You have a couple options, starting with hitting the local Film School or Photography course – remember Chris Cunningham was Chris Cunningham before he filmed Björk and Aphex Twin – just as you are waiting for someone to take a chance on your talent, there are filmmakers who are looking to collaborate and make their mark on the industry. This can work to your advantage as you can use your fan base to attract an upcoming filmmaker or photography talent. They want people to see their work as much as you want people to hear your music.

As a professional photographer and London Film School graduate I recommend this route as it can lead to some great collaborative relationships as you both climb in your respective industries. When choosing a potential collaborator remember that filmmakers segue between different disciplines – drama, documentary, music videos and commercials/corporate so be sure to look for inventiveness in all of their work. In fact it’s easier to shoot a great looking music video as there is a vast creative freedom not allowed in narrative drama etc. so I’d recommend you look for a good visual storyteller. 

But what do you do if you’re nowhere near a good film school or photography course? You’re creative. No doubt about that and I’m guessing you are surrounded by other creative people – burgeoning fashion designers, artists, writers, dancers and of course musicians. By collaborating and exchanging skills with each other you can produce your own photo-shoots and music videos and I’m going to show you how.

In my upcoming blogs I’ll be looking at four budget levels: Zero, £150, £300 and £500 and showing you what you can achieve at all these levels. You can do some good stuff on a zero budget but if you can stretch to one of the other levels you can upgrade to a better location, hire costumes, pay a good make-up artist etc. I’m offering my services for free as I’m hoping to discover some amazing artists for my films – so I need your help. I need London based musicians looking to make a music video or shoot an album cover within one of the specified four budgets. Apologies to those of you outside of London but given my schedule, in order for me to be able to make this offer, I can only work with London based artists.   Join up via my Video/Photo Shoot London Based project, and feel free to add your songs!! 

I’ll choose one song per month and make a video/do a photo-shoot, which I’ll then use as an example in my next blog. There I will include what was behind the creative idea, how we shot it – basic lighting & camera instructions, stills from the shoot, detailing where the budget (if any!) went etc.

Strong visuals come from strong ideas and no one knows what your music is trying to convey better than you – shouldn’t you be part of the visual creative process?  

Christine Lalla