“Even music motivational pieces have to have a storyline,” Ralph Clevenger told me in regard to multimedia production. “Photographers tend to freak out when they hear the word ’story.’ Unlike with still photography, in multimedia you are now creating a piece that has a beginning, middle and end. That’s a story.”
“Music motivational pieces” are what Clevenger calls multimedia pieces that consist of still and/or video captures set to a music-only soundtrack. No need to deal with the difficulties of recording or editing complex soundtracks — new territory for most photographers.
“They can be absolutely wonderful,” Clevenger said of music motivation pieces. (Many photographers refer to them as “music videos.”) When getting started in multimedia, Clevenger says, “Most still photographers will go the route of creating these beautiful little pieces with beautiful images.”
What’s critical, Clevenger insists, is that photographers focus on creating music motivation pieces that tell a story — begging, middle and end. He provides a great example of how this can be done his 33-second “Cage Diving with Great White Sharks on Guadalupe Island,” which he created as a teaser to attract interest for his client, the tour operator of the Nautilus Explorer, a luxury live-aboard dive boat.
Starting “Cage Diving” with music evocative of “Jaws” with a boat moving through mysterious waters — the beginning — Clevenger then quickly changes to energetic, fast-beat music as he shows us the Nautilus Explorer shark cage diving in action on the — the middle — before he slows down the music and gives us an ending by showing us an onboard, night barbecue and (how better to end a story for luxury-hunger potential customers?) bikini-clad clients slipping into the onboard hot tub.