Most artists book a music video shoot expecting one thing back: the video. The shoot day itself usually has far more in it than that, and the difference between an artist who gets one finished video and an artist who gets weeks of content from the same day isn't a bigger budget. It's whether anyone planned for the extra deliverables before the cameras started rolling.
A full shoot day involves hours of setup, lighting, multiple takes, and a crew standing around between setups more often than most artists realise. That time isn't wasted, but it is routinely under-used. A behind-the-scenes clip captured on a second camera during a lighting change costs nothing extra in crew time and gives the release campaign content for the weeks leading up to the drop. A handful of production stills pulled from high frame rate footage or grabbed in a spare minute on set cover press kits and social posts that would otherwise need a separate shoot entirely.
Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts all run in a 9:16 vertical frame, and all three are where a huge share of a release's actual discovery now happens. Hypebot's breakdown of short-form promotion ideas makes the point plainly: the artists getting the most out of a single video are the ones cutting it into multiple short pieces for these platforms, not the ones posting the full horizontal video and stopping there.
The mistake is treating this as an editing problem instead of a shoot-day planning problem. Pulling a usable vertical crop from footage that was only ever framed for 16:9 means losing whatever was happening at the edges of frame, which is often the exact detail that made the shot work. A cinematographer who knows in advance which moments need to carry a vertical cut will leave room in frame for that crop from the start, which costs nothing extra on the day and saves real quality in the edit later.
Before the shoot, make a list of every piece of content the release actually needs: the main video, three vertical cutdowns, a BTS reel, and two or three press stills. Hand that list to the crew before the shoot day, not after, so framing and camera time account for all of it from the start.
None of this needs a second shoot day or a bigger crew. It needs a brief that says what's actually required before the first setup goes up. Red Search's Australian video marketing research and HubSpot's broader data both point to the same underlying pattern: artists and brands getting the most mileage from video content are the ones repurposing a single production across multiple formats, not the ones treating every platform as a separate shoot.
A crew briefed only on "the music video" shoots for the music video. A crew briefed on the full list of deliverables plans camera moves, framing, and spare moments differently from the first setup.
Wardrobe changes, location moves, and lighting resets all create natural windows for a second camera to grab BTS footage or stills without competing with the main shoot.
A horizontal-only edit plan treats vertical cutdowns as an afterthought. A plan that budgets edit time for 16:9, 9:16, and a BTS reel from the start delivers all three without a rushed scramble after the main video is locked.
The most common mistake isn't skipping the extra deliverables entirely, it's deciding on them too late. An artist will finish a shoot, love the main video, and then ask for vertical cuts or a BTS reel during the edit, after the framing, lighting, and camera moves are already locked. At that point the editor is working with what exists, not what the brief actually needed. A wide shot framed tight for 16:9 with nothing but background at the edges doesn't crop cleanly to 9:16. A BTS moment that happened off-camera because nobody was rolling on a second body is simply gone. None of this is fixable in post no matter how good the editor is, because the problem was never an editing problem to begin with.
The fix costs nothing extra on the shoot day itself. It just has to happen at the brief stage, before a single light goes up, which is also the cheapest point in the entire process to make a decision.
A single shoot day with 618 Media, built this way, routinely produces the main video, two to three vertical cutdowns sized for Shorts, Reels, and TikTok to YouTube's own vertical and 1080p guidance, a BTS teaser, and a small set of press stills, all from one day on location. Wyzowl's research backs up why that matters: audiences respond to consistent content presence, not a single video posted once and left alone. Music video packages with 618 Media start from $2,200 for a Single Day across Sydney and NSW. These are estimates only. Use the Video Project Calculator or contact the team for a tailored quote.
| Deliverable | Where It's Used | Extra Shoot Time Needed |
|---|---|---|
| Main music video (horizontal) | YouTube, press, sync pitching | None, this is the primary shoot |
| Vertical cutdowns (9:16) | Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts | None if planned for, footage is reframed or shot with both crops in mind |
| Behind-the-scenes clips | Instagram Stories, TikTok, building release hype | Minimal, captured by a second camera or phone during setup and breaks |
| Press stills | Playlist pitching, press kits, cover art options | None, pulled from video frames or shot in spare moments on set |
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Use the CalculatorAt minimum, the main horizontal video and two or three vertical cutdowns for Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. With a small amount of planning on the day, a shoot can also produce behind-the-scenes clips and press stills without adding real time to the schedule, since these are captured in the gaps between main setups, not as separate productions.
Not if it's planned before the shoot, not during the edit. A cinematographer who knows in advance that certain shots need to work as both 16:9 and 9:16 will frame with that in mind from the start. Trying to pull a usable vertical crop from footage framed only for horizontal delivery after the fact is where quality gets lost, not where cost gets added.
Usually a second, lighter camera setup, sometimes just a phone, run by a crew member during setup changes and breaks rather than a dedicated extra shooter. It adds effectively no time to the schedule because it's captured in moments the crew isn't otherwise using.
Yes, for behind-the-scenes and campaign use. High frame rate video pulled at the right moment produces a usable still for social and press kits. For a cover-art-quality image that needs to hold up at large print size, a dedicated stills photographer is still the better call, but that's a specific need, not the default for every piece of supporting content.
It's rarely more expensive, since nothing here requires extra crew or extra hours if it's planned from the brief stage. It is more valuable, because a single day then supplies weeks of content instead of one video and nothing else. 618 Media builds this into every music video package from $2,200. These are estimates only. Use the Video Project Calculator or contact the team for a tailored quote.
618 Media is a video production company based in NSW, working with businesses, artists, and organisations across Sydney and NSW on music videos, brand stories, corporate video, event coverage, real estate, social media content, and more.
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