Music Video Script Example and Template
A music video script follows the song: three columns, the time, what you see and what you hear. Here is the script of Remember Home, a narrative music video by ELYAZ, rebuilt from the finished video, followed by a template to write your own.
The script
| Time | Visual | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 · Intro | Dust on the windshield of a white Fiat 500, in an old garage full of cart wheels. The traveler, in a long black coat and round sunglasses, walks in. | No song yet: sound design and foley. |
| 0:16 · Intro | He stops by a white vintage radio on a workbench and reaches for the first dial. | Sound design. |
| 0:26 · Music starts | The tuning meter lights up green. | The song begins. |
| 0:32 · Verse | Close-ups of dials and lights. He pulls out a drawer under the radio: six colored cards. He closes his eyes. | Verse 1: Hurry up! Let’s go there’s our radio show |
| 0:56 · Pre-chorus | A space station over a red planet, radio telescopes on a mountain, the Earth seen from orbit, a glowing sphere at the end of a tunnel. | Pre-chorus: Remember Home |
| 1:13 · Chorus | A couple races down a night highway on a motorcycle, helmets glowing blue. Then a city of lights from above, and a woman sipping her tea in a quiet room. | Chorus: Fighting the night playing rock ’n’ roll |
| 2:00 · Verse | Skyscrapers at night, seen from above and mirrored like a kaleidoscope. | Verse 2: Many times I told myself you’re not alone |
| 2:24 · Pre-chorus | A red planet rises over the city, then a jump through hyperspace. | Pre-chorus. |
| 2:41 · Chorus | A rider crosses red sands alone. The glowing helmets, the Earth, the woman with the tea. A white monolith in a red canyon. | Last chorus. |
| 3:25 · Outro | Back in the garage, the traveler types a new combination on the radio. | Outro. |
| 3:35 · End | He opens the drawer again. What he finds is not in this script. | The song ends. Sound design. |
Times are from the video. Some moments stay out of the script, to keep a few secrets.
Storyboard frames
More music video script examples
Break the Distance · Parallel stories and performance
| Time | Visual | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 · Intro | A traveler walks across a dry field by the sea, under the title. A child draws on a sheet of paper. In a stone room, a doorway full of light. | Intro. |
| 0:21 · Verse | The traveler sings in the fields by the sea. A hawk flies over, hooves on the stones, a small lake inside red earth from above. | Verse 1: Thoughts are floating in my head |
| 0:50 · Chorus | A guitar beside a wooden cross on a hill. Sea cliffs and red earth hills from above. A horseman rides a white horse along the sea. | Chorus: We are moving along to the same place |
| 1:51 · Verse | On a red hill, the child holds his drawing up to the sky. | Verse 2: Wake me up from that dream |
| 2:20 · Chorus | The three stories get closer. How close is not in this script. | Last chorus. |
The Place Where We Belong · Narrative, told by a narrator
| Time | Visual | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 · Intro | A green Y glows in the dark. In an ancient library, a narrator walks between the shelves, turns a globe and opens an old book. | Intro. |
| 0:20 · Verse | The pages turn into water. A sea dog makes his way through a forest and past a waterfall, while a hooded sorceress holds a pyramid. | Verse 1: Way back when |
| 0:50 · Pre-chorus | Among the ruins he finds an old map and a compass. The sun touches the sea. | Pre-chorus: Set a course for the shore! |
| 1:21 · Chorus | Through a spyglass, the sunset over the sea. Pirate galleons sail toward an island, then the camera dives under the water. | Chorus: Our island in the sun |
| 2:08 · Verse | In the library, the narrator sings from the book. A woman walks barefoot on a beach at sunset. | Verse 2: Feel you’re free |
| 2:37 · Pre-chorus | An abandoned village on a hill, the sorceress at the waterfall. The sea dog keeps searching: what he finds is not in this script. | Pre-chorus and last chorus. |
Wildlands · Concept
| Time | Visual | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 · Intro | The title over a fjord. Storm waves, lightning over a green plain, a river canyon and a waterfall from above. | Intro: a choir and war cries, Hoo-Hah! |
| 0:34 · Verse | A girl walks through tall grass toward a lake in the forest. | Verse: Wildlands a nowhere place |
| 0:49 · Pre-chorus | She wades into the water. Mountains in the haze. | Pre-chorus: Faraway, we will run faraway |
| 1:05 · Chorus | She throws the water into the air. A mountain lake, a misty forest, a waterfall over a cliff. | Chorus: Wildlands, oh Wildlands |
| 1:38 · Hook | Giant waves and the world under the water, mountains at sunset, a smoking volcano and its crater. | Hook. |
| 2:24 · Bridge | A waterfall between basalt columns. The girl walks on, toward the mountains. | Bridge: Fighting for the Wildlands |
| 2:55 · Chorus | Golden fjords, misty forests, black sand beaches. Where her path ends is not in this script. | Last chorus, with the choir. |
Times are from each video. Endings stay out.
Template: a music video script you can copy
| Time | Visual | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 · Intro | Where are we? What does the camera see first? | What do we hear before the song starts? |
| 0:20 · Verse 1 | Who is on screen, and what are they doing? | The first line of the lyrics. |
| 0:45 · Chorus | The biggest image of the video. | The chorus, and any sound effects. |
How to write a music video script
- Time
- Start from the song. Write down when each section begins, because the picture has to follow it.
- Visual
- What the camera sees: the place, the action, the shot size and the movement.
- Audio
- The section of the song, a line of the lyrics, and any sound effects.
- One row per moment
- Split a row when the picture changes in the middle of a section.