining originality of the visual ingredients can be an asset. Your footage, your performance and your aesthetic create a visual identity that belongs to the project.
Use the editing to support the song.
The best visual treatment is not necessarily the most complicated one.
At times it is a single shot that’s shot too long. At times, it’s a random series of cuts. At times the whole concept is based on one weird image that keeps recurring.
While the technical aspects of experimentation might be easier to accomplish with an online video editor, the creative decision is still the musician’s.
Before opening the editor, listen to the song without looking at a screen. Mark its mood change, the build up of tension, where a surprising event occurs, and where the music requires space.
Then edit those moments visually.
When the pictures begin to behave like part of the composition rather than decoration placed on top of it, a music video starts becoming something more interesting: another way of hearing the song.
