3.2. Music VideosFew camcorder endeavors are as much fun as making a music video, whether it's a serious one or a fake one just for kicks. Of course, your interest in this kind of video technique may depend on your age and taste. But music videos are worth studying , no matter who you are, because they frequently incorporate every conceivable camera trick, editing technique, and shooting style. The day you shoot a music video is the day you can try punching every button on your camcorder, unlocking those weird special effects you've never even tried, and using all the unnecessary zooms you want. Better yet, this is the day when you don't care a whit about microphones or sound. Eventually, you'll discard the camcorder's recorded sound anyway. As you splice your footage together in iMovie, you'll replace the camcorder's soundtrack with a high-quality original recording of the song.
Some music videos are lip-synchedthat is, the performers pretend that they're singing the words on the soundtrack. Other videos are voice-over, narrative, or experimental videos. In these videos, you don't actually see anybody singing , but instead you watch a story unfolding (or a bunch of random-looking footage). If you decide to create a lip-synched video, take a boom box with you in the field. Make sure it's playing as you film the singers, so that they're lip-synching with accurate timing. When it comes time to edit the music video in iMovie, you'll be able to add the little lower-left-corner credits (the name of the song, the group name , and so on) with extremely convincing results. You'll also be able to add crossfades, transitions, graphics, and other common rock-video elements (see Figure 3-2). |