Music video production for artists, bands and schools

What a music video has to do

The song decides most of it. A video should make the hook land harder and give people a picture to attach to the track, and you should be able to say the idea in a sentence. If it takes a paragraph to explain, it'll usually take the viewer longer than they're willing to give it. So the first conversation is about the song, who listens to you already and where the video will be seen, before anybody talks about locations or kit.

It also has to suit the release. A single with a date and a plan for paid social needs a different shoot from a video made to show promoters what you're like live. Tell us what happens after the video goes up and we'll build the shoot around that.

Performance, story, or both

Most music videos are some mix of the two. Performance footage is the band or the artist playing to the track, filmed so every take is in sync and flattering, with enough angles that the edit never has to sit on a shot that isn't working. A story or concept runs alongside it and gives the viewer something to follow between choruses.

On a modest budget, performance usually carries the video and the idea is built around one location that does a lot of work. On a bigger one there's room for more setups, cast and art direction. Either way we'd rather do one idea properly than three ideas thinly, and the treatment says plainly which is which.

The treatment, and a fixed price

After the first call you get a treatment: the idea in a sentence, the look, the location, the shot plan and what you'll receive at the end, with a fixed price on it. It marks what has to be filmed and what's a bonus if the day goes well, so nobody is surprised at four in the afternoon when the light starts going.

We'd put the floor for a music video that looks properly professional at about £2,000, the same as any other film we make. Most sit higher than that once there's a second location, cast or a longer shoot. The video production cost page shows what each budget usually buys, and the treatment shows exactly where yours lands.

The shoot day

Music video shoots run to playback. The track plays on every take so the performance and the mouth movement match the master, and we usually film the whole song from each position before moving, which gives the edit full coverage rather than fragments. Wide, mid and close shots are planned so the vertical clips have somewhere to come from, with the key moments framed for 9 by 16 as well as widescreen.

Being filmed singing or playing is a strange thing to do in front of a crew, even for people who perform every week. We keep the crew small and the pace steady, and we leave time between takes for the band to get back into the song. The best takes nearly always come after the first hour, once everybody has stopped noticing the camera.

The edit, the grade and what you get

The edit is cut to the music, so the picture changes when the song does. You see a first cut, give notes, and see a second, and the number of revision rounds is agreed before the shoot. The grade gives the video one consistent look across every location and every camera.

You get the finished master for YouTube and press, a clean version without titles or credits, the vertical clips for each platform, and still frames from the footage for artwork and posts. If there's a release date, we plan back from it.

Tour packs and venue promos

Not every music film is a single. The band Daughters of Davis needed something to send venues when they were booking a tour, so we cut several of their music videos into one short film that gave a promoter their sound and their look in thirty four seconds. It's a different job from a music video, but it uses the same footage and the same ear for the edit.

Live performance works the same way. We've filmed concerts and performances for schools and events, including a full carol concert produced to be watched online, and a gig or a showcase can be filmed for a live video and a set of social clips at the same time. The event filming page covers how a live day is planned.

Some of the work

The School That Rocked is a music video we made with Culford School, four and a half minutes of performance shot on a dark stage and lit like a gig. It's a good example of what a music video can do for an organisation that isn't a band, because it shows what a place is like more honestly than a brochure ever could.

Our commercial work includes films for LEGO, Pepsi, Diageo and Chelsea FC, and our own short film The Harvest was an award winner at the New York International Film Awards. That's where the attention to the picture comes from, and it's the same attention a music video gets.

Where we film

We're based near Woodbridge in Suffolk and film in London all the time, as well as across the UK. Travel goes on the quote as its own line. If the video is part of a bigger launch, promotional video production and social media video production cover the films and clips that sit around it.

FAQ

How much does a music video cost?

A music video that looks properly professional starts at about £2,000, and most cost more once there's a second location, cast or a longer shoot. The treatment you get after the first call has a fixed price on it, so the invoice matches the quote.

Do you come up with the idea?

Yes, if you'd like us to. Some artists arrive with a clear concept and some arrive with the song and a feeling, and both are fine. The idea goes into the treatment so you can see it before anything is booked.

Can you film a live gig?

Yes. A live performance can be filmed for a full live video and a set of shorter clips for social, and we plan camera positions with the venue beforehand.

Do we get vertical versions for Reels and TikTok?

Yes. The vertical clips are planned into the shoot and framed on the day, so they're not just crops of the widescreen master.

How long does it take?

Most projects run four to six weeks from the first call to delivery. If you have a release date, tell us on the first call and we'll plan back from it.

Talk about your song

Send us the track, or a demo, and tell us when it's coming out. It's a thirty minute conversation, and you'll know by the end of it what the video could be and what it would cost.