How to Direct Music Visuals That Serve the Song
Disclaimer: This framework is based on my own experience and creative process. Inspired in part by the ideas of Rick Rubin, principles from “On Writing Well,” and others. Visual development, writing assisted with ChatGPT.
Songs Make Shapes
Every song makes shapes in space. You can learn to see them.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" builds pressure then explodes it. "Hurt" digs a hole then sits in it. "Bohemian Rhapsody" changes shape three times. "Hey Ya" bounces off walls. "Creep" pulls everything toward a center that keeps moving.
Each song does one main thing to space. Your job is to show that thing.
Find the Action
Stop listening to drums and words. Listen to what the song does.
Does it build something? Break something? Spin? Fall? Push? Pull? Every song has one main action. Find it.
The Three Steps
Step 1: Listen for Movement
Play the song twenty times. Don't think about ideas. Feel how it moves through space.
What does this song do to the room? Does it fill space or empty it? Build walls or tear them down? You will feel the answer before you think it.
Step 2: Name the Action
Turn the movement into words. Keep it simple:
Pressure builds until it explodes
Something falls through layers
Two things pull apart but stay connected
Spinning gets faster until it breaks free
Growing into empty space
Everything pulls toward a moving center
One phrase. That's your foundation.
Step 3: Show the Action
Build your video around this action. Every choice serves it. Camera moves, cuts, lights, colors, sets, actors. All of it.
Don't show the action literally. Find ways to make it visible. If the song builds pressure, show spaces that get tighter. Show movements that get trapped. Show colors that have nowhere to go.
Cut everything else. If it doesn't serve the action, remove it.
Complete the Song
Music videos don't decorate songs. They complete them.
The song builds invisible shapes. You make those shapes visible. The song creates movement. You show where that movement goes.
When you do this right, people don't watch your video while hearing the song. They see one complete thing. The video doesn't feel added to the music. It feels like what the music was always building toward.
How to Practice
Start with songs whose actions feel clear. Build your ability to see musical space.
Trust your body more than your brain. Your body knows spatial relationships. If a song makes you feel like you're falling, that's not a metaphor. That's what the song does.
The goal isn't impressive visuals. The goal is to complete what the music started. Sometimes the best choice is the simple one that serves the song's action most directly.
The space was always there. The movement was always happening. You just make it visible.
