Video Mood Board Template
Crafting a Cinematic Aesthetic
Creating a video mood board requires both creativity and organization, especially when planning for dynamic concepts like films, music videos, commercials, or any other video project. A video mood board should convey the aesthetic and vision of your visual concept before production even begins. It's a necessary tool for both creative preparation and collaboration.
Although we're using StudioBinder’s mood board creator, the following process is universal — whether you're using software to create your mood board, or just a sheet of paper and a pen.
Steps in this guide
Step 1
1. Create a New Mood Board
Start by creating a new mood board—a fresh slate to start brainstorming and gathering ideas. You can look at other video mood boards to gather inspiration that resonates with you and your video project.
Look into video examples that click with you and check out if you can find a mood board that was created for it. Whether its the visual style, mood, or atmosphere you like in these examples, pull from them as you begin to shape your own mood board.
You can also check out the portfolios of directors, cinematographers or production companies for more visual references. Make sure to save these examples in a folder for easy access during your mood board creation process.
How to do this in StudioBinder
- From the project page, select Mood Board.
- Create mood boards for every important category.
Step 2
2. Gather Images
Next, collect specific visuals that will define the aesthetic of your project. This includes stills from films, photography, screenshots, lighting diagrams, or any other material that you believe will convey what you aim to capture.
Whether it’s a specific movie, music video, or commercial, analyze compositions, lighting setups, and notable camera techniques and include them in your board.
How to do this in StudioBinder
- Search the web and save images to your computer.
- Upload images to your various mood boards.
Pro Tip — Not every image needs to be an exact representation of your vision. Sometimes, an image might capture a certain mood, color scheme, or evoke a feeling that aligns with your film's aesthetic. Be open to including such images, they might spark your creativity in surprising ways.
Step 3
3. Add Details
Flesh out your video mood board by adding details. This gives your idea depth and clarity. Textual descriptions, color palettes, and notes can put your images into context making your idea more clear.
For video projects, consider including details about the intended lighting styles, camera movements, and scene settings that are specific to the content of your video. For example, a music video project may have a very specific color palette as far as lighting and production design. These details are important.
How to do this in StudioBinder
- Open the image from the mood board.
- Select Edit.
- Crop, annotate, or fine tune your image settings.
Step 4
4. Organize Your Mood Board
How you arrange your mood board will heavily influence how someone understands your video concept. Keep in mind how the layout visually communicates the flow and narrative of your video.
For example, you might group images by scene, lighting style, or location.
How to do this in StudioBinder
- Consider "zones" to group images in proximity.
- Drag to rearrange images into a layout that tells a story.
Pro Tip — Curate images based on different film elements such as cinematography, locations, characters, lighting, production design, composition, etc.
Step 5
5. Collaborate and Share
Once your mood board is complete, share it with your team. Collaboration and feedback can help you improve and refine your vision. Whether you're pitching to a client or aligning with your production team, sharing ensures everyone is on the same page prior to actual production of the video.
How to do this in StudioBinder
- Create a View Only link or Invite Collaborators to work with you.
- Use the Comments sidebar to review feedback.
Conclusion
Video Mood Board Complete
With a well-curated video mood board, you now have material that clearly defines the visual direction of your project. Use it as a guiding document for you and your collaborators as you execute your video project.
This video mood board template is one of many creative mood board templates you can use. Browse all other creative templates on our Templates page.
Start Your Mood Board
Define your film's style now
Get started for free
