The making of music videos

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a piece of music. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 80s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip" or "film clip". In Chinese entertainment, music videos were simply known as "MTVs" because the network was responsible for bringing music videos to popularity in that country.

Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song's lyrics, making it less literal than expected.If you're a film maker making a music video is a good way of getting exposure and experience and bands are often happy to give you a creative free reign. A video doesn't need to cost a fortune what's important is having a good idea and working within your budget. Production companies charge a fortune for even the simplest promo video, but you can easily do it yourself. First things first, however. You have to choose your song.

While it might make sense to make a video for your upcoming single there are a few other factors to consider:
It can take a lot longer than you think to make a video, so by the time it's finished your single might have come out. It might be an idea to think about making the video for a subsequent single. Having said that, in these days of internet downloads, any track can be seen as a single, so there might be a track on the album that you have a great idea for a video for, even if that track wasn't originally planned as a single. Remember that it can take a long time to shoot and edit each second of video so while you might have a good idea for a video for that 10 min epic that closes the album it might be more practical to shoot a video for the 3 min pop song. However complicated (or simple) your shoot is, you'll need a team of people. As well as the actors/performers you'll need:

Camera person – At least one, and maybe more.
Lighting Person – If you're filming inside you'll need lighting, and someone to look after it.
Director/dogsbody – You need someone in charge of the shoot, making sure everything is running smoothly, and who can go buy batteries when you need them.