Even the shortest TV spot needs a structure to keep the viewer engaged. Longer form programmes need clear signposts for the audience to keep them interested and entertained. A series of edits cut to one piece of music just won’t cut it.
You want your audience to spend their valuable time with your programme… so ask yourself, would you?
Your programme should flow, starting with a bang, settling the audience and making them want to watch, then ordering the messages you want to deliver into clearly defined sections.
Use music stings to introduce new topics and ideas. Change the mood and vary the tempo of the music. If there’s a lot of information help the audience with clear chapter headings, in the same way that you would add paragraph breaks, headings or even a contents list to a long document, you should punctuate your programme.
Music does more than punctuate a programme it will dictate the tone, mood and overall impact of it.
Music comes in two keys – a minor and major key. Music in a minor key will sound mournful, introspective, music in a major key will feel joyful and uplifting. How you want your audience to feel should dictate the key of the soundtrack to your video.
When you’ve covered the basics, you can start to use music to paint a picture, add excitement, build anticipation and create an emotional response to your video. Think past the obvious and your audience won’t have the obvious response.
Here is a clip from a video we produced to launch a sales travel incentive to the Caribbean. The obvious thing here was to build with a morcheba style chillout music track, then use a Caribbean flavoured piece, like this:
The second clip is much more impactful. Same shots, same script, same length.
It can take a lot of research to find the right music track but when you find that peice of music that really lifts the film, its well worth the effort. In this instance, the client was inundated with requests from their audience for the name of the composer, so they could keep listening.
You might have the perfect song in mind, a great pop song with just the right message. Keep in mind copyright and synchonisation costs. If you produce anything with audio ‘synched’ with video, you will need to pay a license fee, or royalty to the record company and the artist. This can take weeks or sometimes months to negotiate, and in some instances, the artist may say they dont want their music used in an advert or promotional film.
Don’t let that put you off though, there are real benefits in using a pop music track. And when the vocal matches the mood of the programme perfectly, the results take your programme to another level. Here’s an example:
iceni cut this series of adverts to support the latest Frosty Jack’s marketing and TV advertising campaign.
The ads feature TV presenter, Iain Lee, along with some unsuspecting members of the public who ‘don’t know jack!’
Produced for Midlands based Aston Manor Brewery, The Frosty Jack’s adverts were given a new graphic end screen and voice over and optimised for use online as a web video or viral film.
Originally published in July 2009 Televisual Magazine.
Andi Jepson, director at iceni, on the highs and lows of directing royalty through the streets of London.
Day 1: The good. We’ve been asked to deliver a film to promote World Congress 2010. The event takes place from 16 - 19 June 2010 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London.
Day 2,3 and 4: Thinking. Thinking about the audience. Thinking about how the film will be used. Creative team are excited about Hi Def aerial footage of the city, tracking graphics onto signposts so everywhere points to the event location, Gaz likes the style of the intro sequence to Jools Holland’s Later show. And just like that, the Queen was on her way to the event in the back of a London cab with Jerusalem playing in the background.
