How I Use Music | Thoughts on the Creative Power of Music

My thoughts on music as a tool for inspiration and storytelling

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Johnny Harris is a filmmaker and journalist. He currently is based in Washington, DC, reporting on interesting trends and stories domestically and around the globe. Johnny's visual style blends motion graphics with cinematic videography to create content that explains complex issues in relatable ways. He holds a BA in international relations from Brigham Young University and an MA in international peace and conflict resolution from American University.

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[jelof]

sound design is the most underrated aspect in story telling, its all about conveying the tone/emotion

[SammyAme]

WHAT??? YOU MAKE YOUR OWN MUSIC??? WOW!

[victoratsali]

This guy is very brilliant. One of the best in his field.

[jennifer]

You’re such a thoughtful content creator, damn! I love how you described all of this and categorizing music into thinking vs. feeling. I can’t listen to anything other than abstract beats/consistent rhythm-type stuff while I work, or else I get pulled into the music and distracted. Some friends listen to classical music, or singer-songwriter stuff to work but I absolutely cannot. I try to explain this to some people but I think unsatisfactorily 😆.

[Levi_Allen]

This video is brilliant! So cool watching the layers build. Makes me want to learn more about recording my own tracks

Just noticed you’d left a comment about music on my film untethered, appreciate it. I of course now wish I’d done some better tone matching, but always space to grow.

[timoD]

You’re an amazing multimedia journalist ! What stuck with me was the back and forth between thinking and feeling music

[JoannaGryzewska]

I enjoy your videos a lot! Each has a perfect balance between the speaking part, visuals, and the piece of music you have selected. As a video editor, I know how important music is, and also, I know how hard it is sometimes to find a good piece of music! Everything in your videos is on point! Besides the learning part, I’m always inspired after watching!

[LilysLand]

I started using musicbed because of this video. I use to spend hours and hours trying to find the right music for my videos, in all sorts of different places. This just makes my editing life so much easier!

[harry_booth]

Johnny you're a huge source of inspiration. You really gave away the special sauce that makes your videos feel so balanced. Love your work.

[melchizedekpsj]

This was one of the best quarter of an hour of my life used in quite a while. Thank you very much!

[AtlasPro]

Great video! Something I need to do more of

[COGKevin]

Some of these concepts you don’t think about as a viewer, but so much goes into the formulation of these videos. Music is integral to your videos; it helps paint the perfect picture.

[AndyMBurgess]

The first track that you played on abstract beats is exactly what opens my latest explainer about Singapore’s rapid growth, and I felt all the same things you just described when I chose it.

Great video man I love that more people are spending time on thinking about how music draws out emotions in YouTube videos!

[JoeyAmor]

I love this video!!! I drive myself crazy searching for music for scenes in my videos and I feel like I’ve ran through every song on Epidemic sound. Tone matching is important to me and I enjoy storytelling. I love your videos, music choices and storytelling from Vox to your personal videos. Thank you!!

[valtersdavidsostrovskis]

you should make podcasts. i think u’d be great and i would definetly listen

[wanderingguidepublishing]

Seriously, this may be one of my favorite videos! I love how much you’ve been sharing different sides of your content. Love this!!!

[taylorverrall]

Man, I have a deep appreciation for the way you see the world and approach challenges Johnny. Truly is inspiring.

[dillonjohnson]

Top 10 video in my entire life. This explains a lot of the missing pieces to story telling I’ve been missing. Thank you Johnny!

[rachelcriswell]

I love that you show us. Where some say or tell, you show and do. So great!

[MorganAWeber]

I never even thought about switching back and forth between logical and emotional. That makes so much sense and that's something I'd very much like to start incorporating into my videos.