Instructions
- Step 1: Choose a song Pick a song to use in your video. Make sure any sophisticated melodies or complex drumbeats are overpowered by a voice so smooth, it’s like warm butter being spread over freshly resurfaced ice.
- Step 2: Find the talent Assemble the musicians. Tease their hair, and dress them in shirts with wide collars, leather vests, and extremely tight pants. Remember: smooth, soft rock isn’t just about music — it’s about a state of mind.
- TIP: Have male musicians grow thick facial hair to offset their polished, smooth rock sound.
- Step 3: Build a set Fill a soundstage with black velvet fabric. Then, place extremely bright lights behind and to the side of the talent, so the musicians seem to emerge magically from surrounding darkness.
- Step 4: Shoot Start the smooth rock song and shoot the musicians lip-syncing and playing their instruments from a variety of angles. Include multiple close-ups of each performer’s hands and long, steady shots of the singer’s plaintive facial expressions.
- TIP: Put a diffusion filter on the camera’s lens to give your shots a dreamy, mellow haze.
- Step 5: Edit the footage Using video-editing software, sync shot changes to the music, add a color-correction filter to make shadows harsher, and reduce the video’s visual quality to simulate older videotape formats. Then, post the final product online, and help others enjoy the pleasant vibes of a smooth rock groove.
- FACT: Hall and Oates had 6 platinum albums between 1981 and 1988.
You Will Need
- Overproduced rock song
- Musicians
- Early-’80s clothing
- Black velvet fabric
- Bright lights
- Video camera
- Video-editing software
- Diffusion filter (optional)
- Taste (optional)
