If you are just starting out as a music video director, and you want to impress the band. Here are a couple of tips regarding common music video mistakes you might want to take into consideration before starting the challenging, but fun process!

Too fast

The human brain needs approximately 6 seconds to figure out what is going on. A lot of beginning video artists, want to put a lot of material they shot into the video, as a result the video has the feeling of flashing, rather than following a story. It’s important to give the viewer enough space to follow the story, otherwise you might risk that they won’t understand what’s going on.

Audio is not in sync

The most important thing about a music video is the audio of course. If you have a playthrough video, it’s therefore important to have the audio in sync with what the band is playing. It’s easy to synchronize the track of the video you shot with the actual single the band wants to release. If you are not 100% sure if your video is in sync or not, just ask the band, they’re trained musicians!

The music doesn’t match the music video

Imagine the band wants to release a ballad and you have a lot of full-blown action video material you want to use for their music video. There’s a place and time for every type of footage, use footage or a storyline that fits the song, fits the atmosphere and the tempo.

Script is confusing

If you want a story-based music video, you might end up writing a script. In number 3, we already talked about how the story has to match the song, but the trick is also to find a balance in the story. The general music video lasts about 5 minutes tops (unless you’re working for a prog band), don’t confuse a music video for a short story, don’t try to put too much in your script, or you risk confusing the viewers. It’s also important to not have too many topics in one video, this might overwhelm the viewer.

Transitions are not well-executed

Sometimes a scene ends abruptly and then the next scene already comes along. This confuses viewers a lot, because it may look as if they video has skipped or had a glitch. Transitions between scenes should be very smooth, and try not to use the transition effects that editing software have too much, they look often cheesy – unless that is what you are aiming for!

Final Thoughts

Now that you know these tips, you can start and begin your career as a music video director! Best of luck!

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