Step 1: Framing your subject. Set your camera on your tripod or if your doing a hand held shot you want to have your artists in the center of the frame like what you see here:
Now notice that I have some of my extras in the background. They will always be behind the artists to fill in the background to make the scene hot. The two poles that are one the left and the right of the artists will serve as my markers for the artists and the extra so they don't go passed them and risk going out of frame. Our shot is set up now to capture a far shot of your performance scene. Note that you can use the same set up for performance scenes that will only have the artists and no extras in the background.
Step 2: Camera Rolling
Your next step is to start your camera rolling.
Step 3: Roll Playback
Now start your audio CD so the artists can get ready to perform. Now while your camera is rolling and your CD is playing, your camera should not only be picking up the video but should also be picking up your audio playing on your CD in the background.
Being able to hear the song in the background while your artist is performing in your raw or source footage will make it easy to sync your video to your “audio” once you start to edit. Now when I say audio, what I mean by that is the song or track that is ripped from your CD that you will edit the video to. Never use the sound from your raw footage as that only serves to help you sync the video up to it. When your recording for your performance scenes, let the artists perform the whole verse. Worry about cutting each scene line by line in editing. What I do isw let the whole verse run through before I call cut.
Step 4: Call Cut
Once you have your performance scene complete, call cut and your done. When doing performance scenes, you always want to get 3 shots:
A far shot of your performance scene:
A mid shot of your performance scene:
And a close up shot of your performance scene:
That way while your editing, you will be able to switch up your scenes between close mid and far shots while at the same time cutting to the beat.
Below is an example of how your music video will look if you follow these steps to get the best performance scenes. You can use almost any backdrop (like the building you see in the background) to make your scene really stand out. All you have to do is be creative.
