question about making music videos for bands

Personally I think you should make a few more for free until you have more experience and a better portfolio. Then, I suppose you better make a youtube channel and a website dedicated to showcasing your work with information about your services and business contact info.

To spread the word, post your vids through facebook and other social outlets and maybe someone looking for services will notice you. Take out ads on different sites and get other people to link to your site or youtube channel. You can also network with likeminded youtubers and share connections and subscribers. The Station is one example on youtube of collaborative creators.

Good luck.

You will have challenges. I'm not sure if you are ready to charge.
Or if with a total of one music video you can get enough attention
that bands approach you. Maybe after 10? Maybe fewer.

But if you keep at it I see no reason why you can't get to the
point where a local band will cover your expenses of not actually
pay you.

thanks guys! what do you think about having the band at least covering the expense of the camera rental? for my last video the rental was like 180... i dont have that money. also for now should i email the bands and ask if they are interested? would that be rude?

It is never rude to act like a professional. A band may say, no, but
no band would think it rude of you to ask.

I do understand, however. when you're just starting you so want
that "yes" that you're cautious about what to ask for. Once you
have more finished videos you can ask for more. But first you gotta
build your portfolio and your reputation.

I'm just guessing, but I believe directorik's advice (that you're not ready) is based on an assumption that the band who hires you would have some kind of real budget. Sorry if my guess is wrong, directorik.

Anyway, I would agree, no offense intended of course, that you're not ready to work with a band that has a real budget. None of them would hire you, anyway. But I do think you're ready to charge a very small fee to a band that doesn't really have a budget (and there's a lot of those out there).

As for the question of how much to charge -- I can't answer your question, but if you're in a similar situation as me, then maybe my experience can apply.

I do super low-budget stuff. I just produced my first music video (in fact, I'm typing this while taking a short break from editing it). A friend on Facebook got wind of my production, and contacted me to ask how much I would charge to shoot one for him. I told him $100 per full day of work (one day to shoot/one day to edit), if he just wanted something quick-and-dirty.

But again, that's only if he wants something quick and cheap and easy. He's a rapper. We could totally shoot, for example, a cliche rap song, in which the artist is driving around in a fancy car, and he performs to the camera with a bunch of dudes looking thuggish behind him, and girls with big booties are dancing in slow-motion, etc. Anyway, a cheap cliched video like that could easily be shot in one day, and edited in one day -- quick, easy, cheap. I personally have no interest in making that type of video, so I would definitely charge him for my time, and $100/day is enough to make the endeavor worth my time.

However, I also told him that if he's interested in doing something really unique, something creative, that would set our video apart from others, then I would do it for free. I told him what I would require from him is the commitment of a great deal of time -- much more than one day. With only one video under my belt (and it's not the world's greatest video), I see that I need to build a portfolio, so to say, so if somebody with quality music wants to work with me, I benefit simply by pairing up with them -- no money needed.

Either way -- good luck!

Shelling out $180 per shoot if you're a high school student is likely to untenable.

I doubt you'll be able to get paid work of any sort before you've put together a decent (5+) showreel of your work.

It may be cheaper in the long run to shell out straight away for the T2i, T3i or 60d but otherwise I imagine that you're going to have to, pretty soon, start asking bands to, at least, cover the costs of your rentals.

I think it's awesome that you rented the 5D just to shoot an unpaid music video. Trust me, I don't have the balls for that! That said I did once pay £70 for a samurai consume that is increasingly likely to never seen the light of day...

Hi Lauren

I think the best way to promote youself would be to go see lots of bands. When you see ones you like ask them if they are interested in you doing a clip for them. Asking the band to cover your expences is perfectly reasonable. Once you start working with these bands your working network will grow. You'll gain a reputation very quickly and the progression to getting paid properly will most likely happen naturally.

I thought it was a great video! There were issues, of course (I felt that some elements of the cinematography could have been better, and a more distinct visual difference between the two "settings" would have been nice), but overall, I was actually dragged into the story! I really liked the locations you chose. I have a bit of an obsession with unique spaces, and both of the places you chose had a warm-fuzzy vibe with great textures and interesting bits lying around.

I think that you should get some more experience before you start charging. Most bands aren't gonna shell out money unless they can know for sure that they'll get a professional, polished product. So keep going, experimenting, and follow your sensibilities - because they seem solid to me!

thanks everyone! yea i probably should get some more experience. I agree, some of the cinematography was a little off, i notice that when editing. it was definitely a learning experience. I actually do own the t2i. I wanted to shoot with the 5d though because i LOVE the quality of it and it works better under low light situations, and those spaces are pretty dark. I think if i were to do an outdoor shoot i would use the t2i. I say charging 180 isnt too bad.