I’m intrigued by the prospect of working as an editor specialising in the production of indie music videos. This will involve working alongside directors and artists to create short films illustrating and supporting their music.
Indie is often used to describe genres such as indie pop, rock or metal. The term itself comes from the word ‘independent’ as this style of music was originally owned by independent record labels. A key part of the indie genre and the films produced is the independence of the artist and how they stand out from others.
Independent record labels and indie artists often have low budgets for films and so salary can vary greatly from project to project. If you work for a production house an editor can expect to earn an average of £26,000 a year (PayScale). The salary for a freelance editor however can depend on a number of things such as the complexity of the cut, the working conditions, the programs required, travel and any additional work. An hourly rate is often discussed between both parties with the addition of a limited number of revisions.
They generally feature an emotive performance from the performer coupled with some kind of narrative in order to add context to the lyrics and support them through visuals. Adding a storyline is also a really effective way to keep the audience’s attention throughout the film and make it more relatable. When a narrative is added it tends to be either an illustrative or interpretative adaptation of the lyrics. An illustrative narrative would be a literal representation where as an interpretative narrative would focus more on the meaning behind the lyrics and any metaphors drawn from that.
Indie music videos although centered around independence and self-expression often make use of similar styles and techniques (Maxey, Videomaker). They tend to make use of timings and particularly visual shots to show the change and progression of the music. Cutting shots to the beat of the track also helps to highlight the music and make the relationship between sound and visuals more coherent.
Another really popular technique for not only indie but all music videos is miming/lip-syncing. This is where the performer will listen to the track and pretend to play along for the camera. Using this technique means that you don’t have to record audio on location, allowing you to use the studio recording not matter where your film is set and therefore maintaining audio quality.
Using black and white is another popular technique for indie music videos as this seems to spark more of an emotional response in the audience as opposed to a neutral colour scheme; although it is not uncommon to use more vibrant and striking colours to achieve a similar response. The visuals and aesthetics are very important for indie music videos specifically as they are very focused on how the artist can stand out and their own unique personality.
Vevo is an online video hosting service specifically for premium music videos. It is very similar to sites such as YouTube and Vimeo although much more selective, meaning that the majority of the content is of a more professional quality. A lot of big names and artists upload their work to Vevo in order to monetize their films and generate revenue. companies like Vevo, with a well know brand, help to add quality assurance to your film and therefore assist with marketing.
Vydia
Vydia works closely with companies such as Vevo and MTV helping to manage, distribute and monetize your work. Starting at around $20 a year Vydia will help you to create a professional Vevo channel in order to monetize and generate revenue for your work, they will also aid in distribution and promotion by sending your work to video music networks such as MTV.
GBFTE
GBFTE is an organization that provides a place for British editors to communicate with each other and other members of the film industry. They aim to promote the importance of an editors role within film and encourage discussion about technical and creative aspects of editing while also improving job security by protecting the rights of editors and recognizing their contribution to productions.
Due to the nature of indie music videos being very focused on the independence of the artist and how they can stand out amongst the crowd they are a very popular platform to try out the latest technologies and techniques of film-making.
CGI was no exception to this as the popular band ‘Dire Straits’ were among the very first to use the technology, featuring it in their music video ‘Money for nothing’. The video was one of the first to use computer-animated human characters and at the time of its release the technology was considered groundbreaking.
‘Chroma key’ commonly known as ‘Green Screen’ is the process of layering two images together based on colour hues. The subject would be filmed in front of a one colour screen, usually green, the computer would then be told to ignore the background colour allowing a different background to be added in. Much like CGI, green screens were used as a way of making the video/artist stand out amongst the crowd and to solidify their independence. Green screens were also a fairly budget way of achieving new and interesting locations that were previously limited by time and/or money.
The standardisation of 4K, 6K and RAW footage has also had a big impact on the post production of music videos (Lindblom, Videomaker). More and more film makers are using this level of resolution as it becomes a more common feature of commercial cameras. The higher resolution footage provides a significantly sharper colour and image, the footage is often then exported as standard HD in order to comply with upload limits on video hosting sites, this still however provides a much better resolution.
However there are downsides to using this level of quality as the processing power required to edit in these higher resolutions is greatly increased due to the file size and amount of information the computer has to process. In order to solve this issue however it is now a common practice to edit using proxies, this allows you to edit in a lower resolution reducing the amount of processing power needed.
The arrival of online viewing platforms has greatly changed how music videos are perceived and viewed. A music video can now be treated as its own stand alone product and achieve much more recognition than they used to. Due to platforms such as Youtube, Vimeo and Vevo it has never been easier to push your film out to your audience. This means that an audience is no longer limited by the existing following and can be promoted much more effectively. The fact that the majority of these video hosting sites are either free to use or involve a small cost also opens up the market for new unsigned artists and independent filmmakers, making the industry much more accessible.
Bibliography
Lindblom, Odin: https://www.videomaker.com/article/f6/17135-editing-in-4k-minimum-system-requirements
https://www.quora.com/What-do-freelance-video-editors-charge
http://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Film_%2F_Video_Editor/Salary
Maxey, Kate: https://prezi.com/xxao8-43lhog/conventions-of-music-videos-and-the-indie-genre/
Matthew Tucker 