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Images and tips by Charley Voorhis
TIP 1
Shoot a Master Shot.
This shot should be aesthetically pleasing and reliable. I think of this shot as the foundation of the music video. I can rely on cutting to it at any given time throughout the music video. I take little to no risks in this take and really let the performance of the musician carry the shot. I most often lock this shot off static or occasionally incorporate slow, stable pans or dollies.
TIP 2
Shoot a Variable Shot.
The main purpose of this shot is to take risks, explore angles, compositions and movements. I often shoot this shot handheld or on a gimbal. The primary goal of this shot is to capture variety. The more variety of angles and compositions that I get out of this take, the more dynamic my video will be. I often encourage the musician to replicate the same performance they gave during the master shot, however that is a subjective, artistic choice.
TIP 3
Edit the Video.
The master shot gets assigned to track one on the video timeline. If all went as planned during the shoot, there should be no need to make any cuts to this shot on the timeline. Next, I sync the variable take on top of the master shot on track two. Once the two shots are synced with the audio track, I filter out all of the unusable moments of the variable take. This will leave a chopped-up sequence of video on track two. It’s important that once all the tracks are synced to the audio that the clips don’t get moved forward or backward on the timeline. This will keep all the edited video in sync.
TIP 4
Polish the Edit.
This stage of the process is all about making creative decisions. It’s important to pay close attention to how each shot cuts from one shot to the next. This is also the stage in the editing process where I begin to make creative choices like the look of the video regarding color, styles and transitions.
TIP 5
Special note.
This process mapped out a two-shot project, but this same process can be scaled to include as many takes as you’d like.
Regarding audio: This style of project is most easily accomplished using a pre-recorded version of the song and having the artist perform along with it. If the audio is being recorded live during the takes, it’s highly recommended that each take is performed along with a click track to ensure all the takes will sync up in the edit.
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