How to write a music video treatment
A treatment is the written pitch for a music video: the idea, the look and the plan, agreed before anything is shot. Here is what goes into one and how to make it useful.
What a treatment is for
A music video treatment is a short document that describes the video before it exists. It does two jobs. It gets the artist, the director and everyone else involved agreeing on the same idea, and it turns that idea into something the production team can plan and budget. A good treatment is clear enough that someone who has never met the artist could picture the video.
It also becomes the reference point for every decision after it, from locations to the edit. At Billie, music videos begin with the song, so the treatment starts there too.
Start with the song
Listen to the track many times before writing a word. Note what the song is about, how it moves, where it builds and drops, and what the lyrics suggest without spelling out. The strongest concepts usually come from one clear feeling or image in the song, not from illustrating every line. Some artists find it useful to write down three words for how the song should feel, and to check every idea against them.
Write down the release context as well. Is this a lead single, an album track, a collaboration? A lead single may carry a bigger concept; a quieter release might suit a performance piece or a visualiser.
The idea in one or two sentences
Open the treatment with the idea in a sentence or two. If it takes a paragraph to explain, it will be hard to shoot and hard to watch, and everything else in the document should support that one idea.
Most videos sit somewhere between pure performance and pure narrative, so say where yours sits. Is the artist performing throughout? Is there a story with the artist inside it? Does performance cut between story scenes?
What to include
Most treatments cover the same ground, in roughly this order:
- The idea: one or two sentences
- The visual world: colour, light, texture and mood
- Performance: how and where the artist performs, and how much of the video it fills
- Story: the beats of any narrative, in order
- Locations: real or imagined, with the feel of each
- Styling and art direction: wardrobe, hair, makeup, props and sets
- Cast: dancers, actors or extras, if any
- References: stills and clips that show the look
- Deliverables: the main video plus vertical cut-downs, teasers and stills
Make it visual
A treatment is read quickly, often on a phone. Short paragraphs, clear headings and plenty of reference images work better than long prose. Use stills from films, photography, paintings or earlier music videos to show colour, framing and mood, and add a note on what each reference is for, so nobody mistakes a lighting reference for a story idea.
Borrow the feel of other work, never a shot-by-shot copy. The video should look like the artist, not like someone else. If the video includes choreography or a particular performance style, a short clip showing it is worth more than a paragraph describing it.
Write to the budget
The best treatment is one that can actually be made. A single location used well often beats five locations rushed. If the idea depends on something expensive, such as a large cast, a car rig, night exteriors or visual effects, say so plainly so it can be costed early. If the budget will not stretch, the treatment can find a simpler way to the same feeling. Be honest about what the artist is comfortable doing on camera too; a concept built around something they would rather not do will show it.
Music videos at Billie are quoted per project as Bespoke Production, and the treatment is what the quote is built around.
Common mistakes
The same few problems turn up in treatments again and again, and each is easy to fix on paper and expensive to fix on set:
- Too many ideas in one video, so none of them land
- References that contradict each other on colour or mood
- A story that needs more locations or cast than the budget allows
- No plan for the vertical cut-downs, so they are cut from shots framed only for widescreen
- Performance left vague, so the artist arrives unsure what is expected of them
From treatment to shoot
Once the treatment is agreed, pre-production turns it into a shot list, a schedule, locations, casting and styling. Changes after that point cost time, so it is worth taking the extra round of feedback at the treatment stage. Keep the treatment to hand during pre-production: when a location falls through or a costume will not work, the question to ask is which option still serves the idea. The music video timing guide sets out the stages that follow.
If you are an artist with a track and a release date, send it to Billie. Billie is part of EYWA Records, so the video can be planned alongside the release rather than after it.
Questions
Who writes the treatment, the artist or the director?
Usually the director, working from conversations with the artist. Artists often bring the starting idea, references or a feeling they want, and the director shapes it into a plan that can be shot.
How long should a treatment be?
Long enough to show the idea, the look and the plan, and no longer. A few pages with strong images is common; the one or two sentence idea at the top matters most.
Is this a paid service?
Yes. Billie is a paid production company. Production Retainers are $1,500 NZD a month for Essential and $3,000 NZD a month for Creative, and Studio Partner is priced on enquiry. Projects outside a retainer are quoted per project as Bespoke Production, and Billie Private events are quoted per project.
Work with Billie
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Tell Billie about the project, the timeline and which retainer suits, or ask for a Bespoke Production quote.
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