Video on a Budget for Artists, Part 1: Types of Video
If you're a starving artist in need of a video, then this series is for you! Let's talk about different types of videos that you can do with a limited budget.
Video Transcript:
Hello! I am the artist known as DEROSNEC, and welcome to my weekly vlog where I talk about making music, art, movies, and more.
If you’ve ever tried to market something online, be it an art project, music, or even a small business, product, or idea, I’m sure that you’ve already heard everyone tell you that you need to have a video. But, making a good quality video can be expensive, and if you’re just starting out then it can be a daunting process.
In this series, we’ll look at ways that you as an artist can start to create a video presence to showcase your work without necessarily breaking the bank in the meantime. We’ll cover how to determine if you should go DIY or hire out, the benefits and drawbacks of bartering, and we’ll even do a case study on one of my zero budget videos.
But first, let’s talk about the different types of videos and what they’re best used for, because having a reference video will make your life a lot easier once you know your audience and the story that you’re trying to tell.
Commercials and Promos
When most people think of videos for marketing, they think of commercials, ads, sizzle reels and promotional videos. In this type of video, you’re usually doing a hard sell of whatever it is you’re making. These videos are great for products, art pieces, new releases, or merchandise, but they can also be difficult for many people who aren’t already hardcore fans of yours to sit through. The world is so saturated with advertising and content already, and consequently there is a huge portion of the population who are able to put blinders on to this kind of video.
My Current Company Reel
I’d say, save this type of video for when you have a specific goal in mind - say a kickstarter, or a pitch to a producer, gallery, or agency. These work the best when you have one very clear message that can be conveyed within a maximum of 1-2 minutes to a particular audience that you’re trying to convince of something.
Documentary
These days, documentaries are intended to be an entertaining form of documentation, which makes it a perfect medium for an artist looking to make a video presence. The beauty of going with this type of video, is that video quality isn’t necessarily of the utmost importance. Don’t get me wrong, you should always strive to achieve the highest standard that you can realistically accomplish, but because of the nature of documentary, viewers tend to be more forgiving if the audio or lighting isn’t perfect. This means that you don’t necessarily need any money or gear to shoot one - but... you do need a story.
A doc-style marketing video I did for my audio mastering engineer buddy Phil
The story doesn’t have to stay the same throughout the entire process - as in, don’t be afraid to go with the flow and see where the footage takes you - but for this style to be as effective as possible the viewer needs to feel like they’re engaged and the best way to do that is to have an interesting story with a beginning, middle, and end.
Music Videos
Obviously musicians, songwriters, and filmmakers already strive to make these and can see the benefit in this type of a video. But, even if you’re not a musician, you can still benefit from a music video. Visual artists can film a few angles of their latest piece and set the footage to a piece of music. Writers, poets, and spoken word artists can still convey a sense of rhythm with their words, and accent that with clever editing. Or not. What would the equivalent of a music video for a musician be for a writer? I can think of a lot of fun ways to do this.
A Process Piece Which I Posted Recently
If you’re really resourceful, you can work with other artists in other fields to create joint endeavors - for example, a musician can work with a filmmaker who finds another visual artist’s art to film and edit to the music. Everyone wins!
Personal Vlogs
This is the easiest and most personal type of video, and it can be as complicated as you want it to be. You don’t have to go all out with fancy lighting like I do here, you can talk to your phone in your car, if you want to. But ultimately, as artists especially, we are selling ourselves - not just our art. Show the human behind the artwork, and you’re sure to find more people of like mind who want to interact with and enjoy your artistic efforts. Don’t discount the power of a simple vlog!
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but these are the top four that I’ve seen which artists seem to have had the most success with.
Have you ever made a video for your art? How did you go about making it? Tell me all about it or give us some other great video suggestions in the comments below!
Thanks for watching - hit that thumbs up button below and join the uncensored by subscribing to my Youtube channel, my newsletter, or by following me on facebook, twitter, and instagram! If you never want to miss a video, be sure to click the little notification bell icon, too.
NOTE: These Thursday Vlog transcripts can also be found published on my website: http://derosnec.com
My favorite un-censored steemian. :)
I'm not inclined to create a video presence, but there is interesting stuff here. We have a huge documentary festival here in NC every year. It is next week, actually. They are definitely about the story. I have seen some really good ones done a budget.
haha thank you! Yes documentary is totally reliant on story - many times they are filmed over years and years, and at the rate that technology changes, there's no choice but to use what you had available 10, 20.. whatever years ago! But as I mention, it's definitely a part of the genre's expectations, which is why you can get away with it.... as long as your story is intriguing ;)
I like you're style. You got skill. Very motivating.
Thanks for checking out all my stuff! Motivating people to be creative and make art/music/movies is my main goal with all of this. :D
Great video! Your post is evaluable for me and all other people.
Glad you found it enlightening!
Some bands pay for their music videos out of pocket, while bands signed with major record labels are often appropriated with a music video budget that is ... Editor fee: $500 – $1250/day; Redundant Hard disk archive: $200 – $400; Visual FX artist fee: $75 – $150/hour; Colorist fee: $100 – $200/hour.
oh yes as a professional video editor I'm definitely aware of how pricey it can get. It's one thing when you have a label able to support a professional crew (which is great, and definitely the way to go), but if you're not signed or just starting out - or not a musical artist - then I firmly believe that you shouldn't let budget hold you back from making anything that you want or need to get your artwork out there! Hopefully this series inspires some people. :)
Yeah it's really useful information.
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Hooray! Thanks Ethan! :D
hellow my type of videos that i need to do are Documentary, because i wrote about nature and food in foraging procces, and when you go to the mountaint, you need to have a good camera to do the videos and some times when you retorn and try to edit it, you get a not good quality or something bad situation could pass, and some times in this kind of procces only have one chance to do it, imagine for example cut a tree procces, only cut one time or, get mushroom only could get one times to catch them.
well the problem come when you do not have a camera and only have a cell phone imagine in my case is my tools for do it or for post here in steemit, more dificult and add the size of videos could be very big you need to conver it in other kind of format.
well for all the reason explained up, i do not uses videos only photos but i need to do this because is a great sourse.
thank you so much for share this.
Best regard @galberto,
sorry for the mistakes my languaje is spanish.
I'd say even a cell phone would be acceptable for documentary! Don't give up - it gets easier and technology will catch up for you sooner than you think :)
sorry guys i am spam by someone.auto commenting here,,,,,dont judge me wrong.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you actually took the time to read the post before advertising though...
i am not actually advertising.its automacally happen.when i sign up with the link.after the sign up automacally commenting with the name of my id.....its not done by me
Ah, sorry you went through that! Glad you seem to have got control of your account again.
Informative and comprehensive! Thanks for sharing :)
Thank you so much!
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Hi. Awesome. Luckily i found it in category #video. I will resteem your post. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks very much!