Maestro

Have you had amazing imagery for your highlight but still felt something’s not quite sitting right?

This may sound obvious, but when setting the mood for a scene, music is absolutely key to conveying the atmosphere/mood.

Duh? Right?

So why do we not always NAIL it?  For two reasons, mainly.  (1) We are dying to use a cool song we heard in StillMotion’s latest SDE – somewhere, anywhere, we just don’t care! (2) We have promised the client to use a song that they love, but it just doesn’t seem to fit.  Blech!

Editor – meet me at camera #3, let’s talk.  Here’s a few quick tips:

  1. Shoe-horning a song in just because you like it doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good fit.  I’ll cover that more in my Philosophy below.
  2. If you get music from the couple, get a LOT of it and promise LITTLE TO NONE of it.  It is a time waster trying to make something work in the edit when it naturally doesn’t.  It may please the client, but if you put it on your blog, others might think you DO NOT KNOW what you are doing.

Philosophy 101

Now that you’re ok not using the latest hit by Ben Rector, open your mind to a few things:  Ohmmmmmm:

Take note of how the wedding day played out, the overall mood and pace of the day can help you in determining your music choice. A rainy day with a relaxed and compassionate bridal party might yield a music choice that’s slower and on the airy side, as opposed to a bright sunny day with a boisterous funny and happy bridal party, which could yield something faster and upbeat.

Music also helps reflect the emotions of the characters/subjects onto the viewers, so that they might connect with the film emotionally.  A happy and joyful bride, would be better suited for music that is equally upbeat and joyful, than a contemplative and quiet bride.

***Be sure that a subject’s emotions do not conflict with the music, or viewers may experience an emotional disconnect from the subjects and film.***

Lastly, well planned music choices will help capture the audiences attention and draw their interest into a film, and YOU WANT to draw an audience in, because IN THAT AUDIENCE might be your next gig.

Make a choice that is also something the bride and groom will appreciate. Base your music choices on the bride and groom’s music preferences (what are they playing at the reception) and branch out from there.  Use Pandora.  Easy Peasy!

Music can connect or disconnect viewers from your films. Be sure to make decisions based on the events and pace of the wedding day as well as the bride and grooms preferences. This will help create a stronger emotional connection between your viewers and your films.

They will think you quite the Maestro!
Dusty, Northernlight Filmworks

Bernstein

pump-audio

They say that audio is 70 percent of your video. I think it’s more like 95 percent. Sometimes, when I’m feeling adventurous, I don’t even bring a video camera to a shoot, just a portable audio recorder. Even though the client is at first rather confused they are soon delighted when I explain the importance of audio and that they will not be distracted with any video elements on their DVD!

So today I would like to share with you some of my favorite online resources for royalty free music and sound effects. My most recent discovery is called Pump Music, and it is a division of Getty Images. It’s priced slightly higher than other music providers but I found the quality and variety of genres to be exceptional. The site allows you to save a favorites folder so you can go back to it and find the right music for any future projects. I’ve enjoyed browsing their tracks, and that process itself is how I usually start an edit as different songs give me ideas and inspiration.

I’m sure many of you know about Triple Scoop Music, another great site for finding music for your videos. This one is nice since it is specifically tailored to photographers and videographers.

proscores

One of my favorite sites in general, and also a great resource for cinematic scores (called Pro Scores) and effects is Video Copilot. In addition to some great After Effects tutorials, Andrew Kramer offers a wide variety of products, including instructional DVDs, stock footage elements and of course some pretty cool music.

Another website that I’ve used in the past is Shockwave-Sound. Again, just browsing their selection is a great way to get some editing ideas. For classical music I love Unique Tracks-check out their classical album pack collections to get you started. Soundrangers has both music and unusual effects (I think this site is used quite a bit by video game designers) and listening to their amazing effects selection (including “goblin attack,” “forest rain,” “nightclub applause” and my favorite, “oh 1, female 1″) can keep you entertained for hours.

Finally, recording artist Moby has a site, called Moby Gratis, which is designed to provide free music to filmmakers for their independent, non-profit films. A wedding video probably wouldn’t be categorized as “non-profit,” but this would be perfect for a small personal project, and there is also a way to apply for a license with profits going to the Humane Society. Below is an image I took years ago of Moby performing in Las Cruces, New Mexico when I worked at at a newspaper there. Thanks for reading, enjoy the links, and share some more services in the comments section below.

Vlad

moby