A good video treatment is not just about what happens behind the camera; it’s about how it happens. In the marketing agency world, the treatment is the link between a product brief and a production plan. It can enable creative teams to gain an understanding of what the client is looking for and can clarify for a client the direction for which a piece is suitable. Few working, thought-out treatments can minimize confusion, speed up approvals, and maintain production focus.
Establish the visual direction
The treatment shall describe the vision concerning the idea in terms of look and feel. References to different settings, framing, lighting, colors, movement, transitions, characters, and overall look and feel of the story. If your team is creating visual concepts, a creative space powered by Artificial Intelligence, like YouArt, can be recruited for image and video creations, as part of the creative development process. Ideally, the document should not be overdone. When attempting to get a client to grasp a direction before the start of the shot, giving them visual clues and descriptions will help them understand the direction.
Start by defining the audience
The first step is to determine the target audience for the video. For an e-commerce business, you can create an e-commerce campaign directed at online shoppers seeking the easy answer, and with B2B videos, you can reach decision-makers during the consideration phase of a business product purchase. Audience needs, interests, concerns, and familiarity with the product are factors to consider for the agencies. The information influences the treatment’s style, pitch, tempo, and media style.
Clarify the main message
Each video should convey a core concept and/or message. The agency will set objectives for viewers’ perception, memory, and emotions after viewing the video, before writing scenes. For instance, if you’re promoting a new productivity enhancement, rather than just going through all its advantages, you could jump straight to saving time. The treatment, if well kept to the story’s point, can also be easier for the audience to follow and provide the production team with a creative focus for its production.
Turn the treatment into a production guide
A successful treatment should tie the elements of an audience, audience message, and visual direction and the approval process into one usable document. It should provide creative teams and production teams with sufficient information to advance confidently, be loose enough to allow for reasonable changes as necessary. This framework defines a consistent process for any e-commerce agency, AI studios, filmmakers, or B2B production teams that want to learn how to leverage video for their product.
FAQs
What is a video treatment?
A brief video treatment is a creative document that outlines how a set message will be communicated in a video. It will generally include the audience, the concept, the visual style, the tone, the storytelling style, and factors that are critical to the production.
Why should agencies define approval points early?
Early points of approval let clients “look through the eyes of the creator” before production starts to ensure key creative decisions are appropriate. This can minimise miscommunication and enable agencies to see what changes are needed, as it’s easier to make an adjustment on an earlier project.
What should a marketing video treatment include?
These are typically the elements of a good treatment: target audience, main message, creative concept, visual direction, tone, storytelling approach, and stages of the approval process for the client. The specific structure may be different as per the project and production requirements.
Conclusion
Understand your product’s short video treatment and get a roadmap of your creative ideas. Defining the audience, central message, visual direction, and its approval points early is a great way for marketing agencies to have more alignment before production begins. A practical treatment also provides a common frame of reference for the creative team, as everyone understands the function, style, and direction of the proposed video.
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