Whats the best camera to use to shoot a music video?

Question

Even though, we are amateurs, we want something professional looking at least. I've seen some rappers shooting videos with what looks like hand-held cameras but, didn't know how that whole thing worked. We want it somewhat professional so that we can send it to MTV. Is there some music video software as well? Do we have to synchronize the music to the lips and stuff? Please, help me out!

No bull please!

Answer 1

first, read through here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Next, when you have 1 camcorder shooting the video, the audio will be sync'd. Extract the audio, cut the video that you don't want and insert the same amount of time replacement video and the sync stays together.

They might look like they are using their handhelds - chances are they are not... most likely using the cams from the other post... or they are in a studio where the broadcast cameras start at about $40,000 each. That does not include the storage, booms, mixing, and all the other stuff that goes into making high-quality music videos.

You might want to scale back a little - get to know your equipment and how to do certain things before you get too frustrated.

I have done single camera and 2 and 3 camera shoots. The end result makes it look easy... but let's do some sinple math...

If a song is 3 minutes long, that is 180 seconds. Watch the MTV music videos - especially the fast songs - the cuts are about every 2 seconds... you can finish the math... How many cuts will you need to make? They typically use 3 cameras (like this shoot I was on http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseac... )

If you have only one camera, how are you expecting to get the angles - and all the cuts - and sync everything?

This was done with two cameras:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseac...

Yes, you can "cheat" and insert non-show footage... or you can have the band perform the song several times (this is where sync issues will appear).

There's a LOT more - but it would take me a while to share what I have learned that would apply to your environment. There is a good reason why the folks that produce music videos can make good money... It looks easy, but it takes hard work, patience, timing, equipment and skill. And practice, practice, practice.