Director's Treatment: The Ultimate Guide to A Winning Pitch
Summary
TLDRIn this informative video, commercial director Noranya shares her expertise on crafting director's treatments, a crucial component in the pitching process for commercials. She discusses the importance of a treatment in showcasing the video's look and feel, offers insights into what to include, such as approach, visuals, and post-production, and emphasizes the need for high-quality imagery. Noranya also recommends using tools like Frameset for image searches and suggests that treatments should be tailored to the audience and project, with a length that communicates the idea effectively.
Takeaways
- 🎬 A director's treatment is a crucial document in the pitching process that outlines the creative vision for a commercial or music video.
- 💼 Noranyas, the speaker, is a commercial director with experience working with major brands and has written over 100 treatments.
- 📝 The treatment has no defined structure and should reflect the filmmaker's unique approach tailored to the specific audience and project.
- 🤔 Starting to write a treatment can be challenging, but it's important to communicate the approach, concept, and visual elements clearly.
- 🌆 Visuals are key in a treatment; details like shot type, lighting, camera movement, and time of day contribute to the story's perception.
- 👗 Wardrobe and character details can provide insights into the characters' backgrounds and add depth to the narrative.
- 🖼️ High-quality images are essential for selling the visual concept, and using watermarked or low-quality images can appear unprofessional.
- 🎨 Post-production details like editing style and color grading can significantly impact the video's look and feel and should be described if relevant.
- 🛠 The choice of software for creating treatments is subjective; comfort and familiarity are more important than the specific tool used.
- 📚 Noranyas offers an ebook and templates for writing treatments, which can be valuable resources for those looking to improve their skills.
- 📈 The length of a treatment can vary greatly, from 8 to over 50 pages, depending on the depth of detail needed to convey the concept effectively.
- 🔍 There are services that offer to help with treatment writing, design, and research, which can be useful when time is limited or budgets allow.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of a director's treatment?
-A director's treatment serves as a document to present the director's vision for a project, including how the video will look and feel, after the initial briefing with the agency or client.
Why did Noranyas decide to create a video on treatments?
-Noranyas decided to create a video on treatments because there was very little information available online about them, and she had learned valuable lessons from her own experience that she wanted to share.
How many years of experience does Noranyas have in directing commercials?
-Noranyas has over five years of experience in directing commercials.
What brands has Noranyas worked with in her commercial directing career?
-Noranyas has worked with brands such as Samsung, Toyota, BMW, Red Bull, and Coca-Cola.
What is Noranyas' approach to writing treatments?
-Noranyas emphasizes the importance of tailoring the treatment to the specific audience, being clear in communication, and using high-quality images to support the visual aspects of the treatment.
What are some elements that Noranyas suggests including in the treatment to describe the visuals of the video?
-Noranyas suggests including elements such as the aspect ratio, lighting style, camera movement, time of day, location, and any specific visual techniques that will contribute to the story's perception.
Why is it important to use high-quality images in a director's treatment?
-High-quality images are important because they help to accurately convey the director's vision and mood of the project, and using watermarked or low-quality images can appear unprofessional.
What platform does Noranyas recommend for finding high-quality images for treatments?
-Noranyas recommends using Frameset, an AI-powered platform with various search filters that can help find specific images that match the mood and requirements of the project.
What is the significance of the color grading in Noranyas' approach to treatments?
-Color grading is significant in Noranyas' approach because she believes it greatly influences the look and feel of the video, and she is very specific about the color decisions in her work.
What software does Noranyas prefer for building her treatments?
-Noranyas prefers using Keynote for building her treatments, as she finds it comfortable and effective for her needs, although she mentions that any software can be used as long as the treatment is clear and understandable.
How long should a treatment be according to Noranyas?
-Noranyas suggests that there is no fixed length for a treatment, but it should be as long as needed to communicate the idea well, with her personal preference being between 20 to 25 pages for a comprehensive yet concise presentation.
What is the 'Dark Secret' Noranyas mentions regarding treatments?
-The 'Dark Secret' Noranyas refers to is the existence of companies that offer services such as visual research, design layout, and writing for directors' treatments, which can be helpful when time is short or when dealing with multiple pitches.
What advice does Noranyas give for improving treatment writing skills?
-Noranyas advises to practice writing treatments, ask for feedback, and analyze other directors' treatments to learn and improve one's own writing style and flow.
Outlines
🎬 Director's Treatments: An Essential Guide
Noranyas, a commercial director with experience in creating ads for major brands, introduces the concept of a director's treatment. A treatment is a document used in the pitching process to convey the director's vision for a commercial or music video. The speaker shares personal experiences and lessons learned from writing over 100 treatments. They emphasize the lack of standard structure for treatments, highlighting the importance of tailoring the pitch to the audience. Key elements to include in a treatment are discussed, such as the director's approach, concept explanation, visual details, and wardrobe considerations. High-quality images are suggested for clarity, and the speaker recommends using 'frameset' for finding specific images. The paragraph concludes with a mention of a discount for subscribers to 'frameset', a platform the speaker uses for their treatments.
🛠 Tools and Techniques for Writing Treatments
The speaker continues the discussion on treatments, focusing on post-production aspects such as editing and color grading, which can significantly impact the viewer's experience. They mention the importance of being attentive during the initial briefing to gauge the level of detail required for the treatment. The paragraph also touches on the use of software for creating treatments, with the speaker preferring Keynote, and the value of templates for different genres. The speaker promotes their own resources, including an ebook and templates, as aids for writing effective treatments. The length of treatments is discussed, with the speaker's preference being between 20 to 25 pages for comprehensive yet concise communication. The paragraph concludes with the speaker's views on hiring external services for treatment creation and the importance of practice and feedback in improving one's treatment writing skills.
🎼 The Dark Secret of Treatment Writing Services
In the final paragraph, the speaker reveals the existence of companies that offer treatment writing services, which can be beneficial for directors with back-to-back pitches or tight deadlines. They discuss the cost of these services, which can range from $500 to $2,000, and the collaborative nature of working with such companies. However, the speaker expresses a preference for maintaining full control over their treatments. The paragraph ends with advice on practicing treatment writing and seeking feedback to improve, promising that with experience, one will develop a clear understanding of their preferred writing style and flow.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Director's Treatment
💡Commercial Director
💡Pitching Process
💡Creative Ideas
💡Visuals
💡Post-Production
💡Branding
💡Storyboard
💡AI Power Platform
💡Templates
💡Feedback
Highlights
The director's struggle with writing treatments and the lack of online resources led to the creation of this educational video.
Noranyas, a commercial director with over five years of experience, shares lessons learned from writing and pitching over 100 treatments.
A treatment is a critical document in the pitching process, allowing directors to present their vision for a project before major decisions are made.
The absence of a defined structure for treatments means each one reflects the filmmaker's unique approach and must be tailored to the audience.
Starting the treatment writing process can be intimidating, especially when it comes to crafting the initial text.
Key elements to include in a treatment are the approach, concept, and detailed visual descriptions to help all stakeholders understand the director's vision.
Visuals are crucial in treatments; clarity in communicating camera shots, lighting, and settings can change the perception of the story.
High-quality images are essential in treatments to match the mood and sell the director's vision as a visual storyteller.
Frameset, an AI-powered platform, is recommended for finding specific high-quality images for treatments.
Details about post-production, such as editing and color grading, can be included if relevant to the project and briefed upon.
The choice of software for building treatments is subjective; familiarity and comfort are more important than the specific tool used.
Noranyas offers a comprehensive 50-page ebook for mastering the art of writing winning treatments, including a checklist and example treatment.
Treatment length can vary greatly; some are concise at 8-15 pages, while others can be extensive, exceeding 50 pages.
The director's personal sweet spot for treatment length is between 20 to 25 pages, providing depth without becoming tedious.
There are companies offering treatment writing services, which can be beneficial when directors are short on time or facing back-to-back pitches.
Despite the availability of professional services, the director prefers full control over the treatment writing process.
Practice and feedback are emphasized as essential for improving treatment writing skills, with the suggestion to analyze other directors' treatments.
The video concludes with a reminder of the importance of the process itself as a learning experience, encouraging viewers to engage with the content.
Transcripts
director's treatments a lot of people struggle with this there is very little
information about it online which is exactly why I decided to make this video
if you're new to this channel my name is noranyas and I'm a commercial director who
makes commercials for Brands like Samsung Toyota BMW Red Bull Coca-Cola and many more I have over
five years of experience in directing commercials I myself struggled with writing treatments for
years and at this point of my career I have probably written and pitched well over 100
treatments and some of them have won others have lost but most of all they have taught me a ton of
lessons that I can share with you now to make your process a bit easier so watch this video
till the end to figure out what treatments are and how I approach my process so what is a treatment
a treatment is an integral part in the pitching process following the initial briefing call with
the agency or a client to discuss all of the creative ideas and Direction you will have the
opportunity to present your own ideas be it film commercial or a music video you do this through
a document called a director's treatment this is your chance to show how the video will look
and feel like before any major decisions are made the first time I was asked to make a treatment for
a commercial back in 2018 I wrote and pitched it and the agency never came back to me that's what
I thought to myself there was a bit of a homework to do I started looking for treatments online and
I couldn't really find anything that had any value to me so I was begging The Producers I
knew some other directors and just people that had more experience than me to share their treatments
with me to for me to learn but nobody seemed open enough to share and even if they did they didn't
have a plug-and-play structure that I could just rip off and use in my own treatments and that's
when it hit me treatments really have no defined structure and every treatment is a reflection of
the type of filmmaker you are every job needs a unique approach because it's going to be read by
different people with different personalities some have more ego involved and some are busier than
others and so you really have to tailor your pitch to a specific audience and arguably that's the
most important part of the treatment writing what do you write about now for me the hardest part is
usually to start writing it's the text that scares me the most and here's the list of few things that
you could write about to kick things off you could start with the approach explain how you
will approach the film what makes you the best fit for the job and what do you have under your belt
that will make this project great next you could say a few words about the idea what is the concept
of the video even if the idea is given to you by the agency what is it that you like about it maybe
you want to expand on it maybe you want to improve it or maybe it's so awesome that you really don't
want to change anything about it then one of the most important Parts is to write about visuals how
will the video look this part is going to be very helpful not only to the agency side but also for
the production to calculate expenses and for the cinematographer to understand what is expected of
him let me give you an example say it's a juice commercial and it's a story about this family
drinking this wonderful orange juice out on a picnic how is it shot anamorphic 16x9 or maybe
vintage 4x3 how is it lit front lip or backlit does the camera zoom in or out or maybe dolly
in or perhaps it's handheld is it morning midday evening or at night where is the picnic happening
out on a cozy Beach or in a park or how about in front of a green screen do you notice how these
things change the perception of the story that's why you have to be very clear when communicating
this to the reader you could also write about the Wardrobe if that's important to the story
coming back to our juice drinking family what is the family wearing is it casual or more formal
what do these details tell us about the characters and their background imagine if the dad is wearing
a sporty outfit is he a fitness Enthusiast and really loves the juice for its nutrients
I mean it's probably not the case but the agency might love that idea and so that's why you have
to write about that and you should back it up with really good quality images when writing about the
visuals words can only take you so far use images and use high quality ones nothing screams more
unprofessional than a watermarked image found on the first page of a Google search it's important
to find images that match the mood as that's integral to selling yourself as a visual director
if you're wondering where I search for high quality images then you should check out frame set
it's an AI Power Platform that has many different search filters to help you find very specific
images again the example if you're pitching for a juice commercial and their brand color is orange
you should use that to your advantage fortunately with frame set you can even set the exact color
parameters in the search to find matching images from other commercials music videos and films
their Pro membership will give you unlimited search in 4k if you ever want to upgrade I
have a 10 discount for my subscribers all you need to do is click the link in the description
and use the code nornia's films at checkout this video is not sponsored by frameset but I do get a
small commission if you do decide to upgrade at no extra cost per year ultimately my goal is to help
you guys and to share this wonderful resource I use every time I'm building my treatments
also you might want to write about post-production too and then again you want to be very attentive
during that first briefing because you want to read the energy in the room and see if the
treatment even deserves so many details about the post-production but if you're anything like
me you won't miss the chance to brag about how the editing is going to be carried out
how we're going to cut from one scene to another what is it going to do to a viewer
on a subconscious level I also absolutely love including a few pages on how the color grading
is going to be done because I'm always so specific when it comes to the color in my work in my films
I feel like so much of the videos look and feel is dictated by the color grading decisions we
make in pre-production and if it really adds to the understanding of the story you could write
about the CGI and VFX but you want to be careful with this one because you can often lead to too
much information and become a bit confusing which software should you use to build your treatments
I think it really doesn't matter as long as you find it comfortable and become familiar within the
software personally I have tried many different options like Google Slides Microsoft PowerPoint
canva but I have found myself gravitating towards a keynote the most often and I decided to stick
with it in the recent years fundamentally they all function similarly and I think as long as you can
make it clean and understandable and any of them will suffice writing good treatments is a process
that takes years to master and it definitely takes more than just watching a video if you
want the most comprehensive guide on writing good winning treatments you should check out
my 50 page ebook it covers all the little details and intricacies of writing winning treatments and
delves deep into how it's done in the professional world of commercial directing the bundle includes
the ebook itself a printable checklist and an example treatment to see how I approach writing
my own treatments many people have already sent me DMS saying that it was super valuable and
helpful to get them started for those of you who are already writing treatments my store offers
multiple easy to use treatment templates that fit different genres whether you want to ride
for a car commercial a fashion brand or anything else really these exclusive templates will save
you so much time when it comes to designing layout and structure the link to my store is
in the description now back to the video how long should your treatment be look this is not a high
school writing assignment so I can't really tell you exactly how many words should you include but
I think as long as it communicates the idea well then it does its job a good communication is a
context-specific matter some treatments are best when they're really short say 8 to 15 pages and
some other treatments work best when they are really in-depth and can easily go over 50 pages
long just for your reference last year I pitched for Dubai tourism and it was my most comprehensive
treatment to the state and it was just shy of 80 pages so there you have your spectrum I guess but
I should say my sweet spot is between 20 and 25 Pages it's short enough to not get boring
and still long enough to really dig deep into the important bits The Dark Secret there are
companies out there that offer visual research design layout and even writing services for
directors based on their idea sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you have to pitch
one treatment after another back to back and if you win the job the paycheck is kind of high that
it kind of justify lies you know paying some extra money to hire these companies especially
when you're really short on time these Treatment Services can cost anywhere between 500 and 2
000 depending on what you want them to get done sometimes but not always a production company can
hire these guys for you to help you out because they're also interested in you winning the job
and in the past I had the luxury to work with these types of companies a few times and it's
a really collaborative way to write a treatment however for some reason I still prefer to have
a full control over how I write my treatments how they look the text the design the visual
research and paying so much money while being uncertain that you even get the job it feels
pretty painful to me but if you have the money to afford it just know that these services do
exist and I won't name any names just Google it there's plenty of them but yeah I would say the
most important step is to practice try and ask for feedback if you don't win and I know it's
hard to get access to but try your best to see other directors treatment and analyze them that's
how you become better at This I Promise You by the time you write 20 treatments you'll have a
pretty good idea of how you like your flow and Style thank you for watching this video I hope
you liked it please subscribe to this Channel and hit the like button to let the algorithm know that
it was helpful please leave some questions and comments as I always read them and try to reply
to them as much as I can and most importantly remember the process is the reward foreign
[Music]
[Music]
Weitere ähnliche Videos ansehen
Get Rid of Back Pain Once and For All Diabetics!
How To Create A Sourcing Map For A Client
$9.6M UGC Facebook Ad Creation Process Revealed
How to come up with insanely high quality video ideas w/ Cleo Abram
How Millions of Banana Harvested & Processed | Banana Chips Factory🍌
How to Cold Pitch Freelance Copywriting Clients (⚠️Avoid these mistakes to get responses)
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)