Writing Music Video Treatments

At the beginning of every music video project, there is a need to work with the artist to define a desired treatment. A video treatment, also known as video concept, outlines information with regards to what the music video will be about. Conceptually, a music video could show the artist performing the song in front of a live audience or by itself; alternatively, a music video can also present a story line where certain situations and storytelling takes place. Furthermore, it can also be an experimental exercise where random images are shown to complement the music in a more abstract way. All of these angles constitute the treatment, or concept, of a music video.

A video treatment goes beyond this exercise of defining the overall direction of the video. The treatment goes down to describe the kind of locations, situations, stories, images, look and feel, tone and color, pacing and so on of the music video. Even though most treatment writers don't follow specific guidelines or structures, a well written treatment is one that can successfully communicate complete ideas to artists.

We have had the chance to write several music video treatments for several artists where different ideas and angles were presented for them to consider. Also, a video treatment can help with the process of creating the production budget where items identified in the treatment are included in the budgeting process.

Summarizing, a music video treatment is the starting point of every project. It allows the production company to communicate its ideas to the artists and it allows artists to make decisions regarding the direction of their video. The treatment also helps production companies to write production budgets that are accurate and that give artists a complete view of what to expect when embarking on the production of their music video.

Location Scouting

When filming on-location, as opposed to filming in a controlled studio, there is a pre-production step that needs to be taken: location scouting. Typically done by directors in conjunction with directors of photography and sometimes lighting technicians, location scouting is the process of selecting a right location for the different scenes of the production.

Locations have a significant impact on the final product. They can be exteriors or interiors, studios, houses, living rooms, offices, stores, warehouses, open fields, etc. Every set where the action is filmed is a filming location.

Choosing the right locations is the responsibility of both the production company and the artists as the locations need to please the artists as well as serving the technical and creative requirements of the treatment as interpreted by the director.

Broadcast Quality Digital Video

Without getting into the technicalities of what broadcast-quality digital video means, it is more effective to concentrate on the practical applications of this format and what makes it compatible with broadcast standards.

When filming, or taping action using digital video, in most if not all cases, it is important to treat the captured footage to make it compatible with television broadcast standards. Technically speaking, there are certain limitations in the amount of color and luminosity that need to be respected. For instance, a very bright image or one with over-saturated color can fall outside the accepted scope, according to NTSC television broadcast standards. This is why it is important to do proper treatment to the footage through color correction to ensure the final product will be broadcast-friendly and therefore considered for broadcast by television stations.

Editing and Coloring

Editing is the most important step during the post-production work flow. Without editing, there wouldn't be any cuts and there wouldn't be any video. After all the footage has been loaded up into the system, the editor will layer out the sequences on a timeline and will carefully select which part of which sequences will be used to build the final music video.

This process takes a fair amount of time and it's directly proportional to the amount of footage shot during filming, known as principal photography stage.

Once all the shots have been laid out into the timeline, it's time to do some color correction.

The process of color correction brings a few benefits to the final cut. Some of these benefits are:

• ensure color found in the selected shots don't exceed the limits set by broadcasting standards
• if desired, increase the consistency of color throughout the video
• also, if desired, create specific looks for some or all the clips on the timeline (high contrast, burnt image, saturated colors, etc.).

Once all the clips that need treatment have been corrected, it is now time to apply transitions and effects.

Transitions are used to join two clips together. Some of the most commonly used transitions are cross-dissolve, dip to color, dissolve and fade-in and fade-out. Different transitions have different "meanings" in the language of filmmaking. For instance, cross dissolves can be used to cut between action in present time and a flashback scene. On the other hand, fades can be used to express that a longer period of time has passed between the situations depicted in the joint clips.

Once all the clips have been cut, color corrected and smoothly joint together using cuts and transitions, it is time to master the timeline.

Mastering

Just like in music recording, mastering is the process of "flattening" all the effects, color correction, transitions, and other effects into a format that can be distributed for broadcast. Mastering also includes making sure that audio levels are in the right place and that the final version is technically compliant with the rules of broadcasting.