Talking to JimmyK at TikiKiti I got an idea on how they look at music. He offers plenty of advice to would-be video producers — mist of these tidbits of advice seem obvious. JimmyK says we’d be surprised at home many are clueless. Considering how many fan-made videos I’ve seen, I don’t think I’d be surprised. JimmyK says one thing about TikiKiti; “It’s all about the music and we’re all about how you visually interpret popular music.”

When looking through these tips it’s easy to see the three categories TikiKiti uses when evaluating a good versus bad video. These are, production quality; technical quality, such as editing; and creativity. All three seem very subjective but TikiKiti has developed some guidelines on how they rate these videos. More on that later. For now, here’s twenty tips on how to make a better music video — arranged, sort of, by the categories mentioned:

1. Good camera, lighting and production design matters as much in a performance video as in a narrative video.
2. Start and end your video with the song — no intro, no end credit roll, no bloopers reel.
3. For a great performance video, don’t just copy the artist — use your talent and your imagination for the performance, the scene design and the camera.
4. Use multiple sources for a mashup video.  We judge on the quality of your editing, shot selection, appropriateness for the music and overall effect.
5. To add motion to use shots use a motion stabilization system, skateboard or bike.
6. Good camerawork and good lighting are important. Include “pools of light” in your sets and shots.
7. Try to keep the gratuitous twerking to a minimum.
8. Good camerawork and good lighting are important.  Include camera moves to follow the action.
9. The more action, the better.  The more movement, the better.  The more cuts, the better.
10. Give clear credit to the band: song name, album (if any), artist, label and year.
11. We don’t do promotional videos: a product, a religion, an organization, your friend’s band … even a good cause.
12. A great mashup video should have a point (what you are trying to say) and a unifying theme.
13. We don’t do “slice-of-life” videos such as train fanning, vacation or scenery videos.
14. We don’t do travelog/vacation, dog, cat, Cosplay or anime videos.
15. No pitch shifting or modification to the music — No dialog or narration during/over the video.
16. No lyrics videos.
17. For the most part, we don’t display music videos by unsigned artists.  We exhibit videos of artists interpreting other peoples (usually popular) music.
18. Don’t use shots of performing in stage or in a dance studio. Drug use, exploitation, putting down or degrading others — seriously, we don’t want to see it.
19. Have fun, meet cool people, change the world.
20. Have fun, but take your work seriously.  It’s art.

Find TikiKiti on Twitter, and their YouTube Channel.