music_video_low_budget v1.0.0

name: "music_video_low_budget" description: "Shoot a convincing music video on a micro budget: one-location concept, performance coverage math, a shoot day that fits, beat-synced edit, and permit basics. Use when planning, shooting, or editing a low-budget music video."

Music Video, Low Budget

Purpose

Turn one song, one location, and almost no money into a finished music video. This covers the pre-production decisions that decide whether the shoot works, the coverage formula that keeps the edit alive, the beat-sync rules for cutting, and the permit realities of guerrilla shooting. It does not cover casting, choreography, or color pipelines in depth; those are their own jobs.

Workflow

1. Lock the song facts first. Get BPM, time signature, track length, and a section map (intro / verse / chorus / bridge / outro with start timecodes) from the artist. If BPM is unknown, tap it out by hand or ask; never guess, the whole cut grid depends on it.
2. Commit to one concept. One location, one visual idea, fully committed. Three half-ideas in one video is the classic failure. Pick the concept from the song's central image (see references/concepts.md for the playbook).
3. Build the beat grid. Run bin/bpm_cut_plan.py with BPM, time signature, and sections to get a bar-by-bar cut grid (seconds per bar, section timecodes, suggested shot lengths). Mark the first chorus downbeat: that is where the biggest visual change lands.
4. Write the shot list grouped by setup. List every needed shot, then reorder by location zone and lighting setup, not song order. Minimum coverage: three full-song performance passes (wide, medium, close) plus one b-roll pass (hands, feet, details, the location). Plus one static full-song wide: the edit's safety spine. Template in assets/shotlist-template.md.
5. Scout at shoot time-of-day. Visit the location at the exact hour you will shoot. Light is the production value at this tier. Confirm permission to be there (see permit section below).
6. Shoot one day, playback loud. Play the actual track on a speaker and have the artist perform at full energy every take. Shoot a little wider than feels right; you can punch in, never out. Lock exposure and focus across passes so cuts match. Static tripod for cinematic sections, handheld (with a faster shutter) for high-energy sections.
7. Cut to the grid. Drop the master track on the timeline first; it never moves. Sync takes by waveform and mute them. Cut lengths in whole bars (1, 2, or 4), landing cuts on beat 1 or consistently on the same beat. Verse: longer holds. Chorus: cut faster. Final chorus: your best angle. Break rhythm once before the final chorus on purpose.
8. Finish and deliver. Match shots to each other before chasing a look. Deliver 16:9 first, then cut verticals from the close pass for Shorts/Reels.

Output Contract

Given a song, produce: a one-page treatment (concept + section-by-section visual plan), a setup-grouped shot list from the template, a beat grid from the CLI, a shoot-day schedule (load-in, setups in order, load-out), and a finished edit following the rhythm rules. Quality bar: an agent handed this package can shoot the video with no creative decisions left to make.

Operating Rules

1. Coverage over coverage. Never start editing before the three performance passes plus the safety wide exist. The edit can only cut to footage you actually shot.
2. Restraint reads as confidence. The classic DIY mistake is cutting every beat because you can. Match cut density to section energy, never exceed it.
3. Cut 1-2 frames early. Human eyes are faster than ears; a cut landing exactly on the beat waveform reads as late.
4. Never shoot two concept ideas. If a shot does not serve the one committed concept, cut it from the shot list before the shoot.
5. Permits are local. Permit rules change city to city; check the actual local rule before the shoot, not after. Guerrilla shooting means the production can be shut down and gear confiscated, and insurance typically will not cover a permitless shoot.
6. No invented facts. Any numbers, prices, or permit claims in the treatment must come from the location's real paperwork or a primary source. If it cannot be verified, cut it or frame it as an assumption.
7. Style. No em dashes ever; no ChatGPT-speak ("delve", "elevate", "supercharge", "moreover", "game-changer", etc.). Plain, direct language.