How to Plan, Write and Edit Video Scripts

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How to Plan,Write and Edit Video Scripts

• Four reasons to use video and one reason not to
• 1.     Visual content
• 2.     Motivational value
• 3.     Perceived value
• 4.     Simplified distribution of information
• 5.     Detailed information content

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How does your organization use video

• 1.     Internal training
• 2.     External training
• 3.     Corporate image
• 4.     Sales support
• a.     Sales presentation
• b.     Advertising fulfillment
• c.     Trade show booth

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Pre-Script Writing

•  Six questions to answer before writing your
  script
• 1.     What are the objectives of the program?
• 2.     Who is the audience?
• Audience demographics
• What is their personality?
• 3.     What results do we expect?
• What actions do we want them to take?
• What attitudes do we want them to adopt?
• 4.     What information do they need?
• 5.     Where will they see our show?
• 6.     What is the budget for the show?

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Doing Your Homework

• Interviews
•         The funnel structure
• Designed for your average interviewee who does
  not like to talk in front of the camera. Start
  easy and then get specific!
•         The inverted funnel
• Designed for the person comfortable in front of
  the camera. Start very specific and look for
  shorter answers. (He/She will probably talk
  longer than you want)
• Ask open-ended questions
• Set ground rules ahead of time
• Dont trust your tape recorder or camera

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Surveys/questionnaires

•     Check boxes instead of writing in responses
•     Keep them short
•     Make them look easy to fill out
•     Pay return postage

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Production Considerations

• How long should your show run?
•   Training
• Keep the video to 8 10 minute segments or
  chapters.
•   Sales
• 3 5 minutes is the standard
•   Corporate image
• 1-3 minutes. Nobody likes a show-off

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Estimating show length from the script

• Approximately 1 page 1 minute of final script.

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How much will my video cost?

• Consumer About 500/minute of final productions
• Prosumer About 1500/minute of final production
• Professional About 3000/minute of final
  production

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Who and Where

• Location vs. Studio
•   Location adds visual variety
•   Studio provides more control
•   Location adds feeling of truth

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On camera talent vs. Voice over narration

• On-camera takes longer to shoot
• On-camera holds attention longer
• Voice-over allows greater flexibility
• Voice-over is often less expensive

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How much will my video cost?

• Union vs. Non-union
• Pro-talent lowers production time/costs
• Amateurs can have a greater perception of
  sincerity
• Amateurs usually takes more time to shoot
• Amateurs are harder to direct
• Do a screen test

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Creative Scripts

• Brainstorming
•   Limit number of people
•   Select a facilitator
•   Use toys or models
•   Use flip charts
•   Build on each idea
•   Keep the session short
• Swipe File

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The Brainstorm Session

• Break up into small groups and determine the
• Style of show
• Length of video
•   Location or studio production
• On-camera or voice-over narrative

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Styles

• Styles of script writing
•   Demonstration
• Testimonials
•   Slice-of-life
• News
• Reason why
• Celebrity
• Humor

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Selling Your Script

• Using a script treatment to sell your concept?
• What is a treatment?
• 1.     Objective statement
• Usually, there is only one main objective to a
  script.
• 2.     Format
• Describes the video without specific dialogue or
  scripted text. Basic description only.

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Describes the video in written form

• Example War on Drugs Video Objective
  StatementOn November 7th, 1999, the voters of
  Cameron County passed a modest increase in the
  sales tax to be used exclusively to step up our
  local War on Drugs and help rid our community of
  the crime, grief and misery this drug epidemic
  has created. The tax money is now being
  collected and is available. The campaign is over
  but the War is just beginning. Our first step is
  to create a video that will educate the citizens
  of Cameron County for the need to stop this
  epidemic. The video will raise awareness and
  define our goals.
• Fade From Black . . . The camera shot widens
  out to include the other members of the Cameron
  County Sales Tax Trust Fund Fiscal Commission and
  the program begins. For the next twenty minutes
  or so various members of the commission report on
  how the drug tax money will be used to upgrade an
  across-the-board effort to ease our drug
  epidemic. Each member in turn, narrates the
  section of the presentation directed to his or
  her own area of involvement and
  expertise 1.     Chief Larry Brown discusses
  the impact on drug related crime that the
  addition of thirty new officers will have on his
  department and its ability to better cope with
  drug-related crime.2.     Chief Helen Powell
  continues the discussion of the law enforcement
  aspects of the anti-drug program and the
  immediate impact her programs will have in the
  county.3.     School administrators discuss drug
  enforcement policies that will take place in the
  schools. 4.     Schools Psychologist discusses
  the prevention methods they will use to better
  prevent the start of drug use in teenagers. By
  the time they all finish, the audience has been
  presented a comprehensive view of Cameron
  Countys battle plane against drugs. Also, the
  audience has been told directly for the first
  time in the countys history, exactly how their
  dollars are to be spent.

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Other Techniques to Help You Sell Your Video

• Flow Charts
• Story Boards

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How to Motivate Our Audience

• What you say is more important than how you say
  it?
• Build your program around a big idea.
• Give the facts
• Keep it interesting
• W.I.I.F.M.
• Credibility is crucial

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Tone of Voice

• Formal
• Spokesperson
• Conversational

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Writing for the Eye

• A video is Linear. It has a beginning and must
  logically find a way to an end!Three techniques
  to improve the eye
• 1.     Storyboard
• 2.     Flow Charts
• 3.     Two Column Script

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Writing for the Ear

• The best way to evaluate your script is to read
  it __Out Loud____.
• Use music to
•   Alter the emotional level of a scene
• Modify the pace of the show
• Enhance your image

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Additional Scriptwriting Tips

• Use Active Verbs
• Eliminate redundancies
• Use specific, concrete language
• Add Commas to indicate breath pauses
• Use linkage phrases to help the script flow
• Writing Dialogue

People speak in incomplete sentences Less is
more Read your dialogue out loud Reasons not to
use dialogue
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Master Scene Script

• How to write the master scene script
• What is it?
• When to use it?

Assignment Critique the master scene script
found on the next page of your workbook. Does
the visualization reinforce the message of the
show? Is the tone of voice proper? Is the
narration clear and forceful? How would you
improve this script?
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• Audio 1. MOTION.MATERIAL IN MOTION.PEOPLE
  AND MATERIAL IN MOTION.EFFICIENT USE OF THE
  HUMAN BODY . . . PARTICULARLY THE ARMS AND HANDS
  . . . ARE CRITICAL IN TODAYS ENVELOPE
  MANUFACTUREING PROCESS. 2. YOUR ARMS AND HANDS
  ARE EX TREMELY VERSATILE. THEY MOVE QUICKLY AND
  CAN ASSUME A VARIETY OF POSITIONS AND POSTURES.
   3. THEY ARE ALSO VERY STRONG AND ARE ABLE TO
  EXERT A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF FORCE ON
  OBJECTS. 4. HOWEVER, IN THE ENVELOPE
  MANUFACTURING PROCESS, PRODUCTION RATES CAN
  EXCEED 900 ENVELOPES PER MINUTE.THAT MAKES IT
  IMPERATIVE THAT OPERATORSHANDLE THE ENVELOPES IN
  A MANNER THAT WILL NOT INVOLVE EXTREME POSITIONS
  OF THE HANDS AND ARMS.  5. FOR EXAMPLE . . .
  THE PALM UP POSITION AS WHEN THIS OPERATOR
  INSPECTS LARGE OPEN END ENVELOPES.  6. ANOTHER
  EXTREME POSTURE IS SHOWN WHEN THIS OPERATOR BENDS
  THE WRIST TOWARD THE LITTLE FINGER WHILE TAMPING
  THE ENVELOPES ON THE DELIVERY.

• Video 1.      Opening Montage. Factory
  Interior. Succession of scenes showing
  inspector/operators moving blank stock and
  finished envelopes from folding machines to
  boxes, boxes to cartons and cartons to
  pallets.2.      Montage of tight shots on
  the arms and hands of workers as they handle
  finished stock. 3.      Montage showing
  envelopes coming off the delivery spiral and the
  dial showing production rate/minute. 4.     
  Show operator turning long stack of envelopes
  over on the delivery table. 5.     
  Operator pulls handful of large 9 X 12 envelopes
  and twists wrist to palm up position before
  flipping through stock for inspection.6.     
  Operator grabs flat tamping device and begins to
  tamp envelopes into a long, smooth row on the
  delivery table . . . but the wrist is bent
  sharply with the little finger near the wrist.

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Writing the Shooting Script
Read through the narrative on the right-hand side
of the script. On the left-hand side, opposite
each paragraph of narration, indicate the shot,
camera move and/or post-production effect that
you feel best visualizes the copy.
Video

• Audio
• AT ABC WE KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO START YOUR OWN
  BUSINESS. AFTER ALL, OUR ABC SALES
  REPRESENTATIVES ARE RUNNING THEIR OWN BUSINESSES,
  MANAGING THEIR OWN TIME, DIRECTING THEIR OWN
  EFFORTS . . . SUCCEEDING ON THEIR OWN TERMS.
   WE KNOW IT TAKES A LITTLE TIME TO GET STARTED,
  TO MAKE ENOUGH TO MEET YOUR EXPENSES AND TO START
  SHOWING A PROFIT.  THATS WHY WEVE CREATED THE
  GATEWAY COMPENSATION PLAN. ITS OUR
  INVESTMENT IN YOUR FUTURE!

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 Three Steps

• 1.    Put the script away
• 2. Effective Script Revision
• 3.    Find a guinea pig
• Rework/Reread