Use television to market music

programme when the preacher made a statement that caught my attention. He said television is a way of telling your vision and so everyday you and I are being exposed to other people’s visions!
How many of us have ever looked at it from that point of view or realise that through watching television we embrace other people’s values and beliefs either as superior or otherwise?
While live shows and concerts are a way to market you as an artiste, they are very limited to the few individuals who attend unlike the use of television. Some American, European and even African artistes have attracted a larger following all across the world not necessarily by their live shows but by their musical videos.
How many of us have had an opportunity to see Michael Jackson live, Aretha Franklin, R Kelly, Kirk Franklin or P Square, and yet we are so hooked up to their music? Do you have to travel to other countries in order to gain recognition and fame as an artiste?
One good video can raise your status as a musician and so consider working on it properly and professional.
Just watching other popular music TV channels across Africa it is very rare to come across a video from a Zimbabwean musician. The big question is why is it we do not see local videos on Channel O, MTV and Base among other television stations?
These platforms can generate a great following for Zimbabwean music to the whole world. Through research I met up with a local production company – Emmanuel Productions – who have been in the business for quite sometime and have got some insightful opinions about certain requirements by those TV channels that have made it difficult for our local videos to be flighted.
I also discovered some state-of-the-art movie and video production equipment that opened my eyes to the need for us to take seriously the making of quality musical videos.
Over the years Emmanuel Productions has collaborated with Vision Studios in producing two SuperSport TV programmes – The Challenge Rally and Zimbabwe Open polo- crosse.
Recently they invested in the state-of-the-art video production equipment in a bid to raise the quality and standard of our local videos and movies. Colour correction, make-up, type of shots and dynamism, equipment, lighting are some of the areas that have reduced our chances of claiming space on regional and international TV networks.
This also affects the post-production of the final video as some of the details would not have been captured correctly in the beginning.
Just like in music recording it is important to set the correct input levels for all the recordings to avoid poor quality mix-down. All the shots in a video must be balanced to create a general feel that takes away the different times and days that each scene was recorded.
There is also need to adhere to broadcasting legality which sets limits for minimum black levels maximum white levels and minimum and maximum chroma saturation and composite RGB limits.
Here are some things to consider when planning your musical video.
1. The fact that you are a good son writer does not mean you are also a good scriptwriter for the video. Engage professional scriptwriters. Let’s move away from wanting to do everything as this tends to limit and reduce the quality of the end product.
2. When considering who to produce the video do not take your uncle who does weddings and funerals single-handedly but consider a bigger production team who have the equipment that will give you a range of dynamic shots rather than the usual. No matter how creative and exciting the script sounds, the use of the correct equipment to capture the different shots is of paramount importance. These include the crane jib, tracking system, camera stabilisers, car mounting systems, light reflectors and professional video cameras and editing suite.
3. Plan your shots in advance and the exact location not to just say pano panoita (we can just do it here).
4. Involve relevant people in the video – dancers, models and actors. Avoid being sympathetic to friends and relatives who just want to appear on the video even though they are not worthy the task.
A closer look at musical videos produced locally shows that the urban grooves are trying to raise the standard.
Sungura musicians seem stuck at one place and need a new lease of creativity as their videos are so similar and not so exciting.
l Richard Kohola is a music critic and development expert and can be contacted on the following number 0772 382 871 or email rkay [email protected].