Video content has become a staple in our everyday lives thanks to the likes of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Vimeo. In fact, more than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube every single day. Although YouTube has not been solely music-focused for quite some time it, and other video platforms like it, remain a powerful tool for musicians who want to make themselves more relevant in a very competitive industry.
Video content has the ability to connect a musician with existing and potential fans in a manner no other form of content can. Although making great videos does not come naturally to everyone, a few basic guidelines will make it considerably easier to create compelling video content.
Come up with a winning concept
If you want to create impactful video content, you need to come up with a winning concept. While some great concepts are systematically developed from a basic idea, others may come to you in a somewhat unexpected moment of creative ingenuity. For emerging artists, especially, the most basic of concepts may turn out to be the most dynamic. When making a music video for one of your tracks, for instance, don’t feel pressured to make use of state-of-the-art cinematography and an overly-complicated storyline. Sometimes, just recording yourself or your band playing in a cool location is all that is needed to create scintillating video content. Once you have decided on the basic concept of your video, put it on a storyboard so that you can develop a comfortable flow for it.
Ensure your video content is as accessible as possible
With the world as a whole becoming more geared towards accessibility, it has become paramount that video content is as accessible and disability-friendly as possible too. Music lovers often have disabilities that may make it increasingly difficult to consume video content in a traditional manner. There are a few things that can be one to make music-related videos that qualify as accessible, even when only making use of a mobile phone and microphone. Start by ensuring that any text used in the video is in a high-contrast colour. It also needs to remain on the screen long enough to be read by special accessibility devices and users with impaired vision or processing difficulties. Where possible, captions and transcripts should be used, and autoplay should be blocked to limit the disruption caused to the screen readers visually-impaired users often rely on.
Don’t neglect the editing process
Regardless of how good a videographer you are, your video content will more than likely require some editing before it is release-ready. If you are confident in your editing skills, you can tackle the task at hand yourself. Alternatively, you can make use of a pro video editor to transform your raw content into a masterpiece. There are a few things to keep in mind when editing music-related content, regardless of whether it is a fully-fledged music video or a short documentary aimed at building awareness around an up-and-coming project. Always be aware of who your target audience is, and carry out the editing with them in mind. Set realistic milestones and deadlines for yourself, and always have a clear idea of what you want to achieve before starting the editing process.
Creating impactful and memorable video content can be of great benefit to both emerging and experienced musicians. Making an effort to render the video content accessible while refraining from overdeveloping a simple concept can help you create powerful videos that can give your music career a nifty boost.
Courtesy Of Sally Writes