How many shots does a music video need? A simple way to work it out

You don't need to guess how many shots a music video needs. If you know your song's tempo and length, you can work it out in a minute, and every cut will land on the music.

The sum

Most songs have four beats in a bar. So:

1. One bar in seconds = 60 ÷ BPM × 4.
2. Bars in the song = song length in seconds ÷ one bar.
3. Shots = bars ÷ how many bars each shot lasts.

At 120 BPM, one bar is 2 seconds. A 3-minute song is 180 seconds, so it has 90 bars. Change shots every 2 bars and you need 45 shots. Change every 4 bars and you need about 23.

Examples for a 3-minute song

• 90 BPM: a bar is about 2.67 seconds, so the song has about 68 bars. That's about 34 shots at 2 bars each, or 17 at 4 bars.
• 120 BPM: a bar is 2 seconds, so the song has 90 bars. That's 45 shots at 2 bars each, or about 23 at 4 bars.
• 140 BPM: a bar is about 1.71 seconds, so the song has 105 bars. That's about 53 shots at 2 bars each, or about 26 at 4 bars.

Faster songs need more shots for the same pace of cutting, which is why a fast song can cost much more to shoot or generate than a slow one of the same length.

Don't cut at the same pace all the way through

A video that changes shots every 2 bars from start to finish feels flat. Let the song set the pace:

• Intro and outro: slow. Long shots of 4 to 8 bars give people time to settle in.
• Verse or build: medium, around 2 to 4 bars. The pace starts to rise here.
• Chorus or drop: fast, around 1 to 2 bars. This is where the energy is.
• Breakdown: slow again, 4 to 8 bars. The contrast makes the next drop hit harder.

These ranges are a starting point, not a rule. Vidsou's own default plans sit in about this range, with the fastest cuts in the drop and the longest in breakdowns, and they vary by genre. Drum and bass and house cut faster than deep house, for example.

Cut on the bar, not just the beat

Cutting on any beat works, but cutting on the first beat of a bar usually feels more natural, because that's where the music itself tends to change. The first beat isn't always at 0:00, though. Many songs have a moment of silence or a pickup first, so find where the first bar really starts before you count.

Get the numbers for your song

Our free beat cut planner reads your song in your browser, without uploading it. It estimates the tempo, finds a strong beat to count from, and gives you the start and end time of every shot, which you can download as a spreadsheet. It's an estimate, so check it by ear. If the tempo feels twice or half as fast as your song, use the half or double speed button, and shift the cuts a beat or two if they don't start on the bar.

If you'd rather not plan and edit it yourself, Vidsou makes the whole video from your song: it finds the sections, writes the shot list and cuts everything to the beat, and you can review each shot before you pay.