"How do I become a music video director? How did you get into this? Whose door do I knock on? That's not the right way to think about it. You should really just grab a camera and shoot stuff and wait till it's good enough for people to notice."
Being exposed to first hand knowledge and advice from those also on the filmmaking journey is vitally important when it comes to developing your craft, regardless of how far along in your career you are -- it's pretty much this ethos which saw our very own Koo put out the DSLR Cinematography Guide. As last month's Fidgit Box interview with William McGregor demonstrated, advice from a peer can be of more practical use than the wisdom gleaned from cinema's master practitioners as it often contains insights you can put into practice here and now, as opposed to filing it away for that elusive day when you direct your first multi-million dollar feature. Episode 1 of the new documentary web series The Videographers Guide aims to share this type of knowledge through its interviews with working music video directors:
The brainchild of Trevor Bayack, a filmmaker and founder of The New Pop, The Videographers Guide began life as the 19 part blog series The Videographers Guide to Not Falling on your New Media Face, with Bayack deciding to eschew the original's personal style and instead replace it with the voice of industry experts, thereby creating much more of a practical video tutorial series.
Although focussed on music promos, much of the advice here is relevent regardless of your specific film bent. However, if promos really aren't your bag, it's worth noting that Bayack plans to feature a wide range of filmmakers in the series down the road.
The Videographers Guide is a documentary web series where we document young filmmakers as they produce short videos for the web in a variety of genres. We want to pull back the veil that shrouds the new media landscape by providing valuable information from other filmmakers who are on the front lines. The goal is to present this information in a compelling, stylistic way that is as informative as it is entertaining.
Episode 2, Events, is due to drop early 2013, but in the meantime the team are at work on getting the Videographers Guide Collectors Edition handbook out in time for the holidays.
We already asked about your favorite filmmaking sites this week, so it seems only prudent to inquire what your favourite tutorial series are?
Link: The Videographers Guide
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Your Comment
17 Comments
Neat. Was interested in watching this seeing as I directed a music video that dropped yesterday. It's my first "official" MV release and any comments and feedback would be appreciated (Except for ones about the "Bad" vocals)
http://youtu.be/J8Asa7pAtKc
October 8, 2012 at 11:28AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
I apologize for taking up so much space ...
October 8, 2012 at 11:30AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
Great job dude seriously. Love the editing, love the cinematography. Love it!
October 10, 2012 at 10:16PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
cool stuff...great post, really appreciate this...
awesome video man...keep it up
October 8, 2012 at 11:51AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
I cant stand that shitty indie jingle that plays in every video these days
October 8, 2012 at 5:08PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
I agree with this sentiment.
And furthermore, I think the ability to embed videos in these comments should be disabled. Nofilmschool's comment's section is beginning to become quite unpleasant these days.
October 9, 2012 at 2:49AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
I wasn't expecting it to embed, I thought a link would appear. Apologies.
October 9, 2012 at 9:33AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
Then it's not your fault, the function that automatically does this should be disabled. I'm alright with people sharing links, but (I feel that) embedded videos detract from both the article and the comments.
October 9, 2012 at 10:01AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
haha u can thank audionetwork for that :))
October 9, 2012 at 7:13AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
What is the music video with the motorcycles and the Lambo?
October 8, 2012 at 8:03PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
i also directed music videos...we have a team Fame & Flame...our references are ther :
https://www.youtube.com/user/roberthedzet
October 9, 2012 at 1:51AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
It's great that the cost of gear has come down. But that also means more garbage will be produced, like the posted music video. I could only stomach 48 seconds of that screaming chode.
October 9, 2012 at 4:00PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
We shot it on RED.
Thanks for watching.
October 9, 2012 at 8:03PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
I didn't watch the entire length, but it looked well put together. Kudos.
October 9, 2012 at 8:32PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
I visited the sites page to bookmark it and read the following drivel: 'She had that All-American drive that makes this country the entrepreneurial capitol of the world. That is the embodiment of the American dream, and if nothing else this is what The Videographers Guide is about.' Seriously off-putting to non-americans due to the blatant sense of superiority, and factual inaccuracy. Being proud of your nation is one thing, but spouting ignorant rhetoric will only lead to an alienation of a potentially global audience base. The supposed 'American Dream' is not unique to America, as the bulk of wealthy democratic nations (i.e. all of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc.) offer similar opportunities to their populations, and generate equal or better levels of entrepreneurial / innovation per capita. In regards to social mobility within wealthy nations (i.e. moving from a generational position of poverty to wealth) only the UK offers a worse percentage than the US.
October 11, 2012 at 3:19PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
I'm a videographer. I recently started getting into making music videos, mostly rap. I know someone who's into the rap game but says a videographer I need to do free videos because that's the only way I'll get people to notice me, the more people notice then I can charge a price that's with it to me for my services. Almost like interning.
Is he full
October 11, 2012 at 4:28PM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM
I'm the protege featured in this doc. Granted the price of gear has gone down and 'a lot of garbage will be produced' , the internet helps sort out all the crap and helps great projects go viral.
November 24, 2012 at 11:20AM, Edited September 4, 7:54AM