Filming Night Music Video - Advice Please

[Martin Campbell]

Hi all,

I'm planning to shoot my first music video and just wanted to pick up some advice on it if possible.

It will be shot at night in the city and has a christmas feel to it (although not really a christmas song!) - Lots of Christmas lights, shop lights etc, I'm not geting paid for it, but still want to do the best job on it if possible.

5DMKII
I have a 50mm 1.4,
24-70 L,
Tokina 11-16mm
70-200 f2.8.

I'm thinking that I would have been best to get hold of a 50mm 1.2 L lens just for sharpness - but perhaps the difference is so minimal. I also have tracking dolly & Glidetrack. I have remote LED lights too so all good on that front.
I'll shoot the 50mm stuff and 24-70mm on monopod so not as much shakiness.

I was thinking would I be best to film at 720p 50fps, play the music at a slightly faster speed and then slow it down slightly - perhaps it would give it a 'look'! Perhaps it would be too much hassle.
Anyway - I really want to do a good job on it so whatever advice you can give would be fantastic - I'm sure I'll bounce a few ideas off along the way. Also - should I shoot 'flat' and then colour correct post? I usually always shoot with normal settings.

[Michael Kraus]

Hi Martin,

I don't think you'll get much of a sharpness increase with the 50 1.2. The 50 1.4 is plenty sharp for DSLR video. I think the real benefit you might get out of this lens is the buttery smooth bokeh. All those out of focus Christmas lights and such will look great with the 1.2. The 50 1.4 will do great as well though.

I vote that you definitely shoot flat. You're going to want room to play with all the shadow details. You may still end up crushing a lot of them in post but it's nice to have the option when you have a lot of night shots.

You have 720p on your 5D II?

[Martin Campbell]

You know - I've never shot at 50fps on the 5DMKII - I just thought it had it!!!

Oh well - won't be doing that then! Have never shot at 24fps - EVER! Don't know what the difference would be - is it worth it?

[Martin Campbell]

I thought there would have been loads of people chipping in with experience of this sort of thing! :-(

[John Carroll]

I would like to know how your speed changes work out for you. It's an interesting idea... if you follow the process you outlined above, you'll end up with a look that might seem like "reduced gravity" or something like that. The music will be in sync, but things like hair movement or objects falling would happen at a slower rate. It will look unnatural for sure, but that could be a cool thing. If you only do subtle speed changes to keep the effect slightly muted, it will be fun because the viewer will know something is off, but may not know exactly what it is... Maybe have a couple of people throwing a ball in the background or a juggler or something like that, would call attention to the fact that something is off. Not sure if I would do the whole thing that way without shooting some test so you know what you are getting into ahead of time. Could be interesting or it could be a distraction. Definitely worth experimenting with though!
If you do decide to slow it down, the higher frame rate will certainly help you out. Maybe slow your shutter speed down to give things a bit more motion blur to heighten the effect some might be fun.

Make sure you have enough light. Super shallow DOF might be too much combined with the speed effects.

Shoot tests!

Sounds like fun... look forward to seeing it!

[Caleb Reynolds]

Martin, the way I shoot music videos...I capture audio to the camera as reference only. Then take the CD quality or better track and match it up like the old slate style of shooting. Which you can use that as reference and clap your hands in front of the camera is you don't have a slate.

I would think you'll still need some fill light, especially with the band if you want them to look good. I've never shot with the MkII. I have a new project coming up where I will be using the client provided MkIII so thats why I'm in this thread.

[John Carroll]

Clapping your hands in front of the camera doesn't do anything for you if you are syncing to pre-recorded audio tracks. For a music video, a slate is only helpful for audio sync if you have audio playback generating timecode which is displayed on the slate.

Remember, you aren't recording audio here... only playing it back.

[Al Bergstein]

Originally Posted by Caleb Reynolds

Martin, the way I shoot music videos...I capture audio to the camera as reference only. Then take the CD quality or better track and match it up like the old slate style of shooting. Which you can use that as reference and clap your hands in front of the camera is you don't have a slate.

I would think you'll still need some fill light, especially with the band if you want them to look good. .

Agree with both points.