Picture To Burn - Music Video

Music Video

Swift performing alongside her band with pyrotechnics as a backdrop (top) and sitting on a couch as her band ransacks her ex-boyfriend's house (bottom) in the music video for "Picture to Burn"

The accompanying music video for "Picture to Burn" was directed by Trey Fanjoy, who directed all three of Swift's prior music videos. Swift decided to collaborate with Fanjoy once again because she felt that since Fanjoy directed her prior videos, she knew how to deviate from it and what new grounds to cover. As oppose to their previous collaborations, the video was conceptualized to be edgy and comical. Swift herself was styled edgier than usual, sporting clothing, hair, and jewelry she was not accustomed to. She was intended to wear thigh-length boots, but was not able to find a pair to correspond with her height. Instead, her stylist sewed black fabric to strap onto black high heels to give the illusion of thigh-length boots. The video's plot was conjectured to involve rampaging and seeking revenge on her ex-boyfriend. Swift chose football player Justin Sandy to portray her ex-boyfriend in the video, believing he had a classic and suspiciously perfect demeanor; she described him as "real like Ken". Swift desired to portray her backup band's sense of humor, and thus enlisted them for the video. Swift's real-life best friend Abigail Anderson also made a cameo appearance in the video.

The video was filmed over the course of two days in Nashville, Tennessee. On the first day, performance scenes were filmed inside the Sommet Center (now named the Bridgestone Arena), and involved pyrotechnics. Swift was at first nervous about the shoot, as it was her first experience with pyrotechnics. "There are some things I'm nervous about. My hair could very well catch on fire", she said. She was later assured of its safety and explained to about the discrepancy in the distance of the fire in reality than on camera: on camera, it appears to be quite close to her, whereas, in actuality, it was placed far behind her. On the second day, the remaining scenes were filmed at a suburban house in Nashville. Props were provided by the video personnel. On the set, Fanjoy suggested using a binoculars for the primary scenes, but Swift disagreed, believing it could come across as cheesy depending on how it was filmed. She ultimately succumbed to the idea due to Fanjoy explaining how it would translate on camera.

The video premiered on March 14, 2008 on AOL's The Boot. It commences with Swift and her best friend in a grey 2009 Ford Mustang GT 45th Anniversary Edition, parked behind a tree. Swift reminiscences, looking at a photograph of her and her ex-boyfriend together, and states, "Would you look at how happy we were back then? I can't believe he turned out to be such a jerk." Anderson is then seen ogling outside the window with binoculars, and spots Swift's ex-boyfriend and another woman arriving in a black pick-up truck. She notes the other woman in driving the truck, and Swift states angrily he never allowed her to drive it. As Swift's ex-boyfriend and the woman start frolicking inside the truck, and the music begins and the music video transcends to a concrete room where the singer (clothed by a grey, one-shoulder mini-dress and black leather, thigh-length boots) is playing an electric guitar, alongside her backup band. During "Picture to Burn"'s chorus, fire ignites behind them. Afterwards, the band is depicted entering a house furtively, using flashlights. Swift is sitting on a brown couch, sporting a black tank top, black leather pants, and beehive hair, as the band ransacks the house. They throw darts at photographs of him, envelop his furniture with toilet paper, lick his utensils, spit into his mouthwash, etc. Suddenly, the ex-boyfriend and the woman are shown approaching the house, and, seeing this, Aderson informs them of it via handheld transceiver. He enters the house and discovers it was ransacked, and repeats the word "Taylor". The video then transitions to Anderson and Swift inside the Ford Mustang, with Anderson also repeating "Taylor". She then suggests leaving, and Swift says, "You know what? I'm over it." The video concludes with the photograph of Swift and her ex-boyfriend in flames, thrown in the sidewalk. Cut-scenes feature Swift and her band performing in the concrete room, Swift singing on the couch, or Swift dancing affront a shower of sparks.