Music Video Production
What Goes Into Making a Music Video? The 5 Stages Explained
If you have never commissioned a clip before, a quote can feel like a black box. You hand over a track and a budget, and weeks later a finished video appears, with no clear sense of where the money went. The truth is that the music video production process runs through 5 distinct stages, and every one of them shapes the final result. Understanding them tells you exactly what you are paying for, where you have creative input, and why a serious clip takes the time it does. Here is what happens from the first idea to the last colour tweak, drawn from more than 30 years of shooting for artists in Adelaide and beyond.
Key takeaway
A music video moves through 5 stages: concept, pre-production, the shoot, editing, and colour grade. The unglamorous stages (concept and pre-production) are where the outcome is really decided. When you book, ask which stages are included, how many revision rounds you get, and who owns the final files, so there are no surprises after the shoot.
Stage 1: Concept and treatment
Every clip starts with an idea, and the strongest videos are built backwards from the song. Before anyone picks up a camera, you and your director sit with the track and pull out what it is actually about: the tempo, the mood, the lyrical hooks, the moment the chorus lands. From that comes a treatment, a short written document that describes the visual world of the clip. It covers the core concept (performance-driven, narrative, or a hybrid), the look and colour palette, the locations, and roughly how it cuts to the music.
This is the cheapest stage to change your mind and the most expensive one to skip. A treatment turns a vague 'I want something cinematic' into a shared plan, so you are not discovering on the shoot day that you and the director imagined two different videos. It is also where budget gets honest: a single-location performance piece and a multi-location narrative with a cast are very different numbers, and the treatment is where that gets decided out loud. As the artist, this is your biggest point of creative control. Push here, ask questions here, and get it right before money is committed downstream.
Stage 2: Pre-production and planning
Pre-production is the logistics engine of the shoot. It is unglamorous, and it is the single biggest predictor of whether a shoot day runs smoothly. Once the treatment is locked, the work becomes practical: scouting and securing locations, booking the crew, sorting gear, planning wardrobe and any props, and building a shot list and schedule that fits everything into the hours you have.
In Adelaide this stage carries real local detail. Filming in a City of Adelaide park or reserve, or in the Botanic Garden, generally needs a permit and sometimes public liability cover, and popular spots get booked out. Coastal light at Semaphore or Henley moves fast, so a beach shoot lives or dies on call times. Warehouse and studio spaces around Bowden and the inner north are workable but need booking ahead. A good producer also builds a weather contingency, because a single wet day in an outdoor plan with no backup can cost you the whole shoot. When you get a quote, the planning hours are part of what you are paying for, even though nothing visible has been filmed yet.
Stage 3: The shoot
The shoot day is the part everyone pictures, and it is also the shortest stage relative to the work around it. A typical single-day music video shoot runs long, often 10 to 12 hours, because lighting a scene properly, resetting between setups, and getting enough coverage all take time. You will usually record several passes of each section so the editor has options to cut between, and you may shoot the same performance from multiple angles or lens choices.
A few things are worth knowing as the artist. You will almost always perform to a playback of your own track so your lip-sync matches the recording, and you will run the song many times over the day, so bring energy to spare. The order you shoot in has nothing to do with the order of the final clip; it is driven by light, location moves and logistics. And the number of setups on the shot list, not the length of the song, is what determines how long the day runs. This is where the director of photography earns their keep: framing, movement and lighting are decided in real time, and experience here is the difference between footage that looks expensive and footage that looks flat.
Stage 4: The edit
With the footage captured, the video is assembled in post-production. The editor syncs the takes to the track, chooses the strongest performance moments, and cuts the whole thing to the beat so the visuals move with the music. A first cut, sometimes called a rough cut, is where the structure and pacing take shape, and it will usually not have final colour or effects yet.
This is where the revision conversation matters, and it is the question artists most often forget to ask upfront. Reputable clips include a set number of revision rounds, for example 2 rounds of changes on the edit, so you can give feedback and refine the cut without it becoming an open-ended, blowing-out job. Give your notes in batches rather than a trickle of one-off tweaks, because that keeps the process fast and keeps your costs predictable. Motion graphics, titles, split screens or visual effects are layered in at this stage too if the treatment called for them. When you sign off on the locked edit, the story is finished and only the finishing polish remains.
Stage 5: The colour grade and delivery
The final stage is colour grading, and it is the one that most separates a professional clip from a phone edit. Grading is where the raw footage is shaped shot to shot: matching skin tones, balancing the light between setups so scenes cut together seamlessly, and applying the overall look, whether that is a warm cinematic glow, a cold moody wash or high-contrast punch. It is the visual signature the treatment promised, finally locked in.
After the grade comes delivery. You should receive the finished video in the formats you actually need, typically a high-resolution master for archiving plus versions cut for YouTube and for vertical platforms, since a video framed for a wide screen does not read well cropped to a phone. Before you book, confirm two things in writing: which final files you receive, and what usage rights you hold. For most artists, being able to use your own clip freely across your channels, socials and press is the whole point, so make sure that is spelled out rather than assumed.
So how long does the whole thing take?
Across all 5 stages, a straightforward single-location music video commonly runs a few weeks from first conversation to final delivery, with the shoot itself being a single day inside that window. More ambitious clips with multiple locations, a cast, or heavy visual effects take longer, mostly because pre-production and the edit expand, not the shoot. If you have a release date, name it at the concept stage so the schedule can be built backwards from it. The clips that go sideways are almost always the ones that rushed stages 1 and 2 to get to the fun part faster.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a music video cost in Adelaide?
There is no single figure, because the price is driven by scope rather than by the song. A single-location performance clip shot in one day sits at the lower end, while multi-location shoots, a hired cast, custom sets, aerial or drone work and heavy visual effects push it up. The honest number comes out of the concept and pre-production stages, once the treatment defines how many locations, crew and setups the video actually needs. When comparing quotes, check what is included: some cover only the shoot, while a full quote covers concept, planning, the shoot, editing, colour grade and delivery. Get in touch on 0424 965 133 for a figure built around your specific track and idea.
How long does it take to make a music video?
A straightforward single-location clip commonly runs a few weeks end to end, from the first concept conversation to final delivery. The shoot is usually a single day inside that window; most of the time is spent in pre-production before and editing and grading after. More complex videos with multiple locations, a cast or significant visual effects take longer, mainly because planning and the edit expand. If you are working to a release date, share it at the very start so the whole schedule can be built backwards from it.
Do I need a treatment or storyboard before we shoot?
Yes, and it is the stage most worth your attention. A treatment is a short written document describing the concept, look, locations and how the video cuts to the track, and it becomes the shared plan everyone works from. It is the point where you have the most creative input and where changing direction costs nothing. Skipping it is the single most common reason a shoot day underdelivers, because the artist and the director end up picturing two different videos. A full storyboard, drawing out each shot, is worth adding for narrative or effects-heavy clips, though a simple performance video can often run on a solid treatment plus a shot list.
How many rounds of revisions do I get on the edit?
That depends on the arrangement, which is exactly why you should confirm it before booking rather than after. A common structure is a defined number of revision rounds on the edit, for example 2, so you can refine the cut without the job becoming open-ended. To get the most from those rounds, give your feedback in a single batch rather than a slow trickle of individual tweaks, since that keeps the process fast and your cost predictable. Also confirm upfront which final files you receive and what usage rights you hold, so nothing about the finished clip comes as a surprise.