If you're anything like me at all, you like to take advantage of those who have already figured something out. There really isn't any sense in bashing your head against the proverbial wall to figure something out when someone has already done it and, in this case, made their experience available to you.
Johuri Filmworks has done just that with their "Learn How To: Shoot A Music Video." Thank God for people that are willing to share their experiences with others! This "how to" program is broken into three parts: A DVD which shares the title of the program (Learn How To: Shoot A Music Video), a downloadable e-book entitled, "Launching A Successful Music Video Production Business," and a CD entitled "Gaining Industry Clients Using One Unique Marketing Strategy." For the purposes of this review I will take a look at each component separately.
Let's start with the DVD portion "Learn How To: Shoot A Music Video":
At just barely over thirty minutes of run time, the DVD is easy to take in with one sitting. Which, of course, is great if you want to get right out there to apply what you've learned.
The DVD is hosted by Jamal "Jag" Johnson who, right off the bat, has one of those personalities that makes the presentation easy to pay attention to and phrases things in ways that are easy to understand. You really feel like you know the guy and he's sitting there with you sharing pieces of his experiences with you. I found this to be refreshing since so many "how to" presentations are very sterile and stuffy. An amiable face and voice can go a long way with an audience.
Depending on where you're at as a filmmaker will affect how useful some of the information presented is to you. This DVD has been put together for the most novice of beginners and is very much a quick overview of the process. Jag does a great job a making a detailed list of things a beginner will need in order to shoot a music video: from camera and tripod (though most of the scenes in the sample video were shot hand held) to a battery operated CD player. And, it is nice to know that Jag and his crew of filmmakers are shooting with the same kind of equipment most of us are. (Although I will point out that the main picture on the DVD insert is a bit misleading in regards to what kind of gear is being used, as it shows much higher end gear than is used for this training. Perhaps using pictures of the actual cameras used in the training for the cover would prevent people thinking that it’s too high end for them.)
The importance of story boarding and making sure your extras get their promised screen time are stressed and I feel are things that first time filmmakers can easily miss. Story boarding is one of those things that you don't fully appreciate until you've tried to shoot anything without it. Anyone who has never shot anything before would benefit from this piece of advice. Making sure your extras get their promised screen time is also a good piece of advice when it comes to keeping your word and being a producer/director that people will want to work with again, in our case, usually for free.
The last thirteen and a half minutes of the DVD discuss the editing process. Which, in my opinion, is really one of the most difficult pieces to the puzzle since it deals with learning software and all the ins and outs involved with it. Honestly, if I had watched this DVD with no experience at all in editing I would have been totally lost. While they try to break it down into simple components, learning editing software just isn't that simple. If you're an inexperienced filmmaker shooting your first short or music video find someone that has some editing experience that can give you an in depth course in how to use the software. (Or spring for a subscription to Total Training’s fantastic online training courses which go through the two most popular Indie packages: Premiere Pro and FCP.) Premiere and FCP are just too deep to really explain in thirteen minutes. I personally would have liked another thirteen minutes of practical shooting tips and techniques as opposed to a crash course guide to editing a music video.
