Who Uses Visual Research?

The film industry uses visual research across film and television including:

• Stage and set designers
• Film directors
• Producers
• Art directors
• Cinematographers
• Production designers
• Wardrobe and costume designers

Writers also rely on visual research when pitching a movie or series to studios. It acts as a visual entry point. A way for executives, producers, writers, directors, and production teams to immediately grasp the world, tone, and promise of the story before reading the screenplay or starting production. Think of it as the trailer to your movie, TV series, or music video. Like the appetizer that sells the main course.

When and How Is Visual Research Used?

Use Visual research at two critical stages:

1. During the Pitch Phase

Before a project is greenlit, visual research helps:

• Lock in tone and genre
• Define the look and world of the story
• Align the pitch with studio expectations and market references
• Communicate complex ideas quickly and visually

This is often the difference between a pitch being understood versus merely read.

2. During the Production Phase

Once a project moves forward, visual research continues to serve as:

• A guide for creative decision-making across departments
• A visual alignment tool
• A reference for casting, locations, staging, and style

What Happens When Visual Research Is Done Right?

When visual research is executed properly:

• Characters feel real before casting begins
• Worlds feel tangible before locations are scouted
• Tone and mood are immediately understood
• Executives and collaborators immerse themselves faster
• Budget estimates for production costs are clearly established
• The pitch feels intentional, confident, and cinematic

Strong visual research builds belief and belief sells projects.

Visual research and pre-visualization are skills developed over years of working in film, television, and commercial production.

Why Hire a Professional Visual Researcher?
“Can’t I Just Do This Myself?”

It requires deep visual literacy, including:

• Knowledge of director styles and film history
• Understanding of cameras, lenses, and lighting
• Awareness of production design and staging
• Casting sensibility and wardrobe awareness
• A mental library of cinematic references across decades and genres

A professional visual researcher can pull the right reference, not just a good-looking one — often recalling a specific scene, frame, or performance from a film released decades ago that perfectly communicates your idea.

Trying to do all of this by yourself spreads yourself thin. There are too many things for you to focus on and that detracts you from focusing on making your script or screenplay as amazing as possible.

• Your screenplay suffers
• Your pitch deck becomes unfocused
• The visual language lacks cohesion

Visual research is a team role and it’s one that you best leave to the specialists.

When Should You Hire a Visual Researcher?

hire a visual researcher once you complete your film idea, screenplay, or pilot.

At this stage, you locked your story in but you need to identify your stories visual identity. This is where visual research helps translate your written story into a cinematic experience that studios can immediately grasp.

Visual Research at Pitch Treats

Pitch Treats offers visual research services as part of its pitch deck packages.
Visual research includes:

• Cinematic image and video pulls
• World-building references
• Character and casting direction
• Tone, mood, and lighting exploration
• Visual continuity across the entire pitch deck

Pitch Treats combines visual research with pitch deck design, story outlines, loglines, and narrative structure to create a cohesive, studio-ready presentation.