Previs, short for previsualization, is a rough, watchable version of a film or video made before the shoot. It lets the director, producers and crew see the shots, the timing and the hard setups while changing them still costs little. It can be a storyboard, a timed animatic or a full 3D or AI-generated sequence. For a music video, previs means a cut of the whole song built from frames and rough clips. The director, the label and the crew watch it together before anyone books a crew day.
Previs, previz and pre-vis all mean the same thing. Runway's guide notes that "previs" is the spelling the Previsualization Society, the Visual Effects Society and most working crews use.
What is previs used for?
Previs lets a director, cinematographer, production supervisor or VFX supervisor try out lighting, camera placement and movement, staging and editing "without incurring actual production costs" (Wikipedia). In practice it is used to plan shots, work out scale and timing, and show where people move and where the visual effects sit in a live-action scene (ScreenSkills).
The output is thrown away. Nobody sees the previs in the finished film. Its value lies entirely in the decisions people make before the crew arrives.
Previs vs storyboard vs animatic, and the other "-vis" terms
The words overlap, so here is what each one means on a production.
| Form | What it is | The question it answers | Usually made by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storyboard | Static frames in shot order | What is in each shot? | Storyboard artist or director |
| Animatic | Storyboard frames timed to the sound | Does the pacing work? | Storyboard artist or editor |
| 3D previs | A rough animated scene with real camera and lens settings | Does this move work in this space? | Previs artist, often at a VFX studio |
| AI-assisted previs | Frames and short clips generated from references | Does this look and feel right? | Director and creative team |
| Pitchvis | Early concept sequence made to win buy-in | Should we make this at all? | Director or previs studio |
| Techvis | Previs with real measurements: crane reach, lens data, set dimensions | Can we physically shoot it on the day? | Previs and camera teams |
| Stuntvis | Techvis for stunt work | Is the stunt safe, and where does camera go? | Stunt coordinator with previs team |
| Postvis | Temporary effects over shot footage | How will the finished VFX shot cut? | VFX and editorial |
Definitions of pitchvis, techvis, stuntvis and postvis follow VFS and Runway. On a complex shot the order is previs, then techvis, then the shoot, then postvis.
Storyflow frames these as a ladder, from storyboard up to virtual production, and makes a point worth keeping: most shots only need a storyboard, and the costly mistake is building 3D previs for a shot a drawing would have settled (Storyflow).
Who makes previs, and what it costs
Rates checked 2026-10-26 against the linked pages. They are published ranges, not quotes.
- Storyboards and animatics. One UK storyboard artist's 2026 pricing guide puts a music video board at 40–80 frames, 5–10 days and £2,500–£8,000. It adds 25–50% for an animatic, meaning frames, timing and an MP4 (Seb Antoniou).
- 3D previs. This is VFX work. Previs artists usually start from a concept artist's 2D storyboard, report to the VFX supervisor, and work at VFX studios or freelance (ScreenSkills). VFS puts US salaries at roughly $81,000–$150,000 a year (VFS).
- The shoot it protects. In a 2019 shots roundtable, label video commissioners put promo budgets at £10k–£120k, averaging around £30k–£40k, and £5k–£20k for a newly signed artist. Crew is the biggest variable: a DP alone runs $800–$3,000 a day in Need A Crew's 2026 US rates, and music videos tend to land in the lower third of each range.
So a dedicated 3D previs pass rarely fits a music video budget. A storyboard sometimes does. Music video pre-production is usually a treatment, a storyboard, a shot list and a mood board (Storyflow). Those are documents. Nobody has watched any of them in time with the song. For how a live-shoot budget breaks down line by line, see what a music video costs, four routes compared.
Why a music video is the easiest thing to previs
In a film, the edit is discovered in post. In a music video, the edit exists before anything is shot: every section, bar and lyric of the song already has a timecode.
Previs began this way. Disney's Leica reel filmed storyboards and edited them to the soundtrack, and in the 1970s advertising agencies used animatics (storyboards with limited motion and a soundtrack) to sell TV commercials (Wikipedia). A music video previs is that idea at full length. Because the track sets the timeline, every frame you plan already knows how long it lasts.
That makes the plan measurable:
Shots needed ≈ song length in seconds ÷ average shot length
A 3:30 song (210 seconds) cut at an average of 3 seconds a shot needs about 70 shots. At 2 seconds, it needs 105. Group those shots into setups, divide by what your crew can shoot in a day, and you know how many shoot days you are paying for before anyone sends a quote.
What a music video previs has to lock
A previs is finished when the decisions below are signed off by the people who could otherwise stop or change the shoot. Use this as the review sheet.
| Decision | What the previs must show | Who signs off | If it's found on the day instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concept and arc | The whole song, cut end to end | Artist, manager, label commissioner | The artist goes cold on set, or in the edit |
| Locations | Frames of each location at the time of day you'll shoot | Director, producer, DP | A location that doesn't read on camera, or an unbudgeted company move |
| Wardrobe and look | The artist in each look, in each location | Artist, stylist, label | A look that fights the set; changes that eat shoot time |
| Performance coverage | A lip-sync test for each chorus and the hook line | Director, artist | A chorus with no usable coverage |
| Shot count and setups | The shot list as a timed cut, section by section | Director, producer, 1st AD | Overtime, or shots dropped on the day |
| Hard setups | The crane move, night exterior, stunt or VFX plate, flagged for techvis | DP, producer, VFX supervisor | A move the gear can't do, or a plate nobody planned |
| Deliverables | The 16:9 master with the 9:16 crop checked on key frames | Label digital and marketing | A vertical cutdown that crops the artist out |
How to tell it's ready: every second of the song has a shot under it. Every chorus has performance coverage. Every shot names a location and a look, and the hard setups have a name and a plan next to them. If any row has no sign-off, you are not ready to book the crew.
How to make a music video previs, step by step
1. Map the song
Write out every section with its timecode, then give each section a pace (average shot length) that fits its energy. Here is an illustrative 3:24 song:
| Section | Time | Length | Avg shot | Shots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intro | 0:00–0:15 | 15 s | 5 s | 3 |
| Verse 1 | 0:15–0:45 | 30 s | 3 s | 10 |
| Pre-chorus | 0:45–0:55 | 10 s | 2.5 s | 4 |
| Chorus 1 | 0:55–1:20 | 25 s | 2 s | 12–13 |
| Verse 2 | 1:20–1:50 | 30 s | 3 s | 10 |
| Chorus 2 | 1:50–2:15 | 25 s | 2 s | 12–13 |
| Bridge | 2:15–2:40 | 25 s | 4 s | 6 |
| Final chorus and outro | 2:40–3:24 | 44 s | 2 s | 22 |
That comes to about 80 shots. Many will repeat a setup, such as the performance setup in every chorus, which is where the shoot-day count comes from.
2. Bring real references
Start with the treatment, location scout photos, wardrobe references and artist photos. Use your own photos or images you have permission to use. Previs built from the real location and the real artist answers real questions. Previs built from stock answers none.
3. Fix the artist's look first
Make a character reference (one sheet showing the artist from several angles in each look) before you generate scenes. If the artist looks different from shot to shot, the review turns into a conversation about likeness instead of the video.
4. Frame every shot as a still
Put a frame under every line of the song map, then review the stills against the track before animating anything. Most framing and location arguments get settled here, cheaply.
5. Animate only what needs motion to judge
That means camera moves, transitions, performance sections and the hook. Lip-sync tests on the choruses tell the director and artist whether the performance coverage works.
6. Cut it to the track and send one file
Everyone should review the same render, with the song, in one link. Separate PDFs for the artist, the label and the DP produce three different videos in three different heads.
7. Lock, then hand off
The signed previs becomes the shot list and the call sheet. Shots flagged as hard go to techvis, a detailed storyboard or the stunt coordinator.
AI-assisted previs: what changes and what doesn't
What changes is speed and range. Generating a frame from a location photo takes minutes, so trying three locations, or three wardrobe directions, costs a regeneration rather than a day of drawing.
What doesn't change is that a generated frame has no measurable space. Runway's own guide says generated camera work is "a statement of intent, not a rig plan", and that stunts, real-location geometry and anything handed to a rigging team need traditional or technical previs. For a music video, that covers the crane move, the car rig and the stunt. Choreography is similar: a generated dance shows the energy, but the choreographer still blocks it with the dancers.
In Visuals, a previs is a Project on one canvas. Most of the craft stays with the director:
- Plan: the Visuals Agent lays out scenes from your brief.
- Frame: multi-reference image models (GPT Image 2, Nano Banana Pro, FLUX 2 Pro) build frames from your location, wardrobe and artist photos, and a character sheet keeps the artist consistent across shots.
- Animate: key shots move with Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash, Seedance 2.5, Kling 3, Veo 3.1, Runway Gen-4.5 or Luma, and Seedance or Kling handles the lip-sync tests. All of these models are available on paid plans.
- Cut: a Composition lays the shots against the track and renders one MP4 to share, with a second 9:16 render for checking vertical framing.
The director still makes the calls. The DP still lights, the artist still performs, and the shoot day is still where the video gets made. The previs only makes sure everyone arrives agreeing on the same video.
Two examples from our own work show the parts. In Three ways into a song, one artist photo becomes a reference sheet and three separate treatments, each with tone, wardrobe, locations and shot ideas to compare before a physical production. Afterglow is a finished video, not a previs, but it was planned the same way: the Agent laid out the scenes first, and a character sheet kept the artist the same in every shot.
Questions to ask in the previs review
- Can the artist watch it start to finish and still want to make it?
- Does every chorus have coverage the editor would actually use?
- Which shot is the most expensive one, and has the DP said it's possible?
- How many setups, in how many locations, and so how many days?
- Does the 9:16 crop still hold the artist in the key frames?
- What did we cut from the previs, and does anyone want it back before the crew is booked?
When those have answers, book the crew.
How this was made: researched and written by the Visuals.fm team with AI assistance, then fact-checked by people against the sources linked in the text.