The Director's Chair: Back In The Hot Seat


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I finally can dust off my director's chair.  It's been a minute since
we last connected, but I'm glad to be back. This time I am going to walk
you through the process of the way I direct a music video.  I know
every working music video director out there has a process, but I have a
unique one that works for me and I would like to share it with you all.

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It's
been hard for me lately in the music video world. A lot of artists and
labels just simply don't have the money to finance visuals for their
projects anymore.  That's why I have decided to once again take matters
into my own hands and finance my own projects.  I saw that Current TV
was holding a contest to direct Common's latest video for his next
single "Make My Day" featuring Cee-Lo, so I decided to enroll to see
what would happen.  They actually provide the footage of Common performing
the song in front of a green screen, and it is on you to decide what you
are going to do with it. I have a background in network TV and I love
telling stories so I am going to combine his green screen footage
within an overall story that I plan on shooting this weekend.

This is actually a good opportunity for me to share my process as I
don't have to worry about label politics and keeping the information
about the shoot under wraps.  So join me on my two week quest to direct
a music video for Common.

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FIRST LISTEN & BEAT SHEET:

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The first thing I try to do when I get ready to submit a bid for a job
is to grab some headphones, download the track on iTunes and listen to
the song on repeat so I can get a vibe for the song and find out its
underlying message. The next thing I do is transcribe the lyrics into
a Word document so I can literally break down what the song and the
lyrics are about.  A lot of times there is a story already mapped out
in the lyrics and luckily with this Common record there was one.  After
I have written out the lyrics I close my eyes and listen to song at
least ten more times.  I try to see the visual in my head and normally
an idea comes to me almost immediately.  After I see the video in my
head I write the beats of my vision down using bullet points.

For
example:

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  • Leading lady walks on toward beach holding her Video MP3 player and her towel
  • She sets up her tanning area
  • She hits play on her video MP3 player and we see Common's performance.
  • Our leading male jogs down the beach and spots our leading lady
  • The top of her cooler blows off and lands in his path
  • He takes it over to her and introduces himself
  • She shakes his hand and thanks him for his help
  • She offers him a beer out of the cooler
  • He politely declines but respects how how cool a move that was
  • They continue to have a conversation.
  • The leading male pulls out a flier for a cook-out and hands it to her
  • The flyer reads "Make My Day Cook-Out"
  • She smiles and tells him that she will think about it.
  • He jogs off
  • The leading lady looks at the flier and debates going to the event
  • She puts the flier down

That is my beat sheet for the first verse of the song.

After I have beated out the entire song, from the instrumental intro to
final fade out, I get more specific and write up a detailed treatment. I will share my treatment and my pre-production process right here on my SoulBounce blog this upcoming Friday.  I hope this blog is helpful to
any and all up an coming filmmakers and directors.

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You guys have a
blessed day, and I'll leave you with this quote:

"If you're not willing to invest in yourself then why would you expect somebody else to?"

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Matthew "Mac" Cherry
Cherry Entertainment
Follow me on Twitter

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