The Greatest Promo of All: Part 1

Ladies and Gentlemen. In today's fast-paced society a musician needs to have quite a few skills to win(and keep) a contract and remain abreast of current trends especially in marketing and promotion.
That being said, usually a musicians' best way of promoting themselves to clients is by using a promotional video.

Today's article is Part 1 of a series of articles that I will be writing to explain the ways to film a decent promotional video.

A great promotional video is THE KEY to gaining international contracts. In this day and age a good promotional video is worth more to you than the ailing Greek economy.
A good promotional video, correctly distributed, will keep working for you by bringing in job offers and attention long after you've forgotten that you filmed it
.
But how do you go about making a good promotional video for yourself and/or your band?

Here's a brief list of what 'works' and what 'doesn't' work.

A Good Promo:

• Clear focus and steady camera work
• Simple
• Not too long
• Good sound
• Costume changes

A 'Not-so-Good' promo

• Too dark or too bright
• Poor use of distance
• Overuse of angle changes
• Poor sound
• Lack of forethought

The truth of the matter is that you only need to follow those few simple guidelines to make a good video that clients will enjoy watching.

Let me discuss the qualities of a good promo video in slightly greater detail.

1. Clear focus and steady camera work. This is absolutely critical folks! Put yourself in the shoes of a prospective client. Ask yourself this- "Would I like to watch a video that's permanently out of focus or moving in and out of focus and going fuzzy?". No. "Would I enjoy seeing a video that looks as if it was filmed whilst sitting on the back of a horse?" No.

So keep your camera focused and on a tripod or sitting on something that doesn't move.

2. Simple. Guys n Girls don't buy into the hype. You do not need to create a Hollywood style movie  for your promo video. Simple lighting, a nice clean stage or background is ample. Clients want to see you and your band, not a lot of cutting-edge special FX, pyrotechnic displays, or laser shows unless you can replicate that onstage or you have a special act that uses that media when playing live.

When I was back in New Zealand earlier this year a friend contacted me and told me about the difficulties he was experiencing trying to get a promo video filmed in the UK.

He said he needed an expensive lighting rig, a huge stage, 3 cameras and so on. I asked him his budget for the video. 

He replied 'we're all broke'.
That was all I needed to hear. I suggested he find a big room in someones home, turn the lights on, clean up the background, and use one camera. 

Then he said he didn't have a decent camera. 

I said are you using your ipad to chat to me? 

He said 'yep'. 

I said 'Which version?' 

He said 'iPad 3*'.

I said 'Do you realize the iPad 3 has a beautiful HD video camera'

He said 'Oh yeah, I forgot about that'. 

He followed my advice and about 2 months later his band got work.

* Tip- iPhones from about the iPhone 4 on are perfectly capable of filming a good promo video. I'm not too sure about Blackberries or other mobile devices but its definitely worth checking around your circle of friends to see if they have a device that is good enough to use for filming. The biggest limitation is the sound quality, but turning your levels down or moving the device farther or closer to the sound source can really help with any clipping or loss of signal that may occur.

3. Not too long. A promo video for yourself or your band only needs to be about 6 to 8 minutes in duration. There is always a temptation to make the video longer but usually clients don't want to spend too much time watching promo videos. They may have to watch 10 or 12 videos and they simply don't have the time to watch you play full-versions of 8 or 9 songs. So you have to highlight and showcase the best of what you have in a limited time frame.

* Tip- Don't forget to include ALL of your contact details on your video. Contact name, phone numbers, email address, links to other videos or your website or blog

4. Good sound. Although this may seem like common sense and rather self-explanatory I have heard enough promo videos to know that there are some musicians out there that ironically don't put enough effort into improving the sound quality of their promotional video. Generally you have three choices.

• Pre-record everything and then lip-sync to the audio track when you are filming
• Record it live
• Do both and mix some pre-recorded sound with the live sound for your promo

Most clients don't really mind which choice you make and if you've done it well they may not even know which choice you have made. Although, I have seen clients' requesting that the video and sound be of a live performance*.

* Tip- Music editing software like Soundforge can be great for sweetening your sound. Just don't go overboard with the reverb and delay.

5. Costume changes. It is worth taking the extra time and effort to film two or three different 'looks' when you are shooting your promotional video. After all, performing is a a lot about image and style, and a client would often like to see how you can alter your appearance. As I have mentioned in an earlier post, clients often listen with their eyes!

What 'doesn't work:

1.Too dark or too bright. You would not believe the number of promo videos I have seen that looked as though they were shot in a deep cave with bats as an audience. I once saw a promo video  that was so dark I could only just see the outline of the guitarist throughout his video. To exacerbate matters he used a live video of a duet and the focal point of the camera was on the other musician! I have never seen a video that was too bright but I'm sure there are some floating around out there somewhere. If you think its too dark it probably is.

2. Poor use of distance. Set the camera(s) at a distance that can capture everyone that needs to be captured. If you only have one camera and its fixed, make sure you place it a distance where you can keep everyone in the shot, especially if they are dancing and moving from left to right or forwards and backwards.
The more people that are in the video the more complex it will probably become. But you can still shoot with one camera and use effects in your movie editing software as required to zoom in and out onto players when they solo or pan left and right to track the movements of the players/ dancers.

3. Overuse of angle changes. Don't change your angles too often. We once had a film crew come in and film us for a new promo video in Dubai. When we saw the finished product I got a headache after the first minute. There was a different angle every 2 or 3 seconds, some of our feet, some of our backs, when I soloed it had all of my body except my head. It was just a big mess. We never got any work with that video and it didn't surprise me at all. As I have previously mentioned- just keep it simple. Nice long steady shots are great, mix it up occasionally with a pan or a close up of a solo or some dance choreography to avoid monotony, but don't go crazy.

4. Poor sound. I know its hard to believe but as a musician you have a responsibility to ensure that your sound on your promo video is good. Poor sound usually comes from using the sound from the camera that you used to film the video or from using footage from a video that was filmed without the intention of using it as promo material.
In saying this, cameras have come a long way as far as sound recording quality is concerned. The easiest way to find out if your camera can handle the sound is to play at your loudest and quietest. If the camera can play it all back with no clipping in the loudest sections or a noticeable loss of signal in the quiet sections you're probably good to go and you can add some effects using software. Even movie editing software these days allows you to add some effects to your soundtracks. It is well worth the time to go through your soundtrack with a fine-tooth comb to fix any issues with the sound. It is amazing how just some simple normalizing and equalization adjustments can drastically improve the sound.
Recording everything from the desk live or individually or as a group in a studio will definitely give you the best results in terms of fidelity and post-production editing options, but it can be a lengthy and expensive process to organize and its largely dependent upon the hardware, the software, your or your teams' knowledge of recording and mixing, and the length of time that can be allocated to mixing it all down and mastering it.

5. Lack of forethought. People, your promotional video is the single most important weapon in your marketing arsenal. Give it some thought. Plan it well. Make sure it shows you in winning form, looking as good as you can, playing or singing your butt off, and enjoying doing it. Smile from time to time, put some energy into it; make sure you have tailored your look and your musical choices to suit the client. A video for a Top 40 club will have to be different to a video for a jazz lounge club. A small amount of time planning and executing a good video will get you work- guaranteed.

I just have to mention a promotional video that I saw on Facebook a few months ago. It was a guitarists' promo video. The video just reeked of a lack of forethought. It was easy to see that he could play, but the overall impression that I was left with was that it was rushed, sloppy, and really didn't show him in his best light. It wasn't too good because of the following reasons:

• The first 2 minutes of the video was just pictures of himself
• The sound was not his own. As soon as I heard the opening passages to 'Eruption' from Eddie Van Halen I knew it had been burned directly from the original Van Halen recording. There were also 2 other songs burned from the original recordings in his video. I'm not a hater but if you are promoting yourself as a player you should use your own playing not someone else's (backing tracks excluded)
• The only actual video footage was filmed at an extremely awkward and unflattering angle and it was only one song 'Sweet Home Alabama'
• No contact details at the end

Please don't rush your videos. It is such an important vehicle for promotion that you should really try to do the best job that you can. Once it is online it is there to stay and it represents you and what you do as a profession. You will probably have little to no idea of who will see that video. Because of this you should take as many steps as necessary and practical to ensure that it is presenting you in a wonderful way. Don't let all of your years of hard work and dedication be let down by a sub-par video.

That's all for now amigos. Stay tuned for my next article which will show you how to shoot a good promo with limited gear, limited cash, and unlimited ingenuity. I'll also show you my 'custom-made iPad filming rig'.

Peace out!