"The Courvosier is flowing. All around you, bodacious babes are thrusting their perfect apple-shaped asses to the throbbing beat. Were it not for all of the gold and diamonds flashing in your eyes, you could easily take a peek to see if they are wearing delicious thongs, or nothing at all."
That is what you call a treatment for 90% of the rap videos released in the last three years (okay, it's an abbreviated version). Do you think you can do better? Do you know you can do better? Then, for the love of Snoop, get out there and break into the music video industry and save us from another unoriginal romp through these fantasy "bling-bling" dream sequences.
The music video industry is very much like any film making industry: getting in is going to require a hell of a lot of work because there are thousands of people out there, some more talented than you, some less, who are vying for their place among the video-making elite.
To school or not to school...
Whether or not you need to go to film school is a great debate among current and up-and-coming music video industry folk. Here are the two schools of thought in a nutshell. School has its good points. For instance, if you haven't been carting around a Super-8 since you were an embryo, film school is a great way to learn the basics as well as the history of filmmaking. Sure, there are instructors who are stuck in methodical "this genre must be done like this" ruts, but there will also be instructors who will challenge you to excel. There will also be other students who will inspire and be your colleagues once you are out. If Mark Romanek doesn't happen to be your god-father, then you are going to need to make some connections in order to get work out in the real world.
Another benefit of school is that you get to use really cool equipment and the labour of your fellow students for free. You also have the opportunity to try out different aspects of the industry in order to figure out where your interests and talents lie.
On the other hand, you could take the $30,000 you will have to spend on school, and go and rent that equipment and start your reel. Of course, you have to remember that student loans are easier to get than loans for reels and reels of footage that no one will ever see.
On the other side of the argument, school may be a big waste of time. Many think that you can learn more working as an intern or volunteer in one day of the right shoot than you can learn in 3 years of school. Of course, you'll have to actually get on that perfect set, and that could be tricky.
Interns can be hired by production companies for one project or a specified period of time. The pay ranges from a big fat nothing to basic sustenance. If you choose to forego school, then you are going to have to try to meet people any way you can in order to get work on sets. While you are interning or volunteering, you will be asked to do everything from lugging equipment to photocopying. Do it. Every chance you get to be on set while you are starting out, your job is to bust your ass, ask as many questions as you can without getting in anyone's way, and introduce yourself to people without sounding like a suck-up. The harder you work, the more likely you are to be asked back, and eventually, you can maybe work your way into paying positions.
Your way to the door
Before you even think of getting your foot in the door, you need to know the way to the door and have something to show for yourself once you get there. Something to shove through the crack, so to speak. However you develop your skills, get some stuff down on film, either traditional or digital (obviously, digital equipment, from cameras to editing equipment, is much more accessible these days to young up-and-comers). From that wealth of experimentation, start making yourself a demo reel. A demo reel is a sample of how you want to represent yourself to companies, a video portfolio if you will.
If your passion is music videos, go out and find yourself some bands whose music inspires a vision (or any band who will have you) and offer to shoot a video for them. Keeping in mind that the chances of this video ever being shown on air anywhere are pretty slim, the band is really doing you the favour. It's a nice novelty for them and maybe they can throw it on their next cd (if they have one) as a bonus, but this video is going to promote you more than it is going to promote them. So, don't ask for money unless they offer. This is about making your demo reel better.
While you are developing your skill at production, learn how to write a good treatment. A treatment is basically a written summary of the look of your video, from the opening shot to the closing, including concept, execution, set, and colour motifs. Check out www.cvp.net/treatments for examples of treatments written for videos you have seen. For treatments from a very successful film and music video director (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park), go to www.markromanek.com.
Once you have a solid reel that you feel represents your best work, pump it out to record labels. While indie labels have less money to devote to videos, many big labels deal with agencies to get their directors. Visit Web sites such as www.allrecordlabels.com to find labels in your vicinity. Labels receive thousands of reels, but many will be viewed or screened, as execs are always looking for new talent. Try not to get discouraged. As with all art, there is a subjective component and you may eventually hit on an individual with some pull who shares your vision or admires your work.
