Music video treatment template is not more beautiful PDFs. They represent your first opportunity to convince labels, directors, and artists that your project is prime time material rather than fantasy. If you have ever found yourself tongue-tied attempting to convey your idea, a decent model is like having a lighthouse in a blackout.
Where therefore ought one to begin? Turn that Hollywood experience mental image on its side-kick. Treatments are pitch decks with a little more poetic flair and less bullet point repetition. On your first page sits the logline. Keep brief. Should your video concept be a film, how would you succinctly describe the plot in one sentence at a pub? Get it to stick. Keep it straightforward yet fiery; no need to complicate. Mood; style; then tone. This is where taste is involved. Slow pan sorrowful along the beach or hyper-fast-cut, neony, hyper-kinetic rave using downbeat blues? Throw some important references in: movies, paintings, commercials, anything sets the tone. Say so if Beyoncé’s “Formation” produced a David Lynch fever dream child. Let your inspirations from frankenstein blossom instead of hide them.
And now, visual references. A therapy is soup without salt without visuals. Clothing sketches, color board, screen grabs. Whatever speaks to your notion, pin through Pinterest, movie stills, old school zines. It doesn’t have to be newly created art; just toss in a few surprises. People have fun in “aha!” moments.
Direction:
Plot: map the narrative of the video. Starting in middle, then ending. Thinking from a campfire; a real script doesn’t call for writing for production. What hook do we need? Between scenes, what moves? Are time loops possible? Does the video turn cartoonistic halfway through? Have people scroll on to the rest.
Remember talking about your camerawork technique? Shaky and handy or smooth and otherworldly? Tell them you would rather capture on Super 8. Share with someone the whip pans and snap zooms you come onto. Nobody in their head “sees” video. Keep it neat; but, describe it.
Add some finely detailed elements. Including any kind of special effects? Big logistical problems (rain machine, raccoons taught, astronaut suits)? There there drones involved? Get your reader to appreciate the scope—or great simplicity—of your notion instead of running through the underbrush.
Sometimes music video treatments finish on a personal note. Why is this project important to you? Tell me if anything in your personal life is guiding your vision. That spark is starting. People like evidence of your dedication.
Spend less time worrying about appearances. Choose your poison among Google Docs, PowerPoint, Canva. Make it understated, tasteful, and succinct. Distribute the work. One does not enjoy reading walls of text. Write not from a boardroom but as though you are chatting with a buddy. And always spell check your work. Remember that mistakes make even the most wild concept look messy.
Not only offers a road map, a killer therapy invites to dream alongside you. Please treat your reader with your words. Get them to want to strike play before one frame is fired.
