When you're showing a video to a client, or sharing it on social media, music can be the factor that elevates your story and helps viewers connect. And who better to share tips on choosing your music than the founder of Triple Scoop Music, Roy Ashen. Check out at the highlights from his presentation in the free CreativeLive class, "Using Animoto Slideshows to Grow Your Business". Then, take a look at our checklist based on Roy's advice to help you choose a song for your next video.
Write down your story. Video, like photography, is a storytelling medium. So what's your story? Make sure it's both simple and specific. For example, for a wedding, you could just say, "This is the story of Mary and Rob and the commitment they're making to each other." For a portrait business, your story could be, "Emily wants to leave an heirloom for her family to treasure forever." Your story will help you decide on the tone of your whole video.
Identify the emotions. So what is that tone? Happy? Sad? Thoughtful? Write down three words that match up with the emotion you'd like your viewer to feel when they're watching your video. This will help you focus your search and prevent you from going on musical "tangents" that don't support your story.
Choose a genre of music. Any type of music can cover a range of emotions, but not every type of music may match your video. Decide if you'd like a hip-hop edge to your track or want a softer acoustic track. Ask yourself if your song should have lyrics or be an instrumental. In short, what kind of music fits your story?
Find your song. If you're using Animoto, take your three words and your genre and enter them into our music selector to find a set of songs that might work for your video. If you'd like a broader selection, remove one of your choices. If you'd like to narrow down your choices even more, check out the video below and read our blog post on the seven ways to select songs in Animoto.
Try it out. It may take a couple tries to find the right song for your video, just as it can take a couple tries to take a stunning image. Watch your video with the song to see how it fits in with your video. If you like it, produce and share!
Want to find more tips for your next photography video? Take our free CreativeLive class, "Using Animoto Slideshow Videos to Grow Your Business", and learn from Kelly Brown, Vanessa Joy, Jared Platt, and, of course, Roy Ashen.