Process of music video production

Throughout our course we have had media practitioners attend Long Road and help us in terms of video, music etc, but two of the most important practitioners we have had were two music video directors Jake and Jim. They explained to us very clearly the process of music video production and what happens in various stages. 


Below, in my own words, is the process explained.

The first stage is the initial stage for the music video. After the music is agreed and the artist is happy etc, things start to become finalised. The video Commissioner at the music artist's record company puts or sends out the specific music track to a list of potential directors and/or production companies, in which they think the music will be appreciated and suitable to the record company themselves.


The second stage is the point where all the potential directors or production companies 'pitch' for the track. A pitch is a rough idea of what the video would be like, usually about 100 words or so , which explains clearly the ideas for the video, possible venue, props, timing, etc. The pitch for the track is usually the directors or production company's  ideas/concepts, which are usually based upon the brief from the main record company and the music track they have listened to.

The Third stage is the point when the main decision is made. The main Record company would usually choose the director or production company they think had the best and most relevant idea, suited to the music track they were sent out initially and the pitch given. The record company then allocates the budget for the music video; which can range substantially from very low (£100) to even above £40,000 for one video. The producer looks after the budget and makes important arrangements for the process. A percentage of the budget, (could be any percentage needed) is usually kept for this role in the music video.

The fourth stage is where others are brought on board the process to help. The Director of Photography and art director (or production designer) are brought on at this stage. The art director usually oversees the planning of the look of video and sees if this is acceptable, he also oversees the scouting for locations and makes sure these are suitable for the look of the video, and the main planning of the shoot takes place. This is seen as the PRE-PRODUCTION stage.

The Fifth stage is perhaps the most important of all, this is the day where the music video shoot takes place. The shoot is usually one day but could vary depending on what the record company wants for the video in general.

The Sixth stage is the OFF-LINE edit stage, where the editor for the music video would put together all the footage filmed from the music video shoot over a period of a few days. However, the majority of the time, the record company and artist may want to see it in order to analyse the video themselves and see if it is what they had asked for originally. Sometimes, they may wish to suggest changes if the video does not meet the criteria they wanted.

The Seventh stage is the ONLINE edit stage, which comes only after the OFF-LINE edit stage is completed. This is the stage where if any special effects need adding, they will be added and this sometimes can be very time consuming. The main thing for this stage is getting the final version of the music video ready and ensuring it is all correctly edited.

The Eighth stage is the first stage where the music video gets shown to the public. The delivery of the finished video is taken to the client (the record company) and if everything is effective, the music video is played on TV, online etc, which is where it is shown to the public.

(Please note stages one to eight may take as little as only 3-4 weeks these days, as opposed to longer in previous years. This is widely due to the harsh reality that budgets have fallen and music video companies now know that an effective music video can be made without a huge budget, a simple idea could be just as effective as a complicated, time consuming and fiercely expensive one. Demands are also greater from the music companies nowadays as a couple of years previously.)