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Writing for Video

DIGITAL WORKING GROUP

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Upcoming DWGs

  • 11/22: GIVE THANKS

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Goal for today:

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  • Identify the basic elements of a good video script and understand how to write one.

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Agenda

  • Scriptwriting 101: Basic structure
  • Test your knowledge
  • Scriptwriting 201: Make it good
  • Test your knowledge
  • A note on process

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Basic structure

Scriptwriting 101

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Basic structure

  1. Hook
  2. Introduction of solution
  3. Explanation of solution
  4. Call to action

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Hook

  • Get them interested.
    • Ask a question.
    • Tell them what they’re going to hear about.
    • Introduce a story.
    • Introduce a problem they can identify with.
    • Show them something unexpected and don’t say anything.�

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Introduction of solution

  • Just introduce it. Don’t explain it — yet.

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Explanation of solution

  • Tell the audience how it works.
  • Show them how great the solution is.
  • Focus on impact.

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Call to action

  • Tell the audience what to do next.

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FUNTIVITY TIME!

Watch some videos and identify these things:

  1. Hook
  2. Introduction of solution
  3. Explanation of solution
  4. Call to action

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Make it good

Scriptwriting 201

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How to make it good

  • Choose a story type
  • Choose a point of view and stick with it
  • Don’t tell the audience every little thing (2+2 rule)
  • Keep it short and focused — 3-5 things you need to communicate
  • Write like you talk

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Choose a story type

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Choose a point of view and stick with it

  • Organization’s hero
  • Organization’s beneficiary
  • Third-party narrator
  • Your dog

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Keep it short and focused�

  • Jot down the 3-5 things the video must communicate. Everything else is extra.
  • Cut everything you don’t need.�

45 seconds: 80-110 words�60 seconds: 110-170 words�90 seconds: 170-230 words�2 minutes: 230-300 words

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Don’t tell the audience every little thing (2+2 rule)

  • Let them figure some stuff out.
  • Leave them room to fill in with their own experience. �

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Don’t tell the audience every little thing (2+2 rule)

Then, illness sets upon Sonia’s community. An outbreak of a deadly disease, spreading rapidly from one house to the next. Health workers offer life-saving vaccines to everyone in the community — everyone except Sonia...because she's pregnant. This leaves Sonia and her baby at risk.

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Don’t tell the audience every little thing (2+2 rule)

Then, illness sets upon Sonia’s community. An outbreak of a deadly disease spreads rapidly from one house to the next. Health workers offer life-saving vaccines to everyone in the community — everyone except Sonia...because she's pregnant. This leaves Sonia and her baby at risk.

Then, outbreak strikes. [Show it spreading rapidly.]

Health workers arrive, offering life-saving vaccines — but Sonia is turned away.

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Write like you talk

  • “Hey.” “Let’s take a look.”
  • Read it out loud! Rework anything that sounds weird.

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FUNTIVITY TIME!

Watch some videos and answer these questions:

  • What’s the story type here?
  • What’s the POV? (From whose perspective is it being told?)
  • Where do you notice the other principles (short & focused, 2+2 rule, write like you talk)

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How does it work?

Process

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Process

  • Brief (goals, audience, 3-5 main points, initial thoughts on concept)
  • Research
  • Draft script
  • Edit the script a lot
  • Storyboard (and possibly tweak script more)
  • Produce

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Questions?